David Demirjian

Dr. Demirjian was previously Founder and President of ThermoGen, Inc., a Chicago-based bioprocess company which was a pioneer of esterase biocatalysis technology for pharmaceutical applications. He is a previous winner of the Research Director’s Association of Chicago “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” (1997) and recipient of the U.S. SBA “Tibbets Award” for successful commercialization of technology developed under the Federal SBIR grant program. He was subsequently Vice President of Technology Strategy for MediChem Life Sciences after MediChem’s merger with ThermoGen in May 2000, where he oversaw the strategic development of MediChem’s R&D technology platform, including the integration of its drug discovery and chemical process technologies. He was one of the leaders of MediChem’s IPO, in which the company raised over $52 MM in October 2000. He also served as a Director of the company until its acquisition in May 2002 to deCode Genetics. He holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from The University of Chicago and B.S.A. in Molecular Biology from The University of Michigan.