Parion Leadership
dr. m. ross johnson
M. Ross Johnson, Ph.D., Co-Founder, CEO & President: Dr. Johnson has had a long and productive career as an inventor, drug discoverer, executive and entrepreneur in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industries. From 1995-1999 he was President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Trimeris, Inc. (TRMS), a company he took public. Prior to that, Dr. Johnson was Vice President of Chemistry at Glaxo Inc. (now GSK) where he was part of the original scientific founding team for Glaxo's research entry into the United States. Previous to GSK, Dr. Johnson served in key scientific and research management positions with Pfizer Central Research (PFE). He serves on the boards of directors of several companies. Dr. Johnson received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley and Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Dr. Johnson holds 101 US Patents covering drug therapies useful for a wide range of diseases.
dr. richard boucher
Richard Boucher, M.D., Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board: Dr. Boucher has extensive experience in the study of the pathophysiology and therapy of chronic airways diseases, including cystic fibrosis. He is currently a William Rand Kenan Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina, the Chief of Pulmonary Medicine, Director of the UNC Cystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center, and Co-Director of the UNC Gene Therapy Center. He has published more than 400 papers on all aspects of pulmonary medicine and cystic fibrosis. In addition, Dr. Boucher was a founder of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on developing novel nucleotide-based therapies for the treatment of lung disease. He holds more than 30 patents focused on novel therapies of lung diseases. He received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. from Columbia University.