SwanBio is now part of Spur Therapeutics.

Christopher ‘Topher’ M. Brooke has nearly two decades of healthcare industry experience, a passion for science and patients, and a strong track record of delivering results and developing teams. Topher joined SwanBio as Chief Operating Officer after holding the same position at Aytu Biopharma, where he led the research, development, manufacturing, supply chain, regulatory, quality, corporate strategy, and medical affairs functions.

Topher joined Aytu originally as Executive Vice President, Rare Disease Development, after the acquisition of Rumpus Therapeutics, a company he founded which was focused on rare pediatric diseases with no approved therapies

Topher began his career in the immunology franchise at Centocor / J&J and went on to hold various positions at MedImmune / AstraZeneca, including Vice President, Global Franchise Head and Vice President, Global Strategic Marketing. He eventually served as the Vice President of US Diabetes Business Unit, before leaving AZ to become Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Development at Cencora.

Topher is a member of the board of advisors of Life Science Cares Philadelphia. He received his MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University.

Karen Kozarsky has 25+ years of experience in gene therapy, with a primary focus on the development of therapies for inherited rare diseases, utilizing adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. Karen has deep experience evaluating potential therapeutic opportunities, identifying new areas, and developing products from the earliest preclinical stages through IND.

She has been involved in the development of multiple gene therapy products that are in clinical trials. Previously, Karen was President of Vector BioPartners, Vice President of R&D at REGENXBIO Inc., and Head, Gene Therapy in the GlaxoSmithKline Biopharmaceutical Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery. Prior to that, she was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Institute for Human Gene Therapy, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Michigan in gene therapy and in immunology.

Karen was named by the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine as the first co-Chair of the Gene Therapy Section to support policies to advance novel gene therapies, and has been a committee member for the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. She received a PhD in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in biology from Amherst College.

Dave Weiner has over 25 years of experience in the discovery and clinical development of novel therapeutics for neurological and rare diseases.

His most recent experiences include serving as Founder of Bend Therapeutics, CMO of Therini Bio, and VP of Discovery Research at Eleusis Therapeutics. His career has also included tenures as the CEO of Amathus Therapeutics, CMO and Interim CEO for Proteostasis Therapeutics, and CMO at both aTyrPharma and Lumos Pharma.

Dave started his career at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, where, over a ten-year period, he held a series of discovery research and clinical development roles working on multiple CNS therapeutics, most notably pimavanserin which is approved for the treatment of Parkinson's disease psychosis. He subsequently joined EMD Serono in a late clinical development role, ultimately leading early clinical development activities in neurology, globally.

Dave received his MD from the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, SUNY at Buffalo, was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar at the NIH in Bethesda, trained in clinical neurology at New York Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Cornell Medical Center, and did a post-doctoral fellowship in neuropharmacology at the University of Vermont. Dave has authored over 30 scientific publications and patents and serves on multiple company clinical and scientific advisory boards, including the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Michael Alexander has 27+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry providing legal guidance and strategic business advice in support of global research and development, business development and licensing, and various intellectual property matters.

Previously, Mike was the Vice President & General Counsel of the R&D Division for Sanofi US. Prior to that, he was an Assistant General Counsel – Intellectual Property for Sanofi US.

Mike is a registered patent attorney and received a PhD in organic / medicinal chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University and a BS in chemistry from St. Lawrence University.

Carolyn M. Carroll brings to SwanBio more than 20 years of experience in organizational leadership and cultural development as well as human resources expertise in healthcare, global pharmaceutical, and biotech industries. In her current role, Carolyn serves as the architect of people and culture initiatives, focused on preparing the company for the next phases of growth.

She is a passionate strategist focused on positioning the company for near-term and future success from a science, business, and people perspective. SwanBio relies on Carolyn’s ability to be an innovative and practical problem solver and ensure employees collaborate in concert with a strong leadership team.

Prior to joining SwanBio, Carolyn held several senior leadership positions in both organizational development and HR for the transnational R&D business of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. Most recently, she created and led her own organization development and HR consulting business, specializing in providing innovative HR and organizational development solutions to small and mid-size companies. Carolyn is well-versed in all phases of a company’s development.

Carolyn’s educational background includes a BS in human resource management and business strategy from Temple University and master’s work in Human Organizational Sciences at Villanova University. Additionally, she holds certificates in MBTI, High Performance Team diagnostics, and Neuro Linguistic executive coaching, and is a certified executive coach.

Carolyn serves as a board member for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bucks County and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.

Janet Ogden brings more than 25 years of combined experience in drug discovery, translational research & medicine, clinical development, and integrated global program leadership in biotech and pharma focused primarily on oncology and gene therapy. She also has extensive leadership experience in implementing change management initiatives to support the betterment of R&D.

In her previous roles, Janet joined EMD Serono to become the Head of Oncology Translational Research and in 2012, became Senior Director, Global Development Program Leader for a large oncology clinical development program which included a joint development partnership with Sanofi. In early 2015, Janet joined Baxalta as a Senior Director, Global Development Program Leader, responsible for a late-stage oncology development program run in collaboration with CTI Biopharma.

Based on her experiences as a cross-functional global program leader, in working with alliance partners and with implementing change management initiatives within R&D, Janet co-founded SYNOV Solutions in 2016, a boutique consulting group that partners with pharmaceutical and rapidly growing biotech companies to create high performing drug development teams and organizations, ultimately leading to faster access to medicines for patients in need.

Janet received a PhD in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and BS in Biochemistry from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Following her post-doctoral fellowship at the Upjohn Company, she joined Berlex Biosciences in 1996 to become a Senior Research Scientist, managing and leading cardiovascular and oncology drug discovery programs.