Boston, MA, October 27, 2009—Boston BioCom LLC today announced that it has appointed Michael Brownstein, M.D., and John Parrish, M.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Brownstein served until recently as the Director of Functional Genomics at The J. Craig Venter Institute, and Dr. Parrish is the Executive Director and co-founder of CIMIT, a consortium of leading academic and engineering research laboratories, universities and private-sector companies in the Boston area.

Prior to his time at Functional Genomics, Dr. Brownstein held several senior positions at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration. At NIMH, he was Chief of the Unit on Neuroendocrinology, Chief of the Laboratory of Cell Biology, Chief of the Section on Genetics and Chief of the Laboratory of Genetics. Dr. Brownstein obtained his A.B. from Columbia University and his M.D. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Brownstein currently serves as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Dysautonomia Foundation, and as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Translational Genomics Research Institute of Phoenix, AZ. He is also a member of the National Advisory Board at the Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He has been awarded the E. Gellhorn Prize in Neurobiology, the Arthur S. Flemming Award and the DHHS Distinguished Service Award in Biomedical Research.

Before co-founding CIMIT, Dr. Parrish was the Chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Dermatology Service, Chairman of the Harvard Medical School Department of Dermatology, Director and Founder of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, and Director of the MGH-Harvard Cutaneous Biology Research Center. Dr. Parrish graduated from Duke University and the Medical School of Yale University. He was a Marine and served in Vietnam as a battlefield doctor. He spent most of his scientific career conducting and directing basic research in lasers, photobiology, and cutaneous biology. He has authored more than 300 publications, including six books. Dr. Parrish is a member of the Institute of Medicine, The National Academy of Science, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and the Defense Science Board. He was recently honored with the Discovery Award, bestowed by the National Dermatology Foundation, and the Bowditch Prize, given by the MGH to an outstanding practitioner who enhances the quality of patient care while reducing the cost of that care.

Frank Dinucci, President and CEO of Boston BioCom, said, "Michael’s distinguished career as a neuroscientist, and his superior knowledge and research experience in the fields of neuroscience and genomics, will be key assets to Boston BioCom. In addition, John’s cutting-edge research on laser applications within medicine provides him superb knowledge and insights in the new field of photobiology, which will be of great value to us in advancing our laser immunomodulation technology. We look forward to working closely with both Michael and John to solicit their insights as we advance our rich pipeline of technologies."

"We are proud to welcome two new individuals of the caliber of Drs. Brownstein and Parrish to the Scientific Advisory Board," added Jeffrey Gelfand, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Chairman of Boston BioCom’s Scientific Advisory Board. "They join an illustrious group of world-renowned scientists who have contributed immensely to the progress of our research and development."

Drs. Brownstein and Parrish join the following existing members of Boston BioCom’s Scientific Advisory Board: Dennis Ausiello, M.D., Physician-in-Chief, Massachusetts General Hospital and a Director at Pfizer, Inc.; Jeffrey Gelfand, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Chairman Clinician, Infectious Disease and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital; Vsevolod Kiselev, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Moscow Medical Academy; Arthur Krieg, Ph.D., Vice President, Pfizer Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center and Founder and CSO, Coley Pharmaceuticals; Adel Mahmoud, M.D., former President, Merck Vaccines; Joseph Martin, M.D., former Dean, Harvard Medical School; George Poste, Ph.D., Director, Arizona Biodesign Institute and former CSO, SmithKline Beech; and Patrick Scannon, Ph.D., Founder and CSO, Xoma Corporation.

About Boston BioCom LLC--Boston BioCom is a biomedical technology commercialization company created to earn a superior return for its investors by actively developing and managing a hand-picked portfolio of biomedical innovations towards optimal commercial endpoints. The company brings together preeminent academic expertise, industry-leading pharmaceutical capabilities, and a highly experienced management team to create value from an extraordinary flow of technology opportunities. www.boston-bio.com

CONTACTS
Frank A. Dinucci President and CEO (617) 830-1600 x251 fdinucci@boston-bio.com	Kari Watson MacDougall Biomedical Communications (781) 235-3060 kwatson@macbiocom.com

back to news