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Dirk B. Mendel, Ph.D.: Vice President, Pharmacology and Preclinical PK/PD. Prior to joining KAI in November, 2006, Dirk was Senior Director, Head of Pharmacology within the Translational Sciences group at Chiron Corporation (now Novartis). In this role he was responsible for all Pharmacology efforts supporting BioPharma research and development. He was also project leader for CHIR-265 (now RAF265), a Raf kinase inhibitor in early clinical trials, and for the small molecule HCV inhibitor research efforts that identified candidate NS3/4A protease inhibitors and a novel HCV mouse efficacy model for use in screening antiviral compounds. Before Chiron, Dirk was Senior Director of Oncology within Preclinical Research and Exploratory Development at SUGEN, Inc.(now Pfizer), where he was responsible for Pharmacology efforts for Oncology projects from lead optimization through early clinical testing. In addition to his functional area responsibilities, Dirk was project leader for SU11248, which was recently approved for marketing as Sutent® in the US and several other countries, and he served as a member of SUGEN's Research Management Team and the global Oncology Core Team for Pharmacia, which acquired SUGEN in 1999. Before joining SUGEN, Dirk held several positions of increasing responsibility at Gilead Sciences where he played a major role in the discovery and development of Tamiflu®, a novel antiviral compound for prevention and treatment of influenza virus infection, which culminated in its regulatory approval. Dr. Mendel holds a Ph.D. in Physiology from Dartmouth College and a B.S. in Engineering from Stanford University. He is the author of numerous scientific publications and an inventor on two issued and one pending U.S. patents. | 