Leadership

Dr. Crooke is the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of n-Lorem Foundation. He’s also the founder and executive chairman of the board of directors for 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 is a recipient of the Massry Prize, recognizing his pioneering work in RNA-targeted therapeutics, the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Chemical Society’s E.B. Hershberg Award for Important Discoveries in Medicinally Active Substances, the Prix Galien Best Biotechnology Award for Spinraza, the Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award, and BIO’s Helix Award for the most important innovation, and other awards.

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. Bennet 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. Bennet 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.

Walter Singleton is the chief medical officer of n-Lorem Foundation. He gained his MD at Oxford University and trained as a cardiologist at Leeds University before joining Pfizer in the European Central Research Division. In 1984 he transferred to Pfizer HQ in New York and progressed eventually to the position of Vice President for Medical and Pharmaceutical Development for the company’s U.S. Division. In 1989 he joined Gensia Pharmaceuticals in San Diego as Head of Clinical Development. After leaving Gensia in 1995, he worked independently for several years as a Clinical Development Consultant to a number of Pharma companies, including Isis (subsequently Ionis Pharmaceuticals). In 2008 he joined Isis full-time as Leader of its Cardiovascular Franchise and in 2009 became Chief Medical Officer of Isis, playing a pivotal role in the development and regulatory approval of Kynamro and Spinraza. As CMO he also led the early stage clinical development of several other successful programs including Tegsedi  and Waylivra. Since his retirement in 2018, Walter continues to serve as a Clinical Consultant to many of the development programs at Ionis.

Mr. Buck is currently the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at n-Lorem Foundation. Since joining Ionis in 2004, Mr. Buck has served as the regulatory lead for Spinraza and Tegsedi and has led the successful marketing authorization applications for Tegsedi in the European Union and U.S.   He has served as the regulatory lead for over 15 development compounds of which over half were in development for rare diseases. 

Mr. Buck received his J.D. from the University of San Diego and his B.A. from the University of California San Diego.  

Ms. Parshall has served on the Ionis board since September 2000 and as a senior strategic advisor to Ionis since January 2018. Previously she served as our chief operating officer from December 2007 through December 2017 and as chief financial officer from June 1994 through December 2012. She also served as Ionis’ corporate secretary through 2014 and has served with the company in various executive roles since November 1991. Prior to joining Ionis, Ms. Parshall practiced law at Cooley LLP, outside counsel to Ionis, where she was a partner from 1986 to 1991. Ms. Parshall is a member of the American and California bar associations. Ms. Parshall serves on the board of directors of Cytokinetcs Inc. and Akcea Therapeutics, Inc.

Tracy joins n-Lorem Foundation with extensive foundation, nonprofit management, and fundraising experience. She served as Executive Director for the San Diego Women’s Foundation for 10 years and grew the organization from its infancy to a premier philanthropic organization known nationally. Tracy also served as a Director of Development for UC San Diego and was involved in their recent success in raising $2 Billion in support of students and research at the University. She is also active on the Board of Directors for Women’s Empowerment International (WE) focused on empowering women with tools to work their way out of poverty, care for their families, and strengthen their communities. Tracy was nominated as a “Woman Who Means Business” by the San Diego Business Journal, was named a finalist for “San Diego’s Young Influential” award and honored with the San Diego County SART “Response with a Heart” award. She holds a Masters of Education in Counseling from the University of Maine and is a California State Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. She resides in San Diego with her husband and 2 sons.

Kim Butler is the senior administrator for n-Lorem Foundation. Kim is a broadly experienced administrative assistant who has been employed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals  since 2014 . During her tenure with Ionis she has been promoted several times and has assumed substantial managerial responsibilities. Additionally, she is accountable for leading the training of all administrative personnel and leads the management of administrative activities for Ionis. Currently, Kim is the senior administrative assistant to the Chairman and CEO of n-Lorem and has played an instrumental role in the formation of the foundation.

Prior to joining Ionis, Ms. Butler served in senior administrative positions in several organizations and has help found and participated in a number of charitable efforts. She is active in a wide range of civic service groups such as the American Legion and a frequent volunteer committed to serving the needy empathetically.