Jerold Chun, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed Distinguished Scholar in February 2023 and oversees external academic relationships and provides neuroscience expertise to Neurocrine Biosciences teams across the company’s therapeutic areas. He was most recently Professor and Senior Vice President (Neuroscience Drug Discovery) at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (2016-2023), a Clarivate highly cited researcher and continuously funded by the NIH for over 30 years. Previously, Dr. Chun was Professor of Pharmacology and Neuroscience at UCSD School of Medicine (1991-2001) and Professor of Molecular Biology and Neuroscience at Scripps Research (2003-2016). He is known for his discoveries of lysophospholipid receptors that include sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptors underlying five FDA-approved drugs for multiple sclerosis or ulcerative colitis (fingolimod, siponimod, ozanimod, ponesimod and etrasimod); and separately, the discovery of genomic mosaicism in the brain. He has worked with the pharmaceutical/biotech industry for over 20 years at Merck (2001-2003) and through consultancies and collaborations with over 20 companies including Novartis, Pfizer Inc., AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Chun holds a B.A. (High Honors) in English Literature and Biology from the University of Hawaii; received an MD and PhD (Neuroscience) through the Medical Scientist Training Program at Stanford University School of Medicine and completed post-doctoral studies at The Whitehead Institute/MIT.
William H. Rastetter, Ph.D. has served on the Board of Directors since February 2010 and as Chairman of the Board of Directors since May 2011. Currently, he serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Fate Therapeutics, a publicly traded company focused on cellular therapies, as well as for Daré Bioscience, Inc. (previously known as Cerulean Pharma Inc.), a publicly traded company focused on women’s healthcare. Dr. Rastetter also serves on the Board of Directors for Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a publicly traded company focused on RNA-based therapeutics, and on the Board of Directors of Iambic, Inc., a private company using artificial intelligence and laboratory automation to design and develop medicinal chemicals initially for oncology indications. Dr. Rastetter previously served on the board of Grail, Inc., a private company developing deep sequencing approaches for disease diagnosis, with an initial focus on the early diagnosis of cancer. Dr. Rastetter serves as an advisor to Illumina Ventures, and is the Chairman of San Diego Squared, a nonprofit focused on STEM awareness and education for students in underserved communities. Dr. Rastetter was a partner in the venture capital firm, Venrock, from 2006 through early 2013 and was Executive Chairman of Biogen Idec, Inc. from 2003 to 2005. Earlier, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corporation until its merger with Biogen Inc. in 2003; he joined IDEC Corporation as its Chief Executive Officer at the company’s founding in 1986. From 1984 to 1986, Dr. Rastetter was Director of Corporate Ventures at Genentech, where from 1982 to 1984 he held scientific positions. He held a series of faculty positions including Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”) from 1975 to 1982. Dr. Rastetter has a B.S. degree in Chemistry from MIT and received M.A. and doctorate degrees in Chemistry from Harvard University.
Kyle W. Gano, Ph.D., was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer in October 2024 after having served as Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer since 2020 and Chief Business Development Officer since 2011. From 2001 to 2011, Dr. Gano held several positions of increasing responsibility at Neurocrine Biosciences spanning marketing analytics to business development. He has served on the Company’s Board of Directors since October 2024 and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Dr. Gano received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Oregon, B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington, and his M.B.A and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Kevin C. Gorman, Ph.D., has served on the Board of Directors of Neurocrine Biosciences since January 2008. Dr. Gorman served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company from January 2008 through October 2024, after having served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer beginning in 2006. Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer, and Senior Vice President of Business Development. Dr. Gorman is also a director of Xencor, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. From 1990 until 1993, Dr. Gorman was a principal at Avalon Medical Partners, L.P., where he was responsible for the early-stage founding of Neurocrine Biosciences and several other biotechnology companies such as Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Metra Biosystems, Inc., Idun Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Gorman received his Ph.D. in Immunology and M.B.A. in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles and did further post-doctoral training at The Rockefeller University.
