Ron Cohen, M.D., President, CEO, and Founder. Dr. Cohen previously was a
principal in the startup team of Advanced Tissue Sciences (ATS), a public
biotechnology company in La Jolla, California engaged in growing human tissues
in the laboratory—including skin, cartilage, liver and bone marrow—for use in
transplantation. Dr. Cohen served as Vice President, Officer and Director of
the Company from 1986 through 1992. He established and headed the Company's
clinical, regulatory, quality assurance, and investor & public relations
departments, also sharing responsibilities for business development, patent
prosecution, public stock offerings and preclinical research and development.
Dr. Cohen received his B.A. degree in Psychology from Princeton University,
and his M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. He completed
a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Medical Center,
and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. Dr. Cohen also serves as a member
of the Health Sciences Advisory Council at Columbia.
Mark R. E. Pinney, M.B.A., C.F.A., M.Sc., Chief Financial Officer and
Director. Mr. Pinney previously was Vice President, Corporate Finance for
Merrill Lynch Capital Markets (1984-1988) and Vice President, Private
Transactions at Dillon Read & Co., Inc. (1988-1992). While at Merrill Lynch
and Dillon Read he specialized in corporate finance and mergers and
acquisitions. He currently is a financial and business consultant. In
addition, he serves as a Director of the American Paralysis Association and as
Co-Chair of the APA’s Research Committee.
Mr. Pinney received his undergraduate degree in engineering at the University
of Exeter, England, and was graduated with honors from the University of
Chicago Business School, where he also was the school’s squash team captain.
He brings to Acorda a superb background in corporate finance, business
development and strategic planning, as well as an intimate familiarity with
issues pertaining to SCI, having himself sustained a chronic spinal cord
injury since 1989.
Wise Young, Ph.D., M.D., Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Young is Professor II
and Director of the Neuroscience Center at Rutgers University. Dr. Young is
one of the preeminent scientists in the fields of spinal cord injury and
neurotrauma, SCI animal models, and the pharmacological therapy of SCI. He is
Principal Investigator for the Multicenter Animal Spinal Cord Injury Study
(MASCIS), funded by the National Institutes of Health; is Editor-in-Chief of
Current Concepts in Critical Care and Trauma; and serves on numerous Editorial
Boards, including those of Experimental Neurology, Journal of Neurotrauma,
Brain Research and Stroke. Dr. Young has received the Wakeman Award for
Research in Neurosciences, and a Jacob Javits Neuroscience Award from the
National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke. He is also a member of
the Scientific Advisory Council of the American Paralysis Association and of
the National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study executive committee. Dr. Young
received his B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Reed College; his Ph.D. in
Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Iowa; and his M.D. from
Stanford University.
Andrew R. Blight, Ph.D., Research Director and Scientific Advisor. Dr. Blight
is Professor and Director of the Neurosurgery Research Laboratory at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is serving as Research
Director of the Company on sabbatical leave from UNC. Dr. Blight is a leader
in SCI pathophysiology research and has made seminal contributions to the
field, including the elucidation of demyelination as a contributing mechanism
in SCI. He also pioneered the therapeutic application of 4-AP in SCI animal
models and in human clinical trials. Dr. Blight is a recipient of the Smith-
Kline Beecham Research Award and serves on the editorial boards of several
journals, including Neuroscience and the Journal of Neurotrauma. He received
his B.Sc. in Zoology and his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of
Bristol, U.K.