Trana Discovery is led by a veteran scientific and business team who have in-depth knowledge and experience in drug discovery and development.

Click here to download Trana Discovery Management Team backgrounder (PDF).

Steve Peterson, Chief Executive Officer
Steve brings 30 years of experience in drug development and commercialization to Trana Discovery. His career spans several major pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly, Glaxo and GlaxoWellcome where he held positions in sales, marketing, product development and as liaison with key opinion leaders. He launched or assisted in the development of 16 separate brands including Ceftin, Epivir, Relenza, Epivir-HBV, Zinacef and Fortaz. As an independent consultant Steve has worked with key opinion leaders to assist companies in assimilating complex medical issues and distilling development plans for maximizing product potential.

Winnell Newman, Co-Founder
Former Director of the Nucleic Acid Synthesis Facility at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Winnell co-developed the drug-discovery technology with her expertise in oligonucleotide synthesis. She has 20 years of laboratory management experience, nine years specializing in DNA and RNA oligonucleotide synthesis, and has published eight scientific articles. Prior to her work at NCSU, Winnell held biochemistry laboratory and instrumentation management positions at Ciba-Geigy and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

 

Dick Guenther, Co-Founder; Chief Technical Officer; Vice President, Research
Co-inventor of the Trana Discovery technology, Dick is a leader in the design and performance of critical experiments establishing the anti-infective technology targeting tRNA functions. He is a biochemist and expert on tRNA structure and function with more than 20 years of scientific project and laboratory management experience. Prior to working at NCSU, Dick worked in research at the University of Missouri Columbia and as a scientist for a contract research organization. He has published over thirty publications on RNA.

 

Dan Mitchell, Chief Scientific Officer
Dan has over 25 years of pharmacy practice, teaching, and pharmaceutical industry experience that included patient care, clinical research, and drug information. Prior to joining Trana Discovery, he directed the competitive intelligence department for Glaxo, Glaxo Wellcome, and GlaxoSmithKline, a position he held for more than 15 years. Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from Drake University and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Creighton University and completed a pharmacy residency in infectious diseases at Mercer University/Georgia Baptist Medical Center.

 

Michael Gallucci, Chief Financial Officer
Michael began his career as a staff auditor with Arthur Andersen prior to joining Meyer Laboratories (the precursor to Glaxo Inc.) as Controller. During his 27-year tenure with Glaxo, Glaxo Wellcome, and GlaxoSmithKline, Michael’s financial responsibilities included all accounting aspects of the rapidly growing organization, including all internal and external financial reporting, internal audit and US corporate taxation. By the time he retired as Vice President and Treasurer, Michael had direct responsibility for banking relationships, debt and equity management, corporate investing, defined benefit and defined contribution plans, risk management and insurance, corporate travel, capital projects, fleet services, corporate aviation, and the Glaxo Wellcome Credit Union. He served as a corporate officer of Glaxo Wellcome Inc. and as an officer and director of many of its subsidiaries.

Ed Gallagher, Vice President of Intellectual Property
Ed brings more than 20 years in the healthcare industry with positions at Glaxo, GlaxoWellcome, GlaxoSmithKline, and Ethicon, a J&J company. He has extensive experience combining quantitative tools with information to frame marketing problems and develop strategic responses in Pricing and Managed Care contracting, Sales Operations, New Product Marketing and Market Research and Forecasting all major therapeutic areas. This included brands with sales from less than $100 million to those exceeding $2 Billion.

 

Sam Yenne, Vice President of Development
Sam has over 20 years of experience in the discovery and development of biologically active compounds. He started his career at Rhone-Poulenc Ag Company (now Bayer Crop Science) in metabolism chemistry where he was responsible for screening compounds for toxic side effects and conducting preclinical experiments. Sam was quickly promoted to Technical Development Manager of Insecticides responsible for expanding market share by launching new products and expanding the label of existing products. At Paradigm Genetics, Sam was responsible for target discovery and the development of high-throughput screening assays for these targets in addition to several preclinical projects for anti-infective compounds. More recently, He has been responsible for identifying active anti-infective compounds and their subsequent preclinical development along with the development of a new virus detection system.

Shawn Barney, Vice President of Research
Shawn has nearly 20 years experience in big pharma and startup biotech, beginning his career in the department of Antiinfectives and Host Defense at SmithKline French (now GlaxoSmithKline). He came to the Triangle as part of the original scientific team of Trimeris and was instrumental in the preclinical and early clinical development of the first two drug candidates for HIV, T-20 (Fusion) and T-1249. At Cogent Neuroscience, Shawn was VP of Discovery and responsible for leading scientific efforts to discover and develop neuroprotective technologies for areas such as stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. He has a wealth of experience in discovering and evaluating targets and compounds, and moving chemical leads to drug development.

 

Leigh Ann Gallucci, Vice President of Financial Reporting and Accounting
Leigh Ann began her career as a staff accountant with Ernst and Young before joining Glaxo in 1986. During her 15 years with Glaxo, GlaxoWellcome, and GlaxoSmithKline, she held positions in Treasury and Commercial Operations including District Sales Manager and Product Manager for Valtrex. Prior to leaving GlaxoSmithKline in 2001, Leigh Ann held the position of Director, Corporate Business Strategy. Leigh Ann earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Cash Manager. In addition to her responsibilities with Trana, Leigh Ann also provides consulting services in financial reporting and market analysis to other pharmaceutical companies.

Karl von Gunten, Vice President of Communications
With more than 25 years of experience in marketing and public relations, Karl brings a deep knowledge of products and trends to the marketing communications. Karl began his career at IBM where developed and managed worldwide marketing and communications programs for several key IBM software and hardware products. While at Brodeur Worldwide, Karl oversaw the Triangle regional office and managed PR efforts for industry leaders such as IBM, Nortel, Acterna, and Internet Security Systems, and start-up companies including Opensite Technologies, Netsation and Cronos. Later he served as director of business development for at Gibbs & Soell Public Relations where he managed marketing programs for RTI International and Nextreme Thermal Solutions. Karl is active in many local and state business organizations, and serves on the Board of Advisors for North Carolina State University College of Management and as an advisor for Duke University Pratt School of Engineering.