Alex Kim – Chief Executive Officer
Alex Kim joined Elevar Therapeutics in May of 2007. In December of 2007, he was elected to the Board of Directors and became CEO in 2019. Alex has 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry at MacroMed, Inc. (formerly Protherics, Plc, now BTG, Plc); Expression Genetics, Inc.; VivoRx, Inc. (Abraxis, acquired by Cellgene); and Theratech (now Watson Pharmaceuticals). Alex’s experience at these companies includes executive management, business development, product and technology licensing, strategic planning, fund raising and M&A activity. He has closed financing deals in Europe, Asia and the US.
Alex received his master’s degree in international business from Sophia University (Sang Ji) in Tokyo, Japan and Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with a Minor in Economics from the University of Utah. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Co-D Therapeutics (USA) and Neolevar FZ-LLC (U.A.E.).
Weili Cheng, Ph.D., J.D. – Vice President of Legal Affairs
Weili Cheng, Ph.D., J.D. joined Elevar in 2007. Weili has over 17 years IP legal patent experience including preparing and prosecuting patent applications in a wide variety of chemistry and biochemistry, drug delivery, pharmaceutical and biomedical compositions and diagnostic devices, biotech and polymer chemistry arts, infringement and validity studies, licensing, assisting with litigation, trademark and copyright practice, IP due diligence and corporate IP management responsibilities. She was IP counsel at MacroMed, Inc. (now BTG, Plc) while a Partner at Thorpe, North & Western. Dr. Cheng currently is Of Counsel at Clayton, Howarth & Cannon.
Prior to her legal work, Weili studied Virology at Wuhan University in China receiving a B.S. and an M.S. where she was one of the top 50 graduates in biology. She later received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Utah and a J.D. from the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah. Weili is a member of the American Bar Association, ALPLA and the Utah State Bar IP section as well as board of directors for the Chinese Association of Science and Technology (CAST-Utah).
Kate McKinley, MBA – Chief Commercial Officer
Kate McKinley joined Elevar Therapeutics’ Executive Team in 2019, to design and lead the global commercialization strategy for the pipeline and lead the business development organization. Kate’s team includes, global commercial, medical affairs and business development. Prior to joining Elevar Therapeutics, Kate led the Marketing organization and served as a key member of the Operating Committee, for Dendreon Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on immunotherapy. Kate worked at Abbott Laboratories and the biopharmaceutical spinoff, AbbVie, for 17 years in all aspects of commercialization, including sales leadership and market access, and spent 3 years leading the Urology, Oncology and Gynecology US sales organizations.
Kate is a summa cum laude graduate of The University of Tulsa. She holds an M.B.A. from the university’s Collins College of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with degrees in Marketing, Management and Psychology.
Arlo McGinn, Ph.D. – Chief Scientific Officer
Arlo McGinn joined Elevar Therapeutics in 2015 and has been working in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries for over 15 years. Arlo has worked for both large Fortune 500 life science companies and small startup ventures including MacroMed (acquired by Protherics, PLC; now BTG). In addition to his work in life science technology, he gained significant business development experience through the Lassonde New Venture Development program at the University of Utah and venture capital experience through the University Venture Fund.
Arlo received his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Utah and his BS in Chemistry from Brigham Young University.
Steven Norton, Ph.D., MBA – Chief Drug Development Officer
Steve Norton joined Elevar in 2019 and he been an influential voice in the design of a forward-looking clinical development strategy as well as the positioning of talent, processes, metrics, CRO partnerships, and key opinion leader relationships required to operationalize that strategy.
From 2005 to 2018, Steve advanced through positions of increasing responsibility in the management and growth of the Early Clinical Development & Clinical Pharmacology Services business for Covance, Inc. By 2016, Steve had advanced into the position of Executive Director of Medical & Scientific Affairs for Clinical Pharmacology Services.
Throughout his career Steve was successful in gaining six ANDA approvals for various products used in treating atopic dermatitis, one NDA approval for Atrisone®, a dapsone topical gel for the treatment of acne, as well as three NDA approvals for Eligard®, a therapy targeting advanced prostate cancer. Steve holds a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Minnesota, an M.B.A. in technology management from the University of Phoenix, and a B.S. in microbiology from BYU. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he was selected as a Research Fellow at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine within the Department of Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology.