Management Team

John Kozarich, Ph.D, Chairman, President
Dr. Kozarich joins ActivX with over 20 years experience in academic and pharmaceutical research. Most recently, he was Vice President at Merck Research Laboratories, where he was responsible for programs including antimicrobial drug discovery, enzymology, 5a-reductase biology, lipid biochemistry, nuclear receptors, ion channels and structural biology. He has been involved in a number of Merck drug programs, including Propecia, Type-1 5a-reductase inhibitor, and MRSA carbapenams. He also has had primary responsibility for a number of Merck collaborations with biotechnology companies, such as Aurora Biosciences, Cubist and KaroBio. In addition, he has played a major role in Merck's acquisition of SIBIA and in the development of its new Boston Research Center. Previously, Dr. Kozarich held faculty positions at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Yale University School of Medicine. He also served as Vice President, Research and Development at Alkermes, a biotechnology company that develops products based on sophisticated drug delivery technologies. Dr. Kozarich is internationally known for his work on enzyme mechanisms and on the chemistry of DNA cleaving antitumor drugs. He was an American Cancer Society Faculty Research Awardee and in 1988 received the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry of the American Chemical Society for his unique and broad research contributions. He has also served on numerous government and academic committees. Dr. Kozarich has authored over 125 primary scientific publications and holds three patents.

Yoh Ito, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Yoh Ito, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ActivX, is also the Director of Finance & Accounting of Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. He joined Kyorin in 2003 and previously held the position of Senior Manager of Strategies & Business Development Headquarters. Prior to Kyorin, Mr. Ito was Managing Director of Capital Arts, Inc. He received his MBA from Cornell University and graduated from the University of Tokyo.

Matthew Patricelli, Ph.D., Director of Technology
Dr. Patricelli joined ActivX in 2000 and is responsible for the development and expansion of the technology platforms, Xhibit®, Xsite® and Xceed™.  Dr. Patricelli was one of the founding scientists of ActivX. He was also the Principal Investigator for a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Dr. Patricelli received his Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute and his B.Sc. from McGill University.  

Diane Plotkin, Ph.D., Senior Director of Clinical Development
Dr. Plotkin joined ActivX Biosciences, Inc. in October of 2005.  She is responsible for clinical development of drug candidates outside of Japan. Her responsibilities include clinical strategic planning in concert with Kyorin, as well as conduct of clinical programs.  For the 15 years prior to joining ActivX, Dr. Plotkin held positions of increasing responsibility in clinical research at Merck Research Laboratories.  There she designed and directed studies in therapeutic areas of diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and sarcopenia in multiple phases of clinical development.  She was also an active member and leader of various process reengineering teams aimed at increased efficiency, enhanced regulatory compliance and reduced cycle time.  Dr. Plotkin earned her BA from Wheaton College in Norton, MA, her PhD in Biology from the University of Chicago, and was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University.

Jonathan Rosenblum, Ph.D., Director of Biology
Dr. Rosenblum has been at ActivX since January 2001 and is responsible for overseeing profiling of compounds in (pre)clinical development and the biological aspects of the company’s drug discovery programs, including high throughput screening, genomics and proteomics.  He was one of the original scientists at the company, and has been involved in many facets of the company’s evolution, from technology development to IND submission.  Jonathan also served as the Principal Investigator for an SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health, and has served as a study section member at the NIH.  Prior to ActivX, Jonathan trained as an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Günter Blobel at the Rockefeller University.  While at Rockefeller, Jonathan used proteomics and molecular cell biology to characterize mechanisms of nuclear protein transport.  Prior to Rockefeller, Jonathan received his Ph.D. in Macromolecular and Cellular Structure and Chemistry as a National Science Foundation fellow at The Scripps Research Institute.  Jonathan received a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa, having been a Benjamin Franklin Scholar.

Kevin Shreder, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry
Dr. Shreder joined ActivX in 2001 and is responsible for protease and other discovery chemistry efforts.  Prior to ActivX, he was a Senior Research Scientist at Abbott Laboratories.  He conducted his postdoctoral work in Dr. Murray Goodman’s laboratories at the University of California San Diego where he designed and synthesized enkephalin analogs which incorporated novel peptidomimetic structures.   He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.

Anna Katrin Szardenings, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry and Business Development
Dr. Szardenings joined ActivX in 2001 with over eight years of experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery and is responsible for the kinase and other discovery chemistry efforts.  She also fills the role as ActivX’s Director of Business Development.  Prior to ActivX, Dr. Szardenings was at Affymax Research Institute where she held various positions including Staff Scientist I and II, Senior Scientist, Research Fellow and Group Leader for various drug discovery programs including novel antimicrobials, MMPs and G-protein coupled receptors.  As a NATO grant recipient, she conducted her postdoctoral work in Dr. Fraser-Reid’s lab at Duke University where she worked on natural product syntheses.  Dr. Szardenings received her Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Hamburg in Germany and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.