Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Voros is Chief Scientific Officer, Chief of the Center of Wellness for Prevention and Women’s Heart Disease, and Medical Director of the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Computed Tomography Division at the Piedmont Heart Institute (PHI) in Atlanta, GA. He oversees all research operations at PHI, which has more than 70 ongoing clinical research studies. In addition, Dr. Voros heads the comprehensive cardiovascular prevention program at PHI, bringing an integrated approach to heart disease by incorporating genetic and genomic medicine, advanced metabolic evaluation, and noninvasive imaging into everyday patient care. As Medical Director for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Computed Tomography at PHI, he oversees one of the most active clinical and research imaging programs in the country.

Dr. Voros conducts an active research program in imaging of atherosclerosis using various modalities to investigate the effect of lipid-modifying therapies on atherosclerosis using novel imaging approaches. He is a Principal Investigator on numerous local and national clinical studies in the field of genetics, genomics, and advanced imaging, and has 25 recent publications in his fields of interest.

As Chairman of HemoShear’s Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Voros was instrumental in helping select compounds for HemoShear’s proof-of-concept program to validate the technology with known human drug successes and failures.

Dr. Voros received his medical training at the University Medical School of Pecs in Hungary, was Chief Medical Resident at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and was Chief Cardiovascular Fellow in the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

Dr. Batchelor has 29 years of experience in drug discovery and development in big pharma and in biotech. For ten years, Dr. Batchelor was Senior Vice President for Drug Discovery with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). During this period, approximately 50 drug candidates were selected and 11 compounds progressed to positive proof-of-concept decisions in the clinic (completion of Phase 2a/2b studies). Drug molecules that progressed included Tykerb (dual kinase inhibitor for cancer), pazopanib (VEGFTK inhibitor for angiogenesis), Lexiva (protease inhibitor for HIV), denagliptin (DPP4 inhibitor for T2D), remogliflzin (SGLT2 inhibitor for T2D), and syncria (long-acting GLP1 agonist for T2D). Dr. Batchelor is co-inventor of the dual, type 1 and 2, 5?-reductase inhibitor, Avodart, a blockbuster drug for the treatment of BPH. He initiated discovery activities on nuclear receptors at GSK and was instrumental in the identification of numerous ligands for orphan receptors. This approach also yielded multiple drug candidates that have progressed to clinical evaluation for a wide range of indications. From 2004 to 2008, Dr. Batchelor was a board member for the Alliance for Aging Research. He was Chair of the academic Alternative Discovery Initiative (aADI), a partnership between GSK and Duke University, which embraced the importance of academic breakthroughs to innovation in drug discovery (a bench to bedside approach). As President and CEO of NovaTarg, Dr. Batchelor works with small companies to discover and develop innovative drugs for the treatment of metabolic diseases and cancer. Dr. Batchelor holds a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Durham (UK) and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Birmingham (UK).

Dr. Beller is the Ruth C. Heede Professor of Cardiology and former Chief of the Cardiovascular Division at the University of Virginia Health System. Dr. Beller’s research has been predominantly in the field of nuclear cardiology, with an emphasis on developing noninvasive techniques for detection of coronary artery disease and assessing prognosis and myocardial viability. He has more than 425 publications, is the author of Clinical Nuclear Cardiology (published by W.B. Saunders), and co-edited Nuclear Cardiology: State of the Art and Future Directions, the fourth edition of which was published in 2009. He currently is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology.

Dr. Beller has played a national leadership role in a number of cardiovascular organizations. He was Chairman of the Council on Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association (AHA) and Chair of the AHA Scientific Advisory Committee. He served 12 years on the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Board of Trustees, was Chairman of the ACC Board of Governors, and then President of the ACC (2000–2001). In 1995, he was President of the Association of Professors of Cardiology and, in 1999, served as President of the Association of University Cardiologists. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award and the James B. Herrick Award from the AHA, the Walter Reed Distinguished Achievement Award from UVa, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Paul Dudley White Society of the Massachusetts General Hospital.

He received his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and his MD from UVa, after which he undertook internal medicine residency training at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and the Boston City Hospital. After spending three years on the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital, he returned to UVa in 1977 as Chief of the Cardiovascular Division. He served in that position for 28 years and served as President of the Clinical Staff at UVa from 1998 to 2004.

Dr. Pruett is the John S. Najarian Clinical Chair of Transplantation Surgery at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. Former Charles O. Strickler Professor of Surgery and Chief of Transplantation at the University of Virginia Medical Center, Dr. Pruett is certified by the American Boards of Internal Medicine and Surgery and has subspecialty certificates in Infectious Diseases and Critical Care in addition to having completed a transplantation fellowship. His research interests have focused primary on infections in transplant recipients and, in particular, the interactions of the viral hepatides and the transplanted liver. Dr. Pruett has over 200 publications, most on transplant-related issues and infections, and has a long-standing interest in access to care in international health settings, particularly with programs in Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Dr. Pruett is a national leader in raising awareness of organ donation, addressing ethics questions, and maximizing yield and safety of donated organs. He recently completed the leadership cycle for the United Network for Organ Sharing, including serving as President. He is a council member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and serves on the Transplant Advisory Committee and the American Board of Surgery and the Board of Directors of LifeNet Health. Dr. Pruett received his BS in Chemistry and Philosophy from Wheaton College and his MD from the Baylor College of Medicine after which he undertook internal medicine training at the University of Michigan and surgical residency and transplant training at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Ruffolo is the recently retired President of Research and Development for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and Corporate Senior Vice President of Wyeth. In that role, he managed an R&D organization consisting of 9,000 scientists with an annual budget in excess of $3 billion. He joined Wyeth in 2000 as Executive Vice President, responsible for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, where he led the transformation of the Wyeth R&D pipeline, adding many promising new drug candidates. Prior to joining Wyeth, Dr. Ruffolo spent 17 years at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline), where he was Senior Vice President and Director of Biological Sciences, Worldwide. Before joining SmithKline Beecham, Dr. Ruffolo spent six years at Lilly Research Laboratories, where he was Chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Committee. During his career in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Ruffolo played a significant role in the discovery and/or development of a number of marketed products, including Carvedilol (Coreg/Kredex/Dilatrend) for the treatment of congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and hypertension, Ropinerole (Requip) for Parkinson’s disease, Dobutamine (Dobutrex) for congestive heart failure, and Eprosartan (Teveten) for hypertension. Dr. Ruffolo has won numerous prestigious awards, including the 2008 Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2008 Discoverer’s Award for the discovery and development of carvedilol (Coreg). Dr. Ruffolo received his BS in Pharmacy summa cum laude with Distinction, and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology, both from The Ohio State University. Thereafter, he spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health. He is Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at The Ohio State University and Adjunct Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. Since his retirement, Dr. Ruffolo has been involved in various philanthropic endeavors. He and his wife underwrote the complete renovation of the Robert & Stephany Ruffolo Lecture Hall in the College of Pharmacy at his alma mater, The Ohio State University, and they have established endowed scholarships and/or fellowships at The Ohio State University, West Virginia University, and the University of Florida. He also sits on the boards of directors for several biotechnology companies as well as non-profit charitable organizations.