Management Team
 

The Adamas team is comprised of experienced industry veterans with a history of therapeutic innovation and a track record of commercial success.

Gregory Went, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman
Dr. Went, founding CEO and Chairman of Adamas Pharmaceuticals, has overseen the development of the company since its inception. Previously, Dr. Went co-founded CuraGen Corporation in 1992, where he served as an Executive Vice President and Director. Dr. Went serves on the Board of Directors of Tethys Bioscience and Angelica Therapeutics and is a Managing Director of Halteres Associates. Dr. Went received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of 20 papers and an inventor on more than 45 patents and patent applications.

Back to top »

Natalie McClure, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Product Development
Dr. McClure brings more than 30 years in pharmaceutical development with more than 20 years of regulatory affairs experience from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, where she has been instrumental in the success of numerous NDAs, MAAs, and INDs. Dr. McClure's professional experience includes leadership positions at Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Amgen SF LLC., Tularik, Intrabiotics Pharmaceuticals, Matrix Pharmaceuticals and Syntex Research. Dr. McClure is an active industry speaker on regulatory topics including industry/agency communications, clinical trial design and drug products quality. Dr. McClure earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Stanford University and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan.

Back to top »

Anthony M. Rimac
Chief Financial Officer & SVP – Corporate Development
Mr. Rimac joined Adamas in 2011 from Aerovance where he served as Chief Financial Officer. While at Aerovance he led the company through several equity and debt financings to further the development of the Company's lead therapeutic product. Prior to joining Aerovance Mr. Rimac served as Vice President - Finance at Artemis, where he led the sale of the Company to Johnson & Johnson in 2004 after the Company successfully launching several products. Mr. Rimac also spent several years as Vice President - Finance & Administration at Aesculap, Inc., a division of the B|Braun Group of Companies. Mr. Rimac holds a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University. Mr. Rimac is also a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) licensed in the State of California.

Back to top »

David Chernoff, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
David Chernoff, M.D. joined Adamas as Vice President of Medical Affairs in 2005 and serves as Chief Medical Officer. From 1990 to 2000, he served as Medical Director of Chiron Corporation/Chiron Diagnostics, playing a pivotal role in the development of assays for HIV, HCV, HBV, and CMV. Previously, he served at Elan as Vice President of Corporate Technology, where he led the evaluation of a broad range of in-licensing opportunities. He has been the acting Chief Medical Officer of several startup biotech companies and currently serves as Chief Medical Officer for Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Crescendo Bioscience, and Pulse Health LLC. He serves as Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Tobira Therapeutics, Inc. and is a Member of the Clinical Advisory Board at Inimex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Chernoff trained in internal medicine at UCSF and was Assistant Chief of Medicine. He has lectured broadly and has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Chernoff received a B.S. in Biology from Yale University, an M.D. from New York University, and his medical training in internal medicine, rheumatology, and infectious disease at UCSF.

Back to top »

Gayatri Sathyan, Ph.D.
VP Clinical Pharmacology
Dr. Gayatri Sathyan joined Adamas in January 2009 after working at ALZA Corporation for 14 years, including 9 years in leadership roles with increasing responsibility. At ALZA she was responsible for leading the clinical pharmacology activities in the development of drug delivery based products and new molecules. She made significant contributions to the successful regulatory approvals of several oral controlled release and transdermals products, such as Ditropan-XL®, Jurnista®, Invega®, Duragesic®, Ionsys® and Viadur®. Dr. Sathyan earned a Ph.D and M.S. in the Division of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery Systems, College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati. She is a coauthor of more than 32 papers and holds two patents.

Back to top »

Gopi Kurse
VP Quality Assurance
Gopi Kurse, joined Adamas as Vice President of Quality Assurance in May 2012. Mr. Kurse brings more than 21 years of experience in the bio-pharmaceutical industry working on various drug delivery platforms (Liquids & Creams, Oral controlled release, Transdermal, & Aseptic) with a proven track record in Quality Assurance and Manufacturing. Prior to joining Adamas, Mr. Kurse held several leadership positions in Quality and Manufacturing both in big and small pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Kurse was instrumental in launching several blockbuster products during his tenure at Alza & Ortho-McNeil (a division of Johnson & Johnson), managing responsibility in both Manufacturing and Quality. Prior to joining Adamas, Mr. Kurse was Executive Director, Quality Sciences at Jazz Pharmaceuticals starting early 2005. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Kurse was the Director of Quality at Johnson & Johnson (managing three sites in the Bay Area & a external manufacturing facility). His prior work experience includes managing several leadership positions in Manufacturing & Quality at Alza and Syntex pharmaceuticals. Mr. Kurse holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Pune University, India.

Back to top »

Jack Nguyen, Ph.D.
Sr. Director of Research
Dr. Nguyen joined Adamas in 2007 and is responsible for all research and non-clinical activities related to Adamas’ programs. Dr. Nguyen brings more than 10 years of pharmaceutical research and development experience, and is the author on more than 20 peer reviewed publications and an inventor on 14 patents. Prior to Adamas, Dr. Nguyen was a founder of Catalyst Biosciences, a company focused on re-engineering proteases as new therapeutic modality. Dr. Nguyen earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from UCSF and M.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley.

Back to top »

© 2013 Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc.