Board of Directors

Rainer Boehm, MD, MBA has served as a member of our Board since February 2018. Dr. Boehm has been a biopharmaceutical industry leader for more than three decades. At Novartis for 29 years, he held roles of increasing responsibility culminating with his position as Chief Commercial and Medical Affairs Officer and as ad interim CEO of Novartis’ pharmaceuticals division. His background spans senior leadership, marketing, sales and medical affairs positions in both oncology and pharmaceuticals and he has led regions around the world, including North America, Asia and all emerging markets. Dr. Boehm has overseen the launch and commercialization of many new drugs in his career, including blockbuster breakthroughs Cosentyx and Entresto, and major oncology brands including Afinitor, Exjade, Tasigna, Femara, Zometa and Glivec. Dr. Boehm also currently serves on the board of directors for Cellectis, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on immunotherapies based on gene-edited CAR-T cells; as an advisor in leadership development for senior executives at the GLG Institute in New York City; and as a consultant to healthcare companies. He graduated from the medical school at the University of Ulm in Germany and received his MBA from Schiller University at the Strasbourg campus in France. Dr. Boehm brings to the Board significant knowledge and experience within the biopharmaceutical industry, as well as financial acumen and operational experience.

Cameron Durrant, MD, DRCOG, MRCGP, MBA, FLSW, has served as a member and Chairman of our Board since January 2016, and as our Chief Executive Officer since March 2016. From May 2014 to January 2016, Dr. Durrant served as Founder and Director of Taran Pharma Limited, a private semi-virtual specialty pharma company developing and registering treatments in Europe for orphan conditions. Dr. Durrant served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ECR Pharmaceuticals Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc., from September 2012 to April 2014. From January 2010 to September 2012, Dr. Durrant served as a consultant to several biopharma companies, as the Founder, CEO, CFO and director of PediatRx, Inc. and on the boards of several privately-held healthcare companies. He previously served as CEO of PediaMed Pharmaceuticals and has been a senior executive at Johnson and Johnson, Pharmacia, GSK and Merck. Dr. Durrant served as a director of Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc. from July 2014 through August 2018 and serves on the board of directors of a privately held nano-biotech company and a medical device company. Dr. Durrant earned his medical degree from the Welsh National School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK, his DRCOG from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, London, UK, his MRCGP from the Royal College of General Practitioners, London, UK, his DipCH from the Melbourne Academy, Australia and his MBA from Henley Management College, Oxford, UK. Dr. Durrant brings to the Board extensive experience as a pharma/biotech entrepreneur, operating executive and board member, as well as his day to day operating experience as our Chief Executive Officer.

Ronald Barliant, JD, has served as a member of our Board since January 2016. Mr. Barliant has been Of Counsel to Goldberg Kohn, Ltd. since January 2016, and immediately prior to that had served as a principal in Goldberg Kohn’s Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights Group since September 2002. He previously served as U.S. bankruptcy judge for the Northern District of Illinois from 1988 to 2002. Mr. Barliant has represented debtors and creditors in complex bankruptcy cases, and counseled major financial institutions, business firms and boards of directors in connection with workouts. He is a member of the board of directors of a closely held information technology company and the board of the estate representative supervising the liquidation of assets in the global crossing case. Mr. Barliant brings to the Board valuable experience gained from a distinguished career as a counselor to numerous boards, considered judgment and experience with bankruptcy in the bankruptcy setting.

Cheryl Buxton, MA, has, for the past 25 years, worked at Korn/Ferry International, the world’s largest executive search company. She is the Korn/Ferry Vice Chairman, Global Sector Leader, Pharmaceuticals, based in the firm’s Princeton office. Ms. Buxton conducts senior level assignments, with a special focus on research driven organizations. She also leads the R&D sector for the Pharmaceutical and Consumer divisions within Korn/Ferry. Ms. Buxton joined the Firm’s London office and European headquarters before spending time in Paris and then relocating to Princeton in 1997. Prior to joining Korn/Ferry, Ms. Buxton was human resources director for Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals (Cilag Ltd), based in the U.K., where her focus was on organizational issues and strategic resourcing and guidance on European directives. She also provided human resources support to three smaller companies in the group for Europe. Her human resources career started at Bristol Myers Ltd., where she was responsible for its consumer and pharmaceutical business. Ms. Buxton holds a master’s degree in employment law and industrial relations from Leicester University, a degree in Nursing, a diploma in personnel management and is a member of the Institute of Personnel and Development. Ms. Buxton is on the Executive Council for Springboard, a non-profit organization encouraging women entrepreneurs in Life Sciences, and the Advisory Board for South Asia Pharmaceutical Council. She previously was on Board of SIFE. A keen horsewoman, she is a competitive amateur show jumper and endurance rider. Ms. Buxton brings to the Board significant knowledge and experience within the biopharmaceutical industry, as well as an extensive executive network.

Dale Chappell, MD, MBA, has served as a member of our Board as director of the Company since February 2021. Dr. Chappell joined Humanigen in July 2020 as full-time chief scientific officer after serving in an interim capacity for the Company. He began his career as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellow at the National Cancer Institute where he studied tumor immunology and published in the field of T-cell therapy, immunology pathways, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (“GM-CSF”), an immune system protein that initiates the cytokine storm that can occur in COVID-19. Dr. Chappell is also the founder of Black Horse Capital with decades of biotechnology investment experience.

Kevin Xie, PhD, MBA, has nearly twenty years of experience evaluating and investing in companies across an array of healthcare-related industries, first for 13 years on the buy-side and then for six years in industry where he also demonstrated the ability to add value through operational improvements. He is the Chief Financial Officer of Gracell Biotechnologies (Nasdaq: GRCL), a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing breakthrough cell therapies intended to disrupt conventional approaches to CAR-T cell therapies. As CFO at Gracell since July 2020, Dr. Xie has completed a cross-over round and IPO that raised $340 million. Prior to Gracell, as President of Healthcare Holdings for Fosun Group, he built and managed a team of 20 investment professionals, which invested more than $2 billion in 30+ projects in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, healthcare information technology, and healthcare services industries. Dr. Xie co-founded and served as Portfolio Manager of Locust Walk Capital. Dr. Xie had previously served as Healthcare Sector Head at Scopia Capital, and as a Managing Director at Great Point Partners. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for ViewRay (Nasdaq: VRAY). Dr. Xie has a Bachelor of Science in Material Science and Engineering from Tianjin University, an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in Chemistry from The City University of New York.

John Hohneker, MD, has more than 30 years of experience as an executive in the biopharmaceutical industry and he now serves as a member of the Board for five other biotechnology companies including: BioTheryX, Inc. (private); Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS); Cygnal Therapeutics, Inc. (private); Aravive, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARAV); Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO); and Trishula Therapeutics (private). As an executive he has advanced several programs from pre-clinical evaluation through Phase IV, including products in oncology and immunology. He played a critical role in the development and commercialization of many blockbuster products including Cosentyx®, Gleevec®, Zometa®, Tasigna®, and Afinitor®. His experience includes 15 years at Novartis AG, from 2001 to 2015, where he was most recently Senior Vice President and Global Head of Development, Immunology and Dermatology. Prior to Novartis, he held several positions of increasing responsibility over a nearly 11-year period beginning at Burroughs Wellcome and then with its successor Glaxo Wellcome. Dr. Hohneker received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Gettysburg College and a medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at Rutgers Medical School. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in medical oncology, all at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to his operational experience, Dr. Hohneker has direct experience leading business development and licensing deals, raising capital, and serving on corporate boards through acquisitions.