Gov. Dannel Malloy and key lawmakers have drawn from the bioscience research, pharmaceutical and venture capital industries to form an advisory committee charged with vetting expenditures from the $200-million Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund.
The members are Peter Farina, executive in residence at Canaan Partners in Westport; Dr. Steven Hanks, vice president of medical affairs for Hartford HealthCare’s central region; Joseph Kaliko, CEO of Gaming Innovations International; Marc Lalande, chair of the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology and executive director of Genomics and Personalized Medicine Programs at UConn; William LaRochelle, head of healthcare and key opinion leader management at Branford’s Roche 454 Sequencing Solutions International; Charles Lee, scientific director at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington; Dr. Jewel Mullen, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health (ex-officio); Claire Leonardi, CEO of Connecticut Innovations; Alan Mendelson, general partner at Hartford’s Axiom Venture Partners; Dr. Edmund Pezalla, national medical director for pharmaceutical policy at Hartford health insurer Aetna; Carolyn Slayman, professor of cellular and molecular physiology and deputy dean of Yale School of Medicine; Catherine Smith, commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development; and Eleanor Tandler, founder and CEO of Novatract Surgical in Madison.
Under the state law that created the fund and committee in July, the governor gets to make four appointments, while the president pro tempore of the state senate, the speaker of the house, and the majority and minority leaders of both chambers get one appointment a piece.
Leonardi will chair the committee. Smith and Mullen are ex-officio voting members.
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