Company | Board of Directors
Jeff Himawan, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Dr. Himawan is Managing Director for Essex Woodlands Health Ventures. At Essex Woodlands, Dr. Himawan has led several of the firms’ investments in the biotechnology arena, including an investments in Symphogen (a Danish-based company with a novel, antibody-producing platform technology), Iomai (a company with a method of delivering vaccines through the skin), Light Sciences Oncology (a company focused on the development of Light Infusion Technology™ for the treatment of solid tumors), and MediciNova. Prior to joining Essex Woodlands, Dr. Himawan was co-founder and Managing Director of Seed-One Ventures (Seed-One), a venture capital firm that specializes in the initial formation, financing, and early operational development of technology-based companies. At Seed-One, Dr. Himawan created and managed several early-stage companies including Elusys Therapeutics, a New Jersey-based biotechnology company. Prior to his experiences at Seed-One ventures, Dr. Himawan was a bench scientist with basic research experience in both industrial and academic settings. Dr. Himawan holds a B.S. degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and obtained a Ph.D. degree in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology from Harvard University.
Yuichi Iwaki, M.D., Ph.D.
Member of the Board of Directors
President and Chief Executive Officer, and Founder
Dr. Iwaki holds three professorships at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in the Departments of Urology, Surgery and Pathology and has been Director of the Transplantation Immunology and Immunogenetic Laboratory since 1992. He is also a visiting professor at the Nihon University School of Medicine, Kyushu University and the Tokyo Women's Medical School in Japan. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, Dr. Iwaki held professorships at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Departments of Surgery and Pathology from 1989 through 1991. He received both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Sapporo Medical School in Sapporo, Japan. Dr. Iwaki is the author of 200 peer-reviewed publications and more than 40 books. He has been advising pharmaceutical companies and venture capital funds regarding research and investment strategies for over 20 years and is a board member of several biotechnology companies.
Arlene M. Morris
Member of the Board of Directors
Arlene Morris brings significant expertise in the establishment of strategic partnerships, marketing and operations to MediciNova. Ms. Morris is currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Syndax Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Morris was most recently the chief executive officer and member of the board of directors for Affymax, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company located in Palo Alto, Calif., which was spun out of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2001 to develop a pipeline of synthetic peptide-based drug candidates for the treatment of anemia in dialysis patients. During her eight years as president and CEO at Affymax, Ms. Morris led the company through the development of OMONTYS peginesatide, a strategic collaboration with Takeda and an Initial Public Offering of $90 million. She also raised private C and D rounds of $100 million.
Prior to Affymax Ms. Morris was the president and CEO of Clearview Projects, an advisory firm which counseled biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on strategic transactions. Before that she was the senior vice president, business development at Coulter, a biotech company focused on immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases, where she completed numerous transactions including a $1.0 billion merger between Corixa and Coulter. Ms. Morris began her career at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as a sales representative rising to vice president of business development.
In addition to MediciNova, Ms. Morris serves on the board of directors of Neovacs and Syndax. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from Carlow College.
Hiroaki Shigeta
Member of the Board of Directors
Mr. Shigeta has been a member of the Board of Directors of The Medicines Company since April 2007. Mr. Shigeta served as a consultant to The Medicines Company from July 2006 to December 2007. From January 2005 until June 2006, he served as a consultant to various Japanese pharmaceutical companies. From October 1993 to December 2004, Mr. Shigeta served in a variety of senior management positions with Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. and its affiliates. From January 2003 to December 2004, Mr. Shigeta was the U.S. Head, Far East Relations of Hoffman-La Roche and, from June 2002 to April 2003, he was a member of the Board of Chugai Seiyaku KK, Tokyo, a majority-owned affiliate of Roche Holding of Switzerland. From January 2001 to May 2002, Mr. Shigeta served as Chairman and Representative Director of Nippon Roche KK, a pharmaceutical company and a Japanese affiliate of Roche Holding of Switzerland. From October 1993 to December 2000, Mr. Shigeta was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nippon Roche KK.
Tatsuo Izumi
Member of the Board of Directors
Since 2002, Mr. Izumi has served as the Chief Executive Officer for each of First Ocean View, a tax accounting firm, and First (Judicial Scrivener). Since 2007, Mr. Izumi has served as Chief Executive Officer for T&Y Consulting. Mr. Izumi holds a B.A. from Otaru College of Commerce.
David O'Toole
Member of the Board of Directors
Mr. O’Toole compliments the MediciNova Board with over 25 years of experience providing finance, consulting and international tax services to global companies. His international experience includes assignments in Tokyo, Japan and Paris, France. Mr. O’Toole is currently Chief Financial Officer at Response Genetics. Previously, he was Chief Financial Officer at Abraxis Bioscience and Partner at Deloitte & Touche. Mr. O’Toole started his career at Arthur Anderson & Co. after graduating with a BS in Accounting from the University of Arizona.
Kousuke Nakata
Member of the Board of Directors
Mr. Nakata joined Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. in 1997 and has been the Licensing Manager since 2008. His responsibilities include co-development, in-licensing, out-licensing and alliance management for various new drugs in the fields for ophthalmology, metabolism, women’s health, allergy, urology, chronic kidney disease, and neurodegenerative diseases. Mr. Nakata obtained the Bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Yokohama National University and a Master’s degree in integrated science from the Yokohama City University and has passed the US CPA examination.