Our leadership team has more than 150 years of combined dermatology-specific expertise. We built a team of innovators and disruptors by combining the bold expertise from big pharma and the agile mentality of startups to transform dermatology and advance medicines that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients. Because skin deserves more.
Todd Zavodnick has over 20 years of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Dermavant in November 2018, Mr. Zavodnick served as Chief Commercial Officer and President of Aesthetics and Therapeutics at Revance. He served in global leadership roles at ZELTIQ Aesthetics prior to the company’s acquisition by Allergan; at Galderma Laboratories, where he was President and General Manager of North America; and at Alcon Laboratories. He is a member of the board of directors of the Children’s Skin Disease Foundation.
Dr. Philip M. Brown has over 25 years of experience leading clinical development programs. Prior to joining Dermavant in January 2019, Dr. Brown served as head of global pharmaceutical development at Galderma. He also served in other clinical development leadership roles in both public and private biotechnology companies, including Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Brown received his MD from Texas Tech University Health Science Center School of Medicine, his JD from the University of Texas School of Law and his BA from Hendrix College.
Chris Chapman has over 20 years of leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Dermavant in January 2020, Mr. Chapman served in various roles at Galderma, most recently as Vice President and General Manager, U.S. Prescription Business. He previously served as the Senior Principal of the Core Access Group and as Executive Director for Managed Markets and Contracting for Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation. He also served 20 years in commercial roles at Pfizer, where he led the U.S. Pharmaceutical Contracting and Pricing Organization. Mr. Chapman received his BS from Towson University.
Following a distinguished career in academia and years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Rubenstein joined Dermavant in March 2018 from GlaxoSmithKline Dermatology. At GSK he built an industry-leading dermatology drug development organization as Vice President, Discovery and Preclinical Development. Prior to GSK, Dr. Rubenstein held academic roles at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, most recently serving as the Louis C. Skinner Jr. Distinguished Professor of Dermatology. Dr. Rubenstein received his BA in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and his MD and PhD from Duke University School of Medicine.
Dr. Rubenstein received his A.B. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Duke University School of Medicine. He completed his dermatology residency and postdoctoral fellowship in dermatology and biology at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Michael Swartzburg has over 20 years of leadership experience and finance expertise within the biotechnology and healthcare space. Prior to joining Dermavant, Mr. Swartzburg most recently served as Vice President of Finance and in Principal Financial and Accounting Officer roles at Iovance Biotherapeutics, where he participated in over $1 billion in equity raises. Before Iovance, Mr. Swartzburg provided CFO and board advisory services at various biotech companies and served as Vice President of Finance, Controller and Principal Accounting Officer at Adverum Biotechnologies, where he was part of the team that steered Adverum through their successful IPO. He began his career as a Certified Public Accountant and auditor at Ernst & Young in Los Angeles.
Chris Van Tuyl joined Dermavant in March 2018 and has over 20 years of legal experience. Prior to joining Dermavant, he was a corporate partner at the firm Sacks Tierney P.A., where his practices focused on the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and technology industries. He previously served in various in-house legal positions at publicly traded companies, including as Legal Executive at FIS Global; Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer at Rayonier Inc; and Associate General Counsel at Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation. Mr. Van Tuyl began his legal career in private practice as a corporate attorney at the international law firms of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP in Phoenix and Clifford Chance LLP in New York. He received his BS in finance summa cum laude from Arizona State University and his JD from Duke University School of Law.
Paul Seaback brings nearly 30 years of technical operations and CMC global leadership in biopharmaceuticals to his role as Chief Technical Officer, at both clinical and commercial companies. Prior to joining Dermavant in May 2018, Mr. Seaback was VP, Operations and Supply at IGNYTA until its acquisition by Roche. He has held leadership roles as Head of Global Supply at Gilead Sciences and VP, Manufacturing and Global Supply Chain at Medicis Pharmaceutical as well as Hospira, Mayne Pharma, Cardinal Health and Novartis. Throughout his career Mr. Seaback has also held operational leadership roles at drug substance and drug product manufacturing sites, supporting multiple therapeutic areas and regions.
Doral Fredericks has over 20 years of medical affairs experience in the pharmaceutical space supporting multiple therapeutic areas including dermatology, immunology, ophthalmology and rare disease. Prior to joining Dermavant, Dr. Fredericks served as Vice President of Medical Consulting at Scientific Commercialization, a consulting firm focused on medical affairs strategy and optimization. Additional experience includes being Vice President of Medical Affairs at Acadia Pharmaceuticals and Bausch & Lomb, as well as various individual contributor and leadership roles in medical affairs at Novartis and AstraZeneca. Dr. Fredericks received her PharmD and MBA degrees in a joint program at the University of Southern California.
