The People at Hydra > Management

Russell Herndon, President and Chief Executive Officer

Russell Herndon comes to Hydra with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare and biotechnology industries, with a proven track record in building successful business infrastructures, pioneering innovative corporate and regulatory processes and advancing products through development. His industry experience includes senior management positions at Genzyme Corporation and Antigenics Inc., where he led some of the companies' most strategic and important initiatives. At Antigenics, Russ served as Chief Operating Officer and President from November 2000 through December 2005. He was with Genzyme Corporation from 1989 through 2000 holding various management positions, including President of Genzyme Tissue Repair, Senior Vice President of Genzyme Tissue Repair and Vice President of regulatory affairs for Genzyme Corporation. Prior to joining Genzyme, Russ gained extensive experience in the area of quality systems, including management positions at Patton Company, Paco Research & Development and Alcon Laboratories Incorporated. Russ received a bachelor's degree in biology from Barton College and is a graduate of the Management Development Program at Harvard Business School.

 

Tom Burke, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer

Tom Burke joined Hydra in 2007. He has 15 years of experience with key strengths in the areas of strategic planning, forecasting and budgeting, equity and debt financing and internal reporting analysis. Tom spent the last 5 years heading up the finance group for Infinity Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at Infinity, Tom lead the effort in taking the company public as well as spearheading the company's SOX compliance efforts. Prior to his tenure at Infinity, Tom was a Senior Manager at KPMG in Boston and a Manager in the Dublin, Ireland office.

 

Bert Chenard, Ph.D., Vice President, Chemistry

Bert Chenard joins Hydra with 30 years of industry experience specializing in ion channel and G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) research. Dr. Chenard has authored more than 55 publications and is an inventor on 46 U.S. patents. Previously, Dr. Chenard served as Senior Vice President of Chemistry and Process Research at Neurogen Corporation where he was responsible for lead development and candidate seeking strategies for a variety of Neurogen programs. In this role, he delivered a dozen small molecule development candidates. Prior to joining Neurogen, Dr. Chenard was a Research Advisor and Project Coordinator at Pfizer Inc. in a career spanning over 15 years. His medicinal chemistry experience was directed in research efforts that generated in several development candidates including CP-101,606, the first highly selective NR2B antagonist. Dr. Chenard began his career at DuPont's Experimental Station doing exploratory organic chemistry. During this time, he discovered several specialized reagents, including TMSOK, which are of general use to synthetic chemists. Dr. Chenard received his undergraduate degree at Central Connecticut State University and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

 

Paige Cochran, Head of Human Resources

Paige Cochran joined Hydra Biosciences as Head of Human Resources in February of 2004. She has over 20 years of experience in the development and management of strategic, proactive HR organizations in a variety of industries. Ms. Cochran is experienced in managing rapid growth and organizational change, with notable skills in executive coaching, employee relations and talent acquisition. Prior to joining Hydra Biosciences Ms. Cochran was the Vice President of Human Resources for American Science and Engineering, a publicly traded, international corporation, engaged in the design and manufacture of sophisticated x-ray inspection equipment for government and commercial clients. Ms. Cochran has worked with several local biotech start-up companies setting up the human resources function as well as providing recruiting, compensation, performance management and compliance expertise. Ms. Cochran holds a B.A. in Psychology from Emory University.

 

Neil Hayward, Ph.D., Vice President of Pharmacology & Toxicology

Dr. Hayward has held previous positions within both Pharma (Glaxo, Parke-Davis), and biotechnology (Alkermes, Praecis, Daiamed). He has over 25 years of experience in discovery and preclinical research, and has successfully filed 7 INDs and product registration of 2 new chemical entities. Prior to joining Hydra in 2005, Dr. Hayward served as Senior Director of Pharmacology at Daiamed for 5 years, where he directed preclinical studies within the US and was the point person regarding development activities (therapeutic targets: anti-thrombotic and multiple sclerosis) between Daiamed and its parent company, Daiichi in Japan. Dr. Hayward received a Bsc (Hons) from London and holds a Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology from Cambridge University.

 

David Kimball, Ph.D., Consulting Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Kimball joins Hydra with 25 years of experience in the discovery and development of small molecule drug candidates. At Pharmacopeia Dr. Kimball was responsible for research alliances as well as drug discovery research from target identification through preclinical development. During his six years at Lexicon, Dr. Kimball built the company's discovery capability with direct responsibility for Lexicon's small molecule pipeline. Dr. Kimball grew and managed an organization of over 75 chemists, including medicinal, analytical, computational, process research and development, library synthesis and outsourcing chemistry. Prior to joining Lexicon, Dr. Kimball spent nearly 20 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, most recently as Research Fellow in Oncology Drug Discovery. During his tenure at BMS, Dr. Kimball led several significant drug discovery and development research efforts that culminated in clinical compounds. An Associate Member of the graduate faculty at Rutgers University School of Pharmacy since 1989, Dr. Kimball received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry/Chemical Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

 

Magdalene Moran, Ph.D., Vice President, Biology

Dr. Moran is a leading researcher and noted expert in the Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) family of ion channels. Dr. Moran joined Hydra Biosciences in 2002 as one of its first scientists. Her experience and leadership in the area of ion channel biology has led to the selection of new TRP targets to help identify novel drugs to treat pain, inflammation, pulmonary and other diseases. In her current role at Hydra Biosciences as Vice President of Biology, Dr. Moran has responsibility and oversight for the target discovery, electrophysiology and high-throughput screening functions. In the past, her group's work has uncovered a critical role for TRPA1 in neurogenic inflammation and asthma. Prior to joining Hydra Biosciences, Dr. Moran was a researcher in Dr. David Clapham's Lab at Children's Hospital in Boston where she cloned several novel ion channels including Hv1, the first voltage-gated proton channel. Dr. Moran received a B.A. in Biology from Williams College, and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University.