He was previously Senior Vice President and Franchise Head, Bone, Respiratory, Immunology, Endocrine, Dermatology and Urology at Merck Research Laboratories; he joined Merck in 2006 and retired in March 2011. At Merck, he was responsible for the overall scientific direction of the drug discovery and development process from target identification through the life cycle management for approved drugs for Merck’s key therapeutic areas of immunology, respiratory disease, endocrine disorders, urology, dermatology and woman’s health. Prior to Merck, Alan worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he had served as chief of Pediatric Services at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children and the Partners Healthcare System. He also served on many senior committees including the Executive Committee on Research the Massachusetts General Hospital, which he chaired. He also served as the Charles Wilder Professor of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School and chaired the committee that led to the establishment of the Academy at the Harvard Medical School where he served as a Scholar and Founding member.

He served on the Board of Directors of the Partners Healthcare System and MassGeneral Physicians Organization. He also served on the Boards of Anika Therapeutics and Natimmune, a biotech company that he founded. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Oxagen, and Abide Therapeutics. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Pediatric Society and a Fellow of AAAS. He served on NIH Subcommittee on Biodefense; NIH Subcommittee on Vaccine Adjuvants; National Academy of Sciences panel on antibiotic resistance: National Academy of Science panel examining academic pharmaceutical partnerships; Council AAAS Section for Medical Sciences that reviews policy and membership for the AAAS. ARISE 2 task force of American Academy of Arts & Science Member that is evaluating the impact of federal and industrial funding of science, engineering, and medicine on American universities.

He is a pioneer in the field of innate immunity and has over 150 publications. His work has enhanced the understanding of innate immunity. In particular his group played a major role in defining the structure function of the mannose binding lectin and the macrophage mannose receptor. In addition his work on phagocyte biology spanned from a very basic understanding of the complex regulation of phagocytosis using flies as a model system, to the translation to human phagocyte biology and includes the application of this knowledge into an FDA approved treatment for Chronic Granulomatous Disease, a phagocytic disorder in humans. In 2008 he was honored with the establishment R. Alan Ezekowitz Professorship in Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Ezekowitz received his medical training at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oxford University where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship. At Children’s Hospital in Boston, he completed a second postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and his clinical training in pediatrics. He was on the staff of the Children’s Hospital of Boston prior to moving to the Massachusetts General Hospital.

John led the firm’s investment in Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:CBST – 3x return/6 mos.), Momenta Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:MNTA – 8x return/4 yrs.), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ALNY – 4x return/4 yrs.) and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:SIRT – acquired by GSK – 6x return/4 yrs.). John also spearheaded Cardinal’s investment in and served as a director for: TechRx Corporation (acquired by NDCHealth/4x return) and Visicu (Nasdaq:EICU – acquired by Phillips Electronics/11x return). John currently serves on the Board of Directors for Cardinal portfolio companies Abide Therapeutics, aTyr Pharma, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals (observer) and Verastem, as well as Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Momenta Pharmaceuticals.

John entered the venture industry in 1982 with DSV Partners, a pioneer venture capital fund formed in 1968. John led DSV’s health care and life sciences efforts, and was a co-founder and served as interim CEO of numerous successful companies including Alkermes (Nasdaq:ALKS), Arris Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ARRS), DNX (Nasdaq:DNXX) and Cubist Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:CBST). As managing partner at DSV in that firm’s latter years, John led the firm’s evolution into Cardinal Partners.

John has served on the National Venture Capital Association’s Board of Directors where he was Chairman of its Regulatory Committee and Membership Committee. John was a founding director of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group as well as its past President and Chairman. John is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Board of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation Penn Venture Group. He has served as a member of the University of Pennsylvania Advisory Panel on Technology Transfer. John is also a Trustee of Hands Together, a non-profit organization that provides health care and education support to the needy in Haiti. Prior to his venture capital career, John worked for the General Electric Company in various sales and marketing positions.

John received his B.A. in Economics and Biology from Harvard University and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Schimmel is author or co-author of more than 450 scientific papers and of a widely used three volume textbook on biophysical chemistry. Schimmel has been honored as an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine. Having a longstanding interest in the applications of basic biomedical research to human health, Schimmel holds numerous patents and is a cofounder or founding director of several biotechnology companies, of which six have become publicly traded.

The Cravatt group has obtained fundamental insights into the chemical, biochemical, and physiological workings of several important mammalian serine hydrolases, including enzymes involved in the neurobiology of pain and in proteases associated with tumor progression.

Dr. Cravatt obtained his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a B.S. in the Biological Sciences and a B.A. in History. He then trained with Drs. Dale Boger and Richard Lerner and received a Ph.D. in Macromolecular and Cellular Structure and Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 1996. Professor Cravatt joined the faculty at TSRI in 1997 as a member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and the departments of Cell Biology and Chemistry. His honors include a Searle Scholar Award (1998-2001), the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry (2004), a Cope Scholar Award (2005), the Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award (2007) and the Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry (2008).