Dennis L. Smith —President & Chief Executive Officer

Dennis has worked in the pharmaceutical industry since 1973, and most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of INO Therapeutics LLC., a specialty pharmaceutical company with strengths in development, marketing, and sales of critical care drugs and drug/device combinations, and focused on making innovative therapies available to healthcare professionals and patients. Prior to INO, Dennis spent 15 years with The DuPont Pharmaceutical Company, where he served as President of U.S. Operations, Executive Vice President of Global Health Systems, Executive Vice President in Europe, and Vice President and General Manager in Canada, among numerous other positions at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and DuPont Merck. Dennis was also employed at Baxter International and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (now Novartis). He is a graduate of Michigan State University and the Lake Forest Graduate School of Business.

Michael A. Pagnotta—Chief Financial Officer

As Chief Financial Officer, Mike Pagnotta is the principal advisor for all of Solstice's fiscal operations, including financial management and reporting, fiscal control, financial compliance and accounting. He supervises all of the Accounting staff, and has responsibility for IT, and facilities.

Mike is a CPA with over 18 years of public accounting experience. He was a partner in a Northern New Jersey CPA firm prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry in 1993. Mike was also a CFO for a privately-held pharmaceutical company and in 1998, as a result of an acquisition, became the Vice President of Commercial Finance for North American operations at a global biopharmaceutical company. In addition to Finance, he has experience in Commercial Operations, Managed Markets Contract Administration, Distribution and Business Development.

Edgar Salazar-Grueso, M.D.—Chief Medical Officer

As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Salazar-Grueso is responsible for the medical governance of Solstice Neurosciences’ Clinical, Regulatory and Medical Affairs departments.

Dr. Salazar-Grueso brings a broad and extensive background in research and development of multiple therapeutic areas spanning more than 20 years in academia and industry. That experience has led him to the research and development of new biologicals, new chemical entities, cell based and gene therapeutics. In addition, he has had responsibility for all aspects of product lifecycle management including preclinical target and lead selection, global clinical/operations development - from phase I to phase III - as well as post-approval clinical marketing support and Medical Affairs.

In his previous position as VP & Global Head, Medical Development Group for Specialized Therapeutics with the former Schering AG, Dr. Salazar-Grueso led the international team in the global clinical and operations area, responsible for all aspects of development and marketed products in CNS, CV & GI therapy areas. Prior to Schering, he was the Therapeutic Area Medical Leader with AstraZeneca where he led US and global clinical product development in the CNS Therapy Area.

Dr. Salazar-Grueso received his medical degree from Rush Medical College, and his Neurology training at University of Chicago. He is a board-certified Neurologist.

Kerry Clem, Vice President—Sales and Marketing

Kerry holds a B.S. degree from Florida State University and is based in our Malvern, Pennsylvania office.

Patrick Murphy, Vice President—Operations

As Vice President of Operations, Patrick Murphy oversees the worldwide supply and quality of Myobloc^®/NeuroBloc^® (Botulinum Toxin Type B) Injectable Solution. Patrick is directly responsible for Quality Assurance/Quality Systems, Quality Control, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Facilities, and Engineering functions. He is also accountable for the management, safety, and security of the botulinum toxin production facility.

Prior to joining Solstice, Patrick served as Vice President of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) and Operations at Acologix, Inc. He also held various Manufacturing Operations roles at Abgenix, Inc. and Genentech.

Patrick is a member of the Advisory Board of Diversified Bio-Medics, Inc., and holds a B.S. Degree in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He works at our South San Francisco, California location.

Eric H. Siegel, General Counsel

Trained as a regulatory attorney, Eric has practiced law for more than 15 years, specializing in the pharmaceutical industry since 1996. As General Counsel at Solstice, Eric is responsible for oversight of all legal activities including regulatory, compliance, intellectual property, employment, contracts, and litigation.  Before joining Solstice, he served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Cephalon, Inc., a specialty biopharmaceutical company in Frazer, Pennsylvania.  In that role, Eric was responsible for managing all regulatory, litigation and employment legal matters; and for developing and implementing the Company’s worldwide compliance program.  Prior to that, Eric was Assistant General Counsel at GlaxoSmithKline where he advised on sales, marketing and varied regulatory issues. 

Eric graduated cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and also received an M.B.A in Health Administration from Temple University.  He received his B.A. in Chemistry, Magna cum Laude, from Franklin & Marshall College.