About Us | Advisory Board

About the Advisory Board

The BIO IT Coalition's Advisory Board members are respected experts in their fields from industry and academia who will come together four times a year to discuss the critical issues which must be addressed to move the BIO IT industry forward. These distinguished Coalition counselors understand the effect of information technology on the world of biotechnology and healthcare and the economic impact of changing technologies on existing systems. They will work together to guide the industry and to help the Coalition bring information and opportunities to its members and the community.

The BIO IT Coalition and the industry will benefit greatly from the Advisory Board's combined wisdom and thoughtful discussions at quarterly meetings, which will provide a forum for its members to address and discuss problems of the industry and recommend solutions. A summary of the Advisory Board discussions will be published by the Coalition and made available to our members.

Members of the Advisory Board

Meena Augustus, Ph.D.
Joanna L. Batstone, Ph.D.
Jennie Hunter Cevera, Ph.D.
Rita Colwell, Ph.D.
James N. Cooper, M.D.
Kenneth Geoly, M.D.
Lloyd J. Griffiths, Ph.D.
John Holaday, Ph.D.
Leslie Platt, J.D.
Daniele Struppa, Ph.D.

Meena Augustus, Ph.D.
Executive Partner, HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. & Triesta Sciences Inc., India
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Shréis-Scalene Sciences Inc., USA

Dr. Meena Augustus, Ph.D., is Executive Partner of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd., and Triesta Sciences Inc. Bangalore, India, and Co-Founder & CSO for Shréis-Scalene Sciences Inc. of Gaithersburg, Maryland.  Dr. Augustus was co-founder of Avalon Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biotech company, located in Germantown, MD, using cutting edge, revolutionary drug and target discovery approaches in cancer.  As Senior Scientific Director, she oversaw the efforts of the Molecular Genetics and Oncology group since the company's inception in 2000 to November 2002 and was instrumental to the development of Avalon's Amplicon and Biorepository databases.  She also oversaw Strategic Scientific Alliances for Avalon, between 2003-2006, initiating and establishing several key scientific, academic and clinical collaborations for the company, both domestic and international.  Currently, Dr. Augustus' company Shreis-Scalene is focused on bringing to the US and global markets, 2 portfolio medical devices; a diagnostic device the HemoseisT for the detection of cardiovascular diseases and the CytotronT, a therapeutic device that uses rotational field quantum magnetic resonance (RFQMR) in the treatment of diseases like osteoarthritis and cancer among other indications.

During her career, Dr. Augustus has served in premier research institutions in India, Germany, France and the U.S and has been the recipient of the prestigious German Academic Exchange Service and Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships to pursue her commitment to the study of cancer genetics and clinical oncology.  For 18 years, she was a member of the oncology faculty in a UICC-affiliated, 250-bed Comprehensive Cancer Research, Treatment and Teaching Hospital in Bangalore, India, eventually serving as Professor and Head, Department of Cell-biology & Pathology. During that time, she played a key role in a large scale WHO-sponsored cancer detection and screening program in Karnataka, India and was a co-investigator in a multi-institutional Indo-US (NCI-sponsored) study on the molecular characterization of lymphoid neoplasia.  She accompanied her husband on his diplomatic assignment to the Embassy of India in Washington DC, from 1994-1998 combining it with a sabbatical as a Special Volunteer with the Fogarty International Center, at the NIH.  Dr. Augustus has held a visiting scientist position at Human Genome Sciences Inc., in Rockville, MD where she individually mapped more than 100 new human genes to their chromosomal locations. She also served as a consultant at the Center for Prostate Disease Research (USUHS/Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine) in Rockville, MD, where she pioneered a study on the molecular cytogenetic analysis of prostate cancer. During 1997-1999, Dr. Augustus was a visiting scientist in the Lymphoma Biology Section-Pediatric Branch and the Cancer Genetics Group (NCI/NIH), and the Genome Technology Branch (NHGRI-NIH) in Bethesda, MD.  She played a key role in the design and development of the recently launched NCI and NCBI SKY/CGH Interactive Online (Cytogenetic) Database, a public resource that will enable the compilation and analysis of chromosome aberrations in cancer, both human and mouse. (See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sky/skyweb.cgi)

Joanna L. Batstone , Ph.D .
Director for Distributed Computing, IBM Research

D Joanna L. Batstone, Ph.D. is the Director for Distributed Computing in IBM Research, with worldwide strategy responsibility for Distributed Computing.  Previously she was the Program Director, Development, for IBM's Sensors & Actuators business unit and a Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Software Group.  She spent 5 years as a Senior Manager for Solutions Development in IBM's Healthcare & Life Sciences Business Unit with development responsibilities for IBM's Life Sciences solutions for Pharma and Biotech.  Under her leadership, IBM launched industry solutions for data integration, regulatory compliance, clinical trials management and information lifecycle management.  Before joining the IBM Healthcare & Life Sciences team, Batstone spent 11 years in IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, in the Physical Sciences and Computer Sciences departments.

