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Joan M. Robbins, Ph.D. has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since March 2003. Dr. Robbins was also appointed Executive Vice President in August 2005. From 1996-2003, Dr. Robbins was employed by Immusol, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company specializing in anticancer and antiviral therapeutics in addition to certain dermatologic and ophthalmic disorders. At Immusol, she held several positions, including Vice President, Product Development, Senior Director, Product Development, and Director, Therapeutics. Dr. Robbins has directed drug discovery and development resulting in the advancement of drug candidates into Phase I, II and III human trials, including the development of clinical protocols with the FDA. She has also led programs for formulation, manufacturing, toxicology and pharmacology development. From 1994 to 1995, she was Research Scientist and Project Leader for Cancer Research at Chiron where she developed y-IFN recombinant retroviral immuno-gene therapy for cancer, assays for clinical evaluation in Phase I, and tk-recombinant retroviral gene therapy for brain tumors. From 1992 to 1993, Dr. Robbins was a Post Graduate Researcher at University of California, San Diego, where she developed a novel DNA-based immunotherapeutic for treatment of Her2/neu expressing tumors. From 1990 to 1991, she was a Research Fellow at the Garvin Institute for Medical Research, Centre for Immunology in Sydney, Australia, and from 1981 to 1989, Dr. Robbins was a Microbiologist at the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.
Dr. Robbins' background in drug discovery and development has resulted in over 20 scientific publications and 5 patents. Dr. Robbins received her B.S. degree in genetics from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. degree in genetics from George Washington University, Washington D.C. | 