Amy Droitcour received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University where she received the Lucent/Bell Laboratories Graduate Research Fellowship and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Graduate Fellowship. Her dissertation work focused on remote sensing of vital signs and on the development of single-chip biomedical sensors. Dr. Droitcour worked on developing systems for patient-controlled iontophoretic drug delivery in ALZA Corporation’s Drug-Device Research group, and subsequently joined the startup Kai Medical, where she was the Chief Technology Officer and directed development of the company’s first product as well as the company’s regulatory and clinical affairs. As Senior Vice President of Engineering, Dr. Droitcour oversees the development of Wave 80’s cartridges and instruments.
Dr. Arsham holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Chicago, where he received an NSF Predoctoral Research Fellowship as well as the Committee Award in Genetics for outstanding dissertation for his work studying hypoxia, cancer cell metabolism, and tumor angiogenesis. After completing his dissertation, Dr. Arsham was awarded an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Minnesota to continue his studies into cancer cell metabolism in the Drosophila model system. He began his career at Wave 80 as a senior scientist and was subsequently promoted to Senior Director, Applied Cell Physiology and then, in 2010, to Vice President.
Dan Laser is a veteran life sciences leader who combines strong technical capabilities, a keen sense for unmet market needs, and excellent understanding of regulatory and reimbursement. Along with Wave 80, Dan co-founded Applaud, which pioneered the development of targeting lipid microsphere therapies for high unmet need conditions in urology and cardiovascular disease. He has acted as a board member or advisor to drug and device companies in fields ranging from autoimmune disease to ophthalmology to cancer. Dan got his start in the life sciences working on haptic feedback for telerobotic surgery systems.
Dan holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, where he was a Semiconductor Research Corporation Graduate Fellow. While at Stanford, he was also a MacArthur Affiliate at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, developing mathematical models for protecting against threats involving weaponized pathogens.
Mr. Goozh holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Goozh has over 20 years experience in investment banking, finance and business development, including previous positions Cambrian Partners, C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, TIMET and Cooper Industries. Mr. Goozh was Wave 80’s Chief Financial Officer from 2005 through 2013 and currently advises the company on strategy, planning, and operations.
Mr. Laser is a renown leader in pharmaceutical industry technical operations, materials management, and related fields He has consulted on technical operations strategy for a large fraction of the global top 25 pharmaceutical companies, with including Roche/Genentech and Sanofi/Genzyme. Prior to shifting into a consulting role, Mr. Laser held a series of technical operations roles at Merck, culminating in Vice President of Vaccine Operations. He has also participated in the development and implementation of global manufacturing and quality policies, including Manufacturing and Human Resource strategies. In addition to serving on Wave 80’s Board, Mr. Laser is a member of the Technical Advisory Board at Integrated Project Services, Inc.
Wayne Koff, Ph.D., is the founding President and CEO of the Human Vaccines Project. Prior to joining the Project, Koff served as chief scientific officer and senior vice president of research and development at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in New York City (1999-2016), leading IAVI’s research and development program. At IAVI, his accomplishments included developing multiple HIV vaccines through clinical trials; establishing state-of-the-art laboratories in the U.S., Europe, India and Africa; conducting the first HIV vaccine trials in India, Kenya and Rwanda; establishing the Neutralizing Antibody Consortium, which identified new, broad and potent neutralizing antibodies against HIV that led to the discovery of novel targets for vaccine design; and establishing a clinical research network in Africa that has conducted seminal studies on HIV pathogenesis, incidence and acute infection.
Koff served as vice president of vaccine research and development at United Biomedical Inc. (UBI), where he was responsible for its vaccine R&D program. During his tenure at UBI (1992-1998), the company conducted the first AIDS vaccine clinical trials in the developing countries of the People’s Republic of China, Thailand, and Brazil.
He served as chief of the Vaccine Research and Development Branch, Division of AIDS, at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he led the team that established the pre-clinical and clinical AIDS vaccine development programs for the National Institutes of Health (1988-1992).
He received his B.A. from Washington University and his Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine. Koff has published more than 100 scientific papers and edited eight books on vaccine development. An internationally recognized viral immunologist in the field of AIDS vaccine research and development, he has been twice honored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with the Special Act of Service Award for developing innovative strategies for accelerating global efforts in AIDS vaccine development.