Gary A. Lyons has served on the Board of Directors since joining Neurocrine Biosciences in February 1993. Mr. Lyons served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company from February 1993 through January 2008. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Lyons held a number of senior management positions at Genentech, Inc., including Vice President of Business Development and Vice President of Sales. Mr. Lyons is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Travere Therapeutics, a publicly traded ultra-orphan disease commercial-stage company, and serves as a director of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on developing drugs for the treatment of inflammatory/autoimmune and metabolic diseases. Mr. Lyons previously served on the Board of Directors of Fresh Tracks Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly Brickell Biotech, Inc.), Eledon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Novus Therapeutics), and Facet Biotech Corporation. Mr. Lyons holds a B.S. in Marine Biology from the University of New Hampshire and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Johanna Mercier has served on the Board of Directors since April 2021. Ms. Mercier is the Chief Commercial Officer of Gilead Sciences, with responsibility for the global commercialization of Gilead’s medicines across virology, liver, and oncology franchises. Ms. Mercier is actively engaged with the policy and advocacy community to ensure affordability and access to the company’s medicines in both the developed and resource-limited countries. She is a staunch advocate for diversity and inclusion and is the executive sponsor for the Women@Gilead employee resource group. Ms. Mercier joined Gilead in 2019 after 25 years at Bristol Myers Squibb, where she served in a number of executive leadership positions, gaining broad experience across geographies and in all aspects of the commercial business. Ms. Mercier holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Montreal and an M.B.A. from Concordia University. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Arcus Biosciences, Inc., a publicly traded company, and the University of Southern California’s Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Ms. Mercier is also a member of World 50.
George J. Morrow has served on the Board of Directors since October 2015. Mr. Morrow served as Executive Vice President, Global Commercial Operations at Amgen Inc., a global biotechnology company, from 2003 until his retirement in 2011. He joined Amgen in 2001 as Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Marketing. His responsibilities included oversight of all commercial functions for Amgen’s broad spectrum of products in more than 50 countries worldwide, and the introduction of multiple new products into global markets. From 1992 to 2001, Mr. Morrow held executive management and commercial positions within several subsidiaries of Glaxo Wellcome, including Group Vice President for Commercial Operations (U.S.), Managing Director (U.K.), and most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer of Glaxo Wellcome, Inc. (U.S.). Mr. Morrow currently serves on the Board of Directors of Align Technology, Inc., a publicly traded global medical device company. He has previously served on the boards of Vical, Inc., Otonomy, Inc., Glaxo Wellcome, Inc., Human Genome Sciences, Inc., Safeway, Inc., National Commerce Bank, the John Hopkins School of Public Health, and the Duke University Fuqua School of Business. Mr. Morrow holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Southampton College, Long Island University, an M.S. in Biochemistry from Bryn Mawr College, and an M.B.A. from Duke University.
Leslie V. Norwalk has served on the Board of Directors since September 2019. Since 2007, Ms. Norwalk has served as Strategic Counsel to healthcare companies at Epstein Becker Green, EBG Advisors, and National Health Advisors. Ms. Norwalk advises several private equity firms on healthcare matters. She serves as a director of Globus Medical, Inc., Modivcare Inc., and Arvinas, Inc., all publicly traded companies, as well as several privately held healthcare companies. Ms. Norwalk previously served on the Board of Directors of Centene, Endologix, Magellan Health, NuVasive, Inc., prior to its acquisition by Globus Medical, and Press Ganey. Ms. Norwalk began her career in the public sector in The White House Office of Presidential Personnel under the first Bush administration, following which, she practiced law at the Washington, D.C. office of Epstein Becker Green, P.C. From 2001 to 2007, she served in several roles at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) under the George W. Bush administration, including serving as Deputy Administrator, and Counselor and Policy Advisor, before assuming the role of Acting Administrator. Ms. Norwalk holds a J.D. from the George Mason University School of Law and a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Wellesley College.
