Advisory Board Members

David J. Aldous, Ph.D.

Head of LGCR Small Molecular Research and Pre-development

Sanofi Pharmaceutical

Dr. Aldous is an experienced R&D Leader with expertise in directing multidisciplinary drug discovery programs that have progressed multiple candidates into preclinical and human studies.  He has developed, managed and mentored project leaders across diverse cultures, countries and scientific disciplines in the advancement of over 30 drug candidates into clinical development.  He is a recognized expert in medicinal chemistry with therapeutic area expertise in antivirals, inflammation (asthma, COPD, RA), pain and CNS.  

Dr. Aldous is currently the Head of LGCR small molecular research and pre-development at Sanofi Pharmaceutical in Boston, MA.  Previously, he has served as the Global Head of Molecular Innovative Therapeutics, Exploratory Internal Medicine Site Head and Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Sanofi-Aventis.  Dr. Aldous received his Doctor of Philosophy in Oxford University, England.

Lauren Celano, MBA

CO-founder and CEO

Propel Careers

Lauren Celano is the Co-founder and CEO of Propel Careers, a life science search and career development firm focused on connecting talented individuals with entrepreneurial innovative life sciences companies.  Lauren is very passionate about working with individuals with strong scientific backgrounds to find exciting growth opportunities in the life sciences and related industries. Lauren co-founded Propel Careers in 2009 and since then, has worked with thousands of students, postdocs, medical residents and professionals to help advance their careers. Before Propel, she spent about 10 years in the life sciences industry working with companies to advance drug molecules through SNBL USA, Aptuit, Quintiles, and Absorption Systems. She has a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Gettysburg College and an MBA with a focus in the health sector and entrepreneurship from Boston University.  Lauren is on the Board of MassBioEd, the Advisory Board of the Boston University School of Public Health Pharmaceuticals Program, the advisory board of the Framingham State University professional science masters program, and the Advisory board for Endicott College Boston. She also serves on the Gettysburg College Entrepreneurial Fellowship Advisory Council and the programming committee of the Capital Network.

Thomas Colarusso

CEO & co-founder

Bio-AI Health

Thomas Colarusso Co-founder & CEO for Bio-AI Health Inc.   A veteran business executive with over 25 years’ experience who has a proven track record in developing life sciences and diagnostics businesses.   He has held commercial leadership positions at leading AI Pathology & Diagnostic developer companies and has successfully developed strategic partnerships with Biopharma across US and Europe to support translational research, clinical development and companion diagnostics.  Thomas has also developed Tissue Diagnostics business and helped to bring novel AI pathology based tests into Clinical Labs (CLIA) in US to support routine diagnostic testing for Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer and Colon Cancer.  He was a former member of the Definiens leadership team who helped to orchestrate merger and acquisition of the company to Medimmune AstraZeneca.  Thomas holds a BS degree in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire at Durham, NH.

 

 

Norman Garceau, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer

Blue Sky BioSciences

Dr. Norman Garceau is the Chief Scientific Officer at Blue Sky BioServices and is responsible for overseeing all science-related activities and for ensuring that scientific excellence is at the forefront of the company. Prior to joining Blue Sky, Dr. Garceau was employed at Pfizer Global Research and Development where he served in a variety of roles in spanning molecular and cellular biology, protein production, and small molecule discovery. Dr. Garceau earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Dartmouth Medical School where he studied the molecular basis of circadian rhythmicity in Neurospora crassa. Subsequently, he pursued postdoctoral research at Pfizer & Dartmouth Medical School studying the molecular basis of signal transduction for members of the TNF receptor family.

Sy Pretorius, M.D., M.S., M.B.A.

Corporate Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer

PAREXEL

Sy Pretorius is the Chief Scientific Officer at PAREXEL and has been with PAREXEL for the past twenty years in a variety of roles and countries. On a day-to-day basis, Sy collaborates closely with biopharmaceutical and medical device clients in designing and optimizing drug / device development strategies and plans, as well as finding, evaluating and purchasing assets. As a member of the PAREXEL Executive Committee, Sy is responsible for the overall leadership of a number of PAREXEL business units – these include our Global Early Phase business (responsible for Phase I and II clinical development), Global Medical Services (therapeutic area expertize, global medical writing and pharmacovigilance operations), Quantitative Clinical Development (modeling and simulation), as well as the Genomic medicine unit. Sy is absolutely passionate about drug development and leads several company-wide forums and initiatives focused on clinical trial innovation and further expanding PAREXEL’s capabilities and service offering. Sy is a Medical Doctor (M.B.,Ch.B) with Masters degrees in Clinical Pharmacology (M.Med.Sc), Business Administration (MBA) and, most recently in the Management of Drug Development (MS) from the University of Southern California (USC). Sy has and continues to publish and present extensively.

Dan Rao

Managing Partner at DRP Associates

Board Member EDIC

Summary: a seasoned operations professional with over 20 years of experience, Dan Rao brings a wealth of expertise in retail, catalog and e-commerce. He has met the unique challenges of start-up, turnaround and high-growth companies. Never working in what would be considered a status quo organization, Dan has delivered measurable financial improvements by providing creative, tactical and strategic leadership and direction.

 

Dan’s experience includes a distinguished 15 plus years with the TJX Companies, where he was part of the leadership team that grew TJ Maxx from start-up to the leading off-price retailer in the USA, with over $3 billion in revenues. Having started as Manager responsible for distribution operations, Dan rose to Senior VP responsible for Merchandise Planning, Financial Planning & Analysis and Distribution Logistics including Transportation and Engineering. Dan was also part of the leadership team that established international expansions into Canada and the United Kingdom.