Elaine Clark is an accomplished development professional with over 20 years of industry experience in a broad range of responsibilities within start-up biotech, CRO and global commercial organizations. She has extensive experience in interactions with global health authorities and supporting strategic planning and positioning of development stage assets, including recent experience with the dermatology division of the FDA. Prior to joining Dermavant, Ms. Clark was Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs at PRA Health where she was responsible for regulatory CMC, labeling and emerging marketing activities for a portfolio of Takeda marketed products. Previously, she was Head of Global Regulatory Affairs at Galderma where she oversaw all regulatory activities within the prescription business unit. She directed successful global marketing applications for Mirvaso®, Soolantra®, and Epiduo® Forte. Ms. Clark was also Head of Regulatory Affairs for Lexicon Pharmaceuticals where she oversaw successful IND/CTA filings for seven first-in-class new molecular entities to enable first-in-human trials.
Dr. Anna Tallman combines 20 years of leadership in Medical Affairs with in-depth clinical experience in therapeutic areas including dermatology, infectious disease, central nervous system, and pain. Prior to joining the Dermavant team, Dr. Tallman had served as Global Therapeutic Area Team Leader, Dermatology and Senior Medical Director, Dermatology with Pfizer. Previously, she served as Medical Director for a variety of pharmaceutical companies where she was instrumental in successfully launching products at Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Strativa Pharmaceuticals, and Elan Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Tallman earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Michigan.
Diana Villalobos brings over 20 years of experience in drug development to the Dermavant team. She has held a number of key roles including international experiences, leading and managing clinical teams and global programs across multiple therapeutic areas. Before joining Dermavant, she was Vice President of Clinical Operations at Veristat. Previously, Ms. Villalobos held key leadership roles at both Mapi and PRA International. Ms. Villalobos’ depth of experience in leading global teams and managing large-scale phase 3 programs will be invaluable to Dermavant and our clinical team as we manage a diverse portfolio of products and embark on registrational trials with Tapinarof.
Peter Nicholson has over 20 years of experience in strategy and business development roles in the dermatology industry. He previously ran the Global Strategy and Business Development functions at Nestle Skin Health, Galderma (Nestle Skin Health), and before that at Mentor (Johnson & Johnson) and Inamed (Allergan) where he led the groups responsible for strategic partnerships, licensing agreements, acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures and out-licensing. He spent six years at Amgen working in product development, investor relations, and product licensing roles, which include the creation of the company’s corporate venture capital program. Mr. Nicholson has a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry with an emphasis on Immunology from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA.
Kristopher Garcia brings over 20 years of combined experience in finance leadership, audit and advisory roles. Prior to joining Dermavant in June 2019, Mr. Garcia served as Vice President of Finance at Evolus, Inc. He previously served as the Head of Finance and Vice President, Controller at ALPHAEON and has over a decade of audit and advisory experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Garcia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University.
Leisha Martin brings over 25 years of experience in quality to the Dermavant team. She has held several key roles in leading and managing teams and global programs across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Dermavant, Ms. Martin held quality management positions of increasing responsibility at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation, Gilead Sciences and Heron Therapeutics, where she served as Senior Director, Quality Assurance. Ms. Martin’s depth of experience in leading global teams and managing complex quality programs is invaluable to Dermavant in guiding both clinical and commercial efforts. Ms. Martin holds a PGDip in Pharmaceutical Quality & Good Manufacturing Practice from the University of Strathclyde and a BA in Chemistry from Arizona State University.
Kenneth Peist has served as Dermavant’s Vice President of Intellectual Property (IP) since October 2018 and has over 20 years of experience as an IP and FDA regulatory attorney. Mr. Peist specializes in IP due diligence, maximizing patent and regulatory exclusivity for pharmaceutical products, patent portfolio management and licensing and M&A support. Prior to joining Dermavant, Mr. Peist served as Senior Partner, Legal, at Roivant Sciences. Mr. Peist also held a variety of legal positions at Amicus Therapeutics, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Vitae Pharmaceuticals and ExxonMobil. Prior to his law career, Mr. Peist spent more than a decade working in private and public analytical laboratories. Mr. Peist received his JD from Seton Hall University School of Law and a BS from Old Dominion University.
Steve Piscitelli has over 25 years of drug development experience, with expertise in clinical pharmacology across government, biotech and large pharma. Prior to joining Dermavant, he was Vice President of Clinical Pharmacology at Roivant Sciences, where he was responsible for clinical pharmacology strategy across several therapeutic areas. His previous leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline and Tibotec-Virco contributed to worldwide approval of multiple drugs. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Piscitelli served as the coordinator of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health and completed a secondment at the Food and Drug Administration as a clinical pharmacology reviewer. He has published over 125 papers in the medical literature, co-edited a drug interactions textbook, and is a co-inventor on a number of patents. He received his PharmD degree from SUNY Buffalo and completed a residency and fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago.