MORAGA BIOTECHNOLOGY CORPORATION - Key Persons


Dr. Asa C. Black - Founder

Job Titles:
  • Founder
  • Scientific Advisor
Dr. Asa C. Black, Jr. is currently Professor of Anatomy and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Dr. Black has published numerous papers on fetal alcohol syndrome, neurobiology, and stem cell biology. He was a National Merit Scholar at Vanderbilt University. He was the recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health at Vanderbilt University. He was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health at the University of Iowa, College of Medicine in Iowa City, Iowa. He has been awarded 10 research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Black received a B.A. in chemistry and a Ph.D. in anatomy from Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee. He received postdoctoral training in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Iowa, College of Medicine in Iowa City, Iowa. He was an assistant professor at the University of Iowa, College of Medicine before being appointed associate professor at Mercer University School of Medicine in 1985.

John F. Wong - CEO, Chairman, Founder

Job Titles:
  • CEO
  • Chairman
  • Founder
From November 1998 to August 2004, Dr. John Wong was Chairman and CEO of MorphoGen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MorphoGen was involved in developing its pluripotent adult-derived stem cells as therapeutic agents for transplantation therapies. He has founded an information technology company and numerous biotech companies. Prior to joining MorphoGen, Dr. Wong was President of SciFin, Inc., a Los Angeles-based consulting firm that specializes in: 1) identifying new platform technologies for commercialization; 2) raising capital for and funding both start-up and early stage biotech and healthcare-related companies; and, 3) developing and acquiring new technologies. Earlier, Dr. Wong was Vice President of Equity Research and the senior biotechnology analyst at Van Kasper & Company of San Francisco, California. In June 1997, Dr. Wong received recognition by The Wall Street Journal as an �All Star Analyst� in biotechnology. Dr. Wong received a B.A. in zoology and a Ph.D. in immunology and medical microbiology from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. He completed his postdoctoral training in infectious diseases and cellular immunology at the New York University School of Medicine and completed a hematology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute in New York. Prior to entering the securities industry, Dr. Wong was assistant research professor of experimental pathology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine.

Peter S. Garcia

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Directors
  • Chief Financial Officer of Marina Biotech
Mr. Garcia has served as Chief Financial Officer of Marina Biotech (Nasdaq: MRNA) since July 2009, and as its Secretary since August 2009. Mr. Garcia has served as Chief Financial Officer of both public and private life science and high technology companies for the past 15 years. From 2004 to 2008, Mr. Garcia served as Chief Financial Officer of Nanosys Inc., a privately held nanotechnology company, where he was responsible for finance, facilities, information technology, and investor and government relations. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Garcia served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nuvelo Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company. During his tenure at Nuvelo, he helped raise over $150 million and acquire development stage products, and led Nuvelo's merger and acquisition strategy. Prior to Nuvelo, Mr. Garcia served as Chief Financial Officer for Novacept Inc., IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, and Dendreon Corporation. He was instrumental in raising over $500 million for these companies. His prior financial operations experience comes from Amgen Inc. and Teradata Corporation where he held a variety of financial management positions. Mr. Garcia has an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at the University of California Los Angeles and a B.A. in Economics and Sociology with honors from Stanford University.

Robert D. Fish - Chief Legal Officer

Job Titles:
  • Corporate Counsel
  • Chairman of Rutan & Tucker 's Intellectual Property
Mr. Fish is currently chair of Rutan & Tucker's Intellectual Property and Technology Group. He started his legal career at Lyon & Lyon LLP in 1990, and developed his own practice from 1995 through 2001. Mr. Fish has attracted a world-class clientele in a wide array of fields, including mechanical engineering, medical devices, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, electronics, computer software, and business methods. Exemplary clients include Fluor Corp. and ICN Pharmaceuticals, both billion-dollar companies for which Mr. Fish has worked as primary US intellectual property counsel. Mr. Fish's group has also represented Honeywell in facilities throughout the United States, including California, Washington, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia. SRI International (previously known as Stanford Research Institute) employed Mr. Fish for several years in energy-related and computer software technologies. Mr. Fish received his B.A. in natural sciences from University of Pennsylvania with graduate courses in medicine and electronics. He also obtained his J.D. cum laude from California Western School of Law.