Strategic Advisory Board
Corporate Advisors
Richard Glickman
Co-founder, CEO and Chairman, Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corporation
Mr. Richard Glickman is a co-founder, CEO and Chairman of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corporation and has a successful track record raising capital for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, including Stressgen Biotechnologies Corp, where he served as CEO. Mr. Glickman was the founder and director of Ontario Molecular Diagnostics, a former director of the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network and a co-founder of Probtec Corp. where, as vice-president he established and introduced Canada’s first licensed DNA-based forensic and paternity testing service. Mr. Glickman has received both Canada’s and British Columbia’s Top 40 under 40 Awards for entrepreneurs and was the Ernst & Young 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year recipient for Life Sciences.
George Lasezkay, Pharma.D., J.D.
Principal, Turning Point Consultants, LLC
Dr. Lasezkay is a principal in Turning Point Consultants, LLC, a consultancy group that advises life sciences companies on strategy and business development, and he is a former corporate Vice President of Corporate Development at Allergan, a global ophthalmology pharmaceutical company. He also has extensive experience in hospital pharmacy practice, clinical pharmacokinetics consultation, drug research and pharmacy education. Dr. Lasezkay earned B.S. Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the State University of New York at Baffalo and a J.D. degree from the University of Southern California Law Center. He currently serves as a director of Valentis Inc., Collagenex Pharmaceuticals, Acuity Pharmaceuticals, and Novagali Pharma, SA.
Julia Levy, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Executive Chairman of QLT Inc.
Dr. Julia Levy, co-founder and former President and CEO of QLT Inc., is currently Executive Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board at QLT. Under Dr. Levy’s stewardship, QLT rose to become one of the leading biotech companies worldwide with the launch of Visudyne in 2000 to treat age-related macular degeneration. A former microbiology professor at the University of British Columbia and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Dr. Levy was selected Female Entrepreneur of the Year for International Business in 1998 by Canadian Business magazine, and appointed to the Order of Canada in 2001. She received a B.A. (Hon.) from the University of British Columbia and Ph.D. in experiemental pathology from the University of London.
Clinical Advisors
Alan C. Bird, M.D.
Dr. Bird’s esteemed career began at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital in London, England where his contributions to the treatment of retinal vascular disease and genetic & degenerative retinal disorders were at the forefront of the field. He spent the majority of his career at the Institute of Ophthalmology at University College London and Moorfield’s Eye Hospital. Dr. Bird’s expertise has been widely sought after and he has made srategic contributions to the US National Eye Institute, the UK Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, INSERM and Deutsche Forchungsgemeinschaft. He has also played a key role in the design and evaluation of numerous clinical trials involving ground-breaking treatments in retinal disease today. Dr. Bird is a Fellow of the UK National Academy of Medical Science and has received a number of prestigious awards in vision science and opthalmology, including the Alcon Research Award, The Helen Keller Prize, the Kayser Award and the Jules Francois Medal. In 2006, he was honored with the lifetime achievement award by the Macula Society.
David S. Boyer, M.D.
David S. Boyer, MD is a practising ophthalmologist who specializes in the treatment of diseases of the retina and vitreous. Dr. Boyer is a Senior Partner at the Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Southern California. He also has an extensive research background involving trials for age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and cytomegalovirus retinitis. Dr. Boyer has been on the advisory boards for Alcon, Novartis, Eyetech/Pfizer, Genentech, Neurotech and the Macular Degeneration Partnership and is a reviewer for several ophthalmology and diabetes medical publications including Archives of Ophthalmology, American Journal of Ophthalmology, Diabetes Care, and Ophthalmology. Throughout his career, Dr. Boyer has been honoured by prestigious organizations including the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Board of Trustees Honor Award Certificate) and Retinitis Pigmentosa International (1996 Jules Stein Living Tribute Award). Every year since 2000, he has been selected by his peers to be listed in Best Doctors in America. Dr. Boyer earned his medical degree at Chicago Medical School, completed his internship and residency at the USC/Los Angeles County Medical Center, and went on to do his fellowship in retinal surgery at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.
Philip Rosenfeld, M.D., PhD.
Dr. Rosenfeld is Professor of Ophthalmology at the world-renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Rosenfeld’s chief research interests are in the diagnosis, treatment and genetics of macular diseases. He is at the forefront of medical testing having spent the past decade seeking effective therapies for AMD. He is currently Principal Investigator of nine clinical trials for AMD. In May 2005, Dr. Rosenfeld was the first to perform an intravitreal injection of Avastin—a drug approved to treat colon cancer—for the treatment of wet AMD and his findings have since been put into practice by physicians around the world. Dr. Rosenfeld received a Medical Degree and PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. He completed a residency at Harvard’s Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and fellowships at both the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard University and the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine.
Jason Slatker, M.D.
Dr. Slakter’s expertise in macular disease diagnostics is extensive. He has played a leading role and is widely published in the development of digital indocyanine green angiography (ICG) for the evaluation and management of macular degeneration and chorioretinal inflammatory disease. He created and is the director of the Digital Angiography Reading Center, which serves as a key resource for numerous industry-sponsored studies. He has served as a Principal Investigator in the clinical trials for photodynamic therapy for the treatment of wet AMD and is currently conducting clinical studies for the treatment of central serous chorioretinopathy. Dr. Slakter is a member of numerous medical organizations including the Macula and Retina Societies, and the American Society of Retinal Specialists. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Retinal Physician, is on the editorial board of Retina and serves as a scientific reviewer for major scientific ophthalmic journals. He is the recipient of a number of awards including the American Academy of Ophthalmology Honor Award, the Macula Society’s Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award, and the Helen Keller Manhattan League Award.