Executive Officers and Directors

Justin Murdock | Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Murdock is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board of NovaRx. He is also senior vice president of investments for both Castle & Cooke and the Dole Food Company. He serves on the executive boards of both companies, as well as their audit and finance committees.

Habib Fakhrai, Ph.D. | Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Fakhrai is the co-founder of NovaRx, Executive Vice Chairman of the Board, Chief Scientific Officer, and is the inventor of the Company's core technology. Dr. Fakhrai was the first in the world to recognize the importance of blocking immunosuppression in cancer vaccine therapy. He was also the lead scientist in treating a glioma patient for the first time in the world with immunogene therapy.  He has held leadership positions in gene therapy research at the UCLA School of Medicine, and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, among other leading centers. Fakhrai is currently on the board of editors of Cancer Gene Therapy. He received his doctorate degrees in human genetics from Michigan State University.

Edward Bjurstrom | Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations
Mr. Bjurstrom’s 25 years of experience in the bio-pharmaceutical industry include broad involvement in all aspects of process operations, manufacturing, quality, engineering, and capital projects across multiple global sites. Mr. Bjurstrom founded Cross Tech Consulting, which served clients such as Trinity Therapeutics, Inc. and Abgenix, Inc. Prior to Cross Tech Consulting, Mr. Bjurstrom spent 18 years at Amgen, where he held a variety of senior leadership roles including Vice President of Manufacturing, Vice President of Corporate Engineering and Capital Projects, and Vice President of Operations. Mr. Bjurstrom serves on the Board of Directors of the AMFA Foundation and is US Chairman of the International Leadership Forum.

Daniel Shawler | Senior Vice President of Operations
Mr. Shawler is co-developer of the company’s technology. He is an immunologist and biologist with more than 25 years of experience in clinical investigation. He is listed as an author on more than 50 scientific papers relating to cancer therapy, and has held research positions at institutions such as the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Scripps Research Institute, and UCSD. Mr. Shawler is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Society of Gene Therapy.

Steve Moses | Vice President of Technical Operations
Mr. Moses brings to NovaRx more than 25 years of research, operations, quality assurance, and regulatory affairs experience in the pharmaceutical biopharmaceutical and medical devices industries. Mr. Moses is also founder and Managing Director of BioService Solutions, a process and facilities design and validation service provider for the biotech and medical device industries. He has previously held senior-level positions at the Diagnostic Products Corporation, Medical Biology Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center, City Of Dallas Water Utilities Department, and Viagene, Inc. (later The Chiron Technologies Center for Gene Therapy). Mr. Moses graduated from San Diego State University with a BS degree in Microbiology/Molecular Biology.

Terry Chamberlin | Director of Clinical Affairs
Mrs. Chamberlin joined NovaRx eight years ago as Director of Clinical Affairs. She has more than 11 years of experience in clinical research as an administrator and clinical monitor. She earned designation as a Certified Clinical Research Associate and is a member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. In her position at NovaRx, Chamberlin oversees clinical and regulatory functions including study metrics, monitoring, case report form design, and Phase II and III protocols for submission to regulatory agencies and the Institutional Review Board.

Linda Bergen | Director of Human Resources and Administration
Mrs. Bergen has been involved in cancer research and development for more than 20 years, working in administration, human resources, operations, and grant management. Early in her career, Bergen worked at UCSD Cancer Center, transferring thereafter to Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center as its first employee. She worked closely with several start-ups through the UCSD CONNECT program. In the for-profit sector, Bergen managed human relations at Pentech Energy Solutions, and GeneOhm.

Jay Sorensen | Director of Manufacturing
Mr. Sorensen is the Director of Manufacturing for NovaRx and brings more than 20 years of experience in Research and Development and Manufacturing according to current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) of human therapeutics. Prior to joining NovaRx, Mr. Sorensen was the Manager of the Manufacturing Sciences and the Technical Support Departments at Genentech, Inc. He was responsible for pre-process validation studies and risk assessments for equipment at Genentech’s newest commercial manufacturing facility. In addition, he was responsible for leading major investigations for production discrepancies. Previously, Mr. Sorensen has held management positions at Biogen-Idec, Genstar Therapeutics, Chiron Corporation., Applied Molecular Evolution, and Cytel Corporation. Mr. Sorensen is a graduate from the University of California San Diego.

Carissa Schumacher | Director of Corporate Development and Clinical Relations
Ms. Schumacher is NovaRx’s Director of Corporate Development, and serves the same role at Castle & Cooke. She is also currently Managing Director of the Real Medicine Foundation. She is a recognized strategic planning consultant in the healthcare industries focused on biotechnology, biomedical venture capital, and medical nonprofit organizational development. She has served as Principal to Infostrategies Consulting, and to Medaetas Ventures, a fund focused on cancer prevention research and initiatives. Previously, she worked in the Business Development and Public Affairs at Biogen idec. Schumacher earned a BS at Brown University, and attended the graduate program at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands, where she studied International Economics and Business.

Patricia Creighton | Head of Regulatory Affairs
Mrs. Creighton is NovaRx’s Head of Regulatory Affairs, bringing 11 years of drug development experience with her to the post. She has worked for big pharma including Pfizer, PPD, Sanofi-Aventis, Wyeth, and Amylin Pharmaceuticals. In roles of increasing responsibility, she has led various product development teams through all phases of drug development from investigational new drug applications to product licensure.

Justin Murdock is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Board of NovaRx.

