Thomas A. Collet

President and Chief Executive Officer

Thomas A. Collet is president and chief executive officer of Meditrina Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and a co-founder of the Company.

Prior to Meditrina, Thomas served as president and CEO of three early-stage life science companies which he was instrumental in creating, building and financing.  The companies were:  Rubicon Genomics, a drug discovery and development tools and biomarker discovery company; ProNAi Therapeutics, a cancer therapeutics company; and, Neural Intervention Technologies (NIT), a medical device company developing a therapy for the treatment of hemorrhagic stroke.   Previously, he was a general partner at Tullis-Dickerson (TD), where he helped manage a $40 million seed and early stage fund.  Prior to his tenure at TD, Thomas was vice president, business development at Monsanto where he helped start Integrated Protein Technologies, the Company’s internal venture for the production of pharmaceutical proteins in green plants.  Thomas started his career with McKinsey & Company, Inc, where he advised clients in Europe and in the United States on strategy and operations in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.  At McKinsey & Company, his clients were primarily small, fast-growing, and technology-focused business units of Fortune 100 companies. 

Cumulatively, Thomas’ companies have raised more than $24 million in seed and early-stage capital since 2001 from venture capitalists, pharmaceutical companies, individual investors and government programs.  Of particular note, NIT, which was supported by the State of Michigan Technology Tri-Corridor, was recently sold to W.L. Gore, generating the largest cash return for this program since its inception.

Thomas received his doctorate in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also conducted post-doctoral research at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.  He is fluent in English and German.

Holly Vene

Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, Business Development

Holly Vene currently serves as Meditrina’s chief operating officer and vice president, business development and is a co-founder of the Company.  In this role, she is responsible for the commercial operations of the Company, including business development, commercial development, corporate strategy, finance and the legal department.

Prior to joining Meditrina, Holly founded and was a principal at Strategic Partnering International (SPI), which focused on providing strategic and business development consulting expertise to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.  SPI clients included: large pharmaceutical companies, midsized European privately-held companies, emerging major biotech companies, start-up specialty pharmaceutical companies and generic companies.

Previously, Holly worked at Searle, where she held numerous management positions during her tenure.  As vice president, European Operations, she was responsible for business development and new product planning, including a number of projects in the field of women’s health.  During Holly’s career at Searle she also held commercial positions in the US and Asia/Pacific business segments, as well as in a corporate role as Senior Director of Strategic Planning working with the new management team in charting its new direction following the acquisition of Searle by Monsanto.  Holly started her career at PepsiCo where she held various management positions in the Franchise, Bottling Group and Food Service divisions.

Holly completed her MBA at New York University’s Stern School of Business and participated in the International Management Program at HEC, France.  She received her B.S. in mathematics and French from Dickinson College.

James Symons

Vice President, Clinical Development

James Symons is vice president, clinical development at Meditrina Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and is responsible for the management of the Company’s clinical program.

Prior to joining Meditrina, Jim was a member of the research faculty of the Epidemiology Department in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan where he conducted and analyzed studies from data collected in large, longitudinal programs.  He began his clinical career at Parke-Davis with responsibilities increasing from clinical scientist to senior director until his retirement from Pfizer in 2005.  While at Parke-Davis and Pfizer, Jim had primary responsibility for a number of drug development programs that resulted in NDA approvals.  These included:  femhrt® for the treatment of menopausal symptoms and prevention of osteoporosis; FemPatch® for the treatment of menopausal symptoms; Estrostep® for contraception; Estrostep® for the treatment of acne; and, Cognex® for Alzheimer's disease.  In addition, he led efforts for the submission of additional NDAs in the areas of asthma and vaginal atrophy.  Jim began his scientific career at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he conducted basic research in behavior genetics, specifically focused on identifying behaviors that would be amenable to genetic analysis.  In addition, he was part of the first program grant that worked to develop mouse models of aging.

Jim has an M.S. in physiological psychology, an M.S. in biostatistics and research design and obtained his Ph.D. in epidemiologic science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Jack Luderer, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Jack Luderer, M.D., is the chief medical officer of Meditrina Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and is responsible for the direction and oversight of the Company’s clinical program.

Dr. Luderer has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years having held a series of senior management positions resulting in worldwide experience involving all phases of clinical development.  Prior to joining Meditrina, he worked at Pharmacia, Inc., where he held numerous positions including:  vice president, U.S. medical affairs; vice president, clinical development, U.S. market company; vice president, clinical pharmacology and development; executive director, clinical pharmacology; and, director, clinical pharmacology.  During his career, Dr. Luderer has supervised more than 300 clinical trials across numerous therapeutic areas including women’s health and oncology.  He has global regulatory experience encompassing multiple IND and NDA filings and has assisted in the assessment and management of several acquisitions and license agreements.

He currently serves, or has served, on the Scientific Advisory Boards of several startup companies.  In addition, he has held academic positions at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and Michigan State University College of Medicine.  Dr. Luderer’s work has resulted in more than 100 publications.

Dr. Luderer received his medical degree from Northwestern University School of Medicine.  He also holds a masters degree in chemistry and is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology.

Sandra Sims

Senior Director, Product Development and Quality Assurance

Sandra Sims is Senior Director of Product Development and Quality Assurance for Meditrina Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Prior to joining Meditrina Pharmaceuticals, Sandi held several management positions at Pfizer/Pharmacia/The Upjohn Company, including Associate Director for Solids Development and Associate Director of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vetmed Development, where she led the analytical and formulation development groups responsible for all Pharmacia animal health products.  She worked closely with Manufacturing and the Animal Health business to achieve late stage technology transfer and launch six new products.  Previously, she worked in the Pharmaceutics group and provided preclinical formulation and physical chemical assessment for the oxazolidinone antibiotic discovery program.  Zyvox™ (linezolid), the first new antibiotic in more than 30 years, was a major outcome of the oxazolidinone program.  She led the formulation development of the Zyvox intravenous solution from discovery through preclinical and clinical testing, scale-up and manufacturing, and product approval.  In addition, she served as a Pharmaceutical Sciences Project Team Leader where she led more than 12 teams comprised of scientists from formulation and analytical development, regulatory CMC, Quality Assurance, and Clinical Supply Logistics.  These projects covered a variety of dosage forms, including topical creams, ophthalmic solutions, immediate release tablets, and sustained release tablets, for use in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials.  She began her scientific career at The Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she conducted basic research in ion and drug absorption in parasitic worms.

Sandi has a B.S. in pharmacy from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutics from the University of Utah.

Linda Thompson

Acting Director, Finance

Linda Thompson is Acting Director, Finance of Meditrina Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Linda has more than 20 years’ experience in leading local businesses in their accounting, administrative and operations functions.  Previously, she was at Vector Research, an information technology services company, where she served as the company’s controller.  During her tenure there, she was an integral part of Vector's annual budget preparations, tracking and reporting programs. Prior to Vector, Linda was a senior auditor at the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

Linda is a Certified Public Accountant and received her bachelors in business administration from Eastern Michigan University.