Managment
Overview | Management | Board of Directors | Medical Advisory Committee
Seth Harrison, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Harrison has served as acting chief executive officer of Tokai since March 2008. Dr. Harrison has invested in life sciences since 1991, and in addition to Tokai, serves as chairman of Aileron Therapeutics. He is the founder and managing general partner of Apple Tree Partners (ATP). Prior to founding ATP, Dr. Harrison was a general partner at Oak Investment Partners and earlier had been a venture partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. In addition to Tokai, current portfolio investments include Aileron Therapeutics, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals and HeartWare International. His prior investments include ArQule, Coelacanth, Cyrano Sciences, Informed Access, Ultracision and ViroPharma. Dr. Harrison received an A.B. from Princeton University, an M.D. and M.B.A. from Columbia University and completed a surgery internship at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He serves on the Board of Directors of the International Partnership for Microbicides, a Rockefeller Foundation/Gates Foundation sponsored public-private partnership engaged in the development of anti-HIV microbicides.
Scott Chappel, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Chappel co-founded Tokai in 2004 and joined the management team in 2005 as chief scientific officer and chief operating officer. Dr. Chappel is responsible for leading Tokai’s drug discovery and development programs, and managing daily business operations. Prior to joining Tokai, Dr. Chappel served as executive vice president for science and technology at Dyax Corporation. While at Dyax, he established the company’s preclinical pipeline of therapeutic proteins and the antibody discovery program. Previously, Dr. Chappel held a variety of senior management positions at Serono, Inc., including chief scientist. While at Serono, Dr. Chappel was involved in the development of several FDA approved products, including Gonal F, Luveris, Ovidrel and Rebif. He has also served as chief scientific officer and senior vice president for research at Diacrin, Inc. (now GenVec) and research director at Integrated Genetics (now part of Genzyme, Inc.). Dr. Chappel received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Chappel has authored or co-authored more than 65 peer-reviewed scientific publications, as well as being named inventor on 19 issued U.S. patents.
Cy Stein, M.D., Ph.D., Consulting Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Stein joined Tokai in 2009 as consulting chief medical officer and is responsible for the medical oversight of ongoing Tokai clinical programs and clinical strategy. He is currently professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and director of the Medical Genitourinary Oncology Division, as well as an attending physician at the Montefiore Medical Center. Prior to his current roles, Dr. Stein was assistant professor of medicine, then associate professor of pharmacology and medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He received a B.A. in chemistry from Brown University and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Stanford under the direction of Henry Taube. Dr. Stein completed his M.D. studies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and an internship and residency in internal medicine at Cornell University Medical Center, followed by a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Stein has authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific publications, over 75 editorials, book chapters and reviews, as well as being named inventor on nine issued patents.
David Casebier, Ph.D., Vice President of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Casebier joined Tokai in 2008 as vice president of pharmaceutical sciences, and is responsible for Tokai’s chemistry, manufacturing processes and control activities, as well as oversight of Tokai’s intellectual property strategy and execution. Prior to joining Tokai, Dr. Casebier served as senior director of chemistry for six years at Lantheus Medical Imaging, formerly a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). While at BMS, he was responsible for all aspects of chemistry from project conception to commercial launch, including medicinal chemistry and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing. Prior to joining BMS, Dr. Casebier was at ArQule for nine years. He was the first employee at ArQule and built the automated combinatorial chemistry capability of the company; during this time he held increasing positions of responsibility at the director, then vice president level, eventually managing a subsidiary focused on materials research using ArQule technology. Dr. Casebier received his B.S. in chemistry from Washington State University and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Casebier was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Brown University, where he worked on biosynthesis of polyketide macrolides.
Susan Stewart, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Compliance
Ms. Stewart joined Tokai in 2009 and is responsible for oversight of all Tokai regulatory efforts to ensure compliance with regulations and best practices for the development of new drugs. Since 2005, Ms. Stewart has served as vice president of regulatory affairs at TransMolecular, Inc. where she oversees regulatory affairs and strategic planning. She brings more than 19 years of regulatory affairs and quality assurance experience in product development and commercialization of products for treatment of cardiovascular, oncologic, renal and immune diseases, orthopedics and neurological disorders. From 2001 to 2005, she was vice president of regulatory affairs for Genzyme Corporation; from 2004 to 2005, she also served as vice president of quality and regulatory affairs, and served as director for MG Biotherapeutics, a joint venture of Medtronic Inc. and Genzyme. Ms. Stewart was also the regulatory lead for Genzyme collaborations with Diacrin, Inc., Cambridge Antibody Technologies, and Dyax, Inc. Her commercial product experience includes global registration and management of Renagel®, Synvisc®, Carticel® and Thyrogen®. Prior to joining Genzyme in 1994, she served as quality assurance supervisor for Abbot Laboratories. Ms. Stewart earned a B.A. from Annhurst College and is a fellow of the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society and is both U.S. and European Union Regulatory Affairs Certified.
Jodie Morrison, Vice President of Clinical Affairs and Program Operations
Ms. Morrison joined Tokai in 2006 and is responsible for operational management of all Tokai clinical programs, including protocol administration, clinical research organization management, patient advocacy, and acting as the sponsor liaison with clinical trial centers. Prior to joining Tokai, she served as director of clinical operations and medical affairs at Dyax Corporation. While at Dyax, she built the clinical development team and oversaw clinical and medical operations on the hereditary angioedema and cardiothoracic surgery programs. Previously, Ms. Morrison held clinical management positions at both Curis, Inc. and at Diacrin, Inc. Her clinical operations experience includes programs in women’s health, oncology, urology, cardiothoracic surgery, cardiac anesthesiology, allergy, immunology, neurosurgery and transplant surgery. Prior to focusing her career in clinical operations, she worked in the Cell Transplantation Laboratory at Diacrin, Inc. Ms. Morrison received her B.A. in neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College, her clinical research certification from Boston University School of Medicine and her business training through the Greater Boston Executive Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.
Jessica Fees, Vice President of Finance
Ms. Fees joined Tokai in 2005 and is responsible for managing finance activities, corporate communications, human resources and daily business operations. She brings 15 years of finance and accounting experience working with large diversified manufacturing companies as well as a variety of high tech and service providers to Tokai. Prior to joining Tokai, Ms. Fees was the corporate controller at Old Mother Hubbard, a manufacturer of premium brand dog and cat food marketed throughout the United States. She previously served as the controller of Babcock Power Services Inc., a multi-national engineer and design conglomerate that specializes in pollution control for the electric utility sector. Prior to joining Babcock Power, Ms. Fees served as a financial, planning and analysis professional at WR Grace, supporting the company’s worldwide operations. She began her career at Arthur Andersen LLP in the attest function servicing large publicly traded companies as well as diversified middle market enterprises. Ms. Fees received her B.S. in accounting and economics from the College of the Holy Cross and she is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).