Company

Jeffrey M. Ostrove, Ph.D.
President & Chief Executive Officer

Prior to joining Ceregene as its first employee in April 2001, Dr. Ostrove was Chief Operating Officer of NeuroVir Therapeutics, Inc., located in Vancouver, B.C. and San Diego, California, and was instrumental in its merger with Medigene AG. Preceding NeuroVir (Medigene), Dr. Ostrove served as Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist of MAGENTA Corporation of Rockville, Maryland; a company he founded as a subsidiary of BioReliance, Inc., where he was also Vice President for Scientific Development. Dr. Ostrove also served on the staff of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health. He holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Florida College of Medicine, and completed his post-doctoral training at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Raymond T. Bartus, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Clinical and Preclinical R & D
Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Bartus has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, involving tenures both at major multi-national companies and smaller, development-stage companies. Dr. Bartus joined Ceregene in December, 2002 and directs all preclinical, clinical and regulatory activities as well as chairs the company's SAB meetings.

Prior to joining Ceregene, Dr. Bartus spent 10 years at Alkermes, where he served as Senior Vice President for Preclinical Research and Development. During his tenure at Alkermes, he was directly responsible for the conceptualization, preclinical development and initial clinical strategy for Alkermes' lead proprietary product, Vivitrol (formally called Vivitrex), which has since gained FDA approval.

Dr. Bartus was selected to launch and served as Chief Editor for the scholarly journal Neurobiology of Aging. During his 10 years as Chief Editor, it grew to rank as the leading specialized journal in its field. He has also been selected to serve on numerous panels and "think tanks", including for the U.S. Congress' Office of Technology Assessment, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and FDA, among others. He is recognized as one of the founders of the 'Cholinergic Hypothesis', a hypothesis that led directly to the first four drugs approved by the FDA for Alzheimer's disease. He has been honored by ISI (the Institute for Scientific Information) as a "highly cited" researcher, comprising less than 0.5% of all publishing scientists. In addition to helping discover and develop several novel therapies for human diseases, Dr. Bartus has published nearly 250 scholarly papers, chapters, books and special journal issues.

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Joao Siffert, M.D.
Vice President, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Siffert previously served as the Chief Medical Officer at Avera Pharmaceuticals, a CNS specialty pharma company. Prior to joining Avera, Dr. Siffert held positions with Pfizer as the Worldwide Medical Team Leader in areas of pain and epilepsy of various products including Relpax, Lyrica and Neurontin. He was also instrumental in the Phase 3b/4 program development and global launch of Lyrica. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Siffert held academic positions at Beth Israel Medical Center, where he served as director of the Adult Neuro-Oncology program, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was assistant professor of neurology. During his tenure at Beth Israel, Dr. Siffert was actively involved in clinical research of novel therapies for patients with brain and spinal cord tumors. He completed residencies in pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine and in neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Siffert was certified by the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry. He holds an M.D. degree from the University of São Paulo School of Medicine as well as an MBA degree from Columbia University Business School.

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Maurice J. Mezzino, M.B.A.
Vice President, Chief Business Officer

Prior to joining Ceregene in April, 2008, Mr. Mezzino was Vice President, Business Development, at Biogen Idec, where he directed business development activities for a strategic business unit. During his tenure at Biogen Idec, Mr. Mezzino led numerous cross disciplinary teams that identified, evaluated, structured and negotiated a range of deals, including the acquisition of Conforma Therapeutics and divestiture of Zevalin. Earlier, while at IDEC Pharmaceuticals, he directed a team that forged an oncology strategic alliance with Biogen; a key relationship that was a foundation for the merger between the two companies. Mr. Mezzino has over twenty years of industry experience, including positions in clinical development, business planning, strategic marketing and business development, at Biogen Idec, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Schering-Plough Corporation and Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals and Ayerst Laboratories. Mr. Mezzino received a BA in environmental biology from Rutgers University, an MS in microbiology from Louisiana State University, and an MBA in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

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Dominick A. Vacante, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Manufacturing and Process Development

Dr. Vacante joined Ceregene in January, 2002. He has over 15 years of experience in the manufacturing and development of biotechnology products, with extensive knowledge of the development and manufacturing of viral gene delivery systems in a GLP/GMP (Good Laboratory Practices/Good Manufacturing Practices) environment. Prior to joining Ceregene, Dr. Vacante was Director of Research and Development at BioReliance, Inc. where he was a founder of their viral vector manufacturing operation. He previously served on the staff of the Infectious Diseases Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Vacante received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago and completed post-doctoral training in molecular biology. He received his B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Northwestern University.

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Kate Van Riper
Senior Director, Human Resources and Administration

Ms. Van Riper joined Ceregene in July, 2003 as a consultant and was hired as Director of Human Resources in May, 2004. She was promoted to Senior Director, Human Resources and Administration in January, 2006. She has over 20 years experience in human resources management in a variety of private and public companies in industries including medical services, energy services, and financial services and banking. Ms. Van Riper received a B.A. in Psychology, with an emphasis in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from San Diego State University and has received certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources.

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Melinda Resh, M.B.A.
Senior Director, Quality Assurance

Ms. Resh joined Ceregene in May, 2003 as a consultant and was hired as Director, Quality Assurance in May, 2004. She has over 15 years experience as a quality assurance professional specializing in the pharmaceutical and medical management industries. Prior to Ceregene, Ms. Resh was in quality assurance management positions with MediGene, Inc., Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Bayer Corporation. Ms. Resh received her M.B.A. from the University of Redlands and B.S. in microbiology from San Diego State University. She is also licensed in California as a medical technologist.

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Mehdi Gasmi, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Product Development

Dr. Gasmi joined Ceregene in November, 2001 as Manager, Vector Development. He has been in his current position since July, 2007. He has over eleven years experience in the development of viral vector technology for gene delivery. Prior to Ceregene, Dr. Gasmi held Scientist positions focused on retroviral and lentiviral vector technology at UCSD Department of Medicine, Chiron Corporation and Cell Genesys, Inc. Dr. Gasmi received his Ph.D. and B.S. in biochemistry from the Claude Bernard University in Lyon, France.

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Andrea Loewen-Rodriguez
Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs

Ms. Loewen-Rodriguez joined Ceregene in March, 2008. She has over 18 years of biopharmaceutical experience including the last 15 years working as a regulatory affairs professional. Prior to joining Ceregene, Ms. Loewen-Rodriguez held regulatory management positions at Biogen Idec, Nexell Therapeutics, and Baxter Healthcare. She received a B.A. in Biology from Gustavus Adolphus College and received RAC credentials in 2000.

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Kathie M. Bishop, Ph.D.
Director, Neuroscience

Dr. Bishop joined Ceregene in August, 2001 as a Scientist in the Neuroscience Department. She was promoted through the ranks of Scientist and into management and has been in her current position since January, 2007.  Dr. Bishop has over ten years experience in neuroscience research and development for neurodegenerative diseases, including post-doctoral work at The Salk Institute. Dr. Bishop received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Alberta, Canada, a B.Sc. in genetics from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and a B.A. in psychology/neurosciences from Simon Fraser University, Canada.

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Carolyn J. Bonebright
Controller

Ms. Bonebright joined Ceregene in October, 2004. She has over 20 years accounting and finance experience in the San Diego biotech and healthcare industries for start-up and established organizations. Ms. Bonebright earned her B.A. in Economics from San Diego State University.

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