Arthur M. “Buzz” Brown, M.D., Ph.D. is ChanTest’s founder, Executive Chairman & CSO, and an Adjunct Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine. He is a trained cardiologist and physiologist with more than 30 years of experience in ion channels and their relationship to human disease and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Brown has established world-leading Physiology department at University of Texas Medical Branch, Baylor College of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University.

Major contributions from his research laboratories to the field of ion channels include:

1. invention of ion-selective liquid exchanger microelectrodes;
2. description of membrane–delimited G protein effects on ion channels;
3. identification of the pore of voltage-gated and inwardly rectifying potassium channels;
4. specification of hERG potassium channel as lethal target for non-cardiac drugs, e.g., Seldane, Propulsid, etc.; and
5. discovery of drug-induced block of hERG trafficking as cause of arrhythmias.

Dr. Brown’s honors include the following:

• Established Investigator of the American Heart Association
• Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award
• The Harry B van Dyke Awards for Excellence in Medical Research (Pharmacology), Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
• American Physiological Society Water B. Cannon Lecturer
• Recipient of American Heart Association Basic Research Prize
• Recipient of Louis and Artur Lucian Award for Research in Circulatory Diseases
• First Robert M. Berne Distinguished Lecturer of the American Physiological Society Cardiovascular Section
• Newton-Abraham Visiting Professor in Medical, Biological and Chemical Sciences, (MA Honors), University of Oxford, England

Dr. Brown is currently a collaborator with the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) on cardiac safety issues. He holds nine patents on ion channel pharmacology, therapeutics and devices.

D. Thomas Oakley was named president and CEO in September 2010, bringing a strong operational focus and more than 25 years of domestic and international leadership in contract research organizations, industrial and consumer products businesses. He previously served as President and CEO of Bridge Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a preclinical contract research organization with operations in the US and China, and was responsible for building the first successful US GLP-quality toxicology laboratory in China. He was founder and president of DTO Associates, LLC, a consulting firm with a focus on contract research and scientific organizations. Mr. Oakley also spent nine years at Covance where his last position was Global VP of Corporate Development. He holds an M.B.A. in management, finance and accounting from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in economics from Ripon College.

Jesse Baumgold, Ph.D. is Vice President, Product Services and Strategy. He joined ChanTest in 2009 after its acquisition of Applied Cell Sciences, a company he founded in 2003. He previously founded Receptor Biology Inc., the first US-based seller of GPCR-expressing cell lines and membranes, which was sold to Perkin Elmer Life Sciences in 2000. Dr. Baumgold received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from The University of Rochester Medical School and a B.S. in Chemistry from Oberlin College, after which he held academic positions at NIH and The George Washington University in D.C. He holds six U.S. patents and has published in more than 50 journal articles. He is a member of the Society for Biomolecular Sciences.

Jessica Brimecombe, Ph.D. is Senior Director, Laboratory Operations and Cardiac Safety Services. She also serves as a member of the Quality Team to provide improved safety testing performance and profitability. Dr. Brimecombe joined the company in 2003 and has served ChanTest as Study Director and head of Quality Control. Previously, she was a scientist at Neurocrine Biosciences in San Diego, CA. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Hiram College and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Emir Duzic, Ph.D. joined ChanTest, Corp. in 2010 and serves as Senior Director, Discovery Services. Dr. Duzic has more than18 years of drug discovery experience, largely focused on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Dr. Duzic was previously associate director of Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology at Cephalon, Inc., where he was a member of the Senior Research Management Team and was responsible for directing HTS targeting GPCRs and in vitro pharmacology. Prior to that, he was associate director of Cellular Biology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, head of Receptor Pharmacology at OSI Pharmaceuticals, formerly Cadus Pharmaceuticals, and senior scientist at Wyeth Research, formerly Lederle Laboratories. He is co-author of more than 35 peer-reviewed publications and co-inventor on 5 patents. He is member of ASPET, SLAS, AAAS and NYAS. Dr. Duzic received his Ph.D. in Experimental Pharmacology from the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and was a NIH Fogarty Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Medical School.

Mark Keck joined ChanTest in 2009 and is the Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Client Services responsible for the global sales and marketing efforts for the company. Mr. Keck began his career in research and product development, moving into sales and marketing roles early in his career for several research reagent, laboratory equipment and drug discovery services companies. Most recently, he was Director of Market Development at Invitrogen Corp. and Senior Director of Marketing for Millipore Corporation’s Upstate and Chemicon brands. He holds a B.S. in Biology from California State University and M.S. in Biology from Bowling Green State University.