Executive Staff

Rachel K. King, Chief Executive Officer
Before founding GMI, Mrs. King was an Executive in Residence at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a major venture capital firm with investments in biotechnology. Prior to joining NEA, Mrs. King was a Senior Vice President of Novartis Corporation. Before joining Novartis, Mrs. King spent ten years with Genetic Therapy, Inc. (GTI) from the company's startup phase, through its IPO and later acquisition by Novartis. At GTI, she held various roles, including serving as the company's CEO. Mrs. King also worked previously at ALZA Corporation in Palo Alto, California and at Bain and Company in Boston. She received her B.A degree from Dartmouth College and her MBA from Harvard Business School. Mrs. King currently serves on the Boards of Directors of MDBio and of the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO). She also serves on the Dean's Council of the Harvard School of Public Health and is on the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute.

John Magnani, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
John Magnani received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and then joined the Laboratory of Biological Pharmacology of the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIADDK) of the National Institutes of Health. He remained at the NIH for ten years, finally serving as a tenured Research Chemist. Dr. Magnani left the NIH in 1988 and helped co-found the U.S. subsidiary of BioCarb and became its Vice President of Research. In 1992, he founded and managed GlycoTech Corp. as its President and CEO. Dr. Magnani is the discoverer of Sialyl Lewis^a and its functions. He was the first to identify the binding domain to the selectins common to both Sialyl Lewis^a and Sialyl Lewis^x and used this information to develop potent selectin inhibitors. During his career, he also identified and characterized many carbohydrate tumor antigens and developed fundamental technology for the identification of functional carbohydrate epitopes.

Helen Thackray, MD, FAAP, Vice President of Drug Development
Dr. Thackray joined GlycoMimetics in 2006. From 2001 to 2006, she was Vice President of Clinical Product Development at Biosynexus, Inc. Dr. Thackray received her B.S from Stanford University and her M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine. She completed a pediatrics residency at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., followed by a year as Pediatric Chief Resident and Adjunct Instructor in Pediatrics. Dr. Thackray then studied at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health as a Medical Genetics Fellow. She holds an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and is a practicing board-certified hospital-based pediatrician. Dr. Thackray is a member of the Institutional Review Board of the National Center for Healthcare Statistics, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Board of Directors

M. James Barrett, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board of Directors
Dr. Barrett is currently a General Partner with the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates, the lead investor in GMI's seed round of financing. He founded Sensors for Medicine and Science, Inc. in 1997, and serves as Chairman of its board. In 1987, he founded Genetic Therapy, Inc. (GTI) which was sold in August of 1995 to Swiss pharmaceutical giant Sandoz AG (now Novartis) for $300-million. He continued to serve as GTI's CEO and as a Director through June 1996. From 1982 to July of 1987, Dr. Barrett served as President of Life Technologies, Inc. (now part of Invitrogen) and its predecessor, Bethesda Research Laboratories. Prior to 1982, he was employed at SmithKline Beecham Corporation for 13 years, where he held a variety of positions, including President of its In Vitro Diagnostics Division and President of SmithKline Clinical Laboratories. Dr. Barrett was a Director of MedImmune, Inc. from 1988 until its acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2007.

Michael Henos, Director
Mr. Henos is founder and managing general partner of Alliance Technology Ventures, a lead investor in GMI's seed round of financing. Mr. Henos is presently Chairman of the Board of AtheroGenics, Inc. and Inhibitex, Inc. both based in Alpharetta, Georgia. Prior to ATV, he was a general partner with Aspen Venture Partners where he was based in Menlo Park, CA. Prior to Aspen he was vice president of 3i Ventures in Newport Beach, CA. From 1984 to 1986 he was a health care consultant with Ernst & Young, specializing in venture financing of start-up medical technology companies. Prior to 1984 he served in a variety of management positions with Science Applications, Inc., the Revlon Healthcare Group and co-founded Pro Med Technologies, where he also served as its Chief Executive Officer. He earned a BS in economics and an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Bill Gust, Director
Mr. Gust is General Managing Partner for Anthem Capital Management. He has 40 years of business experience with a strong emphasis on venture capital investing and the development of small rapidly growing businesses. During the past 25 years, he has invested successfully in a broad range of start-up and early stage companies all over the United States, including such companies as Apple Computer, Samna (Lotus Corporation’s word processor), HealthSouth and Chuck E. Cheese. Mr. Gust received his Bachelors Degree from Northwestern University.

John J. Baldwin, Ph.D., Director
Dr. Baldwin co-founded Vitae Pharamaceuticals, Inc. in May 2001 and currently serves as the company's President and Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to that, he spent nine years at Pharmacopeia, Inc., where he was a co-founder and served as Chief Scientific and Technology Officer. Prior to Pharmacopeia, Dr. Baldwin was a Distinguished Senior Scientist at Merck & Co., where he spent 33 years in various scientific and management positions. Dr. Baldwin received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Delaware and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Minnesota.

Franklin H. Top, Jr., M.D., Director
Dr. Top is Senior Vice President of MedImmune, Inc.'s biotechnology venture capital affiliate, MedImmune Ventures, Inc. Dr. Top joined MedImmune in June 1988 as Executive Vice President and was a member of its Board of Directors from 1988 through 2004. He became MedImmune's Medical Director in 1990, and most recently served as acting head of Medical Affairs. From 1987 to 1988, Dr. Top served as Senior Vice President for Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Praxis Biologics. Prior to 1987, Dr. Top served for 22 years in the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, where he was appointed Director, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in 1983. Dr. Top holds a Doctorate of Medicine cum laude and a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from Yale University.