Management Team
At AcelRx, our success is driven by our people. We have assembled an experienced team of senior leaders across a number of disciplines, bringing our vision to life.
Richard King, President & CEO
Mr. King has served as our director and President and Chief Executive Officer since
May 2010. From April 2009 until May 2010, Mr. King acted as an independent consultant to a number
of private and public biotechnology and venture capital companies. From October 2008 to April 2009,
Mr. King served as President and General Manager of Tercica, Inc., a biotechnology company that was
acquired by Ipsen, SA in 2008, and from February 2008 to October 2008, Mr. King served as President
and Chief Operating Officer of Tercica, Inc., and from February 2007 until February 2008, served as
Chief Operating Officer of Tercica, Inc. From January 2002 to October 2006, Mr. King served as
Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations of Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical
company that was acquired by Abbott Laboratories, a global, broad-based health care company, in
2006. From January 2000 to January 2002, Mr. King served as Senior Vice President of Commercial
Operations at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company that was acquired by Abbott
Laboratories in 2009. From April 1992 to January 2000, Mr. King held various marketing positions at
SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, now known as GlaxoSmithKline, a global pharmaceutical
company. Mr. King holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from University of Surrey and an M.B.A. from
Manchester Business School.
Pamela P. Palmer, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer & Co-Founder
Dr. Palmer has served as our director and Chief Medical Officer since she co-founded the company in July 2005. Dr. Palmer has been on faculty at the University of California, San Francisco since 1996 and is currently a Clinical Professor of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care. Dr. Palmer was Director of UCSF PainCARE-Center for Advanced Research and Education from 2005 to 2009, and was Medical Director of the UCSF Pain Management Center from 1999 to 2005. Dr. Palmer has been a consultant of Omeros Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, since she co-founded that company in 1994. Dr. Palmer holds an M.D. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the Stanford Department of Neuroscience.
Larry G. Hamel, Chief Development Officer
Mr. Hamel has served as our Chief Development Officer since September 2006. From 1986 until September 2006, Mr. Hamel served as Product Development Manager, Director Project Management, Executive Director Oral Product Development, and Vice President Oral Products Development at ALZA Corporation. From 1977 until 1985, Mr. Hamel held a number of positions at ALZA Corporation, including Senior Chemist, Research Scientist, and Senior Research Fellow.
Mr. Hamel holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan.
Badri Dasu, Chief Engineering Officer
Mr. Dasu has served as our Chief Engineering Office since September 2007. From December 2005 until September 2007, Mr. Dasu served as Vice President of Medical Device Engineering
at Anesiva, a biopharmaceutical company. From March 2002 until December 2005, Mr. Dasu served as
Vice President for Manufacturing and Device Development at AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an emerging
pain management company, which merged with Corgentech Inc. in December 2005. From January 2000
until March 2002, Mr. Dasu served as Vice President of Manufacturing and Process Development at
PowderJect Pharmaceuticals, a vaccine, drug and diagnostics delivery company that was acquired by
Chiron Corporation in 2003 and later acquired by Novartis AG, a global healthcare and pharmaceutical
company in 2006. Previously, Mr. Dasu served in various capacities in process development at Metrika,
Inc., a company focused on the manufacture and marketing of disposable diabetes monitoring products
that was acquired by Bayer HealthCare, LLC in 2006 and at Cygnus, Inc., a drug delivery and specialty
pharmaceuticals company. Mr. Dasu holds a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of
Mangalore, India and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tulsa.
James H. Welch, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Welch has served as our Chief Financial Officer since October 1, 2010. From June 2006 until September 2010 Mr. Welch served as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary for Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Welch served as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary for Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug development company from October 2000 until May 2006, and as Vice President, Finance and Administration from May 1999 until October 2000. From June 1998 until May 1999, Mr. Welch served as an independent consultant at various companies. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Biocircuits Corporation, a company focused on developing immunodiagnostic testing systems from February 1997 until June 1998, and from June 1992 until February 1997, he served as Corporate Controller. Mr. Welch holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Whitworth College and an M.B.A. from Washington State University.
Carter J. King, Vice President, Business Operations
Mr. King has served as our Vice President, Business Operations since April, 2011, and served as our Vice President, Finance from July 2006 to March 2011. From September 2002 to June 2006, Mr. King served as Director, Corporate Planning at ALZA Corporation. From September 1998 to June 2002, Mr. King held a number of positions at Coulter Pharmaceutical/Corixa Corporation, a developer of immunotherapeutics, including Director of Finance. Prior to 1998, Mr. King spent four years in various finance roles at OnCare Inc., an oncology focused healthcare services firm, and at GATX Capital, a provider of leasing and related services to customers operating rail, marine and other targeted assets. Mr. King holds a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Nigel Ray, MBA, Vice President, Business Development
Mr. Ray has served as our Vice President of Business Development since October 2009. From January 2009 until September 2009, Mr. Ray served as Vice President of Business Development at Limerick BioPharma, a biopharmaceutical company. From 1999 until 2009, Mr. Ray served in a variety of business development roles at DURECT Corporation, a speciality pharmaceutical company, including most recently as Executive Director of Business Development. Previously, Mr. Ray spent 12 years served in a variety of marketing and business leadership roles for ALZA Corporation. Mr. Ray holds a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the Anderson School of Business at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Mark A. Evashenk, Vice President, Clinical Operations
Mark has over 25 years of pharmaceutical and device development experience with a focus on project management and clinical operations. Prior to joining AcelRx, Mark was Director of Clinical Operations at ALZA Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson Company. Throughout his career he managed 2 NDA filings and helped lead a clinical operations team for 2 additional NDA submissions, all of which resulted in commercial launches. He has managed clinical operations teams for well over 100 phase I studies, including over 10 first in man, and numerous phase II, III and IIIB studies. Mark has managed studies in the US, Canada, Western Europe and Eastern Europe, India and Australia. Mark holds his BS degree in Environmental Toxicology from UC Davis.
Charlie Rampersaud, Vice President, Engineering
Charlie joined AcelRx as one of its first employees in early 2006 and leads the product design efforts. Prior to joining AcelRx, Charlie served as Director of Engineering at Durect Corporation, where he designed implantable pain pumps and other pain products. Previous to Durect Corporation, Charlie was an Engineering manager at Guidant (now Abbott) in the Cardiac Division. He came to Guidant via the Guidant acquisition of CardioThoracic Systems, where he worked on minimally invasive cardiac bypass surgery solutions. He started his career as a Designer for Honda Research and Development, which included a year of training in Japan at Honda Design Headquarters. Additionally, Charlie has consulted for several medical Device start-ups on design and development, including IP discovery. Charlie has several issued patents, and numerous pending. He has over 15 years of design, development, and manufacturing experience in the Medical Device arena and has worked on greater than 20 medical device and pharmaceutical products. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.