Our People
Gene Solutions management is deeply experienced in Central Nervous System (CNS) science and research and offers partners a perfect blend of scientific and business expertise.
W. Davis Parker, Jr., MD received his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and his MD from the University of South Florida (Charter Class). He completed an internship in medicine/pediatrics at the University of South Florida followed by a residency in pediatrics at the same institution. He subsequently completed a residency in neurology at the University of Virginia. He was then a fellow in clinical genetics at the same institution. He was subsequently a fellow in metabolic disease and Muscular Dystrophy Association research fellow at the B.F. Stolinkski Research Laboratories at the University of Colorado. He was also Instructor in Neurology and Pediatrics. He remained on the faculty at the University of Colorado advancing to the rank of Associate Professor in Neurology and Pediatrics (tenure).
He subsequently returned to the University of Virginia in the 1980s where he was the Eugene P. Meyer Professor of the Neurosciences, Professor of Neurology, Professor of Pediatrics, and Chief of the section of Pediatric Neurology until 2010 when he was recruited to head up the University of Illinois Pediatric Neurology efforts. Dr. Parker has been a pioneer in the study of the role of mitochondria in the pathogenesis of human disease.
In 1991, Dr. Parker cofounded Mitokor, a San Diego-based biotech company. Dr. Parker left a formal relationship with Mitokor approximately 12 years ago. Mitokor was subsequently acquired by a Canadian biotech firm (currently named Migenix) and no longer exists as a separate entity. It is not known whether or not Migenix is still pursuing mitochondrial research, but Gene Solutions is unable to find any publications or statements to indicate the company’s involvement in this area.
Dr. Parker is currently a Professor of Pediatrics and head of Division of Pediatric Neurology at the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine at Peoria. In this capacity, Dr. Parker conducts both clinical efforts in the fields of Schizophrenia, Autism and other disorders, while being allowed to progress his research efforts in the sequencing of mitochondrial genomics in Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other CNS diseases.
David B. Patteson is currently President and CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Advion, Inc. a developer and supplier of ion sources and mass spectrometers for life science research. Prior to the sale of their CRO business to Quintiles, Inc. in November 2011, Patteson was also the CEO of Advion BioSciences, the largest North American Bioanalytical Contract Research Organization. Prior to Advion, Mr. Patteson served as CEO of Biotage, Inc., the largest global supplier of systems and consumables for pharmaceutical and biotech synthetic chemists. While at Biotage, Mr. Patteson grew revenues tenfold through a combination of organic means and acquisitions. Prior to Biotage he served as Corporate Vice President and General Manager for Siebe plc’s Field Measurement and Controls Division and was responsible for over $250M of business revenues, 1,200 employees and oversaw global operations. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Contravac, Inc., and the Advisory Board for Hemoshear, Inc., both biotechnology companies. He has served on the Boards of Corporate Advisors for Biotechnology, the University of Virginia’s Coulter Foundation for Translational Research, and as a Director on the Board for the University of Virginia Foundation, where he was Chairman of the Finance and Audit Committee. He holds degrees from the University of Richmond and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and completed a two-year, multi-national program in International Management co-managed with the Institute of Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Edward P. Connell, cofounder and CFO of Gene Solutions, was previously the President of Biotage, LLC, the North American subsidiary of Biotage AB, a publicly traded life science company based in Uppsala Sweden. He also served as a Corporate Officer two Biotage entities in the United States, and one in the United Kingdom. At Biotage Mr. Connell helped grow revenues by nearly 40% and improved operating results by $20 million over two years. He was also instrumental in negotiating and completing two acquisitions (one US/UK, one Switzerland), integrated the activities of six companies into three in the US, UK and Germany, and improved cash flow through tightened working capital management. Prior to Biotage he served as Divisional CFO for Technicolor Optical Media, a manufacturer and distributor of high tech consumer products. Prior to his time at Technicolor, Mr. Connell spent eighteen years with Hoechst Celanese Corporation (HCC), a diversified manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and advanced materials. During his career at HCC he held financial management positions in domestic and international assignments spanning manufacturing, corporate staff and commercialization of new businesses. Mr. Connell holds a degree in finance from Michigan State University. He is licensed as a Certified public Accountant in Virginia and North Carolina.
