Management

CEO/CSO

Dr. Olson is co-founder, President & CEO of Provid Pharmaceuticals. He received an A.B. from Columbia and his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford. He is a leading expert in medicinal chemistry and a pioneer in the fields of drug design and peptide mimetics. Dr. Olson was a research scientist at Hoffmann-La Roche for 26 years where he became Research Director in the Departments of Inflammation/Autoimmune disease and Oncology. In 1998, he joined Praecis Pharmaceuticals as Senior Vice President of Chemistry R&D. He co-founded Provid in 2001 and has led the company's drug discovery services business and internal programs in autoimmune disease and oncology therapeutics. He is also an adjunct Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Rutgers.

VP Medicinal Chemistry

Dr. Self has broad experience in the pharmaceutical industry and expertise in organic and medicinal chemistry applied in the fields of inflammation, autoimmune diseases, and oncology. He received a B.Sc. in chemistry from Imperial College, London in 1977, and his Ph.D. at the University of London under the direction of Prof. Stephen Ley. Following a postdoctoral appointment at Wisconsin with Prof. Barry Trost, he joined Roche Products Ltd., UK, in 1982 as a senior researcher in the Department of Inflammation, and from 1995 held the position of Research Leader at Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., USA in the Department of Inflammation/Autoimmune Diseases. In 1998, Dr. Self became Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry of Praecis' New Jersey division, and became a co-founder of Provid in 2001 where he is currently Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry.

CFO

Mr. Thomas is a biotechnology executive and entrepreneur, having been a founder, advisor, and principal in a number of successful life science companies. Prior to joining Provid, Mr. Thomas occupied executive positions with CMI - Centers for Medical Innovation AG (antivirals, Munich and Princeton), Precision Pharmaceuticals Inc. (anti-inflammatories, Gainesville, FL), and Avid Therapeutics (antiviral drug discovery, Philadelphia). He is also a founder and CEO of Eleison Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Thomas was educated at the University of Pennsylvania (B.S., Economics and Biochemistry, 1981) and earned an MBA from The Wharton School in 1984.

VP Business Developmentt

Dr. Christie received an S.B. from MIT, and an MD/PhD from Harvard; his research focused on the neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease.  Following his training, Dr. Christie spent 3 years at McKinsey & Co., serving the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and services sectors as an Engagement Manager.  After a year at Caxton Health Holdings, a healthcare-dedicated investment fund, he then joined the Pharmaceutical division at Johnson & Johnson as VP Business Development in the M&A group.  There,  he was responsible for covering the biotechnology and early-stage company portfolio; his work led to the establishment of the External Research and Early Development group in J&J Pharmaceutical R&D, which was charged with developing and executing novel early-stage deal structures with venture funds, academia, and disease foundations.  Dr. Christie concurrently holds the position of CEO and President, Solaris Therapeutics.