Mitchell Finer PhD

Mitchell H. Finer, Ph.D., has served as our chief scientific officer since March 2010. Prior to joining us, Dr. Finer served as senior vice president of development and operations for Novocell, Inc. (now ViaCyte, Inc.), a stem cell engineering company researching treatments for diabetes and other chronic diseases from November 2008 through March 2010. From July 2005 through November 2008, Dr. Finer served as chief executive officer of Intracel Holdings LLC. From June 2003 to June 2005, he held the position of president and chief executive officer of Genteric Inc., or Genteric. Previously, he had served as Genteric's chief scientific officer from November 2002 to June 2003 and as vice president of research and development for the Gencell division of Aventis Pharma (now Sanofi) from April 2002 to November 2002. He was also a founder and vice president of research for Cell Genesys Inc., and a founder of Abgenix, Inc. and Avalanche Biotechnologies, Inc. Dr. Finer received his B.A. in biochemistry and bacteriology from the University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.