Bijan Almassian

Dr. Almassian is a Senior Pharmaceutical Executive with diverse experience in leading Biotechnology R&D Operations, Project and Alliance Management in startup and mid-size life science companies with an excellent track record of bringing new products through different phases of Research and Development. Dr. Almassian is currently the president and CEO of CaroGen Corporation, a leader in development of immunotherapy vaccines and also Founder and Chairman of Aria Neurosciences (www.Arianeurosciences.com), an Alzheimer drug development company.

Prior to CaroGen and Aria, he served as President and CEO of ExSAR Corp. from 2005 to 2010. Over his tenure at ExSAR, he built a pipeline of small drug molecules for potential treatment of genetic diseases and neurological disorders. Prior to joining ExSAR, Dr. Almassian was the Chief Operating Officer at Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. focused on discovery and development of drugs for treatment of cancer and neurological disorders. Before joining Panacea, he held several senior executive positions at Vion Pharmaceuticals (VION), a spin off from Yale University. As Vice President of Drug Development, he built the drug development operations, which led to the IND filing and development of five drugs and biologics through all phases of development. Before Vion, he was held both scientific and management positions at Genelabs and Genzyme.

Dr. Almassian holds a MS and PhD from Northeastern University and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, respectively and was a NIH postdoctoral fellow at Boston University Medical School.