The Dendreon Alumni: Where Are They Now?
Luke Timmerman3/31/10Follow @ldtimmerman
[Updated: 3:12 pm, 9/27/10] Dendreon CEO Mitchell Gold has said for years he wants his company to morph into the anchor for Seattle’s biotech community, the prominent role once filled by Immunex in the 1990s. The notion is that Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) could become profitable, stable, and exciting enough to be a magnet that draws top scientists and businesspeople from around the world.
It’s still very much an open question whether Dendreon will have staying power as an independent company, or whether it will get taken over like Seattle’s other major biotechs of the past. Right now at least, the company is on a hiring binge, on pace to triple in size from 200 employees a year ago to about 600 this year. The frenzy is happening in the anticipation that Dendreon will soon win FDA approval to start selling the first drug of its kind that actively stimulates the immune system to fight prostate cancer, sipuleucel-T (Provenge).
But even if Dendreon gets bought out tomorrow, before it starts selling its first product, it will have already left a mark on Seattle. It has been a formative experience for a long list of employees who have moved on to other biotech companies in Seattle and elsewhere. Many were shaped by the perseverance it took to be part of an organization that faced intense skepticism and endured some agonizing ups and downs since its founding in 1992. When conclusive data arrived in April 2009 to prove that Dendreon’s drug extends lives, the company took pride in announcing it had shocked the cancer research world. It unfurled a giant banner on its headquarters that proclaimed “global impact starts here.”
“Anybody who can sustain through what Dendreon has sustained—it’s a good sign of who they are,” says Martin Simonetti, the former chief financial officer at Dendreon who is now CEO of Seattle-based VLST. “You really had a lot of entrepreneurial risk-takers there. There were a lot of good people that made good things happen.”
To get a handle on the Dendreon diaspora, I’ve assembled a directory with updated links to help people connect and re-connect with them. I have made sure this list includes not just mover-shaker types that I’ve interviewed over the years, but also the rank-and-file who have moved on to other organizations. The list includes 83 names at last count, but I expect it to grow over time. Thanks go out to a few Dendreon alumni who have helped get this list started: Simonetti, Julie Rathbun, and Deborah Elvins.
Now here’s the part where you can help. If you see any information below that’s out of date or incorrect, please let me know and I’ll fix it. If you or someone you know is a Dendreon alumnus who would like to be included, please send me a note. Feel free to send any comments, questions, or new information to ltimmerman@xconomy.com or editors@xconomy.com.
Over time, I hope this story can become a richer and more valuable resource for Dendreon alumni. Here’s the list I’ve put together in alphabetical order, with the most updated titles and affiliations I found online.
Guy Barbaro, senior vice president of finance and accounting, Current TV
David Bienvenue, associate director of protein sciences, VLST
Brian Blackman, director of business operations, BN ImmunoTherapeutics
Mara Gia Boykin, senior quality assurance associate, Light Sciences Oncology
Danielle Brown, oncology account manager, Amgen
Jamal Brown, director of quality, The Medicines Company
Michelle Burris, chief operating officer, Trubion Pharmaceuticals
Jim Caggiano, vice president of sales and marketing, Allergan
Liz Cardwell, quality assurance/regulatory consultant
Feng Chen, senior associate scientist, MDRNA
Nathan Christensen, senior purchasing agent, Trubion Pharmaceuticals
Douglas Clark, technical consultant, Scherer & Associates
Matthew Croughan, George B. and Joy Rathmann professor, director of the Amgen Bioprocessing Center, Keck Graduate Institute [Added: 5:40 pm, 5/10/10]
Rick Dejong, senior systems and reporting analyst, Marchex
Justine Dell’Aringa, senior associate scientist, Amgen
Nancy Deroux, regulatory operations manager, Novartis Vaccines
