Leadership Team

Below is a complete listing and short biography of the Senior Officers for Mirus Bio Corporation.

Russell Smestad
President

Russell R. Smestad joined Mirus as its president in November 2003, and was elected to the Board of Directors in January 2004. Prior to joining Mirus, he was vice president of corporate development for PowderJect Vaccines Inc., a unit of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals PLC, where he was responsible for strategic planning and business development. During his six year tenure, PowderJect grew from a privately held startup entity to become the 6th largest vaccine company in the world, ultimately being sold in mid-2003 to Chiron Corporation for $878 million. From 1982 to 1997, Mr. Smestad held a variety of executive management positions in predecessor organizations to PowderJect Vaccines (Auragen Inc., Agracetus Inc. and Cetus Madison Inc.), including serving for six years as co-general manager of Agracetus and president of Auragen. Mr. Smestad is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been actively involved in Wisconsin’s biotech community, having served as a past president and board member of the Wisconsin Biotechnology Association as well as on the Steering Committee for the annual Wisconsin Life Sciences Venture Conference.

Jon Wolff
Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Jon A. Wolff, M.D. is a co-founder of Mirus, Chief Scientific Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Wolff received his B.A. Degree in Chemistry at Cornell University and earned his M.D. at The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. He completed his medical residency and a fellowship in genetics and metabolism at the University of California, San Diego, after which he served as an Assistant Professor for three years. Since joining the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1988 as an Assistant Professor, he was appointed Director of the Biochemical Genetics Program at the Waisman Center in 1989, advanced to Professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics, and promoted to Director of the entire Clinical and Medical Genetics division in 2001.

Board certified in Pediatrics and Biochemical, Clinical, and Molecular Genetics, Dr. Wolff is an acknowledged leader in the field of gene therapy. Dr. Wolff was a member of the National Institute of Health's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee from 1997-2000, responsible for oversight of human gene therapy trials. He is an associate editor for Molecular Therapy and is on the editorial board for the journals Human Gene Therapy, Gene Therapy, and Cancer Gene Therapy. He was recognized by the Harvard Medical Newsletter as one of the Top Ten Medical Advances of 1991 for his research in gene transfer. Recently, Dr. Wolff was elected to serve on the board of the American Society for Gene Therapy.

James Hagstrom
Co-Founder and Vice President of Scientific Operations

James E. Hagstrom PhD is a co-founder of Mirus and is currently vice president of scientific operations and a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to founding Mirus, Dr. Hagstrom worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1993-1996) as a research associate with Dr. Jon Wolff. His work there was focused on understanding the mechanism of cellular uptake of nucleic acids using cationic lipids, polymers and proteins. From 1990-1992, Dr. Hagstrom did post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Karin at the University of California-San Diego studying the molecular basis of neuronal cell differentiation using the PC12 cell line model. Dr. Hagstrom received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine (1985-1990) in Rochester, MN. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including: a pre-doctoral NIH cancer training grant fellowship (1987-1990) at the Mayo Clinic, an American Cancer Society post-doctoral fellowship (1991-1993) at the University of California-San Diego and a Muscular Dystrophy Association post-doctoral fellowship (1994-1995) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since joining Mirus, Dr. Hagstrom has been the principle investigator on numerous government grants and an author on many scientific publications.

Richard S. Schifreen, Ph.D.
Vice President, Research Products

Rich Schifreen joined Mirus in May 2005 to lead its research products and services business. Prior to joining Mirus, he was employed at Promega (1998-2005) and Life Technologies (1989-1998), where he specialized in business and product development for new technologies in life science research and molecular diagnostics. He was responsible for divesting the molecular diagnostics business, leading the R&D program in cell biology, and organizing the custom molecular biology business unit at Life Technologies; and leading business development for molecular diagnostics, RNA interference and other new technologies at Promega. Dr. Schifreen began his professional career in the medical products department at the DuPont Company in 1980, applying molecular and biochemical technologies to new applications in clinical diagnostics. While at DuPont, he led market development for one of the first commercial programs focusing on diagnostic applications of oncogenes. He is a director of Platypus Technologies LLC, a company focusing on the application of nanotechnologies for the development of biosensors. Dr. Schifreen is also active as a faculty member in the Masters of Science in Biotechnology Program at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, serves on the advisory board for the medical technology program and lectures in the business school. Dr. Schifreen earned his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Georgia in 1978 and is a Diplomate of the American Board for Clinical Chemistry. He is an advisor to the Area Committee on Molecular Methods of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and an invited reviewer for the National Academies of Sciences.

Scott A. Rose
Vice President, Finance and Administration

Scott Rose assumed leadership of the financial and administrative functions of the Company in August 2006. He brings to Mirus more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing and high technology companies. His diversified career includes leadership roles as the CEO and CFO of Wisconsin Porcelain Company, Inc., a venture capital backed manufacturer of industrial ceramics; accounting and information system management roles with Heurikon Corporation, a manufacturer of single board computers; and financial staff roles at Dungarvin, Inc., Snap-On Tools Corporation and several other organizations. Mr. Rose is a Certified Public Accountant certified in Production and Inventory Management, and earned his MBA degree with a specialization in Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.