Ryo Kubota, M.D., Ph.D.
President and CEO

Dr. Ryo Kubota is the founder of Acucela Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company established in 2002 which is focused on developing therapies for blinding eye diseases. Dr. Kubota is a world-renowned ophthalmologist having performed over 1,000 eye surgeries, including surgeries on Japanese government officials and other high-profile individuals. With the goal of having a global impact on treating devastating eye diseases, Dr. Kubota focused his career on doing extensive ocular research at Keio University, the oldest and one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan, and in so doing, discovered the glaucoma gene, myocilin. This discovery earned Dr. Kubota the Suda Award for his contribution to the field of neurodegenerative retinal disease. Dr. Kubota's work in the field of retinal neurodegeneration has been cited more than 500 times and has opened the door to other discoveries. As a leader in neurodegenerative disease research, he continued doing ocular research at the University of Washington (UW). His findings, which were then licensed from the UW, comprise the core technology that Acucela is based on. Dr. Kubota received his MD and PhD from the esteemed Keio University in Japan, and then spent five years practicing general ophthalmology at Keio Hospital. Following that, Dr. Kubota spent three years doing a retinal fellowship at Toranomon Hospital and returned back to Keio Hospital for two years prior to becoming an assistant professor at the UW. He then founded Acucela based on the technologies that were licensed from the UW. Dr. Kubota is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the Japanese Ophthalmological Society, and the Japan Glaucoma Association and serves on the Foresight Group of the Department of Pharmacology at Case Western Reserve University and on the board of the Japan-America Society. Dr. Kubota was raised in Japan but had extended exposure to the United States due to a three-year stint in New York, given his father's profession as a port captain. There were many physicians in Dr. Kubota's family, including an uncle who was an ophthalmologist, providing many inspirations for him as a child to enter the medical field. Helping patients by performing ocular surgeries and treatments for their retinal diseases was fulfilling for Dr. Kubota, but he is driven to have an impact on a global scale where he hopes to help millions of people by developing novel and safe therapies for patients with multiple blinding eye diseases.

Jeff Chen, M.B.A., P.E.
Director of Operations

Mr. Chen has ten years of experience in engineering, consulting, and program management, focusing on medical products and drug delivery systems. Prior to Acucela, he was at Immunex in the Enbrel marketing department. Companies he has worked with include Varian Medical Systems, Conceptus, and Dura Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Elan). He received his bachelors and masters degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, has his Professional Engineer's License, and received his MBA from the University of Washington. He is leading Acucela's operations, finance, and HR departments.

Ahmad Fawzi, Ph.D.
Director of Research

Dr. Fawzi has over 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery. Prior to joining Acucela, he was the Director of Drug Discovery Biology at Avance Pharma in Canada. He spent about 14 years prior to that at Schering-Plough, reaching the level of Senior Principal Scientist. Dr. Fawzi has expertise in the discovery of agonists and antagonists of G protein-coupled receptors and enzyme inhibitors. He has identified several novel pharmacophores and developed new molecules with potency at the subnanomolar range. He has been extensively involved with lead compound evaluation and SAR development, leading to candidates to advance forward into clinical trials.

David McGee, Ph.D., DABT
Senior Director, Ophthalmic Drug Development

Dr. McGee is an expert in the field of ophthalmic pharmaceutical nonclinical development, with more than 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and nonclinical safety assessment. Prior to joining Acucela, Dr. McGee was the Director of Ophthalmology Toxicology at Alcon Laboratories, where he was responsible for development for nonclinical safety assessment and evaluation of global ophthalmic drug products. He played a key role in bringing several ophthalmic drugs through pre-clinical development, including very successful products for treatment of glaucoma and ocular hypertension, ocular allergy, inflammation and infection for the US, the EU and Japan. Dr. McGee also led and participated in development project teams for ophthalmic drugs and devices. Previous experience also includes CRO, regulatory and academic positions.

Ian Scott, Ph.D.
Senior Director, Chemistry

Dr. Scott was previously at Albany Molecular (AMRI), where he spent four years in the Medicinal Chemistry Department rising through the ranks from Section Head to Assistant Director. During this time he was responsible for many external research projects and two internal projects. In January 2003, Dr. Scott moved to Seattle to become Group Director, Lead Discovery and Head of Operations, AMRI Bothell Research Center. In Bothell, his responsibilities included oversight of the Natural Products group and establishment of a high throughput screening group. Prior to AMRI, Dr. Scott was at Texas Biotechnology Corporation from 1992-1999, where he rose through the ranks from Senior Scientist to Principal Scientist to Associate Director. While at TBC, Dr. Scott worked on several projects including the design and synthesis of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antagonists and VLA-4 inhibitors.