Anthony J. Dennis, PhD

President & CEO, BioOhio

Anthony J. Dennis, Ph.D., a microbiologist, entrepreneur, technology advocate and native Ohioan, became president of Edison BioTechnology Center, the predecessor organization to BioOhio, on January 1, 2002. Dennis is the third president in the organization's 15-year history. He succeeded Frank Samuel Jr., who left the post to become science and technology advisor to Ohio Governor Bob Taft in June 2000.

Dennis brought to BioOhio a strong familiarity with the state's bioscience community. After receiving B.S. (1970) and Ph.D. (1973) degrees in microbiology from The Ohio State University, he began to work for Battelle in Columbus, first as an entry-level researcher and eventually as vice president for biotechnology. He then served a two-year stint as president of IntraCel, a biotech company operating in Geneva, Switzerland. He returned to the U.S. in 1990 to serve as vice president for research and development at Tastemaker (now Givaudan, a division of Roche), from 1990 until 1997.

Dennis then co-founded Nutri-Logics, Inc., where he acted as president through two rounds of start-up funding. He concluded his day-to-day responsibilities at Nutri-Logics in 2000. Simultaneous to the founding of Nutri-Logics, Dennis was co-founding another startup, BIO-NOVA, in Portland, Oregon, where he served as executive vice president until joining BioOhio, which at the time was named Omeris.

In addition to his hands-on involvement with startup bioscience companies, Dr. Dennis is an expert in the general area of innovation and creativity in research, particularly as it applies to the development and commercialization of new products. He is currently completing a book that examines the key barriers to breakthrough innovation in the United States that will include recommendations on how to surpass these barriers.

He is also highly familiar with the workings of a bioscience industry association. In Oregon, he served as a director of the Oregon Biotechnology Association (OBA), and he was a consultant for the Oregon Resource and Technology Development Account, the Oregon state technology development fund.

Richard J. D’Augustine

CincyTech, Executive in Residence

Mr. D’Augustine has almost 30 years of medical industry experience in general management, venture capital investing and business development in both public and private companies. He is currently an Executive-in–Residence at CincyTech, a regional high technology venture development organization. Just prior to joining Cincytech, Mr. D’Augustine was President & CEO of UMD, Inc., a venture-backed drug delivery company focusing on women’s health issues.

Previously, Rick spent five years as a group director at Senmed Medical Ventures and sixteen years with Johnson & Johnson, where he was a founding board member of Ethicon Endo-Surgery. He has also served as a founder and director at several early stage medical technology companies, including, Atricure, Inc., which is now a public company.

Rick has a BSME from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Seton Hall University.

Don Lucas

Retired, P & G

Don retired from P&G after 32 years upon the sale of the pharmaceutical business to Warner Chilcott in 2009. He spent the first 16 years working in healthcare and biotechnology related research management positions. He then spent 12 years in the Pharmaceuticals Discovery Department as the head of the Licensing, Acquisitions, and Alliances (LA&A) group where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating, and negotiating licenses and partnerships with the biotech industry, universities and research centers and also followed up as the alliance manager for those partnerships. His last 4 years at P&G were spent working in the LA&A group for Pharmaceutical Development with responsibility for negotiating licenses for later stage development programs. During that time he also spent 14 months seconded to Burrill & Company’s Venture Group in San Francisco evaluating investment opportunities for Burrill and searching for new opportunities for P&G Healthcare. In addition to his work at P&G, Don has served on the Board of Bio/Start biomedical incubator that he helped found and design, Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundation commercialization Board, The University of Cincinnati Genomic Research Institute Commercialization Advisory Committee, and the Advisory Board of the Triathlon Development Fund.

Don received a BS and MS degree at the University of Oklahoma in Microbiology and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Microbial Physiology and Biochemistry.

Don is currently consulting in the Cincinnati area working with a number of small healthcare oriented companies including Blue Ash Therapeutics and Akebia, both located here in Blue Ash.

Bradley G. Hughes

Manager, Compliance Training
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Brad has over 36 years manufacturing experience as an HR generalist in a variety of industries including automotive, foundry, printing, high volume consumer and GMP compliant. For the past 10 years he has been involved with the manufacture of sterile parenteral drugs in an aseptic environment. Brad moved to Cincinnati from Chicago three and a half years ago to create the compliant training program for the Amylin start-up operation in West Chester. The plant, which is 600,000 square feet, will produce, 24/7, BYDUREON, a first in class GLP-1, Type 2 Diabetes treatment that will only require a once a week injection v. the current twice a day injection for Byetta.

Mark Ortiz

Principal Engineer and MDI Liason Director, Ethicon Endo-Surgery 

Mark Ortiz is a Prinipal Engineer and Collaboration Director for the research collaboration between MDI and Ethicon Endosurgery. Since graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Mark has worked for 25 years in the field of design engineering in six industries including aircraft engines, laptop computer, spread spectrum cordless phones, high speed fluid filler machines, rear projection televisions and medical devices. For 15 years, Mark has worked with Ethicon Endosurgery developing devices and procedures for open, laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery. Currently, Mark has 89 patents issued with over 100 pending. The collaboration between MDI and EES is currently in it’s 4th year with Mark as director.

Kathleen Schroeder

Vice President, Business Development Operations 

Kathy Schroeder joined CTI in 2003, bringing 20 years of IT and professional services experience that included a unique mix of science, business and technology. Kathy received her Bachelors in Biology from St. Louis University and her MBA from the University of Cincinnati. Kathy worked for 17 years with SMS/Siemens Medical Health Systems in a variety of positions including Regional Operations Manager, Regional Support Manager, Support Manager, Senior Account Executive and Project Manager, all of which supported customers and employees in multiple states as well as Canada. Earlier in her career, Kathy was Assistant Director of Information Technology at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri where she was responsible for clinical and financial system applications. Kathy joined CTI as Director, Information Technology and Operations where she was responsible for the implementation of the Oracle Clinical system as well as the creation of tools and standards to support the proposal process, and was soon promoted to Executive Director, Information Technology and Proposal Analysis. In 2008 Kathy was promoted to Vice President, Business Development Operations where she is responsible for creating and managing the people and processes that support the company’s business development function.