National Visiting Committee Members
Jim DeKloe
John Balchunas
Michael Cicio
Michael Cicio has 28 years of Biotechnology experience with focus in manufacturing and contract management. He currently holds the position of VP Operations Pharma & Biotech, US/Asia with responsibilities for Lonza Sites in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Walkersville, Maryland, Houston, Texas and Singapore. Michael, in conjunction with the Operations Pharma&Biotech Management Team, is responsible and accountable for the overall performance of Lonza Pharma&Biotech Operations.
Formerly, Michael, as VP/Site Manager, had responsibility for the Lonza Portsmouth site management as well as all Operations including Manufacturing, Facilities and Engineering, Quality Control, Manufacturing and Sciences Technology, Project and Contract Management, Purchasing, Procurement and Logistics. As Senior Director of Manufacturing, Michael was responsible for full manufacturing operations on-site, including cell culture, purification, dispensing, and support areas for 98,000L of reactor capacity.
Previous to Lonza, Michael was employed with Wyeth for 15 years where he held positions as Director of Network Drug Substance for Wyeth overseeing drug substance contract manufacturing and Director of Manufacturing in their Andover, Massachusetts facility. Michael has vast experience with manufacturing technologies, technology transfer, process optimization, process validation, and facility start up including equipment validation.
Dennis Gross
Dennis M Gross, MS, PhD is the CEO, Treasurer and Professor of Pharmacology for the Pennsylvania Drug Discovery Institute in Doylestown and King of Prussia, PA. He is also Professor of Experimental Therapeutics and Medicinal Chemistry at the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and Faculty in the Jefferson College of Biomedical Sciences (JGSBS) and the Sidney Kimmel Medical School of Thomas Jefferson University. Previously he was the Associate Dean at JGSBS responsible for the professional science master's degree programs and Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics in the Jefferson Medical College. Prior to this, he was at the Merck Research Labs (MRL) for 28 years retiring in 2006 as Senior Director and Head of West Point Business Operations with overall responsibilities for facilities in Pennsylvania, California and Massachusetts. He was also responsible for capital laboratory projects and operations oversight at MRL sites in Canada, Japan, Italy and the UK. In his career at MRL he held a number of positions ranging from bench scientist to head of computer resources, manager of international strategic planning, participation in M&A activities and liaison for basic research and clinical drug development in Japan. During his tenure at MRL, he also served as Adjunct Professor of Global Logistics in the MBA program in the School of Business and Industry of Florida A&M University. He has worked with the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, DC on policy issues relating to biological weapons of mass destruction.
He received his BA and MS from California State University Northridge and his PhD from UCLA pursuing a postdoctoral training fellowship at Tulane University School of Medicine. He has also participated in executive education programs at Wharton, MIT and the Tufts School of Law and received FEMA NIMS and ICS certification in disaster management. He is a member of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the American Chemical Society Medicinal Chemistry section, American Heart Association, History of Science Society, International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering and Sigma Xi. He is a member of the executive advisory board and a reviewer for Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship. He is also on the editorial boards of MOJ Immunology, EC Pharmacology and Toxicology, Journal of Pharmacology and Clinical Research and the Honorary Editor for the Pharmacy & Pharmacology International Journal.
Elaine Johnson
Duncan McBride
Duncan McBride was the National Science Foundation Program Officer for the NBC2 grant until he retired from NSF. In addition, he was Program Officer for other Advanced Technology Education Centers in biotechnology as well as Centers in nanotechnology, manufacturing, and photonics. While at NSF he administered NSF programs, and he oversaw grants in other programs in addition to ATE.
Robert McKown
Robert McKown is a Professor in the Department of Integrated Science and Technology at James Madison University. Trained in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California Irvine and Molecular Genetics at the University of California San Francisco, Bob has seven years experience in the biotechnology industry working on the development and production of recombinant proteins. He is the originator of the Biotechnology B.S. Program at JMU and Director of the JMU Biomanufacturing Laboratory which focuses on the development and production of human therapeutic and diagnostic products. Bob McKown serves on a number of business and educational boards that include the Virginia Biotechnology Association and the Biotechnology Training Program at the University of Virginia.