Tom Hodge

Thomas Hodge, Ph.D., is the former Chief Scientific Officer of Zirus. Previously, Dr. Hodge was the director of the immunogenetics laboratory of the Division of AIDS, STDs and TB Laboratory Research (previously the Host Factors Branch of the HIV pathogenesis group) at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) where he studied HIV/host interaction to identify host proteins involved in HIV infection. While at the CDC, Dr. Hodge began working with the gene trap technology using the AIDS virus, and collaborated with laboratories studying other viruses including ebola, Marburg and measles. He is married and is the doting father of four girls. Dr. Hodge left a long career at the CDC to help conquer viruses with the power of the Zirus technology platform.

Dennis Liotta

Dennis C. Liotta, PhD. serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Zirus. Dr. Liotta is a renowned organic and medicinal chemist, and the author of approximately 200 publications and patents. Dr. Liotta's research at Emory University has focused on the discovery and development of novel antiviral and anticancer agents, and he has discovered several drugs to treat HIV and Hepatitis B that have broad clinical utility. As former Vice-President for Research at Emory, Dr. Liotta oversaw all of Emory's technology development initiatives. He has served as a consultant to several major pharmaceutical companies (including Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Burroughs Wellcome, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Johnson & Johnson).
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Christine Debouck

Christine Debouck, Ph.D., is a Scientific Advisory Board member of Zirus. She was formerly Senior VP in R&D at GlaxoSmithKline, and is renowned for her expertise in target validation, disease understanding and compound characterization as well as for her broad applications of biotechnology, genomics and biomarker discovery in pre-clinical and clinical development.
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Eric Freed

Dr. Eric Freed is Chief, Virus-Cell Interaction Section, HIV Drug Resistance Program, Center For Cancer Research/NCI-Frederick, NIH. Dr. Freed also serves as an adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland, College Park and is a member of the University of Maryland Virology Program. Dr. Freed’s expertise in molecular biology, cell biology, biomolecular imaging, and virology will help to reveal structural characteristics and function of cellular proteins emerging from the Zirus platform.
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Teo Dagi

T. (Teo) Forcht Dagi, M.D., is an adviser to Zirus. He is a Partner of HLM Venture Partners. Prior to joining HLM in 2006, Teo was a Managing Partner of Cordova Ventures in Atlanta and oversaw its life sciences and health care portfolio. He has an MBA from The Wharton School and taught and practiced neurosurgery on the faculties of Harvard, Brown and Georgetown Universities.
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Tom Folks

Tom Folks, Ph.D. is a member the Zirus Scientific Advisory Board bringing a wealth of infectious disease and animal trial experience. Dr. Folks is currently Associate Director for Research Resources and Scientist at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research. He has over 30 years of experience including with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease as Expert, Laboratory of Immunoregulation in Tony Fauci's lab, and as the Appointed Chief, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention Laboratory Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among many leadership roles, Dr. Folks has served as the Head, CDC/FDA/NIH Working Group for Avian Virus Contamination in Vaccines and has received numerous awards including 15 nominations of the James Nakano Citation from the CDC. He is the author of over 150 scientific publications.