Board
Summaries OF The skills and experience of the CLINUVEL Board
Jeffrey Rosenfeld AC, OBE
Non-Executive Director, MBBS MS MD FRACS
Appointed 26 November 2019, Chair since 1 January 2024
Relevant Skills
- lifetime experience in providing healthcare
- clinical research and development
- board and committee oversight and governance
- leadership and management
Background
Prof Rosenfeld is an internationally recognised neurosurgeon with extensive experience in senior healthcare and medical research executive roles and a distinguished and decorated career in the Australian Army. He is a retired Major General and a former Surgeon General, Australian Defence Force-Reserves. He has served on eight deployments to Rwanda, Iraq, Solomon Islands, Bougainville and East Timor. He was the Founding Director of Monash University Institute of Medical Engineering (MIME)-Melbourne. He is developing a bionic vision device to restore vision in people without eyesight, and he is also a leader in brain injury research.
Prof Rosenfeld was Director of Neurosurgery at the Alfred Hospital for fifteen years, concurrently holding Professor and Head of the Department of Surgery at Monash University for nine years. Prof Rosenfeld is active in many community organisations and champions various charitable causes. Prof Rosenfeld has been an active volunteer for the Australian-Aid funded Pacific Islands Project which transfers clinical skills and knowledge to healthcare professionals in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the Solomon Islands.
In 2018, Prof Rosenfeld was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia, which is Australia's highest civilian honour, the Meritorious Service Medal of the United States of America in 2017 and Officer in the Order of the British Empire in 2013. Prof Rosenfeld became an Emeritus Professor at Monash University in January 2021.
Philippe Wolgen
Chief Executive Officer, MBA, MD
Appointed to Board 1 October 2005, appointed Chief Executive Officer 28 November 2005
Relevant Skills
- pharmaceutical R&D, commercialisation
- clinical expertise
- commercial & entrepreneurial outlook
- executive management, corporate turnarounds
- finance and capital markets
- experienced in listed company Directorships
Background
Under Dr Wolgen's leadership, a long-term strategy for CLINUVEL was devised. The lead product SCENESSE® was reformulated, its medical application identified, European marketing authorisation was obtained in 2014 and systems were established to self-distribute the prescriptive product in the European Economic Area from June 2016. Dr Wolgen oversaw the submission of the scientific dossier to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) under a New Drug Application, which was approved in October 2019. First treatment of US patients commenced in April 2020 through a controlled distribution system set up by the Company. SCENESSE® is the world's first systemic photoprotective drug to have completed a clinical trial program and obtain marketing authorisation in two major markets.
Dr Wolgen has been instrumental in the Company's corporate turnaround, rebuilding a share register of long-term professional and institutional investors. He led CLINUVEL to attract more than AU$110 million in investments, and his international contacts and network contribute to the strategic support CLINUVEL enjoys globally.
Under his tenure a business model was adopted to develop and launch SCENESSE®, guiding the Group through a complex pharmaceutical product development program. His overall business execution and exact financial management is viewed as exemplary within the life sciences industry and the funding strategy he led is considered different and unique within the sector. He is currently leading the Group's expansion, both based on organic and inorganic strategies. His focus has been to establish a professional management team executing corporate objectives of establishing a sustainable, and profitable group diversified from its core pharmaceutical base, to cosmetics and other services within an integrated model.
Dr Wolgen's long track record speaks to a strongly focussed, competitive and conscientious professional who is known to persevere in meeting challenging business objectives. He holds an MBA from Columbia University, NY. Trained as a craniofacial surgeon, Dr Wolgen obtained his MD from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Brenda Shanahan AO
Non-Executive Director, BComm, FAICD, ASIA
Appointed 6 February 2007
Relevant Skills
- research & development in life sciences
- capital market understanding
- executive management
- experienced in listed company Directorships
Background
Mrs Shanahan is a pioneer in the Australian finance community. The first female stockbroker, Mrs Shanahan has also spent more than two decades working and investing in medical R&D and commercialisation. She is currently a non-executive director of Phoslock Water Solutions Ltd. Mrs Shanahan is also a non-executive director of DMP Asset Management Ltd and SG Hiscock Ltd, a director of the Kimberly Foundation of Australia Ltd, and Chair of the Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery in Melbourne. In 2021, Mrs Shanahan was recognised as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia. Previously Mrs Shanahan was a member of the Australian Stock Exchange and an executive director of a stockbroking firm, a fund management company and an actuarial company. Until 2017, she was Chair of St Vincent's Medical Research Institute. Mrs Shanahan was formerly Chair of Challenger Listed Investments Ltd, the reporting entity for four ASX listed firms and formerly a non-executive director of Bell Financial Group (ASX: BFG) and Challenger Limited (ASX: CGF). Mrs Shanahan has also served and Chaired various Audit and Risk Committees throughout her career, including Challenger Financial Services Group Ltd, Bell Financial Group, Victoria University, JM Financial Group Ltd, SA Water, AWB International Ltd, BT Financial Group and V/Line Passenger.
Mrs Shanahan joined CLINUVEL in 2007 and was Non-Executive Chair of the Board from late 2007 until July 2010. Her depth of experience across global markets and medical research provides significant value to the current Board and Group.
Karen Agersborg
Non-Executive Director, MD
Appointed 29 January 2018
Relevant Skills
- pharmaceutical research & development, commercialisation
- relevant knowledge on melanocortins, clinical expertise
- commercial knowhow in US pharmaceuticals
- general management
- experience in private company Directorships
Background
Dr Agersborg is a clinical endocrinologist with diverse and extensive practice experience in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, USA. She is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism and holds specific expertise on the class of melanocortins.
Her career has included inpatient, outpatient, and hospitalist positions across a number of prominent medical institutions. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine, teaching medical students and residents in endocrinology. Dr Agersborg had an extensive career in managing commercial sales & distribution at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (formerly Ayerst Laboratories).
Dr Agersborg has played an integral role in setting the CLINUVEL Group's US regulatory and commercial strategy, resulting in the US FDA's approval of SCENESSE® in October 2019 and the subsequent market launch in 2020.
Susan (Sue) Smith
Non-Executive Director, Dipl ClinRisk
Appointed 23 September 2019
Relevant Skills
- executive healthcare management
- leadership and strategy setting in complex environments
- risk management and governance
- customer relations
Background
Mrs Smith manages an established consultancy business, providing advisory services to a range of healthcare organisations, investors and boards of directors. She has led a distinguished career, serving for 14 years as Chief Executive Officer of The Princess Grace Hospital, London, and 11 years as the Chief Executive Officer of The Portland Hospital for Women and Children, London. Mrs Smith's specific expertise is in the implementation of operational strategies within complex and acute care environments, and in the interaction with healthcare authorities and UK regulators. Her most recent role was as the Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Doctors Federation, a membership organisation representing practising physicians within the UK independent healthcare sector.
Her past experience Is now successfully translating into a diverse portfolio with non-executive director appointments. She is currently Board Chair of The Evewell Group Ltd which operates fully integrated medical centres of excellence dedicated to caring for, and protecting, all aspects of fertility and gynaecological health. Mrs Smith is also a Director of HCA Hope Fund UK, a charity providing financial aid and resources to its healthcare worker members to help them start rebuilding after an extended illness, injury, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary situations. In the face of the ever-changing healthcare market Mrs Smith fosters first class relationships with a wide range of healthcare stakeholders to provide care of excellence to patients.