Board of Directors

Dr. Crooke is the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of n-Lorem Foundation. He’s also the founder and former chairman and chief executive officer of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, the leader in RNA-targeted therapeutics. Under his leadership of Ionis, he pioneered development of the revolutionary antisense technology platform and created one of the largest, most advanced pipelines in the biotechnology industry. Today, Ionis has more than 40 medicines in development.

Prior to founding Ionis, Dr. Crooke was head of R&D at SmithKline, where he was involved in commercializing numerous drugs in broad therapeutic areas and later assumed responsibility for worldwide R&D at SmithKline Beckman. At Bristol-Myers, he established the first broad anticancer program, bringing nine drugs to the market in five years.

He has led the development of more than 20 marketed drugs and supported the creation and growth of several companies based on Ionis’ antisense technology. Commercialization of SPINRAZA® (nusinersen), the global foundation of care treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, and TEGSEDI™ (inotersen), the world’s first RNA-targeting subcutaneous injection to treat polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR) in adults, are recent examples of Ionis’ transformational therapies being delivered to patients in need.

Dr. Crooke has received a number of awards, most recently, the American Chemical Society’s E.B. Hershberg Award for Important Discoveries in Medicinally Active Substances, the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society, the Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2019 Massry Prize. Dr. Crooke received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees and house staff training at Baylor College of Medicine and has been an active scientist throughout his career. In 2021, Dr. Crooke has been named Distinguished Alumnus of both Baylor College of Medicine’s Graduate and Medical schools and named one of the 20 most influential biopharma R&D executives by Endpoints News.

Dr. Crooke received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees and house staff training at Baylor College of Medicine and has been an active scientist throughout his career. He has published nearly 500 scientific publications, edited more than 20 books, and has numerous patents.

Dr. Bennett is the chief technical officer of n-Lorem Foundation. He also is a founding member of Ionis Pharmaceuticals and serves as the company’s chief scientific officer. He is responsible for preclinical antisense drug discovery and antisense technology research. Dr. Bennett is also the franchise leader for neurological programs at Ionis. He has been involved in the development of antisense oligonucleotides as therapeutic agents, including research on the application of oligonucleotides for inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, oligonucleotide delivery, pharmacokinetics and medicinal chemistry.

Dr. Bennett is a co-recipient of the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his contributions to the discovery and development of SPINRAZA® (nusinersen) and the 2018 Hereditary Disease Foundation’s (HDF) Leslie Gehry Brenner Prize for Innovation in Science for his leadership and continued commitment to developing antisense therapies for Huntington’s disease (HD).

Dr. Bennett has published more than 200 papers in the field of antisense research and development and he is an inventor on more than 175 issued patents.

Prior to joining Ionis, Dr. Bennett was associate senior investigator in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at SmithKline and French Laboratories, currently, GlaxoSmithKline.

He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico. He performed his postdoctoral research in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at SmithKline and French Laboratories.

Dr. Bennett serves on the Advisory Board for the Experimental Therapeutics Centre in Singapore and the Hereditary Disease Foundation.

Dr. Michael Hayden is a Killam Professor at the University of British Columbia and the director of the Translational Laboratory in Genetic Medicine at the National University of Singapore and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). From 2012 to 2017, he served as president of Global R&D and chief scientific officer at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Dr. Hayden built and transformed research and development at Teva to become a highly productive research engine and was instrumental in the approval of approximately 30 new products.

Dr. Hayden has founded three biotechnology companies and has been the recipient of numerous prestigious honors and awards including being inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, receiving the July 2012 Diamond Jubilee Medal, on behalf of HRH Queen Elisabeth II and the Margolese National Brain Disorder Prize, awarded to Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to the treatment, amelioration, or cure of brain diseases. He’s also received the Canada Gairdner Wightman award for his outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science as a physician-scientist. Dr. Hayden was awarded the Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia, named Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and has received the Prix Galien for his contribution to Canadian pharmaceutical research. Most recently, Dr. Hayden was named one of the 50 Canadians born in the 20th century who have changed the world.

Dr. Rosanne M. Crooke is a volunteer who will serve on the n-Lorem Board of Directors. Dr. Crooke received a B.A. degree in Biology at Williams College and Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is vice president of Cardiovascular Research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals and one of the founding members of the company. From 1989-2000, she managed a research group at Ionis and characterized the in vitro toxicological and pharmacokinetic parameters of antisense agents. For the past 19 years, she has been responsible for leading the cardiovascular, metabolic, renal research program at Ionis Pharmaceuticals.  In this position, multiple drugs to treat cardiovascular, metabolic and renal diseases have been identified and advanced to the clinic. During her tenure at Ionis, she as authored more than 110 primary research manuscripts, reviews and book chapters, and is an inventor on more than 67 issued patents. She also serves on the board of the Deuel Lipid Conference and the Akcea Therapeutics Scientific Advisory board.

