Richard H. Scheller, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Genentech Research & Early Development
Vishva Dixit, M.D., Vice President, Early Discovery Research
Markus Gemuend, Senior Vice President, Biochemical Manufacturing
Suzy Jones, Senior Director, Genentech Partnering
Kent E. Lieginger, Pharm.D., Senior Vice President, Managed Care and Customer Operations
Todd Pierce, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Pharma North America
Denise Smith-Hams, Senior Vice President, Human Resources Genentech, Regional Head, Human Resources North America
Richard Scheller is executive vice president, Genentech Research and Early Development. In this role he is responsible for setting strategy for Genentech's research, drug discovery and early development activities. Scheller is a member of Genentech's executive committee and the Enlarged Roche Corporate Executive Committee. He also serves as the Chairman of the Genentech Foundation's Board of Directors.
Scheller joined Genentech in 2001 as senior vice president, Research and was promoted to executive vice president, Research in September 2003.
Prior to joining Genentech, Scheller was appointed to the esteemed position of professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and Biological Sciences in 1993 and as an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1994. Scheller received his first academic appointment to Stanford University in 1982.
Scheller's work has earned him numerous awards, including the 1997 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology. He is a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, and has served on numerous advisory boards, including the National Advisory Mental Health Council of the National Institutes of Health. He has published more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
He received his Bachelor of Science in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and was awarded his doctorate in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology where he was also a postdoctoral fellow, Division of Biology. Scheller was also a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, College of Physicians & Surgeons.
Vishva Dixit is vice president of Early Discovery Research at Genentech. In this role, he leads the Department of Physiological Chemistry's efforts in basic research to study the biochemistry of components of signaling pathways that often go awry in disease. He previously held the position of vice president, Research — Molecular Oncology, where he was responsible for overseeing Genentech's research programs focused on understanding the biology of cancer, discovering novel oncology therapeutics and moving projects into the drug development pipeline. Dixit joined Genentech in 1997 as the director of the Molecular Oncology department.
Prior to joining Genentech, Dixit joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School as an assistant professor before being appointed to full professor in 1995. His laboratory published a series of groundbreaking papers in the mid-nineties that defined the molecular components of the cell death receptor pathway. Dixit was awarded the Warner-Lambert/Parke David Award in Experimental Pathology in 1996, has published more than 100 scientific articles and holds a significant number of patents. Dixit continues to teach as an adjunct professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dixit received his medical degree from the University of Nairobi in Nairobi, Kenya. Following an internship at Kenyatta National Hospital, he pursued further medical training as a resident at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine and as a postdoctoral fellow in the University's Department of Biological Chemistry.
Markus Gemuend is senior vice president, Biochemical Manufacturing at Genentech. In this role, Gemuend is responsible for all of Genentech's biochemical manufacturing of bulk product.
Gemuend joined Genentech in 2004 as vice president, Manufacturing Collaborations and Contract Manufacturing. Prior to joining Genentech, he spent 16 years at Lonza Group, Ltd., where he served as chief executive officer from 2002 to 2004. While at Lonza, Gemuend held several other leadership roles, including senior vice president and sector head for Lonza Biologics as well as vice president for Exclusive Synthesis US. Gemuend joined Lonza in 1988 as legal counsel.
Gemuend holds a law degree from the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Suzy Jones is senior director of Genentech Partnering at Genentech. Her group is responsible for identifying new licensing opportunities in several key therapeutic areas (immunology, tissue growth and repair, as well as new therapeutic areas and technologies) that support the company's short- and long-term strategic objectives and negotiating and structuring collaboration agreements to support the newly formed strategic alliances.
Jones' career includes close to 20 years of biotech experience, all at Genentech. She spent seven years conducting basic Immunology Research evaluating the role of adhesion molecules in inflammation, four years in Product Development where she managed several pipeline products at various stages of their lifecycles, including Rituxan and Avastin, and seven years in business development overseeing Genentech's licensing efforts in Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Ophthalmology, Neurobiology, Tissue Growth and Repair, New Therapeutic Areas and Technology Licensing.
Kent Lieginger joined Genentech in December 2004 as senior vice president, Managed Care and Customer Operations.
In this role, Lieginger leads the Managed Care and Commercial Operations Support Service (COSS) operating groups. Managed Care focuses on creating and maintaining access to Genentech products. The COSS group responsibilities include product distribution and patient support programs. Additionally, the COSS organization manages the Genentech Access to Care Foundation, contracts administration, government programs, customer service and reimbursement.
Prior to joining Genentech, Lieginger was vice president, National Insurer and Employer Segment, Managed Markets division at GlaxoSmithKline. Lieginger also served for four years as assistant clinical professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine.
Lieginger received his Pharm.D. from the University of the Pacific, and completed his residency in Clinical Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco.
Todd Pierce is senior vice president and chief information officer for Genentech Pharma North America. In this role, Pierce manages Genentech's information technology group, including information technology (IT) strategy, planning, application development, operations and networking.
Pierce joined Genentech in May 2002 as senior director, Corporate Information Technology (CIT) Services and was promoted to vice president, CIT in March 2004. He has overseen the growth of the IT function during Genentech's greatest period of growth in its history.
Prior to joining Genentech, Todd was director of Information Technology/chief information officer for Social Services Agency, County of Santa Clara where he was recruited to transform the Information Systems Department of more than 150 employees and was responsible for re-engineering the County's health insurance delivery service. Prior to that, he was director of Special Programs at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Sierra Pacific Health Care Network. Todd received a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Austin College in Texas and holds a master's degree with specialization in health management and planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
Denise Smith-Hams is senior vice president, Regional Head, Human Resources North America. In this role, she provides day-to-day leadership, management and oversight to Genentech's human resources organization. Smith-Hams is a member of Genentech's executive committee.
Smith-Hams joined Genentech in 2002 as interim vice president of Human Resources. Prior to joining Genentech, Smith-Hams consulted with clients such as Affeymetrix, Hewlett-Packard, and Levi Strauss & Co.
Smith-Hams past appointments include, vice president, Human Resources, Monsanto Company; director, Human Resources, The Learning Company, director, Human Resources, 3Com Corporation; and manager, Strategy Development at Hewlett Packard. Overall, she has more than twenty years of human resources management and organizational development experience in technology, life sciences and biotechnology sectors.
Smith-Hams holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master's degree from Mills College.
