William F Brinkerhoff, MBA, MSE

President

Bill has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry focused in new product planning, corporate development, business development and licensing.  He is co-founder and was chief operating officer of Cerenis Therapeutics from 2005-2011.  Previously he was vice president of business development at Esperion Therapeutics, overseeing all strategic partnering activities prior to the company’s acquisition by Pfizer.  Prior to joining Esperion, he oversaw U.S. business development, market planning and sales operations for Sankyo, a leading Japanese pharmaceutical company (now Daiichi Sankyo).  Bill holds a  master’s degree in business administration as well as bachelors and masters degrees in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan

Bruce Auerbach, MS, FAHA

Chief Operating Officer

Bruce received his MS in Pathology from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University  with a concentration in Comparative Medicine with Dr. John Parks.  Post-graduation, he spent 4 years studying the effects of hormone replacement therapy on VLDL and LDL kinetics in post-menopausal woman.  In 1990, he joined Parke-Davis and continued working for Pfizer post-merger as an Associate Research Fellow in Cardiovascular Pharmacology.  His primary research focuses are lipoprotein metabolism and metabolic diseases.  He has extensive research expertise in animal models of atherosclerosis, metabolic diseases and their use in translational medicine.  During his tenure at Parke-Davis/Pfizer, he contributed to the discovery and development of Lipitor, avasimibe and gemcabene. Over the past 9 years he has directed 3 discovery programs, bringing 5 compounds into clinic, where he participated in the writing of INDs, IBs and the planning of clinical trials. Bruce has authored or co-authored more 25 scientific papers, and is currently a Fellow of the American Heart Association.

Brian Krause, PhD, FAHA

Chief Scientific Officer

Brian attended graduate school at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, and later at LSU Medical Center in New Orleans, where he received a Ph.D. in Physiology.  After completing an NIH-sponsored postdoctoral training program under the guidance of Paul Roheim, M.D. he joined Parke-Davis/Pfizer where he became the lead pharmacologist on the team that discovered Lipitor, and head of the ACAT team that discovered avasimibe.  In 2001 he left Pfizer and joined Esperion as VP of Development Pharmacology, and later as Head of Research.  He was the preclinical pharmacologist on the Clinical development Team for apoAIMilano (ETC-216).  His major research focus since 1973 has been cardiovascular therapeutics, in particular, cholesterol-lowering and anti-atherosclerotic drugs.  Brian has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer reviewed scientific papers and book chapters in the field of lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis.

Reyn Homan, PhD

Vice-President, Research and Development

Reyn is co-founder of AlphaCore Pharma and currently serves as Vice President of Research and Development.  He leads pre-clinical research supporting manufacturing, IND submissions and development of new therapeutic strategies.  Reyn has over 25 years of experience in atherosclerosis research ranging from fundamental protein biochemistry and cellular lipid metabolism to animal research supporting translation of therapeutic concepts to humans.   Reyn obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook in 1985.  He was awarded an NIH postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Henry Pownall in the Atherosclerosis section at Baylor College of Medicine, headed by Dr. Antonio M. Gotto, to research lipid transport kinetics and cellular lipid metabolism.  He went on to join the Atherosclerosis group at Parke-Davis (later to become Pfizer) leading pre-clinical research on novel lipid-regulating targets.  He developed an understanding of the operation and goals of small biotech companies by joining Esperion Therapeutics and advancing to the position of Vascular Biology Department director leading  preclinical research for the development of biopharmaceuticals (apoAIMilano, apoAI mimetic peptides, and liposomes) to treat heart disease.   Reyn has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and is an inventor on several patents.

Kay Stremler, PhD

Vice-President, Quality and Supply Chain Management

Kay earned a Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from the University of Utah. She brings to AlphaCore extensive experience in biopharmaceutical development.  Prior to joining AlphaCore she was the Director of Bioprocess R&D and Clinical Supply for Esperion Therapeutics – A Pfizer Inc. Company, and Head of Downstream Operations at Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharma in Germany where she was responsible for GMP manufacturing managing over 90 persons. Kay spent 11 years at the Immunex Corporation, where she ultimately held the position of Director, International Quality Operations, responsible for oversight of Enbrel® production. Her past accomplishments include definition/qualification of production facilities, development project chair for Enbrel® through FDA approval, and development of more than 20 investigatinal drug products through various IND phases.

Rebecca Bakker-Arkema, RPh, MS, FAHA

Vice-President, Clinical

Rebecca oversees AlphaCore’s clinical development program.  She brings with her over 24 years of pharmacological experience in both large and small pharmaceutical companies including Upjohn, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Metabasis, and General Electric,. Her experience includes translational medicine and Phase 1 through Phase 4 clinical development.  The majority of her experience has been in cardiovascular including cholesterol metabolism and diabetes, thrombosis, and heart failure. Ms. Bakker-Arkema formerly acted as senior director of Clinical Research at Metabasis Therapeutics and held positions at Pfizer as the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Translational Medicine Site Head, and as a Director in both Exploratory Clinical Development and the Cardiovascular Department.   Ms. Bakker-Arkema has held the position of Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor since 1993.  She’s received honors such as the Bio-IT World Award for Strategic Application and PK/PD Modeling Simulation and the Fellow of the American Heart Association, the Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

Michael Auerbach, MS, MBA

Board Chair/CEO

Michael received his BS/MS in engineering from Cornell and an MBA from Wharton in 1987. He was most recently president, co-owner of Airco DIET LLC, an international engineering company founded through management buyout in 1996 of a Division of BOC Group, a multi-billion dollar international industrial gas company.  Michael became CEO at AlphaCore Pharma in July, 2008, and within months (September, 2008) closed a private equity deal that continues to fund the company to the present day.