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Dr. Yerxa has served as our Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President Strategic Operations since February 2007. He previously served as our Chief Scientific Operations and Alliances from December 2005 until February 2007 and prior to that he held the position of Senior Vice President Discovery from March 2003 until December 2005. Dr. Yerxa joined Inspire in August 1995 and has held several positions including Vice President Discovery and Senior Director of Preclinical Programs. Dr. Yerxa created a novel strategic opportunity for Inspire by developing the concept of ophthalmic uses for Inspire’s core P2Y2 technology. As a Senior Research Chemist his work focused on designing and synthesizing novel P2Y receptor agonists such as diquafosol. While in chemistry he was the preclinical project leader for diquafosol. In 2004 Dr. Yerxa received the Southeastern Region American Chemical Society (ACS) Industrial Innovation Award for discoveries related to his work with P2Y2 receptors. Dr. Yerxa received the Triangle Business Journal's 40 under 40 award recognizing his contributions in business and leadership. He was also a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in North Carolina 2003. Prior to joining Inspire Dr. Yerxa was a Research Scientist at Burroughs Wellcome. Dr. Yerxa also worked at Biophysica Inc. where he synthesized radiocontrast agents. He developed scale-up procedures for the industrial production of Oxilan® a marketed imaging product. Dr. Yerxa received a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of California San Diego and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of California Irvine. | 