Leadership
Meet our team of leading scientists and business experts driving the innovation at ReForm Biologics.Management Team
John M. Sorvillo Ph.D. - Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Sorvillo brings 25 years of biotech and pharma expertise to the helm of ReForm, with extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, project and alliance management, and technology transfer. Before joining ReForm, Dr. Sorvillo was Director of Business Development & Licensing at Amgen. Prior to joining Amgen, he served as Vice President of Business Development at Genocea Biosciences, and Vice President of Business Development at Altus Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Altus, Dr. Sorvillo served as Chief Executive Officer of Bionaut Pharmaceuticals. Earlier responsibilities included Vice President of Business Development at ArQule, and a variety of positions at OSI Pharmaceuticals, including Vice President and General Manager of the Research Products Division. Dr. Sorvillo was a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the New York University Medical Center and a B.A. in Biology from the City University of New York.
David Soane, Ph.D. - Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder
Dr. Soane is a serial entrepreneur and prolific innovator in the fields of advanced materials, polymer chemistry, and surface science. At ReForm Biologics, he spearheads the company’s creative problem-solving to provide innovative answers for difficult industry problems. Applying nanotechnology and chemical engineering to a variety of mature industries, he has founded many successful companies: ACLARA (NASDAQ:ACLA), a manufacturer of diagnostic test products; Nano-Tex, a manufacturer of widely-available textile materials; 2C Optics, an eyeglass lens manufacturer; ZMS, a contact lens manufacturer; ICBM, an advanced building materials company; and Soane Energy, in the oil-and-gas field. Through the Soane family of companies, he is currently incubating a number of other start-ups. Before his commercial ventures, Dr. Soane was a tenured Professor of Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley, with hundreds of scientific articles and patents in his résumé. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley.
Bob Gallahue - Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Gallahue has over 25 years of financial management experience in public and private biotechnology and medical technology companies in the various facets of start‐up through public company environments, including three IPOs, three mergers, joint ventures, private financings and follow‐on offerings. Mr. Gallahue has served as CFO of CorNova, Inc., Molecular Insight, and Keryx Biopharmaceuticals and has worked in high level financial positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and LeukoSite Inc. Mr. Gallahue started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP where he was a C.P.A. responsible for auditing. Mr. Gallahue holds a M.S.A. from Bentley College and B.A. from Middlebury College.
Robert Mahoney, Ph.D. - VP of Research and Development
Dr. Mahoney has spent 25 years leading the development of disruptive new products and processes for industries including water treatment, oilfield technologies, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and mineral processing. Before joining ReForm, he served as VP of R&D under David Soane at Soane Energy, leading to the successful deployment of an innovative self-suspending proppant technology. Prior to joining Dr. Soane, he was VP of R&D at Polymer Ventures, designing and commercializing many new specialty polymer products. Previously, Dr. Mahoney was responsible for development of next-generation performance additives at Nalco (now part of Ecolab), the global leader in water and process treatment chemicals. He received his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has authored numerous patents, publications, and presentations.
Sharon Webb, M.D., Ph.D., J.D. - VP of Intellectual Property
Dr. Webb has been helping companies and investors with IP strategies for 20 years, focusing on investor-side diligence and company-side portfolio development and technology transfer. She is currently a partner at Convergent Law Group, and manages intellectual property for the Soane family of companies. Before joining Dr. Soane, she was Of Counsel for Vantage Counsel LLC in Honolulu. Previously, Dr. Webb was a partner at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to entering the legal field, Dr. Webb was a board-certified surgeon, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, with teaching positions at Harvard, Tufts and the University of Pennsylvania. She received her J.D. from Harvard, her Ph.D. from Yale, and her M.D. from Duke.
Board of Directors
James Sherblom - Chairman
Dr. Jim Sherblom is an entrepreneur, social impact investor, spiritual seeker, and transcendentalist. Jim was a founder of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council and served as its second President. As Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Genzyme Corporation Jim led their initial public offering and helped create many of the early biotechnology industry’s most innovative financing structures. As Chairman and CEO of Transgenic Sciences Inc. he led a ten-fold growth of this company over a period of five years. As founding Managing Partner of Seaflower Ventures Jim has been involved as a founder, early investor, board member, or board chair of over a dozen early stage biotechnology, life science, and social impact companies over the last three decades. Jim currently serves as the largest investor and CFO of GrainPro Inc. and also on the board of Connected Homecare Inc. Jim holds a BA from Yale, an MBA from Harvard, and Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Andover Newton Theological School.
John M. Sorvillo Ph.D. - Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Sorvillo brings 25 years of biotech and pharma expertise to the helm of ReForm, with extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, project and alliance management, and technology transfer. Before joining ReForm, Dr. Sorvillo was Director of Business Development & Licensing at Amgen. Prior to joining Amgen, he served as Vice President of Business Development at Genocea Biosciences, and Vice President of Business Development at Altus Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Altus, Dr. Sorvillo served as Chief Executive Officer of Bionaut Pharmaceuticals. Earlier responsibilities included Vice President of Business Development at ArQule, and a variety of positions at OSI Pharmaceuticals, including Vice President and General Manager of the Research Products Division. Dr. Sorvillo was a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the New York University Medical Center and a B.A. in Biology from the City University of New York.
