TWO SAN DIEGO BUSINESS EXECUTIVES JOIN LA JOLLA INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Richard Kornfeld and Michael Martin Become Part of LIAI Board
SAN DIEGO - (July 9, 2008) Richard "Rick" Kornfeld, a San Diego telecommunications executive, and Michael Martin, a Rancho Santa Fe resident and leader in the health care services industry, have joined the Board of Directors of the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI). The Institute is a nonprofit biomedical research institute and one of the world's leaders in immunology research.
"With these two Board members, we expand the number of San Diego residents on our Board, while also benefiting from their wealth of management experience," said Mitchell Kronenberg, Ph.D., LIAI president and scientific director. "We appreciate their willingness to serve our organization, and assist us in our efforts to better human health through the development of new treatments for many devastating disorders."
Kronenberg said the Institute is expanding its BOD to enable more involvement from San Diego area residents, who can enhance the community's awareness and interaction with the Institute, while also bringing extensive management expertise from San Diego's distinguished business community.
Kornfeld, a La Jolla resident, has worked in some of the San Diego region's most notable tech companies, including Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Linkabit. Most recently, he was executive vice president and chief strategy officer for NextWave Wireless and NextWave Broadband, and currently serves as an advisor to various corporations. His other executive positions have included: vice president of engineering at Qualcomm, and co-founder, chairman and CEO of Dot Wireless, which was acquired by Texas Instruments.
Martin is president of the International Oncology Network (ION), a diversified physician services network whose membership represents about half of the private practice oncologists in the U.S. He brings more than 20 years of executive and health care
leadership experience to the LIAI Board. He has served in various senior level positions in Group Policy Organizations (GPO) and health care manufacturer environments. His executive management positions include working with GE Medical Systems, Premier, and Tensys® Medical. Most recently, Martin held the position of CEO for Tensys® Medical, where he transformed a 15 employee start-up organization into an industry-leading medical device company.
In addition to Kornfeld and Martin, two other distinguished executives joined the LIAI Board earlier this year. One new member is Toshifumi Mikayama, Ph.D., executive officer and vice president of Kirin Pharma Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, a biopharmaceutical research and development company and parent company of Kirin Pharma USA, Inc. Kirin Pharma USA is an LIAI industry partner, which helps to facilitate the translation of the Institute's discoveries into potential treatments for human disease. The other new board member is Steven Odre, a biotechnology executive who recently retired from Amgen Inc., a major pharmaceutical company, after a 21-year career. Most recently, he served as Amgen's senior vice president, general counsel and secretary and continues as an Amgen consultant. Odre is also an adjunct professor of intellectual property at the IIT-Chicago Kent School of Law.
About La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology
Founded in 1988, the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology is a nonprofit medical research center dedicated to increasing knowledge and improving human health through studies of the immune system. Scientists at the institute carry out research searching for cures for cancer, allergy and asthma, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis. LIAI's research staff includes more than 100 Ph.Ds.
