Board of Directors

Felix J. Baker, PhD

Managing Partner, Baker Brothers Investments

Felix J. Baker, PhD has served as a director of Synageva since October 2000 and Chairman of the Board of Synageva since 2003.  Dr. Baker is a Managing Member of Baker Bros. Advisors, LLC, which he and his brother, Mr. Julian Baker, founded in 2000.  Dr. Baker’s firm manages Baker Brothers Investments, a family of long-term investment funds for major university endowments and foundations, which are focused on publicly traded life sciences companies.  Dr. Baker’s career as a fund manager began in 1994 when he co-founded a biotechnology investing partnership with the Tisch Family.  Dr. Baker holds a BS and a PhD in Immunology from Stanford University, where he also completed two years of medical school.  In addition to Synageva, Dr. Baker is a director of Ardea Bioscience, Inc. and Seattle Genetics, Inc., both of which are publicly traded biotechnology companies.  Dr. Baker was previously a director of AnorMED Inc., Conjuchem Inc. and Neurogen Corporation, which were publicly traded companies during Dr. Baker’s service.

Stephen R. Biggar, MD, PhD

Partner, Baker Brothers Investments

Stephen R. Biggar, MD, PhD has served as a director of Synageva since May 2004. Since October 2006, Dr. Biggar has served as a Partner at Baker Brothers Investments, a family of long-term investment funds for major university endowments and foundations, which are focused on publicly traded life sciences companies. From April 2002 to October 2006, he served as Principal with Baker Brothers Investments which he had joined as an Associate in April 2000. Prior to joining Baker Brothers, Dr. Biggar received an MD and a PhD in Immunology from Stanford University and received a BS degree in Genetics from the University of Rochester. Dr. Biggar also serves as a director for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotechnology company.

Stephen R. Davis

Stephen R. Davis has served as a Synageva director since November 2011. In May 2013, Mr. Davis joined A.P. Pharma as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and served as a member of A.P. Pharma’s board of directors since June 2012. Previously, Mr. Davis was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Ardea Biosciences, Inc. He has completed numerous strategic transactions between biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including the recent $1.26 billion acquisition of Ardea by AstraZeneca PLC. Prior to Ardea, Mr. Davis served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Neurogen Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Before becoming Neurogen’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Davis served in numerous executive roles at Neurogen completing multiple collaboration and asset acquisition and sale transactions with global pharmaceutical companies. Previously, Mr. Davis practiced as a corporate and securities attorney with a Wall Street law firm and as a Certified Public Accountant with a major accounting firm. Mr. Davis received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Southern Nazarene University and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University.

Thomas R. Malley

Former Portfolio Manager, Janus Global Life Sciences Fund

Thomas R. Malley joined Synageva’s board of directors in October 2006.  Since May 2007, Mr. Malley has served as President of Mossrock Capital, LLC, a private investment firm.  From December 1998 to May 2007, Mr. Malley served with Janus Mutual Funds, including as Vice President and Portfolio Manager for the Janus Global Life Sciences Fund. From April 1991 to December 1998, Mr. Malley served as an equity analyst for Janus Mutual Funds.  Mr. Malley previously served as a director of Cougar Biotechnology, Inc. from 2007 to 2009, which was a publicly traded company until Johnson & Johnson acquired the company in 2009.  Mr. Malley is also a director of Puma Biotechnology, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company.  Mr. Malley holds a BS in Biology from Stanford University.

Sanj K. Patel

President & Chief Executive Officer, Synageva

Sanj K. Patel was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and elected as a director of Synageva in June 2008. He created the vision and strategy for Synageva, launching its focus on rare diseases and raising more than $400 million in capital including taking the company public on the NASDAQ Global Market in November 2011. Sanj has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and brings a combination of scientific, clinical operations and business skills to Synageva. He joined Synageva from Genzyme Corporation (1999-2008) where most recently he was the head of U.S. Sales, Marketing and Commercial Operations for Genzyme Therapeutics’ Lysosomal Storage Disorder franchise and led the U.S. launch of Myozyme in addition to sales and marketing responsibility for Cerezyme, Fabrazyme and Aldurazyme. Previously, Sanj held several cross-functional senior leadership roles at Genzyme, including Vice President, Clinical Research and Head of the Global Clinical Research Operations Council. He was responsible for clinical operations and development for all cross-business Genzyme products and was instrumental in the path to commercialization for several treatments. Notably, Sanj led the Fabrazyme clinical operations team and development program to FDA approval in April 2003. Prior to Genzyme, Sanj held roles in clinical research and commercial development with increasing levels of responsibility at Burroughs Wellcome, Hoechst Marrion Roussel and Fujisawa Pharmaceuticals. Sanj obtained his BSc with Honors in Pure and Applied Biology (Biotechnology) from the University of the South Bank, London. He completed his post-graduate management and business degree, and doctorate level research program in clinical pharmacology, at Ealing College, London, King’s College and the Wellcome Foundation, respectively.

Barry Quart, PharmD

Chief Executive Officer and Director, A.P. Pharma, Inc.

Barry D. Quart, Pharm.D. joined Synageva’s board of directors in June 2012. Dr. Quart joined A.P. Pharma in May 2013 as Chief Executive Officer, serving as a member of the board of directors at A.P. Pharma since June 2012. Prior to A.P. Pharma, Dr. Quart was President and Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Ardea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since co-founding the company in December 2006. Ardea was acquired by AstraZeneca PLC for $1.26 billion in June 2012. Previously, he was with Pfizer as Senior Vice President, Pfizer Global Research and Development and the director of Pfizer’s La Jolla Laboratories, where he was responsible for approximately 1,000 employees and an annual budget of almost $300 million. Prior to Pfizer’s acquisition of the Warner-Lambert Company, Dr. Quart was President of Research and Development at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of the Warner-Lambert Company. Agouron was acquired by Warner-Lambert for $2.1 billion in 1999. Dr. Quart joined Agouron in 1993 and was instrumental in the development and registration of Viracept, which went from the laboratory bench to new drug application approval in 38 months. Dr. Quart received his Pharm.D. degree from the University of California, San Francisco.

Thomas J. Tisch

Managing Partner of Four Partners

Thomas J. Tisch has served as a director of Synageva since June 2012. Mr. Tisch has served as the Managing Partner of Four Partners, a private investment firm, since 1992. He has served as the Chancellor of Brown University since July 2007, and he is also a trustee of New York University Medical Center and a director of Sears Holding Corporation, a publicly-traded company. Mr. Tisch brings financial and general business expertise to the Board of Directors from his position at a private investment firm.

Peter Wirth

Former Executive Vice President of Genzyme
Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University

Peter Wirth has served as a director of Synageva since June 2012. Mr. Wirth is a 2012 Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University. From January 1996 through May 2011, Mr. Wirth was a senior executive at Genzyme Corporation, most recently Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate Development, Chief Risk Officer and Corporate Secretary. His responsibilities included oversight of the corporate development and legal departments, and management of the company's enterprise risk management activities. Prior to joining Genzyme, Mr. Wirth was a partner at Palmer & Dodge, a Boston law firm, where he was head of the firm's biotechnology practice group and served as Genzyme's outside general counsel since 1982. Mr. Wirth received his BA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1972 and his JD from Harvard Law School in 1975. Mr. Wirth brings financial, legal and extensive knowledge of the company's industry which will benefit the Board of Directors.