Michael Burke
Chairman
Mr. Burke is the Chairman of SureGene and a Partner at the investment firm Paragon Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical investment firm that develops, builds, and manages innovative pharmaceutical companies. In 2009, he led an investor group who partnered with SureGene’s scientific team to expand the organization and begin commercialization of SureGene’s genetic discoveries. Most recently, Mr. Burke was the Chief Commercial Officer of Lundbeck Inc. following the acquisition by Lundbeck of Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. — a privately held pharmaceutical company. Mr. Burke was a member of the founding executive team at Ovation where he focused on sales, marketing, business development and assessment of acquisition targets. Ovation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was widely recognized for its success and received awards that included Frost & Sullivan’s 2009 North American Entrepreneurial Company of the Year, Scrip’s 2006 and 2007 Pharmaceutical Company of the Year for companies with revenues up to $5 billion, and the 2007 Chicago Innovation Awards. In 2008, he was named by Pharmaceutical Executive as one of their 45 under 45 Emerging Pharma Leaders.
Prior to Ovation, Mike spent eight years in the Pharmaceutical Products Division at Abbott Laboratories, where he served in various sales and marketing roles and managed specialty market and primary care product lines. He received his BA from Providence College and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Bill W. Massey, PhD
President and Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Massey is President and Chief Operating Officer of SureGene. He is an academic scientist and business professional with a proven track record of leadership success. He has twenty-two years experience in executive management, operations, basic research, clinical affairs, regulatory affairs and marketing, in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology-related industries. He has played a leadership role in the successful filing of 28 IND applications and 8 NDA applications. Dr. Massey is the inventor of over 200 new chemical entities designed as putative antipsychotic agents. Dr. Massey comes to SureGene from Vanderbilt University where he held the Jack Martin Research Professorship in Psychopharmacology and performed research on the biological basis for antipsychotic drug action in the laboratory of Dr. Herbert Y. Meltzer. Dr. Massey earned his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and his BS in Biology from the University of Central Arkansas and completed the undergraduate Zoology Program at the University of Arkansas.
Mark Brennan, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Brennan founded SureGene and developed its core technology and methodological approaches. He leads the company’s scientific programs and is a member of the board of directors. He has authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications, most of which deal with the genetics and molecular biology of naturally occurring regulatory variation in model organisms. Dr. Brennan has received numerous grants related to the genetics of psychiatric illnesses and pharmacogenomics. For over 15 years, he taught neurotransmitter biochemistry to medical students, and for 12 years, he was the primary lecturer in, and course director of, a graduate-level human genetics course at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. He is a cofounder of the Center for Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Louisville. As Chief Scientific Officer at SureGene, he brings a unique perspective to the study of neuropsychiatric illnesses in which statistical genetic approaches are combined with molecular and biochemical insight into the underlying biology. Dr. Brennan completed his postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology at the University of Utah. He earned his PhD in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Indiana University and his BA in Biology from Wabash College.
Tim Ramsey, MS, MBA
Vice President of Product Development
Mr. Ramsey straddles both the scientific and business operations at SureGene where he focuses on translating SureGene’s discoveries into commercial products and managing SureGene’s external partnerships. Mr. Ramsey is the primary inventor on several SureGene patents. He was the second employee at SureGene, joining Dr. Brennan in founding the company in 2005. Prior to joining SureGene, Mr. Ramsey was at Eli Lilly in the Neuroscience Discovery Group, where he was the interface between the finance, marketing, new product development, and R&D groups. During his tenure at Eli Lilly, he was an active member on all of their neuroscience drug development teams from discovery through the end phase II. He received his MBA from the University of Chicago and his MS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
Julie Deutschman
Vice President of Finance
Julie manages the accounting and finance function for SureGene. Prior to SureGene, Julie was with Ovation Pharmaceuticals as Director of Finance. Prior to Ovation she was with The Johnsson Group and worked as a Financial Consultant to numerous Fortune 500 Companies. She was with Abbott Laboratories in several roles including; Financial Planning Supervisor, International Accounting Supervisor, Research & Development Financial Planning, Cost Accounting and Internal Auditor. Julie started her finance career at KPMG and Coopers & Lybrand as an Audit Supervisor.