Our Team
Wendy S. Johnson, M.S., M.B.A. - President and Founder
Hiroko Masamune, Ph.D. -
VP Product Development
Robert Prince, Ph.D., J.D. - Senior Director, Business Operations
Julie A. Crawford - Director, Finance and Administration
Wendy S. Johnson, M.S., M.B.A.
President and Founder
Ms. Johnson has been a Venture Partner at ProQuest Investments since November 2005. Prior to joining ProQuest, she served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Salmedix Inc., where she led the effort to in-license its lead cancer therapeutic and to successfully sell Salmedix to Cephalon in June 2005. Ms. Johnson has additional experience with device, diagnostic and drug discovery and development and regulatory affairs. She held senior business and corporate development positions at Women First, Prizm Pharmaceuticals, Cytel Corp., Symbiotics Corp., and Murex Corp. (Cambridge U.K.). Additionally, Ms. Johnson served as Assistant Director with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Ms. Johnson holds an M.B.A. from Loyola University, an M.S. in clinical microbiology from the Hahnemann Medical School and a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Maryland.
Hiroko Masamune, Ph.D.
VP Product Development
Before joining Palkion in July 2008, Dr. Masamune was Senior Director, Pharmaceutical Sciences at Neurogen Corp., where she oversaw two Phase 2 candidates for the treatment of insomnia and Parkinson’s disease/restless leg syndrome, one Phase 1 candidate for the treatment of obesity, and a range of early development and late discovery candidates. Previously she spent 15 years in drug development at Pfizer. She earned a B.S. in organic chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Masamune completed her post-doctoral fellowship in organic chemistry at M.I.T. under Professor K. Barry Sharpless, contributing to the work for which he was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Robert Prince, Ph.D., J.D.
Senior Director, Business Operations
Before joining Palkion in July 2008, Dr. Prince served as Chief Patent Counsel for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals overseeing the company’s intellectual property strategy and implementation. Previously, he was Director of Intellectual Property at Salmedix, Inc. and Senior Patent Counsel at Pfizer. Before that, Dr. Prince served as an associate for the law firms of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and Lyon & Lyon. He earned a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., and a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. Dr. Prince went on to earn a J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law. A member of the California Bar, he is a past president of the San Diego Intellectual Property Law Association.
Julie A. Crawford
Director, Finance and Administration
Ms. Crawford was Director, Finance and Administration at Aires Pharmaceuticals from its inception. Before that she was Director, Finance and Administration at Salmedix, Inc. from October 2001 until its acquisition by Cephalon, Inc. in June 2005, and continued her responsibilities through the transition and close of operations in San Diego in December 2005. During 2006, she served as a consultant to Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she established and managed essential administrative systems and the finance and accounting role for this start-up company, which was acquired by Pharmion, Inc. in November of that year. From its inception in 1987 to 1995, Ms. Crawford served as an independent contractor in a similar role for Corvas International, Inc. and from 1990 to 2000 she also served as accounting consultant for several other early-stage technology companies, including Canji, Inc. She holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.