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Frances K. Heller, JD, joined the company in September 2008 as Executive Vice President of Business Development. Ms, Heller has more than 15 years of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry experience. From 2003 too 2008, Ms. Heller was Head of Strategic Alliances at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR), the global research organization for Novartis AG. In this position, she negotiated transactions around promising early-stage assets to accelerate NIBR’s drug discovery and development efforts. From 2001 to 2003, she served as Vice President of Corporate Development & Legal Affairs at Signature BioScience, Inc., an oncology drug discovery company, where she oversaw partnering and licensing activities. From 1998 to 2001, she had been Corporate and Intellectual Property Counsel for Celera Genomics, where she was head of the legal department and responsible for corporate and business transactions and gene discovery collaborations. Prior to 1998, Ms. Heller had various positions in business development, licensing, marketing and intellectual property management. Ms. Heller is a member of the California State Bar, is licensed by the US Patent and Trademark Office and received her JD degree from the Golden Gate University School of Law, her MA in biology from American University, and her BS in biology from Tulane University. | 