Management and Directors
Ian J. Mehr, Ph.D., MBA – President and Chairman
Dr. Mehr serves as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Catena. Dr. Mehr’s extensive experience in the life sciences spans both research and business development. In addition to his work with Catena, Dr. Mehr serves as Managing Director of Golden Pine Ventures, LLC. Prior to joining Golden Pine Ventures, Dr. Mehr served as Vice President of Business Development for Qualyst, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company focused on novel and proprietary products that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of drug discovery and development. Dr. Mehr has also led business development at Paradigm Genetics and Laboratory Corporation of America, holding senior roles where he leveraged platform technologies for collaborative applications in drug discovery and development research. Dr. Mehr received his M.B.A. in strategy from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, his Ph.D. in genetics, bacterial pathogenesis and immunology at Northwestern University's Medical Center, and his B.S. in microbiology with honors in genomics, molecular evolution and bioinformatics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Mehr is also involved with a number of local non-profit organizations, and in April 2007, was chosen among a select group of people to receive the Triangle Business Journal's 40 Under 40 Leadership Award, acknowledging his accomplishments in business and contributions to the community.
Kevin R. Lynch, Ph.D. – VP of Biological Sciences and Director
Dr. Kevin R. Lynch serves as Vice President of Biological Sciences and is a Director for Catena. In addition to his work with Catena, Dr. Lynch is a Professor of Pharmacology and Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Virginia. Since Spring 2008, he is also Vice Chair of Pharmacology. Professor Lynch’s academic research program is focused on the chemical biology of lysophospholipid mediators. His laboratory has been continuously funded by NIH, private foundations and the pharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years. He has signed more than 150 publications, and is an inventor on about two dozen issued patents or patent applications. Professor Lynch has worked as a consultant for numerous pharmaceutical companies. Professor Lynch was awarded his Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island in 1980 and was a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University from 1979-1983.
Timothy L. Macdonald, Ph.D. – VP of Chemical Sciences and Director
Dr. Timothy L. Macdonald services as Vice President of Chemical Sciences and is a Director for Catena. In addition to his work with Catena, Dr. Macdonald is a Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacology and a past Chairman of Chemistry at the University of Virginia. Professor Macdonald has over 220 publications and 30 patents and is a founding scientist of Adenosine Therapeutics LLC, AlGlutamine LLC, and Tau Therapeutics LLC. Dr. Macdonald has helped to shepherd four of his own compounds from the bench to the pre-clinic or clinic and has overseen the development of another dozen drugs as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Macdonald was among those awarded the “Inventor of the Year” by the University of Virginia Patent Foundation in 1999. He currently serves as a Sr. Scientific Advisor or SAB member to publicly traded companies and has served on over a dozen SAB boards. PhD. Columbia University, NIH post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University.
Christopher S. Meldrum, MBA – Secretary and Director
Mr. Meldrum serves as Catena ’s Secretary and as a member of the board of directors. In addition to his work with Catena, Mr. Meldrum serves as Managing Director of Golden Pine Ventures, LLC. Before coming to Golden Pine Ventures Mr. Meldrum held the position of Director, Corporate Alliances, at Paradigm Genetics, a publicly-traded biotechnology company where he led business development efforts for both the healthcare and agriculture businesses. Before joining Paradigm Mr. Meldrum worked as Licensing Associate for Purdue University where he managed the out-licensing of Purdue’s biotechnology and life sciences portfolio. Prior to his time at Purdue he worked for two years in the University of Minnesota’s technology transfer office. Over the course of his career he has successfully led negotiations for more than 80 fully-executed deals. Mr. Meldrum received his MBA from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, and his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Utah.
Homer L. Pearce, Ph.D. – Director
Dr. Pearce currently serves as a Board Member, Scientific Advisor, or Business Director to a number of leading research institutions, foundations and biotechnology companies. Dr. Pearce recently retired from Eli Lilly & Company where he held leadership positions in cancer drug discovery and development for more than twenty-five years, most recently as Distinguished Research Fellow. Dr. Pearce has been committed to the discovery and development of cancer therapeutics since joining Eli Lilly & Company in 1979. At Eli Lilly, he served in a number of capacities including Vice President, Cancer Research and Clinical Investigation. During his twenty-five year career, twenty-five investigational drugs entered clinical trials and two new drugs, Gemzar® and Alimta®, were approved for the treatment of a variety of cancers. The recipient of numerous awards throughout his career, Dr. Pearce was most recently named “A Hero of Chemistry” by the American Chemical Society, for his discovery and development of Alimta®, the first drug ever approved for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Dr. Pearce is member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received a B.S. from Texas A&M University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Hans Mueller, Ph.D. – Director
Dr. Mueller most recently served as Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. From 1985 to1993, Dr. Mueller served as Executive Vice President, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nova Pharmaceutical Corporation, now part of Scios, Inc. From 1969 to 1985, he held roles with increasing levels of responsibility at Sandoz, now part of Novartis, in the areas of research, regulatory affairs, manufacturing, systems development, new product planning, licensing and business development. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Othera Pharmaceuticals and TransMolecular, Inc. and previously served on the Board of Directors for SCOLR Pharma, Inc. and Hypnion, Inc. Dr. Mueller is also an Advisory Board member for Easton Capital. Dr. Hans Mueller received a Ph.D. in Actuarial Sciences and Mathematical Statistics from the University of Bern, Switzerland and is a graduate of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.
