About Us

About Us :: Management

Eddie Gray – Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Gray joined Dynavax as Chief Executive Officer and was appointed to our Board in May 2013. Most recently, Mr. Gray served as the President of Pharmaceuticals Europe at GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) since 2008 and as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Pharmaceuticals UK from 2001 through 2007. In both roles, he was instrumental in the launch, commercialization and strategic development of GSK’s vaccine portfolio. Prior to the formation of GSK, Mr. Gray was with SmithKline Beecham from 1988 through 2000 serving in various positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice President and Director of Anti-Infectives Marketing in the US, Vice President and Director of the Vaccines Business Unit in the US, and Vice President and General Manager of Pharmaceuticals in Canada. Mr. Gray received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Management Studies from the University of London and an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management in the UK.

Brant Biehn – Vice President

Mr. Biehn joined Dynavax in January 2010. Prior to joining Dynavax, Mr. Biehn held increasingly senior sales and marketing positions during his 21 year tenure at Merck. Since 2005, he has had responsibility for many adult vaccine products, including Merck's hepatitis A, hepatitis B and pneumococcal vaccines. Most recently, he served as International Market Lead for ZOSTAVAX®, a vaccine launched in the US in 2005 for the prevention of herpes zoster, or shingles as well as Merck's other adult vaccines. Prior to 2009, in his role as a global brand leader, he designed and managed marketing and sales programs, including distribution channels; targeted marketing to customer groups, payers, healthcare professionals, and consumers; and led country-specific marketing for ex-US markets. Over the past two years he worked with countries worldwide to supply pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine to help prevent secondary bacterial infections that may result from pandemic flu infection. This program extended to both large public health programs as well as private health groups, with an emphasis on prevention of pandemic flu impacts. Earlier in his career Mr. Biehn created and led national sales organizations and directed multiple marketing efforts aimed at commercialization planning for new vaccine and human health products. Mr. Biehn earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

ZOSTAVAX is a registered trademark of Merck & Co., Inc.

Robert L. Coffman, Ph.D. – Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Coffman has been our Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer since December 2000. Dr. Coffman joined Dynavax from the DNAX Research Institute where he had been since 1981, most recently as Distinguished Research Fellow. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University Medical School. Dr. Coffman has made fundamental discoveries about the regulation of immune responses in allergic and infectious diseases. He shared the William S. Coley Award for Research in Immunology for discovery of the Th1 and Th2 subsets of T lymphocytes, the two major types of T cells that control most immune responses. Dr. Coffman received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego and his A.B. from Indiana University. In 2006, Dr. Coffman was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

David Happel - Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing

Mr. Happel joined Dynavax in June 2012 as our Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing. Mr. Happel has more than 25 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, including senior level leadership roles in global marketing, sales, product management, business development, and commercial operations. Prior to joining Dynavax, he was Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Proprietary Products at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, where he focused on building the proprietary products business for North America. From 2006—2011, Mr. Happel served as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Aerovance. Previously, from 2002—2006, Mr. Happel held leadership positions at Chiron Corporation as Vice President and Global Commercial Director, overseeing the commercialization of TOBI® and the commercial development of the pulmonary products pipeline. Mr. Happel was also Senior Director, Sales and Marketing, at InterMune, Inc., from 2000-2002, where he built the commercial organization from the ground up and directed all aspects of a start-up biotech company for the commercialization of Actimmune®. Earlier in his career he held global and domestic commercial leadership positions during his 15 years with Parke-Davis/Pfizer. Mr. Happel received his B.A. in Chemistry from Indiana University and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Indiana State University.

TOBI and Actimmune are registered trademarks of Chiron Corporation and InterMune, respectively.

William Heyward, M.D., M.P.H. – Vice President, Clinical Development

Dr. Heyward is our Vice President of Clinical Development. Dr. Heyward is a distinguished epidemiologist and specialist in the design and conduct of licensure-directed clinical trials. Dr. Heyward brings to Dynavax an expertise in hepatitis B that reflects a distinguished public health service career, as well as experience in the management of large clinical trials for new vaccine and antiviral products. Prior to joining Dynavax in 2009, he was Vice President, Clinical Development at Osel, Inc., and prior to that, a Founding Member and President of Quattro Clinical Research since 2004. From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Heyward was Vice President of International Clinical Research at VaxGen, Inc., where he provided oversight for two major Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating an HIV vaccine in 7500 subjects at over 60 U.S. and international sites. Over a period of 20 years, Dr. Heyward was a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he was involved in epidemiologic and vaccine studies on a number of different infectious diseases, including hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcal disease, botulism, Ebola, and HIV/AIDS. From 1992 to 1996, Dr. Heyward served in the HIV Vaccine Unit of WHO/UNAIDS in Geneva to prepare developing countries for HIV vaccine trials. Most notably, from 1979 to 1986 he led a research team in Alaska that demonstrated the role of universal immunization in the eradication of hepatitis B infection in an endemic population. Dr. Heyward has served on a number of national and international vaccine advisory committees and is the recipient of a number of awards. Dr. Heyward holds a M.D. degree from the Medical College of Georgia, a M.P.H. in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, and a B.A. in Chemistry from Emory University.

