Helena Wisniewski, vice president for university research and enterprise development at the Stevens Institute of Technology, has been appointed to the Naval Research Advisory Committee, Stevens said this week.
The NRAC is a body of 15 civilians pre-eminent in the field of science, research, and development, who serve a term of two years on the committee, Stevens said. The NRAC is the senior scientific advisory group to the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Chief of Naval Research.
Ventures West, a Vancouver-based venture capital firm, said last week that Ken Galbraith has been named general partner.
Galbraith joined Ventures West in April 2007. Prior to this, he was chairman and interim CEO of AnorMed, until its sale to Genzyme in 2006. Galbraith also spent 13 years in senior management with QLT. He will serve as the Ventures West representative on the board of Alder Pharmaceuticals, Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, OncoGenex Technologies, and Presidio Pharmaceuticals.
Oxford Bioscience Partners last week announced the promotion of Douglas Fambrough to general partner.
Fambrough joined the company in January 2000 as an associate, and subsequently was promoted to principal and partner. Prior to joining Oxford, he was a genomic scientist with the Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome Research (now known as the Broad Institute). Fambrough led Oxford’s investment in RNAi firm Sirna Therapeutics, acquired by Merck in 2006 for $1.1 billion. He was also actively involved in Oxford’s investment in DNA-sequencing firm Solexa, which was sold to Illumina this year for approximately $550 million.
Dorothy Auth has joined Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft as special counsel in the law firm’s intellectual property group. She is based in the firm’s New York office.
Auth concentrates on biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device patent matters. Previously she was a partner with the New York law firm Morgan & Finnegan. She earned a JD from St. John’s School of Law, a PhD in biochemistry from Tufts Medical School, and a BA from Rutgers University.
Auth is one of three IP professionals Cadwalader has added over the past month. The others are special counsel John Moehringer, a patent lawyer specializing in the electrical engineering, telecommunications, and computer science fields; and Christopher Hughes, the head of Cadwalader’s IP practice, who came to the firm last month.