She has published over 80 papers and organized many industry conference symposia.  Her professional activities include: BIO IT Coalition Advisory Board, Indiana University Science Informatics Advisory Board, invited speaker on "Turning Genomics into Medicine" at the 2003 MIT Emerging Technologies conference, sponsored by the Technology Review, featured speaker at the Bio IT World webcast - IT Solutions for Proteomics, (Nov '02), scientific advisory board for the Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Data Visualization and Interpretation Conference, ('03) and invited speaker in '02, an invited speaker on "The Future of the Biotechnology Industry: Opportunities for Small Businesses", at the NY Solutions 2002 Conference.

Dr. Batstone received a B.Sc. in Chemical Physics and a Ph.D. in Physics from The University of Bristol, UK.  This was followed by postdoctoral work at AT&T Bell Laboratories, NJ, a Lectureship in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Liverpool, UK, a position with IBM Research.  She received the '95 Burton Medal from the Microscopy Society of America, the '91 Robert Lansing Hardy Gold Medal from The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society and the '89 Cosslett Award from the Microbeam Analysis Society.

Dr. Batstone takes a leadership role in promoting opportunities for Women in Technology with regular presentations on careers and survival skills.  She chaired the American Physical Society's Committee on Careers and Professional Development and was an elected Member at Large on the Executive Committee for the Forum for Industrial and Applied Physics.  She represents IBM at the New York Academy of Sciences Womens' Investigators Network Diversity Leadership Initiative, she was an invited Panelist at the 1st Annual Conference on Non-Traditional Careers, sponsored by Trendsetters Network, 21st Century Careers for Girls in NYC, a keynote speaker at the 14th Annual Conference on Women in Engineering, Kingston, Ontario and a keynote speaker for the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, American Physical Society March meeting, in Montreal, Canada.

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Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera, Ph.D.
President, University of Maryland
Biotechnology Institute

Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera, Ph.D. has served as President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute since October of 1999.  Prior to this, she was the Director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the E. O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which was a collaborative effort between the Lab and the University of California at Berkeley.  Earlier, she was co-founder of two small companies (The Biotic Network and Blue Sky Research) that did contract work for large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and also consulted for five years in a variety of biotechnology fields.

For 10 years, Dr. Hunter-Cevera was employed at Cetus Corporation and served as the Director of Fermentation, Research and Development and before that at E. R. Squibb and Sons as a Research Scientist.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera has served as President of the Society of Industrial Microbiology (SIM) and of the United States Federation of Culture Collections (USFCC).  She served as Senior Editor for the Journal of Industrial Microbiology for ten years.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera also served as a member on former USDA Secretary Glickman's Genetic Resources Advisory Board and President Clinton's State Department Council on Genetically Modified Foods.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera also served as the United States representative to the OECD on Biological Resource Centers.  She has given more than 60 invited lectures, seven keynote lectures, and is the author of several papers, chapters, and books, as well as the holder of three patents and 16 pending patents.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology in 1995, received the 1996 SIM Charles Porter Award, and was elected as a SIM Fellow in 1997.  She was the West Virginia University Nath Lecturer in 1999 and appointed by Governor Glendening as Maryland's Science and Technology Representative for the Southern Governor's Association in 2000.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera was honored by her alma mata, West Virginia University, as the 2003 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.  In 2004, Dr. Hunter-Cevera was the recipient of the USFCC/J. Roger Porter Award.  Supported by the United States Federation for Culture Collections (USFCC) and ASM, the award recognized Dr. Hunter-Cevera's expertise in collecting, maintaining, and preserving microbial cultures.  She was honored as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women for 2003 and 2007.  She was recognized in 2007 as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Maryland. Dr. Hunter-Cevera served on Governor Ehrlich's Technology Commission for the State of Maryland and was one of six members of the Governor's Executive Council for Transition.  She currently sits on the State of Maryland's Task Force on Minority Participation in the Environmental Community and is the president of the International Marine Biotechnology Association.