Zbigniew Janowicz, Ph.D. – Chief Executive Officer, Dynavax Europe

Dr. Janowicz joined Dynavax in April 2006 when Dynavax acquired Rhein Biotech GmbH (“Dynavax Europe”). In July 2006 Dr. Janowicz was appointed CEO of Dynavax Europe. Dr. Janowicz holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. He was one of the co-founders of Rhein Biotech GmbH in 1985 and laid the foundation for the development and commercialization of the Hansenula polymorpha technology platform used in the production of vaccine antigens and other proteins. He also led the successful development of the hepatitis B franchise of the Rhein Biotech GmbH group. From 1996 until 1999, Dr. Janowicz served as R&D Director in the tissue repair business of Curative Technologies. He rejoined Rhein Biotech GmbH in 1999 where he held the position of R&D Director for the Rhein Biotech Group.

Jennifer Lew – Vice President, Finance

Ms. Lew joined Dynavax in December 2004 and is the Company’s Vice President, Finance, and Principal Accounting Officer. Ms. Lew previously served as Senior Director and Corporate Controller for Dynavax. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Lew was with QRS Corporation, a publicly-held technology company, as Assistant Controller from 2002 until 2004 and Director of Finance from 2000 until 2002. From 1994 to 1999, Ms. Lew worked for Ernst & Young, most recently as Manager. She earned a B.A. in Economics/Accounting and Government from Claremont McKenna College and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive status).

David Novack - Senior Vice President, Operations and Quality

Mr. Novack joined Dynavax in March 2013 as Senior Vice President, Operations and Quality. Mr. Novack was formerly with Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics where he served since 2009 as the Global Head of Technical Operations and Supply Chain for Diagnostics and previously from 2007 to 2009 as the Global Head of Vaccine Manufacturing Strategy. Prior to Novartis, Mr. Novack was the Vice President, Business Development for Vaxin, Inc., a vaccine company, from 2004 to 2006. From 1993 until 2004, Mr. Novack worked at MedImmune, formerly Aviron, serving in several capacities including business development, manufacturing, contract operations and most recently as Senior Director, Supply Chain Operations. Previously, from 1989 to 1993, Mr. Novack was with American Cyanamid Company in various roles. Mr. Novack received a B.S. in Biology from State University of New York and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Michael S. Ostrach – Vice President, Chief Business Officer and General Counsel

Mr. Ostrach joined Dynavax in October 2006 as Vice President, Chief Business Officer and General Counsel. From 2005 to 2006, he was Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel at Threshold Pharmaceuticals. From 1997 to 2004, Mr. Ostrach was at Kosan Biosciences, most recently as President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Ostrach began his corporate career at Cetus Corporation, where he served in several capacities between 1981 and 1991, initially as general counsel and finally as Senior Vice President of corporate affairs and General Counsel. Following the acquisition of Cetus by Chiron Corporation in 1991, Mr. Ostrach became President of Chiron Technologies. He holds a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

William D. Turner – Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Global Quality

Mr. Turner came to Dynavax in August 2006 from Neosil, where he was Vice President, Regulatory Affairs. Bill was also a Senior Consultant with the Biologics Consulting Group and Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs with MedImmune Vaccines (formerly Aviron), and has worked with Allergan, Alpha Therapeutic Corporation, Watson Laboratories, and Gensia Laboratories. He has a B.S. in Medical Microbiology with a minor in Chemistry from California State University at Long Beach.

Shane M. Ward – Vice President, Compliance and Associate General Counsel

Mr. Ward joined Dynavax in November 2012 and also serves as the company’s Compliance Officer. Previously, he was Associate General Counsel, Regulatory Compliance at Human Genome Sciences, where he established a global corporate compliance program prior to commercialization of the company’s first product. From 2006 to 2010 Mr. Ward was Senior Director, Business Conduct at Gilead Sciences and from 2003 to 2006 he was an in-house attorney with Abbott Laboratories. He began his legal career in the FDA practice group of Sidley Austin, LLP. He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Cecilia Vitug – Vice President, Human Resources

Ms. Vitug has been our Vice President of Human Resources since October 2006. She previously served as Senior Director of Human Resources and Director of Human Resources since joining us in June 2000. From 1997 to 2000, Ms. Vitug was employed by Collagen Aesthetics, Inc., where she was Director of Human Resources, Payroll and Administrative Services. Ms. Vitug brings to Dynavax more than 20 years of human resources and administrative services experience, including positions at Somatix Therapy Corporation, Chiron Corporation, and Wells Fargo Bank.