Susan Dana Jones, Ph.D. is currently Vice President and Senior Consultant with BioProcess Technology Consultants. She has more than 20 years of discovery, product development, and strategic planning experience in biotechnology. Dr. Jones's expertise spans the drug discovery and development spectrum, including antibody engineering, high-throughput discovery technologies, proteomics, gene therapy, and oncology. She co-founded two start-up biotechnology companies and has managed discovery and product development programs in multiple organizations and for multiple disease areas. Her current activities include managing outsourced biopharmaceutical process development activities for client product development programs, technical and medical evaluation of new product opportunities through physician interviews, literature review, and analysis, and evaluation of strategic options for expanding and utilizing existing product and technology platforms. Prior to joining BioProcess Technology Consultants, Dr. Jones was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Serenex, Inc, where she worked with other senior managers to complete a $15M Series B financing. She was previously Vice President of Product Development at Waratah Pharmaceuticals, where her responsibilities included management of outsourced product development and manufacturing activities for a combination protein and peptide therapeutic. As Vice President of Technology at Dyax Corp, she evaluated new technology and target acquisition opportunities, communicated Dyax technology and capabilities to investors and potential collaborators, and prepared documentation for public and private financing resulting in capital raises in excess of $100M. Before Dyax, Dr. Jones held research and development positions of increasing responsibility at Peptimed Inc., Virus Research Institute (now Avant Immunotherapeutics), and IntraImmune Therapies Inc. Dr. Jones received her Bachelor's degree from Harvard University, her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and performed post-doctoral research at the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard Medical School.
Brian Warrington PhD is a Consultant and Director at BB Consultants Ltd, a UK-based drug discovery technology consultancy, a business he established on retirement from VP Technology Development after a 40 year career in the pharmaceutical industry (SF&F, SB, GSK). Dr Warrington’s career in pharmaceutical discovery was initially as a medicinal chemist and he achieved notable success in several therapeutic areas. With increasing seniority his reach extended to the biological aspects of discovery and he served as a Program Director for multi- disciplinary teams seeking unforeseen drug leads for novel targets. This has included work with the Nobel Laureate Sir James Black on the discovery of H2-antagonists, seminal contributions to the original validation of phosphodiesterases and protein kinases as viable targets for drug intervention, leading the team that first demonstrated the utility of protein kinase inhibitors in the cancer field and in 1990 the first identification of PDE 5 inhibitors as potential treatments for male erectile dysfunction, four years in advance of the current market leader. The challenges of truly novel lead discovery (as opposed to screening existing compounds) led to a focus on the development of new technology for high speed integrated closed-loop discovery platforms and his pioneering work in this area has been recognized by The Association for Laboratory Automation Achievement Award (2000) and the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Millennium Silver Medal for Drug Discovery Methodologies. Dr Warrington has published more than 50 papers in the fields of medicinal chemistry, laboratory automation and microfluidic drug discovery and has given as many invited lectures on these subjects. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of London, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is a visiting professor at the University of Durham, U.K. In the commercial field, Dr. Warrington has driven the establishment of several companies in including several that now lead the field in ultra-small scale drug discovery technology.
James Oury was previously Co-founder, General Counsel, and Director of DNA Electronics Limited, which invented electronic sequencing on semi-conductors which were licensed to Ion Torrent Inc, subsequently Life Technologies Inc., and now Thermo Fisher.
As an equity partner in Oury Clark Chartered Accountants, established in 1935, James founded in 1997 Oury Clark Solicitors, a central London law practice.
James is a Director on the Boards of Inanovate Inc and Aptamer Group.
From 2004 to date James has worked with a number of start-up companies emanating from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College, Kings College and University College London.
James is a dual-qualified practicing solicitor and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a member of the International Bar Association.