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Dr. Rita R. Colwell, Ph.D.
Chairman, Canon US Life Sciences, Inc.
Past Director, National Science Foundation

Dr. Rita R. Colwell, is Chairman, Canon, U.S. Life Sciences, Inc. and the past director of the National Science Foundation.  Her interests are focused on global infectious diseases, water, and health, and she is currently developing an international network to address emerging infectious diseases and water issues, including safe drinking water for both the developed and developing world.

Dr. Colwell served as the 11th Director of the National Science Foundation, 1998-2004.  In her capacity as NSF Director, she served as Co-chair of the Committee on Science of the National Science and Technology Council. One of her major interests include K-12 science and mathematics education, graduate science and engineering education and the increased participation of women and minorities in science and engineering.

Dr. Colwell has held many advisory positions in the U.S. Government, nonprofit science policy organizations, and private foundations, as well as in the international scientific research community.  She is a nationally-respected scientist and educator, and has authored or co-authored 16 books and more than 700 scientific publications.  She produced the award-winning film, Invisible Seas, and has served on editorial boards of numerous scientific journals.

Before going to NSF, Dr. Colwell was President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology at the University Maryland.  She was also a member of the National Science Board from 1984 to 1990.

Dr. Colwell has previously served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Microbiology and also as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the American Society for Microbiology, the Sigma Xi National Science Honorary Society, and the International Union of Microbiological Societies.  Dr. Colwell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Dr. Colwell has also been awarded 39 honorary degrees from institutions of higher education, including her Alma Mater, Purdue University.  Dr. Colwell is an honorary member of the microbiological societies of the UK, France, Israel, Bangladesh, and the U.S. and has held several honorary professorships, including the University of Queensland, Australia. A geological site in Antarctica, Colwell Massif, has been named in recognition of her work in the polar regions.

Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Dr. Colwell holds a B.S. in Bacteriology and an M.S. in Genetics, from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Washington.

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James N. Cooper, M.D.
Director, Medical Research Development Life Sciences, George Mason University
Chairman Emeritus, Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Inova Health System

Dr. James N. Cooper is Acting President and CEO at Theranostics Health, Professor and Director of Medical Research Development, Life Sciences at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Inova Health System.  Dr. Cooper attended Columbia University and received his medical degree from New York University.  He completed his residency training at Georgetown University and Boston City Hospital.  He received specialty training in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago and was appointed Director of Georgetown's Gastroenterology Service at D.C. General Hospital before coming to Inova Fairfax Hospital where he served as the Section Chief of Gastroenterology until 1982, at which time he became Chairman of the Department of Medicine.  He also serves as Medical Director of the Inova Institute of Research and Education which he helped establish in 1991.  He has received the Lawrence Kyle and V. K. Vance awards for teaching excellence.  He continues to participate actively in clinical research and has published over 40 articles.  Dr. Cooper presently holds academic appointments as, Professor of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University and at George Mason University. 

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Kenneth L. Geoly, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Medical Director, Dialysis Unit
Fairfax Inova Health System

Dr. Kenneth L. Geoly is currently the Medical Director of the Dialysis Unit at Inova Fairfax Health System.  His education includes a B.S. from University of Notre Dame and an M.D.  from S.U.N.Y. Downstate Medical Center. 

Dr. Geoly's clinical practice experience is in Nephrology and includes consulting in hospital and office practice, consulting in hospital critical care, management of acute and chronic Hemodialysis, management of acute and chronic transplantation.  Dr. Geoly also conducts active Nephrology teaching programs for medical house staff, medical attending staff, nursing, laboratory technologists and the lay public.

His certifications include; American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), Internal Medicine 1973; ABIM, Nephrology 1978; Fellow, American College Of Physicians 1978.

He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital and was the Medical Director of Clinical Informatics for Inova Health System.  He has published articles on clinical and informatics issues. 

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Lloyd J. Griffiths, Ph.D.
Dean, The Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering
George Mason University

Lloyd Griffiths was named Dean of the School of IT & Engineering at George Mason University in 1997.  The School currently consists of approximately 4,200 engineering students, 2,100 of which are undergraduates enrolled in a total of six undergraduate majors.  Over 360 Ph.D. students are pursuing their degrees in the School.