 

After TJX, Dan became President and CEO of Chadwick’s of Boston, the nation’s largest off-price catalog retailer, where he turned around the business to profits and growth within six months. Under his leadership the business grew profitably, from $400M in revenues to $600M.  He developed new business divisions, reduced expenses, introduced new technology and ushered-in the Internet era both for revenues and to improve back-room efficiencies and customer service. The Yankee Group rated the Chadwick’s of Boston website among the top.

 

After Chadwick’s, Dan started and continues to help ‘businesses of various sizes get to the next level’ by successfully employing growth and turnaround strategies, as needed. Included in this was a turnaround stint as President at EGI Industries, of New Hartford, CT and President and CEO of OptHome, a start-up, where Dan led the company’s initial capital raise of $10M.

 

Currently, Dan is Managing Partner at DRP Associates. He is also a Board Member of Framingham’s EDIC (Economic Development Industrial Corp.). For the past 5 plus years Dan was also an elected Town Meeting Member in Framingham.

 

Dan has a M.S. in Management and Industrial Engineering and a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

 

Patrick Shum, Ph.D.

Principle Scientist

Sanofi-Aventis SA

Patrick Shum received his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, Canada.  He moved to the United States and received his Ph.D. under the direction of Professor Donald E. Bergstrom at the University of North Dakota. After a short stay at a biotechnology company, he joined Professor Alan P. Kozikowski at the University of Pittsburgh and Mayo Clinics as a postdoctoral fellow. He started his independent career at Marion Merrell Dow in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1991. Through a series of mergers and transfers, he is now at Sanofi, US in Boston. He took sabbatical leaves to be a visiting scientist at Lepetit Research Center in Gerenzano, Italy in 1995 and Selectide (Marion Merrell Dow Combinatorial Research Center) in Tucson, Arizona in 1997.  He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester since 2014.

Steven Theroux, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

Assumption College

Professor Theroux joined Assumption College in 1992 to teach in the College’s biotechnology program, and while at Assumption he has taught numerous courses including Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Biotechnology and the Biology of Cancer.  In addition, he has co-taught a philosophy course that explores the relationship between science and philosophy.  Since 1998, Professor Theroux has also taught at the Harvard Summer School, where he offers courses in Genetics and the Biology of Cancer.  

After arriving at Assumption College, Professor Theroux developed an NIH-funded research program to investigate signal transduction in cancer cells.  He is also interested in the philosophical implications of advances in science.  

During his tenure as Health Professions Advisor and chair of the Natural Science Department, Professor Theroux helped to develop a major in Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, a major in Biology with a Concentration in Neuroscience and Behavior, a major in Environmental Science with a Concentration in Environmental Policy, an ACS accredited program in Chemistry, a Concentration in Physical and Occupational Therapy, and a minor in Physics.  He also helped to develop the College’s health professions program and more than a dozen collaborative programs with other institutions in biotechnology, engineering, law, health science and environmental science.  

Professor Theroux received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and he completed post-doctoral studies with Samuel Wadsworth at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology.  Professor Theroux was also a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the laboratory of Roger Davis in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  


Katherine A. Tsokas, J.D.

Vice President Regulatory, Quality, Risk Management and Drug Safety

Janssen Canada

Katherine has 30 years of progressive global regulatory experience in small and large sized Pharma companies.  She has worked on products at various stages of development, from early through to filing, approval, and commercialization.

Katherine is the Vice President Regulatory, Quality, Risk Management and Drug Safety for Janssen Canada. As part of the Janssen Canada Leadership Team, she is responsible for the Janssen Canada Regulatory strategy, including leadership oversight for Drug Safety, Risk Management and Business Quality. In this role she works closely with the Janssen North American organization and assures Janssen as a key partner with Health Canada and external trade associations.

Previously, Katherine was the Janssen Regulatory Head of Regenerative Medicine & Advanced Therapy (RMAT). In this role, she ensured global regulatory policy strategies contributed to and supported development plans for RMAT products across several therapeutic areas and facilitated J&J enterprise wide efforts to enhance awareness and connectivity for the development of processes that enable assessing, partnering, and developing safe and effective advanced therapies globally. She also headed the Global Regulatory Affairs (GRA) Data Science team focused on the use of Data Science in regulatory decision making and represented GRA on cross-functional Leadership teams.

Katherine continues to hold external RMAT leadership roles as Co-chair of the National Academy Science Engineering Medicine Regenerative Medicine Forum, and Advanced Therapy Industry Liaison of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Regulatory Harmonization Steering Committee. Additionally, Katherine is an adjunct professor at Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science teaching Introduction to Global Regulatory Affairs. She received her Bachelor of Science Biology from Temple University, Juris Doctorate from Widener University Law School, and is admitted to the practice of law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Keith Watling
Keith Watling, Ph.D.

Site Director, Applied Markets Business Unit

Sigma-Aldrich

Keith received his undergraduate degree in Physiology and Biochemistry from the University of Southampton in England, followed by a PhD in Neuropharmacology. Following periods of postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge, England and Harvard University in Boston, Keith embarked upon a career in neuroscience drug discovery, working initially for Merck, Sharp and Dohme, and then Parke-Davis, at research centers established by both companies in England in the early 1980s. In 1994, he moved to the United States to take up a position as Director of New Product Development with Research Biochemicals International, a small Massachusetts company that specialized in providing innovative neurochemicals for use as research tools by the neuroscience research community. In 1997, RBI was purchased by Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a major life science and high technology company. Since 2000, Keith has held leadership positions in a variety of areas within Sigma-Aldrich, including strategic marketing, operations and business development. He is currently Site Director at Sigma-Aldrich, Natick where he oversees the production of a range of bioactive small molecules used in both life science research, and diagnostics and testing.