Christine A. Poon has served on the Board of Directors since July 2023. Ms. Poon is the former Executive-in-Residence in the Department of Management and Human Resources at the Max M. Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, where she served as Dean and the John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business from 2009 to 2014. She served as Vice Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors of Johnson & Johnson from 2005 until her retirement in March 2009. Ms. Poon joined Johnson & Johnson in 2000 as Company Group Chair in the Pharmaceuticals Group. She became a member of Johnson & Johnson’s Executive Committee and Worldwide Chair, Pharmaceuticals Group, in 2001, and served as Worldwide Chair, Medicines and Nutritionals, from 2003 to 2005. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, she spent 15 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb in various management positions. Ms. Poon was also a Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips Electronics and a member of the Board of Directors of Decibel Therapeutics, Inc. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Prudential Financial, Inc., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she currently serves as the lead independent director, and The Sherwin-Williams Company. Ms. Poon was named Woman of the Year by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association in 2004 and named Business Leader of the Future by CNBC/Wall Street Journal in 2005.
Richard F. Pops has served on the Board of Directors since April 1998. Mr. Pops is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alkermes Public Limited Company. He joined Alkermes as Chief Executive Officer in February 1991. Under his leadership, Alkermes has grown from a privately held research-based company with 25 employees to an international, publicly traded pharmaceutical company with more than 2,000 employees. In addition to Alkermes, he currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Previously, Mr. Pops served on the Board of Directors of Epizyme, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on epigenetics, and Acceleron Pharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.
Shalini Sharp has served on the Board of Directors since February 2020. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Organon & Co., a publicly traded healthcare company focused on improving the health of women throughout their lives, as well as BeiGene, Ltd., a publicly traded global oncology company. Previously, Ms. Sharp served on the Board of Directors of Mirati Therapeutics, prior to its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Sutro Biopharma, Inc., Panacea Acquisition Corp., prior to its merger with Nuvation Bio, Precision BioSciences, Inc., TB Alliance, Array Biopharma, prior to its acquisition by Pfizer, and Agenus Inc. Ms. Sharp has held the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at Ultragenyx, a biopharmaceutical company committed to bringing to patients novel products for the treatment of serious rare and ultra-rare genetic diseases, and Chief Financial Officer at Agenus Inc., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on the discovery and development of therapies that engage the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Ms. Sharp previously served in strategic planning and as Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elan Pharmaceuticals, and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, as well as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. She holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
Stephen A. Sherwin, M.D. has served on the Board of Directors since April 1999. Dr. Sherwin currently divides his time between advisory work in the life sciences industry and patient care and teaching in his specialty of medical oncology. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and a volunteer Attending Physician in Hematology-Oncology at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Sherwin currently serves on the Board of Directors of Biogen Inc., a publicly traded company. He is an Advisory Partner with Third Rock Ventures and a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Previously, Dr. Sherwin was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cell Genesys, a cancer immunotherapy company, from 1990 until the company’s merger in 2009 with BioSante Pharmaceuticals (now ANI Pharmaceuticals). He was also a Co-founder and Chairman of Abgenix, an antibody company which was acquired by Amgen in 2006, and co-founder and Chairman of Ceregene, a gene therapy company which was acquired by Sangamo Biosciences in 2013. From 1983 to 1990, Dr. Sherwin held various positions in clinical research at Genentech, most recently that of Vice President. Prior to 1983, he was on the staff of the National Cancer Institute. In addition, Dr. Sherwin previously served on the Board of Directors of Aduro Biotech, BioPlus Acquisition Corporation, Neon Therapeutics, and Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., as well as the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) from 2001 to 2014 and as its Chairman from 2009 to 2011, and was a member of the President’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST) Working Group on Drug Development from 2011 to 2013. Dr. Sherwin holds a B.A. in biology, summa cum laude, from Yale University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