Dr. Habib Fakhrai is the co-founder of NovaRx, Executive Vice Chairman of the Board, Chief Scientific Officer, and is the inventor of the Company's core technology.

David H. Murdock is on the NovaRx Board of Directors. He is Chairman and owner of the Dole Food Company, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, and Chairman, CEO, and owner of Castle & Cooke, Inc., both of which were listed on the New York Stock Exchange before being privatized by Mr. Murdock. Dole Food Company, Inc. is the world’s largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and fresh-cut flowers.

Dole markets a growing line of packaged and frozen foods and is a produce industry leader in nutrition education and research. Castle & Cooke’s business activities include the development and ownership of real estate, leasing of transportation equipment, operating dry and refrigerated warehouse facilities and manufacture of building materials such as brick, ready mix and rock. His combined companies employ more than 68,000 people in over 90 countries and rank as one of the largest privately held entities in America. Mr. Murdock also owns various manufacturing and processing plants, office, retail, hotel, resort and industrial projects throughout the world. Through Flexi-Van Leasing, he is the second largest lessor of chassis in the nation. In the United States, major master-planned residential communities are under development in California, Florida, Hawaii (Hawaii’s largest homebuilder), North Carolina and Arizona.

Mr. Murdock established the Dole Nutrition Institute which focuses on education and research relative to the potential benefits of a plant-based diet in promoting good health and preventing disease. A wellness center was recently built across the street from Dole’s worldwide headquarters in Westlake Village, California. The 769,600 square foot complex includes a Four Seasons Hotel, the California Health and Longevity Institute, and a healthy lifestyle teaching center. Currently under construction near Charlotte is the North Carolina Research Campus, a high-tech life science research center dedicated to the betterment of the world’s health and nutrition.

Emmet O’Neal III is NovaRx’s co-founder and on the Board of Directors for the Company. Mr. O’Neal works as a private investor in Birmingham, Alabama and is actively involved with several other companies in addition to NovaRx. From 1985 to 1994, Mr. O’Neal served as the Chief Executive Officer of O’Neal Steel, Inc., a family-owned metal services center. At the time Mr. O’Neal left the company in 1994, O’Neal Steel was one of the largest privately-held metal services centers in the world. From 1985 until 1989, he served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer after having originally joined the company in 1975 following his graduation from law school. Mr. O’Neal received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina and his J.D. from the University of Alabama.

Andrew Conrad, Ph.D. is on the NovaRx Board of Directors and serves as Chief Scientific Officer to the National Genetics Institute, Global Director of Esoteric Clinical Trials Service for Labcorp, and Chief Scientific Officer to both Castle & Cooke and the Dole Food Company, Inc. To date, the primary focus of his research has been on the effects and manifestations of chronic viral illnesses as measured by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In addition, he has begun to explore the role of gene expression in cancer. This work is conducted in one of the largest PCR laboratories in the world, the National Genetics Institute, which performs over three million PCR reactions per year.

Alexander M.M. Eggermont, M.D., Ph.D. is clinical consultant to NovaRx. He is a Full Professor of Surgical Oncology and Head of the Department of Surgical Oncology at the Erasmus University Medical Centre - Daniel den Hoed Cancer Centre in Rotterdam. He holds the Chair of Experimental Surgical Oncology endowed by the Dutch Cancer Society and the 'Joseph Maisin Chair' for Surgical Oncology at the University of Leuven in Belgium. Prof Eggermont is past President of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and chairs the Committee on Adjuvant Treatment Strategies of the EORTC-Melanoma Group. Elected to the 2005-2008 Board of ASCO (Surgical Oncology Seat), Prof Eggermont is past Chairman on the International Affairs committee of ASCO, and serves on the JCO Editorial Board, the AACR Centennial Committee, International affairs committee and the Tumor Immunology task Force. He is author and co-author of more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and monographs.

Steven Dubinett, M.D. is clinical and medical advisor to NovaRx. He is the Chief of Clinical Immunology and Allergy and Pulmonary at the University of Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, as well as Head of Critical Care Medicine. He is Director of UCLA’s Thoracic Oncology Program and is a practicing physician and clinician in the general surgery department, cardiothoracic Surgery department, Lung Cancer Program, and Thoracic Oncology Program. He has authored over 70 clinical publications and has received numerous industry awards for his clinical research. He is accredited in Critical Care Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, and Internal Medicine. He completed his Fellowship in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and his Residency in Internal Medicine at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He obtained his Medical Degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ.

Andrew Conrad, Ph.D. is clinical design consultant to NovaRx.

John Gutheil, M.D. is a board certified oncologist who is a company consultant. He assisted the company in the preparation of both the Phase II and Phase III clinical trial protocols for Lucanix^®. Previously, Dr. Gutheil served as the Vice-President of Medical Research for Favrille, Inc., a publicly-held biotechnology company located in San Diego. Prior to joining Favrille in 2002, Dr. Gutheil served as the Executive Director for Clinical Research and Development at Vical, Inc. During his time at Vical, he oversaw the completion of two registration studies in metastatic melanoma as well as the initiation of additional clinical studies in melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, and head & neck cancer. From 1986 to 1997, he served as the Director of Clinical Research at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego. In addition, Dr. Gutheil simultaneously held various positions at the University of Maryland Cancer Center, including Director of the Fellowship Program, Director of the Community Physician Outreach Program, and Co-Director of the Neuro-Oncology Program. Over the course of his career, he has published 23 laboratory and clinical review papers as well as six review articles and book chapters.