Tod Woolf, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Woolf has twenty years of experience developing and commercializing innovative biomedical technologies, including twelve years of biotechnology management experience. He founded and served as CEO of Sequitur, an RNAi company acquired by Invitrogen (Nasdaq: IVGN) in 2003. At Sequitur, Dr. Woolf co-invented and commercialized Stealth™ RNAi, one of the most widely used second generation RNAi products. Previously, he helped to develop and partner the core therapeutic technology at Genta and RPI (now Sirna/Merck) and Ontogeny (now Curis). In addition to Stealth™ RNAi, Dr. Woolf also co-invented and helped commercialize the following RNA products: GeneBlocks (Sirna/Atugen), Innovation Engine (IPIFINI), Optimized Antisense (Oligos, Etc.), Stabilized Ribozymes (RPI), Ultramers (Sequitur) and iGene (Invitrogen & Sequitur 2006). Dr. Woolf has served as a scientific and business advisor to Signet Labs, Praecis, Invitrogen, ProNai and TriLink Biotechnologies. He holds a a Masters and Ph.D. in Cellular and Development Biology from Harvard University, has authored 40 patent applications and scientific publications and has given drug development lectures throughout the world. 

Pamela Pavco, Ph.D., Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development

Dr. Pavco is a leader in bringing RNAi drug candidates from the bench into clinical trials.  During her 14-year tenure at Sirna Therapeutics, which was recently acquired by Merck for approximately $1.1 billion, she was responsible for moving its first RNAi drug candidate into the clinic in less than one year. She also directed research and preclinical development of three other RNA drug candidates that continued into clinical trials. In addition to leading the effort to develop Sirna's first RNAi therapeutic, she managed corporate partnerships and collaborations that included Allergan, Inc. for ocular disease, Targeted Genetics, Inc. in Huntington's Disease, Eli Lilly for Hepatitis C, and Elan Pharmaceuticals and Chiron Corporation in oncology. Dr. Pavco earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University and conducted post-doctoral research at Duke University. Dr. Pavco has authored numerous scientific articles, contributed to approximately 48 patents and patent applications in the RNA therapeutics field and is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research and the Association for Research and Vision in Opthalmology.

Dmitry Samarsky, Ph.D., Vice President of Technology Development.

Dr. Samarsky has extensive experience in the development and licensing of RNAi technologies. Most recently, Dr. Samarsky served as Director of Technology Development at Dharmacon, Inc. (now part of ThermoFisher Scientific), one of the world's leading RNAi technology providers, where his team was responsible for promoting Dharmacon's RNAi program worldwide. In addition, he established and led an RNAi applications laboratory. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Samarsky served as Business Development Manager at Invitrogen Corporation, a world-leading biomedical research manufacturing company, where he focused on promoting RNAi and other genomics technologies. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Samarsky worked in business development at Sequitur, Inc., playing a critical role in that firm's acquisition by Invitrogen. Dr. Samarsky earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1998. From 1998 to 2001 he was the H. Arthur Smith Fellow for Cancer Research at the laboratory of Dr. Michael Green, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Samarsky has authored one dozen review articles and book chapters in the field of RNAi, is routinely quoted in major publications including Nature, Science and Fortune magazines, and has frequently advised, chaired and presented at various industrial and academic conferences and symposia.

Stephen J. DiPalma, MBA, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. DiPalma has over twenty years of broad experience with emerging life science companies. He was founder, President and CEO of Catalyst Oncology, Inc., a specialty diagnostic company, from 2004 until its recent merger with a public diagnostics company. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. DiPalma was the Chief Financial Officer for Milkhaus Laboratories, a drug development company, and from 1998 to 2002, he was Chief Financial Officer for Phytera, Inc., an international biotech company involved in natural products-based drug discovery. Prior to Phytera, Mr. DiPalma was the Chief Financial Officer at Aquila Biopharmaceuticals, a public biotechnology company where he played a key role in a successful turnaround and reorganization. From 1988 to 1995, he was the co-founder and Chief Financial Officer at Athena Diagnostics, a leader in specialty diagnostic testing in the neurology field, and was instrumental in managing the successful merger of the company with a public biotech company.  Mr. DiPalma began working in the healthcare industry in 1985 in financial positions for a subsidiary of Baxter International. Mr. DiPalma earned an MBA from Babson College and holds a BS in finance and information systems from the University of Massachusetts.