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Toshiaki Nishihata, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Nishihata joined Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Osaka, Japan in March 1996. In addition to his leadership roles at Santen Inc., Dr. Nishihata is also the Global Head of the Research & Development Division, a position that he has held since 2002. He has been a Senior Corporate Officer since 1999, and in 2009 was named as a member of the Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Board of Directors. He has been involved in the pharmaceutical arena for more than 30 years, both in academia as well as industry. Over a period of ten years, Dr. Nishihata was an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Science at Osaka University, and a Visiting and Adjunct Professor at the University of Kansas. He also spent eight years with Upjohn Tsukuba Research Labs as a Manager of the Pharmacy Research Department. He currently holds board positions in the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) Japan Chapter and the Japanese Society for Viral Safety Research of Biologics, and is a Councilor in the Japan Society of Drug Delivery Systems. He was the Vice Chairman of the PDA Japan Chapter from 1993 to 1998, as well as a PDA Headquarters Board Member in 1998. He has published over 150 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Nishihata received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science from Osaka University.
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Akihiro (“Aki”) Tsujimura
Chief Operating Officer
Aki joined Santen in 2004. During his career at Santen’s Osaka headquarters, he has held several positions in the Corporate Planning and Corporate Development Groups before being appointed as the head of the Business Development Department in 2007. Under his leadership in business development, Santen closed several strategic transactions (in-licensing of sirolimus from MacuSight; tafluprost collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc.; and a co-promotion arrangement in Japan with Banyu Pharmaceutical Co.). Prior to joining Santen, Aki worked for 12 years at Sojitz Corporation, a diversified multinational Japanese corporation, where he held positions in the Corporate Planning Group and ultimately was named the President of one of its U.S. subsidiary companies. During his time at Sojitz, Aki held overseas positions in Germany, Finland, and in both New York and Chicago in the U.S. Aki holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Kanazawa University and an M.B.A. from Kobe University.
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Schalon Newton, D.M.
Vice President, Strategic Marketing & Business Development
Dr. Newton has been Santen’s Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Business Development since joining the company in February 2006. He has been involved in the international ophthalmic arena for more than 20 years. Prior to joining Santen, Dr. Newton was a principal at Louis Allen Worldwide where he consulted on organization change management. He also worked for over 21 years at Allergan, Inc. where he held various management positions in finance, sales and marketing, general management, and business development. Schalon holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California State University, Northridge, an M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, and a D.M. from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Newton is an active member of the American Academy of Management and has presented papers on leadership, management careers, and gender related career issues at the American Academy of Management, British Academy of Management, Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists, and International Academy of Management and Business.
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Yusuf Ali, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research and Development
Dr. Ali joined Santen in December 2003 as a Principal Director in Pharmaceutical Development. He had previously been Vice President of New Product Development at GOJO Industries for over six years. Prior to that, he was employed at Alcon Laboratories for over fourteen years managing and directing groups involved in ophthalmic formulation development, drug delivery and process development. Yusuf holds more than 25 U.S. and international patents in the area of ophthalmic products and received a Ph.D. from the University of Florida in Chemical Engineering.
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Naveed Shams, MD, PhD
Vice President, Head of Global Clinical Development and Medical Affairs
Dr Shams joined Santen in 2010 as the Vice President of Clinical Affairs. In 2011 he was made head of Global Clinical Development and Medical Affairs in the Santen Global Research & Development Division. In his 17 years of experience in global drug development, he has played a significant and critical role in bringing three products to market including, Zaditor®/Zaditen®, Rescula®, and Lucentis®. He also supported the post-marketing efforts for Visudyne®. His industry experience spans companies such as Genentech, Novartis, Opko Health, Storz Ophthalmics, and most recently On Demand Therapeutics, a drug delivery start up in the San Francisco Bay area where he was President & Chief Medical Officer. While at Genentech, Dr. Shams led the clinical team in the development and approval of Ranibizumab (Lucentis®). Dr. Shams received his medical degree from Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in microbiology and immunology. He completed fellowships in cornea and external diseases at Harvard Medical School and histocompatibility and immunogenetics at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Shams was formerly on faculty at Schepen's Eye Research Institute and the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.
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Masashi ("Masa") Murata
Chief Administrative Officer
Masa joined Santen in August 1999 as General Manager of the President's Office. Since then, he has led various departments such as: Strategic Planning & Controlling Group, Ophthalmic Marketing Group and Corporate Planning Group at Osaka headquarters. Masa took a primary role for formulating Santen's mid- to long-term vision and strategy on a global basis. Prior to joining Santen, Masa worked for over 16 years at Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., the world's largest multi-national glass and chemicals manufacturing company in Japan, where he worked in strategic planning, sales & marketing, R&D and manufacturing for various materials used in the electronics industry. Masa holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees of chemical engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology and an MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
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Chris Reindel
Vice President, Finance
Chris joined Santen in October 2011. He had previously been head of Finance for Gilead Sciences' commercial business. Prior to that he was Director of R&D Finance at Genentech, responsible for its pre-clinical and clinical pipelines. Chris also has 12 years experience working in Ernst & Young's Mergers & Acquisition practice both in the UK and US, advising corporate and institutional clients on strategic transactions. Chris is an English Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Business from Manchester University, England.
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Koki Kobayashi
Director, Legal and Corporate Affairs
Koki joined Santen July 2010 as Director, Legal and Corporate Affairs. He brings over 17 years experience in legal, risk management, compliance, internal control and administration experience working for Sojitz Corporation. During that time, he also worked for their U.S subsidiary in New York for six years where he became familiar with U.S. standards and business practices. Koki holds a LL.B. degree from Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, and is a Certified Internal Auditor from the Institution of Internal Auditors.
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Vicky Gunvalson
Senior Director, Human Resources
Vicky joined Santen in May 2008 from Dey, L.P. where she led the HR staffing and organizational effectiveness function for five years. She had previously been Vice President of Human Resources and Administration for Impax Laboratories and Director of HR for Matrix Pharmaceuticals. Vicky also has 20 years experience in the information technology industry, holding several national and global HR generalist, HR specialist, and corporate communications positions for NCR Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary, Comten. Vicky holds an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, and a B.Sc. in Music Education from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
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