Company Management
Board of Directors
Scientific Advisors

Jack Johansen, PhD – Chairman
Jack Johansen, PhD is an executive consultant to Novo A/S, which is a private company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and is Chairman of three of its companies. From 1995 - 2001, he was a founding CEO of two life science diagnostic companies, Boston Biosystems, Inc. and Boston Probes, Inc., both of which were sold. From 1987-1994 he was an executive with Millipore Corporation and president of its Bioresearch Division from 1993-94. Dr. Johansen received his PhD from the University of Copenhagen.

Russell Garlick, PhD – President & Chief Executive Officer
Russell Garlick, PhD was the founding CEO in 2003, named CTO effective November 2004 and is presently President and CEO. From 2000 - 2002 he was Vice President of Research and Development for PerkinElmer Life Sciences and from 1997 - 2000, he was Vice President of Research and Development of NEN Life Science Products, a leader in labeling and detection reagent systems. From 1987 - 1997, Dr. Garlick held various scientific, marketing and business development positions with E.I DuPont de Nemours, Medical Products, NEN Products, the predecessor company to NEN Life Science Products. Dr. Garlick received his PhD from Northeastern University's Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis.

Robert Crane – Acting Chief Financial Officer
Robert Crane is a seasoned executive with strong general management and financial experience who has had involvement at all levels in the starting, building, turnaround and financing of healthcare companies. Bob has extensive experience with public and private companies, corporate partnerships in the U.S. as well as Europe and Japan, fundraising both private and public, sale of companies and product lines as well as the acquisition of companies and technologies. He has been the CFO of several successful healthcare companies as well as a venture capitalist. He earned his MBA from Stanford and his Bachelors from MIT.

William Skea, PhD – Vice President, Manufacturing
William Skea, PhD has served as Vice President-Manufacturing since July 2003. From 1993 - 2003, Dr. Skea was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Proteome Systems, Inc.; Vice President, Proteomics at Genomics Solutions; Director, Electrophoresis Systems at ESA; Vice President & General Manager of Oxford GlycoSystems, Inc., and Vice President, Product Research & Development for PerSeptive Biosystems. Prior to these companies, Dr. Skea spent eleven years with Millipore Corporation in various R&D leadership positions. Dr. Skea has a PhD in Biology from Tufts University.

Oren Kagan – Chief Information & Software Development Director
Oren Kagan was appointed Chief Information and Software Development Director of Protein Forest, Inc. in January 2004. During 2003, he was a consultant to the company. From the period 1995 ­ 2004, he was a founder and CTO of two software companies, Sanskrit Software Systems, Ltd. and Noga Software Solutions, Ltd., both companies specializing in software development for large corporations. From 1989 - 1995, he was a researcher and a project leader within IBM's Research and Technology Lab in Haifa, Israel, focusing on image processing and algorithm development. Mr. Kagan is a graduate of the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) with a degree in Computer Engineering.

Stephen G. Haralampu, ScD – Engineering Director
Stephen Haralampu, ScD joined Protein Forest in January, 2004. He is a chemical engineer specializing in the physical chemistry of biological materials. From 2001-2003 Dr. Haralampu owned his own consulting practice. From 1988-2000, he was involved with two early stage companies, Enzytech and Opta, leaving Opta at the position of Director of R&D. Additionally, Dr. Haralampu has held various process engineering positions with Ocean Spray, Dynatech and General Foods. Dr. Haralampu received his ScD from MIT in the field of Food Engineering.

Andrew Johnson, PhD – Product and Applications Director
Andy Johnson, PhD joined Protein Forest in February 2008 as the product line and applications director. He is former Technology Director for PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences and previously held positions managing strategic partnerships, applications development and R&D within PerkinElmer. He has a PhD in cell and molecular biology from the University of Vermont.

back to top

Jack Johansen, PhD – Chairman
Jack Johansen, PhD is an executive consultant to Novo A/S, which is a private company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and is Chairman of three of its companies. From 1995-2001, he was a founding CEO of two life science diagnostic companies, Boston Biosystems, Inc and Boston Probes, Inc., both of which were sold. From 1987-1994 he was an executive with Millipore Corporation and President of its Bioresearch Division from 1993-94. Dr. Johansen received his PhD from the University of Copenhagen.