In the past ten years, the Volgenau School has experienced exceptionally strong growth in both enrollment and research expenditures.  During this period, new undergraduate degree majors have been added in Computer Engineering and in Information Technology.  In October, 2006, the School announced the largest single gift ever made to George Mason by an individual donor. Sara and Ernst Volgenau provided $10M toward the growth of new academic programs.  This leadership gift will be used to take the School to a position of true national and international prominence.  Central to this effort is the announcement of a new program in the area of Nano-Info-BioEngineering.

Dr. Griffiths' undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering was awarded by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.  His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering were awarded by Stanford University.

Dean Griffiths is a fellow of the IEEE and has been recognized with the IEEE Browder J. Thompson prize paper award.  He currently sits on the board of directors several private companies and serves on the advisory boards of several other companies.  Many of these are early stage/startup ventures.

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John W. Holaday, Ph.D.
Director, President and CEO; Founding Director of QRxPharma (QRX, ASX)

Dr. John Holaday is the Managing Director, President and CEO; founding Director of QRxPharma (QRX, ASX), a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Sydney, Australia.  He served as co-founder of HarVest Bank of Maryland, EntreMed, Inc. (ENMD, NASDAQ) in 1992, Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (MRX, NYSE) in 1988.  He also founded MaxCyte, Inc. and is a member of the Board of Directors of CytImmune Sciences, Xceleron, Accelovance and Seno Medical.  He has raised over $360MM in private and public rounds of financing for these companies that have a collective market capitalization in excess of over $2 billion.  Dr. Holaday served as a Captain in the US Army at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as an officer and civilian for 21 years. Dr. Holaday obtained his BS (1966) and MS (1968) from the UofA, and his Ph.D. from UCSF in 1976. He was Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (until 1996) and is Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  Dr. Holaday serves on the Leadership Board for the College of Arts and Sciences, UofA, the Board of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, and the Judges Panel for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2003-present).  Dr. Holaday is on the Advisory Board of Harbert Investments. Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 Hall of Fame, holds over 30 patents and published over 200 scientific articles and five books.

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Leslie Platt
Counsel, Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP

Leslie A. Platt, J.D. is a Counsel at Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Platt provides professional strategy and consulting services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and health care industries, and other regulated industry sectors.  He has over twenty five years of management, legal and policy experience at senior levels in the private and public sectors.

Prior to joining Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman LLP Mr. Platt formed Leslie A. Platt and Associates and was a Principal at Ernst & Young LLP.  He has also served as Executive Assistant to the Director and Chief of Operations, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has been general counsel and a senior executive of two biotechnology organizations.  Earlier in his career, he was Deputy General Counsel-Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and staff director and counsel of the White House Agent Orange Working Group.  At the outset of his career, Mr. Platt rose through career ranks and served as chief legislative counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. Platt has extensive experience in addressing strategy, policy and legal issues facing biomedical research and health care organizations, as well as other companies, nonprofit entities and government agencies.  He has negotiated landmark agreements in biotechnology facility finance and intellectual property transfer, and is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding service.

Mr. Platt is a frequent lecturer on principles for superior operating risk management in the health sciences industry and other regulated industry sectors.  He also presents internationally on bioethics and legal and policy issues in health and life sciences, and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Biojudiciary Project (www.biojudiciary.org).  He has served as a member of the Task Force on Genetic Technologies of the National Conference of State Legislatures and as a member of the International Bar Association Working Group on the Draft International Convention on the Human Genome.  Mr. Platt is a graduate of New York University School of Law and a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia.

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Daniele Struppa, Ph.D.
Chancellor, Chapman University

Daniele C. Struppa, Ph.D. is the Chancellor of Chapman University in Orange, California.  Formerly, Dr. Struppa served as Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, from 1997 to 2006, and as Provost of Chapman University from 2006 to the summer of 2007.  A native of Italy, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and his Laurea in Matematica from the University of Milano in Italy.

Dr. Struppa is an internationally renowned mathematician, who has widely lectured around the globe, and is the author of more than 100 refereed publications in the areas of geometry and analysis.  His academic experiences include assistant professorships at the University of Milano and at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.  Dr. Struppa was a professor at the University of Calabria and at George Mason, where he also served as associate dean for graduate studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Struppa is also a passionate mountain climber and to date, he has climbed three of seven of the world's highest summits, including Mt. Aconcagua in December 1999, Mt. Kilimanjaro in July 2000, and Mt. Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, in July 2002.  "It's just exhilarating.  It makes everything else look really trivial, and takes away all worries," he said.  "I can't wait to be back on one of those mountains."

He hopes people see him as a mathematician, an amateur mountain climber, a small scale philanthropist, and a fabulous father and husband.

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