David Soane, Ph.D. - Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder
Dr. Soane is a serial entrepreneur and prolific innovator in the fields of advanced materials, polymer chemistry, and surface science. At ReForm Biologics, he spearheads the company’s creative problem-solving to provide innovative answers for difficult industry problems. Applying nanotechnology and chemical engineering to a variety of mature industries, he has founded many successful companies: ACLARA (NASDAQ:ACLA), a manufacturer of diagnostic test products; Nano-Tex, a manufacturer of widely-available textile materials; 2C Optics, an eyeglass lens manufacturer; ZMS, a contact lens manufacturer; ICBM, an advanced building materials company; and Soane Energy, in the oil-and-gas field. Through the Soane family of companies, he is currently incubating a number of other start-ups. Before his commercial ventures, Dr. Soane was a tenured Professor of Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley, with hundreds of scientific articles and patents in his résumé. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley.
Zach Jonasson, Ph.D. - Co-founder
Dr. Jonasson has devoted 20 years to R&D, business development, and venture investment in life sciences companies. He is currently a partner at Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP), specializing in advanced materials companies. Prior to founding PVP, he was a general partner and Kauffman Fellow at Seaflower Ventures where his prior investments included Serenex (acquired), Metaworks (acquired), RCM Technologies (acquired), and Valeritas. In addition, he presently serves on several advisory boards, including the Commercialization Council for Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), the Advisory Board for the Oregon Innovation Cluster, and the Advisory Board of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Jonasson earned a BS from Georgetown University, and AM and PhD degrees from Harvard University.
V. Bryan Lawlis, Ph.D.
Dr. Lawlis is a leader in developing and commercializing biologic therapeutics. Besides his role on the ReForm Board of Directors, he currently serves as a director for BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Coherus Biosciences, Geron Corporation, and several privately-held biotechnology companies. In addition, he is President, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Itero Biopharmaceuticals LLC. Prior to this, between 2001 and 2006, he served as COO, CEO, and President at Aradigm Corporation. Before joining Aradigm, Dr. Lawlis co-founded Covance Biotechnology Services, serving as its president, CEO, and chairman between 1996 and 2001. From 1981 to 1996, he was employed at Genencor Inc. and Genentech Inc., most recently as Vice President of Process Sciences. Dr. Lawlis holds a B.A. in microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Washington State University.
Scientific Advisors
Andrew Jones, D. Phil.
Dr. Jones, with over 35 years’ experience in biochemistry, protein chemistry, and biophysics, joins ReForm’s Scientific Advisory Board. Currently he also serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Coherus Biosciences and Versartis Inc. Most of his career, from 1981-2004, was spent at Genentech. Shortly after joining that company, he founded its Medical and Analytical Chemistry Department, serving as its Director from 1983 to 1987. Subsequently, he filled various R&D and management roles at the company through 1994. Since 2004, Dr. Jones has worked as a consultant to various biopharmaceutical companies, including a two-year term as the Head of the Scientific Advisory Board for Itero Biopharmaceuticals, from 2009 to 2011. Dr. Jones obtained his B.A. (Honors) degree in Biochemistry from St. John’s College, Oxford University. He received his D. Phil. degree in Biology from the University of York, and performed postdoctoral research at McMaster University and at Cornell University.
Mark Moody, Ph.D.
Dr. Moody has spent over 20 years in biopharmaceutical development including process/analytical development, formulation, manufacturing, toxicology, regulatory, and clinical development. Most recently, Dr. Moody was the Vice-President of Manufacturing at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he worked for 13 years, helping to grow it from a three-person start-up to a mid-size biopharmaceutical company with eight products in clinical development. Previously, Dr. Moody was the Director of Research at Pierce Chemical Co., where he developed and commercialized protein array technology for the drug screening market. Prior to that, he served as the Director of Molecular Biology at EndoGen Inc. where he developed and commercialized mRNA quantification technology. Dr. Moody holds a B.S. in biology from Western Carolina University and a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Georgia.
Neil Schauer, Ph.D.
Dr. Schauer is an executive-level leader and scientist with over 25 years of experience in the development and manufacture of biologic therapeutics. Most recently, he was Senior VP of Technical Operations at Avaxia Biologics. Before that, he held the position of Vice President of Process Sciences at Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals. His past positions in the biopharmaceutical industry include Senior Director Global Biologics at Hospira, Director of Manufacturing Sciences at Biogen Idec, and program management positions at EMD Pharmaceuticals and Biogen Idec. He began his biopharmaceutical career at Genetics Institute (now part of Pfizer). In addition, Dr. Schauer directed the Technology Development and Downstream Product Development Groups at Millipore Corp. Dr. Schauer received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Biology and Ph.D. in Anaerobic Microbiology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and received post-doctoral training at the University of Georgia.
John Carpenter Ph.D.
Dr. Carpenter is Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy, and a Co-Founder and Co-Director of the University of Colorado Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. His research interests include mechanisms for protein degradation and protein stabilization in pharmaceutical formulations during bioprocessing and delivery. He has published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers and is an inventor on 30 issued patents. Dr. Carpenter is Editor for Reviews and Commentaries for Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards for Pharmaceutical Research, The AAPS Journal, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Molecular Pharmaceutics, and BioPharm International. He is a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and has received the AAPS Research Achievement Award in Biotechnology. Dr. Carpenter holds a B.S. in biology from Duke University, a M.S. in zoology from Oregon State University, and a Ph.D. in biology from University of Southwest Louisiana.
Alan Herman, Ph.D.
Dr. Herman has over 35 years of experience in the life sciences sector and expert in protein characterization. He was most recently Chief Scientific Officer at Coherus Biosciences, a leading biopharmaceutical company developing safe, high-quality biosimilar therapeutics. Previously, he was Vice President of Product Development and CSO at Althea Technologies and President of WindRose Analytica, Inc. Dr. Herman worked a number of other biotech companies, including Genentech and Amgen. He has a Ph.D. in Protein Chemistry from Duke University.