SAN FRANCISCO & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), the trade association representing California’s life sciences sector, today announced the expansion of its board of directors, adding three new members. Jamey Millar, Senior Vice President, Managed Markets and Government Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK); Wendye Robbins, President & CEO, Blade Therapeutics; and Dirksen Lehman, Corporate Vice President, Public Affairs, Edwards Lifesciences have been elected to the CLSA Board. CLSA also announced that Dirksen Lehman, Corporate Vice President, Public Affairs, Edwards Lifesciences, has been added to the its Executive Committee.
“I’m pleased to welcome Jamey Millar of GlaxoSmithKline, Wendye Robbins of Blade Therapeutics and Dirksen Lehman of Edwards Lifesciences to the board of California Life Sciences Association (CLSA). The executive and public policy knowledge these seasoned biomedical industry leaders bring to the table will help further our collaboration with policymakers in Sacramento and Congress to enhance the strength and growth of the state’s life sciences economy,” said Mike Guerra, President & CEO of California Life Sciences Association. “California’s life sciences sector saw robust growth in the last year, and as the trade association representing the industry, CLSA – with the guidance of our knowledgeable board – will continue to drive that momentum to new heights throughout 2019.”
About Jamey Millar, Senior Vice President, U.S. Managed Markets and Government Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
Millar is Senior Vice President, U.S. Managed Markets and Government Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). In that role, he is responsible for Public Policy and Government Relations, Pricing, Reimbursement, Access, and Distribution for all of GSK’s medicines and vaccines in the U.S. Prior to his current role, Millar was Vice President and Head of the US Oncology business. For near 30 years, Millar has built extensive commercial experience working with providers, hospitals, health systems, and public and private payers across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to joining GSK in 2001, Millar spent 11 years with Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, where he held a variety of positions, including Country Manager for the UK, Netherlands, and Ireland. Outside of GSK, Millar is a Board Member for NC Chamber of Commerce, the Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), and North Carolina Healthcare Quality Alliance (NCHQA).
About Wendye Robbins, President & CEO, Blade Therapeutics
Dr. Robbins is President and CEO of Blade Therapeutics, a private clinical stage company addressing fibrosis. Robbins is a serial biopharmaceutical entrepreneur and physician scientist. She has made a career of building companies from the ground up. She co-founded early biopharmaceutical companies NeurogesX, Inc. (sold to Acorda Therapeutics), Limerick BioPharma, Labrys Biologics (sold to TEVA 2014), and Blade Therapeutics. She has functioned as an outside advisor to investors on building companies around novel technologies. She has also been a scientific and strategic advisor to many entrepreneurs, nascent biotechs, and pharmaceutical companies. Her expertise includes small and large molecule development from discovery through translational research through the clinic. She received her BS from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley and her MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in anesthesiology and pain at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions. From 1995-2000, she served as Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at UCSF. Since 2002, she has been teaching faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is board certified in anesthesiology.
About Dirksen J. Lehman, Corporate Vice President, Public Affairs, Edwards Lifesciences
Lehman has been corporate vice president, public affairs, since June 2013. He joined the company in 2007 as vice president of government affairs, and later added responsibility for global health economics and reimbursement. In his current role, Lehman continues to oversee these functions and also has responsibility for global communications, corporate branding, global corporate giving, and patient engagement. Prior to joining Edwards, he was head of the healthcare practice at Clark & Weinstock, a government affairs and crisis management consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Lehman has also served in The White House as special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, and health counsel for the majority on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Lehman received his undergraduate degree from Millersville University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from Catholic University of America.
Learn more about CLSA’s board of directors. For high resolution headshots, contact Will Zasadny, CLSA’s Director of Communications (wzasadny@califesciences.org).
- Learn More about the California life sciences sector
- View CLSA’s Legislative Action Center
- Watch CLSA’s Faces of California Biomedical Innovation Web Series
- View CLSA’s Advocacy Priorities
- View upcoming CLSA events
- Meet the CLSA Board of Directors
About California Life Sciences Association (CLSA)
California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) is the state’s largest and most influential life sciences advocacy and business leadership organization. With offices in Sacramento, San Diego, South San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC, CLSA works closely with industry, government, academia and others to shape public policy, improve access to innovative technologies and grow California’s life sciences economy. CLSA serves biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies, research universities and institutes, investors and service providers throughout the Golden State. CLSA was founded in 2015 when the Bay Area Bioscience Association (BayBio) and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) merged. Visit CLSA at www.califesciences.org, and follow us on Twitter @CALifeSciences, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.