John W. Kozarich received his B.S. (summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa; Scholar of the College) from Boston College and a Ph.D. from MIT, where he was an NSF Predoctoral Fellow. He was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard where he studied the mechanism of penicillin action. He joined the Pharmacology Department at Yale University School of Medicine, where he rose to the rank of Professor in 1984. Subsequently, he joined University of Maryland, as Professor of Chemistry and Biology. In 1990, while on leave from Maryland, he was Vice President for R&D at Alkermes and continued to serve as their CSO through 1992. Dr. Kozarich played an instrumental role in the company’s IPO in 1991 and an IND that same year.At Merck Research Laboratories from 1993-2001 as Vice President, Biochemistry, Kozarich had responsibility for Biochemistry programs at the Rahway, NJ site. He was involved in a number of Merck drug development programs, 9 IND filings and 3 NDAs. Dr. Kozarich also had responsibility for several Merck collaborations with other companies including Aurora Biosciences, KaroBio, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Incara and Kyorin. He was Head of the Transition Team for the SIBIA acquisition and had responsibility for the development of MRL’s new Boston Research Center.In March 2001, Kozarich joined Activx Biosciences, Inc. In December 2004, he was instrumental in the acquisition of ActivX by Tokyo-based Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. LTD. He is currently Chairman & President of ActivX and Chief Scientific Advisor for Kyorin. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Chemical Physiology at The Scripps Research Institute, a Director of Corium International, in Menlo Park, CA, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in San Diego.Dr. Kozarich is internationally known for his work on enzyme mechanisms and on the chemistry of DNA cleaving antitumor drugs. He has authored over 140 primary scientific publications and holds three patents.