John Zabriskie, PhD – Director, Past Chairman, Co-Founder
John Zabriskie, PhD, General Partner and Co-Founder of PureTech Ventures, is the organizing chairman of Protein Forest. Dr. Zabriskie is past chairman of the board, CEO, and president of NEN Life Science Products, Inc., a leading supplier of kits for labeling and detection of DNA. Prior to joining NEN, he was president and CEO of Pharmacia and Upjohn, Inc., a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company formed by the merger of Pharmacia AB of Sweden and the Upjohn Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan. He currently also serves on the boards of the Kellogg Co., Cellicon Biotechnologies, Array BioPharma, and ARCA Discovery. He is a native of Aurora, New York and received his AB in chemistry from Dartmouth College and his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Rochester.

Bennett Shapiro, MD – Director, PureTech Ventures
Bennett Shapiro, MD is a Venture Partner, Scientific Advisory Board member and Board of Directors member of PureTech Ventures. Dr. Shapiro was most recently Executive Vice President, Worldwide Licensing and External Research for Merck. He joined Merck Research Laboratories in September, 1990 as Executive Vice President, Basic Research for Merck Research Laboratories. Previously, he was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Washington. Dr. Shapiro is the author of over 120 papers on the molecular regulation of cellular behavior and the biochemical events that integrate the cascade of cellular activations at fertilization. He has served on many institutional advisory boards and scientific review panels, and is currently a member of the board of Momenta, Elixir, and serves on the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology Advisory Committee.

Jack Nielsen – Partner, Novo A/S
Jack Nielsen joined Novo A/S in 2001. From 1990-2001 Mr. Nielsen held various positions in Novo Nordisk, which in 2000 became Novozymes A/S. During his last four years with Novozymes, Mr. Nielsen was Manager for the Cereal Food group, and was deeply involved in designing the R&D strategy, that resulted in the development and launch of novel lipase and amylase enzymes for use by industrial bakeries. Mr. Nielsen also serves on the boards of directors of CardioOptics, Inc., and Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and is a former director of Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Nielsen obtained his MSc in 1990 from the Technical University of Denmark, and his Master in Management of Technology from the Center for Technology, Economics and Management in 2000.

back to top

William S. Hancock, PhD
William Hancock, PhD is Bradstreet Chair in Analytical Chemistry at Northeastern University's Barnett Institute. Dr. Hancock's research group is directed to the study of disease mechanisms and discovery of potential therapeutic agents by proteomic analysis of biological fluids and tissue samples. He is also Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Proteomic Research of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Hancock earned his PhD in organic chemistry and biochemistry from Adelaide University in South Australia.

Barry Karger, PhD
Barry Karger, PhD is the Director of The Barnett Institute at Northeastern University, which he co-founded in 1973. Dr. Karger's research interests are microseparation methods; capillary electrophoresis (CE); DNA sequencing with replaceable polymer matrices; functional genomics; drug screening by CE/MS; multichannel microchip/mass spectrometry; and laser-based analysis. Dr. Karger earned his PhD in chemistry form Cornell University.

Joshua LaBaer, PhD, MD
Joshua LaBaer, PhD, MD is the Director and co-founder of the Harvard Institute of Proteomics, where he has established and implemented the Academic/Industrial Proteomics Consortium. Dr. LaBaer is currently an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and holds an academic appointment through the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. LaBaer received his PhD and MD degrees from the University of California, San Francisco.

Michael Pisano, PhD
Michael Pisano, PhD is the President and co-founder in 2001 of Proteomics Research Services, Inc., which provides high-throughput proteomics services to academic and industrial labs. From 2000 - 2001, he was Vice President, Proteomic R&D at Genomics Solutions and from 1995 - 2000, he held scientific leadership positions at Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Wyeth-Ayerst Research. Dr. Pisano earned his PhD from Medical College of Ohio.

Keith R. Solomon, PhD
Keith R. Solomon, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. Keith is the Administrative Director of the Proteomics Center at Children’s Hospital. He is engaged in pioneering research on the molecular mechanisms governing cholesterol’s role in serious human disease including prostate cancer and osteoporosis. Dr. Solomon received his BA in Biology from Brandeis University and his PhD in Immunology from Harvard University.

back to top