Our Team

Scott Rollins, Ph.D.
President and CEO

Scott Rollins joined Selexys as President and CEO on March 1, 2008. Dr. Rollins brings over 16 years of experience in the discovery, development and commercialization of antibody-based drugs. Dr. Rollins was a co-founder of Alexion in 1992 and served as Sr. Vice President of Drug Development at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Alexion raised over $800M in the private and public markets between 1992 and 2007 and currently has a market cap of $2.6B. He was responsible for the discovery, preclinical and clinical development of eculizumab (Soliris), a humanized monoclonal antibody that was approved by the FDA and the EMEA in 2007. Dr. Rollins has extensive experience with the FDA and led the drug development team that generated the regulatory approval filings (BLA, MAA). In addition, Dr. Rollins has managed more that 24 clinical trials and generated and filed 11 IND's.

Russell Rother, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and COO

Russell Rother joined Selexys in 2010 where he serves as Executive Vice President and COO. Dr. Rother is responsible for the clinical trials at Selexys and is the point person regarding interactions with the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Rother was most recently Chief Scientific Officer at Alexion Pharmaceuticals where he managed the Departments of Research, Scientific Communications, Medical Information, Bioanalytical Development and Biometrics. Dr. Rother was one of the original scientists at Alexion where he played a critical role in the engineering and development of Alexion's antibody therapeutics and led discovery efforts in the identification of new indications and novel drug targets. He was instrumental in strategic decisions to initiate the paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) program, playing a major role in the bench to bedside development of Soliris (eculizumab), the first therapy approved for the treatment of PNH. Soliris was the recipient of the 2008 Prix Galien USA award for best biotechnology product. Dr. Rother received a doctorate degree in microbiology and immunology from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in conjunction with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Rother's work has led to more than 90 scientific papers and patent/patent applications in the fields of hematology, complement biology, transplantation, autoimmunity and gene therapy.

David Falconer, MS, MBA
Vice President of Business and Drug Development

David Falconer joined Selexys on February 18, 2008. Mr. Falconer brings over 20 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry. He previously held positions at Glaxo, RPR, Boehringer Ingelheim and most recently Alexion Pharmaceuticals as Executive Director of Drug Development and Project Management. At Alexion, David headed to project management/drug development group for 5 years and played a key role in the approval of the humanized monoclonal antibody Soliris in PNH. His expertise includes chemical safety evaluation, pharmaceutical development and program management relevant to management of Phase I/II/III NCE (small molecules and biologics), device and line extension projects and collaborative projects with other pharmaceutical partners and CROs. Mr. Falconer has extensive experience interacting with regulatory agencies including the FDA, and the EMEA.

Richard Alvarez, M.B.A.
VP Operations and Research

Mr. Alvarez is a co-founder of Selexys. He is the principal business architect of the company and is responsible for day-to-day operations and research of the Company. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Prior to joining Selexys, he was Director of the Protein-Carbohydrate Interaction Core H for the Consortium for Functional Glycomics, a large scale initiative funded by NIH to understand the role of sugars in biology and disease. Mr. Alvarez was also co-founder of HCA Marketing, a software development company that commercialized products for the print and promotional products industry.

Jonathan Stocker, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Clinical Development

Jonathan Stocker joined Selexys as Senior Director of Clinical Development in October of 2012. Dr. Stocker has more than 14 years of experience in drug discovery and clinical research. Prior to joining Selexys, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Icagen, Inc. a small biopharmaceutical company focused on ion channel drug development where he spent more than 6 years leading Icagen's sickle cell disease drug development program. He has expertise in translational research, specifically in the design and implementation of early phase proof-of-concept clinical research studies. Dr. Stocker has authored more than 25 clinical protocols and has more than 20 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Stocker received his doctorate degree in biophysical chemistry from the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. Dr. Stocker continued his training as a Postdoctoral Visiting Scholar in the Physiology Department at Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo followed by a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at the Stanford School of Medicine.

Ziad Kawar, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist

Dr. Kawar is in charge of our antibody development programs. He is the principal investigator on our SBIR award from NIH/NHLBI and on our Oklahoma Applied Research Support grants from the State of Oklahoma. Dr. Kawar is an expert in molecular biology, protein expression and Glycobiology. He manages our contract manufacturing programs for preclinical process development and antibody production.

Rodger P. McEver, M.D.
Vice President, Chief Medical Officer

Dr. McEver is a co-founder of Selexys, Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and serves on the Board. Dr. McEver is a Member and Program Chair of the Cardiovascular Biology Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Dr. McEver is a hematologist and distinguished expert in the field of vascular biology. He discovered P-selectin and developed the antibodies being advanced by the company. He is an inventor on the patents licensed by Selexys. As CMO he is responsible for overseeing the development of our disease target strategy and clinical trial plans.

Richard D. Cummings, Ph.D.
President, Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Cummings is a co-founder of Selexys, President, Chief Scientific Officer and serves on the Board. He is the William Patterson Timmie Professor and Chair in the Department of Biochemistry at the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Cummings is a Biochemist and a leader in the emerging field of Glycobiology. Drs. Cummings and McEver discovered the ligand for P-selectin, PSGL-1, and defined the key determinants necessary for binding P-selectin. Dr. Cummings is an inventor on the patents licensed by Selexys. As CSO he is responsible for overseeing the development of our technologies and evaluating enabling technologies to support our programs.