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.
Herbert Meltzer, MD
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Dr. Herbert Meltzer is the Bixler/May/Johnson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Pharmacology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where he is director of the Psychosis Program. He has received the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research, Efron Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the Gold Medal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, and numerous other awards for his research in schizophrenia and its treatment. Dr. Meltzer has been the president of the American (ACNP) and the International (CINP) Colleges of Neuropsychopharmacology. Areas of clinical expertise include schizophrenia, psychopharmacology, antipsychotic drug development, and cognition. His research interests include investigating the cognitive deficit in schizophrenia; identification of new antipsychotic drugs; studying the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs; genes conveying risk for schizophrenia; pharmacogenetics; pharmacoeconomics; and suicide prevention. Dr. Meltzer earned his MD at Yale University, his MA at Harvard University, and his BA at Cornell 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.
Brian Spear, PhD
Vice President of Development
After a successful 20-year career, Dr. Spear retired from Abbott Laboratories and joined SureGene as Vice President of Development on a part-time basis. While at Abbott Laboratories, Dr. Spear held numerous scientific management positions including Director of Technology Assessment and Acquisition for the Abbott Diagnostic Division where he evaluated over 1,000 opportunities and licensed over 20 per year, and led teams that licensed core molecular diagnostic technologies. He also served as Director of Genomic and Proteomic Technologies, and Director of Scientific Affairs for Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development. In addition to being Abbott’s internal scientific leader in pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, Dr. Spear worked closely with regulators both in the US and Europe to expand the utility of genomic analysis in drug development and regulation. Dr. Spear received his PhD and MPhil from Yale University and an AB from Amherst College.
Ronald A Salerno, MS, PhD
Dr. Salerno has 21 years of experience in Regulatory Affairs. He joined the Biologics Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) as a Senior Consultant in February 2008. SureGene has an agreement with BCG and Dr. Salerno that Dr. Salerno will manage SureGene’s regulatory filings. He has provided regulatory advice and submissions support to clients developing DNA, viral, and bacterial vaccines, oncology drugs, biologics, and pharmacogenomics (drugs and IVD diagnostics). Prior to BCG, Dr. Salerno was the Regulatory Liaison for Wyeth’s Translational Medicine Research (2001-2006), using pharmacogenomic biomarkers that are predictive of drug response and/or are new targets for discovery research. Prior to joining Wyeth, Dr. Salerno was employed by Merck & Co. for 28 years and contributed significantly to Merck’s vaccine products while holding various research and manufacturing positions. Prior to Merck, Dr. Salerno worked in the field of viral-chemical oncology for NCI-sponsored contracts. He earned a BA from St. Vincent College, an MS from Villanova University, and an MS and PhD from the University of Maryland in the Biological Sciences.
Qian Liu, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Dr. Liu joined SureGene in 2010 and is a Senior Research Scientist in the Bioinformatics group. Dr. Liu has a PhD in Molecular Biology and an MS in Statistics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her graduate work focused on studying the pathogenesis of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), the most common genetic disease of skeletal muscle. Dr. Liu has extensive bioinformatics experience including analysis of expression and tiling arrays to identify genes that are involved in pathogenesis.
Saranya Padmanabhan
Research Scientist
Ms. Padmanabhan joined SureGene in 2010 and is a key member of the bioinformatics group. Ms. Padmanabhan holds an MS in Bioinformatics from George Mason University and a BS in Bioinformatics from Vellore Institute of Technology University, India. In addition to bioinformatics analysis, she is also involved in database management work at SureGene.
Maidar Jamba
Laboratory Director
Mr. Jamba came to SureGene from the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute – Frederick, where he worked as a research associate studying host genetic response to viral diseases. He has a BS in Genetics from the Kharkov National University, Ukraine, and postgraduate training in Genetics at Pennsylvania State University. He has been actively involved in population genetics and complex genetic disease research for the last 15 years.
Calvin Patrick
Senior Software Developer
Mr. Patrick has been with SureGene since 2007, and has been a valuable part of the team. He has been involved with several projects at SureGene and has been the chief architect of different software tools developed at SureGene. He has an Associate degree in Computer Science from Indiana University Southeast. Prior to starting at SureGene, he interned as a programmer at United Parcel Service, Louisville Headquarters, from August 2005 to August 2006.