Board Members

Phil Dawson is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Scripps Research in La Jolla, CA and former Dean of the Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences (2017-2024). He received an A.B. (1992) in Chemistry from Washington University, and Ph.D. (1996) from Scripps Research under the guidance of Steve Kent. After pursuing postdoctoral work at Caltech, he returned to Scripps as an Assistant Professor. He has served as President of the American Peptide Society, the Board of Directors for FASEB and cochaired the 22nd American Peptide Symposium and the GRC on Biology and Chemistry of Peptides. He has published over 200 papers and has been honored with an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation fellowship, the Vincent du Vigneaud Award, the Max Bergmann Kreis Gold Medal, the Zervas Award, the RSC MedImmune Protein and Peptide Science Award, the Akabori Memorial Award from the Japanese Peptide Society, the Cathay Award from the Chinese Peptide Society, the ACS Cope Scholar Award and will receive the Bruce Merrifield Award in 2025.

Professor Dawson is a pioneer of chemoselective ligation methods for macromolecule synthesis and modification and has applied these tools broadly to better understand biological systems.

Mr. Robert A. Hagopian received his M.S. degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of California San Diego and his M.B.A from San Diego State University. His experience in peptide research and production spans over twenty five years which includes: Telios Pharmaceuticals (Manager, Peptide Production, 3 years) and NeoMPS, Inc. (Director, GMP Production 14 years). In his current position as Director of Business Development (13 years) at PolyPeptide, San Diego, Mr. Hagopian overseas the customer support activities for new and existing sales related to pre-clinical, clinical and commercial grade peptides.

Dr. Day is the President of Blue Gum Advisors LLC, a consulting firm focused on providing business development support to the life science industry.  She is a seasoned business development professional with more than 30 years of experience in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. Dr. Day has hands-on operational and executive management experience in the non-profit, for-profit and startup environments.

Most recently she was Senior Director of Business Development for Ferring  Pharmaceuticals.  Prior to that Dr. Day ran a successful consulting practice. She has previously served as Vice President of Business Development at what is now the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Vice President of Business Development Conforma Therapeutics, Senior Director of Business Development at Molecumetics Ltd., Associate Director of Corporate Development at Ligand Pharmaceuticals. She was Ligand Pharmaceuticals’ first Project Manager, and began her biotechnology career at Invitrogen Corporation where she held various positions.

Dr. Day received her B.Sc., B.Sc. Honors, and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Adelaide, Australia. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Southern California  and the La Jolla Cancer Research Center.

Dr. Bryan Fuchs has over 20 years of drug discovery experience in fibrosis, inflammation, and oncology. Prior to joining Ferring Ventures, Dr. Fuchs was the Research Therapeutic Area Head for Gastroenterology at Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Before that, he was an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School where his lab was continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over a decade. Dr. Fuchs earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Regulation from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed postdoctoral studies in the Division of Gastrointestinal and Oncologic Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is an author and inventor on more than 100 publications and patents and an active member of several international scientific associations.

Dr. Svendgaard has 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, specializing in drug discovery and development. As the Senior Vice President of Research and Nonclinical Development at Zealand Pharma, she leads a team dedicated to pioneering new peptide therapeutics for unmet medical needs. With a strong background in Drug discovery and Development, Mette has successfully advanced multiple drug candidates from the lab to clinical trials.

Mette Svendgaard is passionate about fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment, emphasizing the importance of teamwork, trust, and empowerment. Her commitment to sustainability and patient-centered innovation drives her to develop therapies that not only improve health outcomes but also contribute positively to society.

Nick Cox has been with Novo Nordisk since 2016, where he currently serves as Sr. Director of Chemical Biology at Novo Nordisk’s expanding research hub in the greater Boston area. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, he completed his training as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Stanford’s ChEM-H institute (2014-2016) under the mentorship of Prof. Chaitan Khosla and Dr. Mark Smith, serving as chemistry lead on numerous projects in early-stage drug discovery. Dr. Cox received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Washington (2013) in the laboratory of Prof. Gojko Lalic, where he studied organic methodology and transition metal catalysis.