Dr. Loscalzo is Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chairman of the Department of Medicine, and physician-in-chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Loscalzo received his A.B. degree, summa cum laude, his Ph.D. in biochemistry, and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. His clinical training was completed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he served as Resident and Chief Resident in medicine and Fellow in cardiovascular medicine. Post-training, Dr. Loscalzo joined the Harvard faculty and staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1984. He rose to the rank of associate professor of Medicine, Chief of Cardiology at the West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center, and director of the Center for Research in Thrombolysis at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He joined the faculty of Boston University in 1994, first as Chief of Cardiology and, in 1997, Wade Professor and Chair of Medicine, Professor of Biochemistry, and Director of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute. He returned to Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2005. He currently serves on the board of directors of Leap Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company.

Frank Sasinowski, J.D., M.P.H., M.S. had more than 20 years of board experience at prestigious institutions, including the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) Foundation for Cell and Gene Medicine, National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, the IndoUSrare patient organization, the United States Pharmacopiea (USP) and various notable biotechnology companies. Currently, he serves a Director of Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C., and an Adjunct Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.

After joining the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1983 as regulatory counsel in the Center for Drugs and Biologics, Sasinowski became a key player in the implementation of foundational legislation such as the 1983 Orphan Drug Act and 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act. He worked with the FDA for nearly half a decade before leaving his position as the Deputy Director of health policy in the Commissioner’s office and joining Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C. Sasinowski used his experience working in the drug regulatory process to help secure FDA approval for hundreds of new drugs, including more than 100 new molecular entities – often for serious and rare diseases. Sasinowski has been widely recognized for his expertise by the life sciences sector, patient advocacy organizations and notable world leaders, including former President Barack Obama, who recognized his contributions to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report in 2012. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including NORD’s first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the FDA’s Award of Merit and NORD’s Humanitarian Award, where he was honored for his work benefiting the rare disease community. Most recently, Sasinowski received Pope Francis’ 2021 Pontifical Hero Award for Inspiration as recognition for his leadership, advocacy and unwavering dedication to patients living with rare disease.

Gene Yeo PhD MBA is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego). Dr. Yeo has a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a BA in Economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the UC San Diego Rady School of Management. His primary research interest is in understanding the importance of RNA processing and the roles that RNA binding proteins (RBPs) play in development and disease. Dr. Yeo has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications including invited book chapters and review articles in the areas of neurodegeneration, RNA processing, computational biology and stem cell models; and served as Editor on two books on the biology of RNA binding proteins. Gene is on the Editorial Boards of the journals Cell Reports, Cell Research and eLife, and on the Advisory Board of Review commons. Gene is also a Paul Allen Distinguished Investigator (2020) and received the 2021 Elisa Izaurralde Award for Innovation in Research, Teaching and Service from the RNA Society. Gene is a co-founder of biotech companies which includes Locanabio, Eclipse Bioinnovations, Proteona, CircBio and Trotana Therapeutics.  Gene serves or had served on the scientific advisory boards of the Allen Institute of Immunology, Locanabio, Eclipse Bioinnovations, Proteona, Aquinnah, Cell Applications, Tecan, LGC, Nooma, Insitro and Ribometrix. Gene is a senior advisor to Accelerator Life Sciences Partners.

Mr. Wood is founder and CEO of J. Wood Capital Advisors, an advisory firm and registered broker dealer focused on providing capital structure advice and solutions to corporate clients.  Previously, Jason worked for nearly 20 years at J. P. Morgan, where he was Head of Equity-Linked Capital Markets for the Americas and a member of the Equity Commitments Committee.  Jason graduated from Princeton University cum laude with a B.A. in Economics in 1993.

Ms. McCooe joins n-Lorem with over 10 years of experience in building high-performance teams with the ability to motivate, influence and lead multiple groups to achieve exceptional results. As executive director of The Wolverine Foundation, Ms. McCooe provides operational leadership for key partners in the academic research and patient communities that are seeking and/or developing treatments for the MAPK8IP3-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder. Previously, Ms. McCooe successfully grew an online STEM ED tech company from theory to curriculum implementation in over 1,500 schools, reaching 60,000+ students and successfully landed as a business unit within a major player in the education market. Ms. McCooe holds an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in history from Trinity College-Hartford.