Our Management Team

Kevin C. Gorman, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer is a founder and previously served as Chief Operating Officer after having served as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President of Business Development of Neurocrine Biosciences.  From 1990 until joining Neurocrine in 1993, Dr. Gorman was a principal of Avalon Medical Partners, L.P. where he was responsible for the early stage founding of Neurocrine and several other biotechnology companies such as Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Metra Biosystems, IDUN and ARIAD Pharmaceuticals.  Dr. Gorman received his Ph.D. in immunology and M.B.A. in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles and did further post-doctoral training at The Rockefeller University.

Margaret Valeur-Jensen, J.D., Ph.D. was appointed Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in January 2005 after having served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary since January 2000 and Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary since joining the company in October 1998. She is responsible for all corporate and patent law practices, serves as Corporate Secretary and is a member of the senior management committee. From 1995 to 1998, she served as Associate General Counsel, Licensing and Business Law of Amgen. From 1991 to 1995, she served first as Corporate Counsel and later as Senior Counsel, Licensing for Amgen. Prior to joining Amgen, she practiced law at Davis, Polk & Wardell, a leading corporate law firm. She earned a J.D. degree from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Syracuse University, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Tim Coughlin, C.P.A. was appointed Vice President, Chief Financial Officer in September 2006 after having served as Vice President, Controller of Neurocrine Biosciences since 2002.  He is responsible for Accounting/Finance, Information Technology, and Investor Relations.  Prior to joining Neurocrine, Tim had experience in corporate accounting, finance and operations management of companies ranging in size from start-ups through Fortune 500.  Most recently he was with CHI, a nationwide integrated healthcare delivery system where he served as Vice President, Financial Services.  Tim also served as a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young and its predecessors in their Health Science practice from 1989 - 1999.  Mr. Coughlin holds a Bachelors in Accounting from Temple University and Masters in International Business from San Diego State University.

Dr. Christopher O'Brien, Chief Medical Officer is responsible for clinical development activities and medical affairs including the registration of indiplon. A leader in neurological clinical research and development for the past 17 years, Dr. O'Brien has participated in more than 100 clinical trials and authored more than 75 publications in the neuroscience literature. From 2000 to 2005, Dr. O'Brien held positions at Elan Pharmaceuticals and Prestwick Pharmaceuticals where he managed the clinical development, registration and post-marketing trials in neurology, pain, and autoimmune diseases, among other CNS indications. Prior to joining Elan, Dr. O'Brien also served as Medical Director for over nine years with The Colorado Neurology Institute in Denver and simultaneously served as Associate Professor at the University of Colorado, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Columbia Swedish Medical Center and Medical Director of the National Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence. Dr. O'Brien earned his B.A. from Boston University and M.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Haig Bozigian, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical and Preclinical Development.  Haig has the responsibilities of all preclinical, chemical and pharmaceutical development. With extensive expertise in CNS related new product development, Dr. Bozigian has participated in the research and development of more than 15 INDs and 5 NDAs. From 1997 to 2006, Dr. Bozigian held several positions at Neurocrine, most recently as Vice President of Preclinical Development. Prior to joining Neurocrine, Dr. Bozigian served as Director of Pharmaceutical Development at Procyte Corporation, Associate Director of Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism at Sphinx Pharmaceuticals and as a clinical pharmacokineticist at GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Bozigian earned his B.S. in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts, his M.S. in pharmacodynamics and toxicology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and earned his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Arizona.

Dimitri E. Grigoriadis, Ph.D., Vice President of Research oversees all research functions including drug discovery, biology and chemistry. Dr. Grigoriadis is a recognized leader in CRF receptor antagonist development, has published over 200 publications and is a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the International Society of PsychoNeuroEndocrinology. Dr. Grigoriadis joined Neurocrine in 1993 and was most recently a Neurocrine Fellow and Vice President of Discovery Biology. He was with the Neuroscience group at Du Pont Pharmaceutical Company from 1990 to 1993. Dr. Grigoriadis received his B. Sc. from the University of Guelph in Ontario Canada, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He conducted his postdoctoral research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse from 1987 to 1990.

Bill Wilson, Vice President, Information Technology and Operations is responsible for providing Facilities, Purchasing, Health and Safety, Telecommunications, and Information Technology services to all areas of the company including Administration, Research, Clinical, Regulatory, and Development. From 1996 to 2008 Bill has held several IT positions at Neurocrine, most recently as Vice President of IT.  Bill brings 25 years of IT and service experience to Neurocrine holding positions in Government, Academia, the Commercial Software Industry, and 15 years of Biotech/Pharma experience.  Bill is a founding member of the CIO, Executive Council a professional organization for IT Executives and participates regularly in face-to-face conferences and forums on strategic IT planning.