Scientific Advisory Board

Eugene Butcher, M.D.
Dr. Butcher is a Professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University, and a staff physician at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. He received a B.S. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.D. from the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. His work has focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of leukocyte trafficking in immunity and inflammation, and on systems level insights into mechanisms of cell-cell recognition and function.

He has been elected to the American Association of Physicians, and has been awarded the Warner Lambert/Parke Davis Award by the American Association of Pathologists, the AAI-Huang Foundation Meritorious Career Award by the American Association of Immunologists, and an Outstanding Inventor Award from Stanford University. He received the Crafoord Prize from the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2004 for the scientific discovery of mechanisms of leukocyte trafficking contributing to the treatment of arthritis and inflammatory diseases. He is the author of 300 scientific articles and an inventor on nine US patents.

Dr. Butcher is the co-founder and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of BioSeek. He was Scientific Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Leukosite, Inc. (now merged with Millennium Pharmaceuticals) and has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Millennium, Medimmune, and Thios Pharmaceuticals.

Charles A. Dinarello, MD
Dr. Dinarello is Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. Until 1996, he was Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and a staff physician at the New England Medical Center Hospital in Boston. Dr. Dinarello received his medical degree from Yale University and clinical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital. From 1971-74, he was a clinical associate and from 1975-77, a senior investigator at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. Dr. Dinarello serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals and has published over 500 original research articles and 250 reviews and book chapters on cytokines, particularly on Interleukin-1 and related cytokines. He has trained over 30 investigators, many of whom are now recognized experts in their fields. The Institute for Scientific Information listed Dr. Dinarello as the world's 4th most-cited scientist during the 20 years 1983- 2002.

In 1998, Dr. Dinarello was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences and is presently serving on the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served on the AIDS Program Advisory Council of the NIH and the Scientific Board of Advisors of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH). He serves on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the Alliance for Lupus Research, the Board of Governors of the Weizmann Institute (Israel) and of the Board of Governors of the Ben Gurion University (Israel). He is the past-Vice President of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and was President of the International Cytokine Society (1995-1996). The recipient of several awards and prizes for his contributions to the field of cytokines, he received Germany's prestigious Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine in 1993. In 1996, he received theLudwig Heilmeyer Gold Medal from the Heilmeyer Society of Internal Medicine for his contributions to progress in cytokines in medicine and in 2002, he received the International Chirone Prize from the Italian National Academy of Medicine.

In 2009, he was awarded the Crafoord Prize from Swedish Academy of Sciences for discovery of IL-1. He was also the 2009 winner of the Albany Prize in biomedical research for the establishment of the Cytokine Field. Dr. Dinarello has advised many firms including Amgen, Berlex, OrthoLogic Globeimmune, Genexion, Senesco, and Techne. He was recently named acting CEO of Omni Bio Pharmaceutical.

Michael Gresser, PhD 
Mike Gresser received his Ph.D in Biochemistry in 1976 from Brandeis University, where his thesis research was done under the supervision of W.P. Jencks on the mechanism of ester aminolysis. He did postdoctoral studies at the Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA on the mitochondrial and chloroplast proton translocating ATP synthases, under the supervision of Paul D. Boyer. 

In 1980 Mike joined the Department of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, and progressed through the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor of Chemistry. While there Mike received the Excellence in Teaching Award, and did research on the biochemistry of Vanadium V, and on the mitochondrial ATPase. 

In 1988 Mike joined the Merck Frosst Center for Therapeutic Research in Kirkland, Quebec as Director of Biochemistry. Over the next twelve years Mike progressed through the ranks of Senior Director, then Executive Director of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Mike's team worked on a variety of small molecule drug discovery programs, resulting in the introduction of numerous molecules into clinical trials. Two of these molecules, Singulair and Vioxx, became products.

In 2000 Mike joined Amgen Inc. in Thousand Oaks, California, as Vice President Research for Inflammation, where he remained until April, 2006. For two years Mike served as Head of Neuroscience Research as well as Inflammation Research. Mike's team at Amgen worked on many molecular targets, introducing numerous small molecules, human antibodies, and other proteins into development.

Currently Mike is a Visiting Scholar at the Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA, and works as a consultant with Clarity Therapeutics Consulting.

John D. Mountz, PhD, MD
Dr. Mountz is currently the J. W. & Virginia Goodwin-Warren D. Blackburn, Jr. Research Chair in Rheumatology and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has been on the faculty at UAB since 1987, where he is also a Professor in Cellular & Molecular Biology, Department of Microbiology.  Since 1987, he has held an appointment at the Birmingham Veteran’s Administration Medical Center. Dr. Mountz received his PhD in Physics from Michigan State University and his medical degree from Ohio State University. He completed sub fellowships in rheumatology and internal medicine including a six year fellowship at the NIH, National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Dr. Mountz is internationally recognized for his contributions in describing T cell function and their roles in the development of autoreactivity and aging. His research has focused on the understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of autoimmune diseases using several strains of mice with an emphasis on the lpr (lymphoproliferative) strain. The lpr gene was simultaneously first identified in 1992 by Dr. Mountz and another investigator in Japan as a mutant form of the fas apoptosis gene.

Dr. Mountz has additional responsibilities at UAB including director for the Rheumatic Diseases Core Center, and leadership roles in the Center for Aging, Metabolic Bone Diseases Center, and the Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has past and present roles on several editorial boards including the Journal of Gene Therapy and Arthritis & Rheumatism and has been on review committees at the Arthritis Foundation and the Alliance for Lupus Research. Dr. Mountz has been a consulting scientist for numerous companies in autoimmune disease including MMD, Wyeth, Amgen, Schering, and Daiichi-Sankyo. He received the prestigious Max D. Cooper Award for Excellence in Research at UAB in 2003, and was named one of 50 Arthritis Foundation “Heroes” to make outstanding contributions to Rheumatology over the past 50 years.

David A. Norris. MD
Dr. Norris is Professor of Medicine and Chairman at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology. He has been a professor at the University of Colorado since 1977, rising to department chair in 2001. He is past director of the Mycosis Fungoides Clinic and the phototherapy unit. From 1989–2002, he was Chief of Dermatology Services, Denver Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital. He received his medical degree from Duke University, followed by sub fellowships in hematology and oncology. He interned at Ohio State University and did his Dermatology Residency at the University of Colorado. His work has focused on immunodermatology, melanocyte biology, melanoma, apoptosis in cutaneous biology, and alopecia areata.

Dr. Norris is past President of the Society of Investigative Dermatology and has served on scientific review committees for the Psoriasis Foundation and the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. He was a member of the NIAMS Special Study Section from 1989-1994. He has been director of the NIAMS funded yearly Symposium on the Biology of Skin since 1992.
He has recently opened new clinics at the Anschulz Cancer Center for an NIAMS-funded Alopecia Areata Registry, a Vitiligo Repigmenttation clinic and a Pemphigus IVIG study.