Management Team
CEO: Ginette Serrero, Ph.D., draws on 25 years of research experience to guide the company's strategic vision and breakthrough cancer research. Dr. Serrero, who co-founded the company in 2000, is an internationally recognized scientist for her work on adipocyte differentiation and breast cancer. She has more than 80 published papers and the inventor on 8 issued patents both composition and methods patents (US and International) and 14 recently filed patents. These discoveries include circulating factors controlling cell growth and differentiation.
Her discovery of PCDGF/GP88, a theranostic novel growth factor overexpressed in many cancers including breast cancer, provided the impetus to move from academia to entrepreneur. Dr. Serrero has demonstrated the importance of PCDGF in the tumorigenesis of breast cancer cells and in the progression to tamoxifen resistance. She has demonstrated that PCDGF can be a target for the development of novel specific anti-cancer therapy and diagnosis. These are presently under development at A&G under her leadership.
Dr. Serrero received a PhD in Biochemistry and a D. Sc in Cell Biology from the University of Marseille and Nice in France. She was the recipient of fellowship from the French Science and Technology Department to carry out post-doctoral work in the United States. Post-doctoral fellow at the University of California San Diego where she studied with Dr. Gordon Sato, a pioneer in the isolation of functional cell lines and the development of serum-free hormone supplemented medium. She became a Senior Scientist at the W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center in Lake Placid NY. She was awarded a Diabetes Research Award from the New York State Department of Health to support her research on embryonic insulin during development.
Before founding A&G Pharmaceutical, Dr. Serrero was a Full Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences and in the Program in Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and at the Greenebaum Cancer Center. In November 2002, she moved full time to A&G where she is Vice President and heads the Research and Development activities of the Company. She remains Adjunct Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pathology at the University of Maryland and at the Cancer Center.
She is Associate Editor of In Vitro Cell and Developmental Biology and has served in study section and grant review panels for NIH and also for granting agencies in Europe.
During her career in Academia, Dr. Serrero has been continuously funded, receiving more than $ 5 millions in grant awards from Federal and private funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health, The Department of Defense, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, American Heart Association, and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. She was for 3 years the Program Director of a multi million dollars Program Project grant from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease. She has trained more than 10 graduate students and 20 post-doctoral fellows that hold faculty or industry positions in the US and abroad.
Vice President of Drug Discovery: Randy Barton, Ph.D. joins A&G after almost 20 years with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, where he held a series of ascending research management posts culminating at the director level, primarily in the areas of immunological and inflammatory diseases but including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Dr. Barton led interdisciplinary drug discovery teams and research groups focused on target identification and evaluation as well as lead optimization of both small-molecule and biological drug candidates, including gene and cell therapy. Complementing his extensive experience in early- and late-stage drug discovery research as well as management of research and product development teams, Dr. Barton is seasoned in collaboration alliances, licensing deals, and patent portfolio evaluation and management. Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim, Dr. Barton held a faculty position at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of more than 75 publications and an inventor on eight issued U.S. patents. He received an AB from Indiana University and a PhD from the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Vice President of Business Development: Michael Keefe has experience in biotechnology business development and marketing for emerging technology companies. He has been successful raising venture capital as well as managing growth into the next stage. Previous to joining A&G, he was president of an internet company in Chicago, IL. As president, he managed a small staff of programmers and content editors and subsequently sold the company to its largest vendor. Michael received an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, with concentrations in finance and marketing. While at Kellogg, he received a Ewing Marion Kauffman Entrepreneur Award for outstanding leadership and his work with a biotechnology start-up in Evanston, Illinois. He is also a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a degree in finance.