Michael Diegel, scientist, Revalesio [Added: 3:12 pm, 9/27/10]
Petra Duterrow, senior buyer, F5
Julie Eastland, chief financial officer, VLST
Deborah Elvins, managing member, Adkins, Plant, Elvins & Black
John Emswiler, scientist, Micronics
Ken Farah, managing director, BiologicResponse [Added: 8:50 pm, 4/1/10]
Richard Gaeto, vice President, CMC operations, ZymoGenetics [Added: 3:20 pm, 3/31/10]
Pete Garcia, chief financial officer, MDRNA
Dennis George, arbitrator
Monique Greer, vice president corporate communications/investor relations, Allos Therapeutics
Helen Halloran, IP and contract paralegal, office support
Lori Hansen, director of project management, Seattle Genetics
Wes Hargraves, chief financial officer-Americas, Intec Telecom
Christopher Henney, chairman of the board, Oncothyreon, director, AVI Biopharma
Rob Hershberg, co-founder, executive vice president of R&D, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals
Rob Hill, senior medical writing specialist, Gilead Sciences
Lisa Johnson, graduate research assistant, microbiology, immunology and cancer biology Ph.D. program, University of Minnesota
Lori Jones, biotechnology professional
Jelle Kylstra, independent biotechnology professional
Reiner Laus, CEO, BN ImmunoTherapeutics
Gilles Lefebvre, associate director, upstream process development, Trubion Pharmaceuticals
Therese Leggiere, quality assurance manager, Olympic Medical
Pocheng Liu, senior scientist, SAFC Pharma/Sigma Aldrich
Paul Lundy, senior director, facilities, Seattle Genetics [Added: 5 pm, 4/2/10]
Jerome Lyons, office manager, HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals
Ed Madison, chief scientific officer, Catalyst Biosciences
Kristi Manjarrez, senior director of clinical affairs, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals
Donna Matuizek, senior regulatory/quality assurance consultant/contractor, Harris Group
Cathy McMahan, associate director, cell sciences, Trubion Pharmaceuticals
Jenny Miller, biotech and medical device manufacturing training professional
Shirley Miller, software quality validation engineering consultant
Bryan Monroe, process science fellow, Life Technologies [Added: 8:15 pm, 4/1/10]
Gregg Monten, manager, quality control, Seattle Genetics
Ofir Moreno, managing director, Vivex International
Amy Myers, medical writing, PPD
Nancy Norton, senior commercial attorney, Avanade
Maria Ochoa, project manager, U.S. store services, Starbucks Coffee
Madhusudan Peshwa, executive vice president, cell therapies, MaxCyte
Grant Pickering, CEO, Juvaris BioTherapeutics
Abraham Polk, senior CMC project manager, Seattle Genetics
Aaron Posey, senior research associate, preclinical pharmacology, VLST [Updated: 2:10 pm, 3/31/10]
Julie Rathbun, owner, Rathbun Communications
Ellen Reimer, teacher, Seattle Public Schools
Rich Rieger, senior engagement manager, LEK Consulting [Updated: 11:15 pm, 3/31/10]
Israel Rios, chief medical officer, SciClone Pharmaceuticals
Andy Scherer, president, Scherer & Associates
Kathleen Schneider, research associate III, CMC Icos Biologics
Deborah Siegel, research scientist, genome sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine
Martin Simonetti, CEO, VLST
Paul Slagle, senior research associate, Allozyne
Julie Ann Slyfield, IT, senior security analyst, Mutual of Enumclaw
Gary Smith, process development engineer, ALK-Abello
Bouwien Smits-Sana, associate director, quality assurance, Gilead Sciences
Linda Staley, retired
Hartmut Stecher, senior director, head of medical affairs, Seattle Genetics
George Strang, manager, clinical data management, Genentech
Ryan Thurston, senior associate, Amgen
Carrie Trujillo, scientific project coordinator II, scientific development, HIV Vaccine Trials Network, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center [Added: 8:50 pm, 4/1/10]
Frank Valone, chief medical officer, Fibrogen
Peter Van Vlasselaer, CEO, Arresto Biosciences
Suleman Verjee, founder and CEO, Versante International
Joanna Ward, senior director, Seattle Genetics
Jami Wollan, clinical immunology group leader
Sue Woyshnis, independent IT and services professional
Susan Wyrick, controller, Trubion Pharmaceuticals
