Robert Cobuzzi, Jr., PhD
President, Chief Executive Officer and Board member
Dr. Cobuzzi has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member since September 2020 and as a director since January 2020. He has over 25 years of cross-functional leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries across the areas of Corporate Development, Research & Development, and Operations.
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From 2005 until 2018 Dr. Cobuzzi held a variety of senior roles in Corporate Development, R&D and Operations at Endo International Plc, including most recently as President, Endo Ventures Limited in Dublin, Ireland from 2015 until 2018. Prior to Endo, he was with Adolor Corporation from 2001 until 2005. He began his career in 1995 at AstraMerck in clinical operations before joining Centocor (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson) in Worldwide Regulatory Affairs from 1999 to 2001. Dr. Cobuzzi currently serves as a Venture Partner for Sunstone Life Science Ventures and also is Chairman of Sunstone’s Business Development Board. He was previously a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Health/Science Products and Services, and served as a board member for two development-stage medical device companies. Dr. Cobuzzi holds an AB in Biochemistry and Art History from Colby College and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry from Loyola University Chicago. He was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
Christopher D. Galloway, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Galloway joined Diffusion as Chief Medical Officer as of October 2020. He is an Executive Physician with diverse Clinical and Pharmaceutical Industry experience. He has over 20 years of combined practice as an ER physician with industry leadership roles within Clinical Development & Operations and Medical Affairs across multiple therapeutic areas and stages of development.
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Dr. Galloway joins Diffusion from La Jolla Pharmaceuticals, where he has served as senior medical director – medical affairs in critical care since August 2018. Among his duties at La Jolla, he chaired and oversaw investigator-initiated and collaborative research programs. Prior to La Jolla, he was medical director for global clinical development at the immuno-oncology company Rakuten Medical from 2016 to 2018. At Rakuten, he was involved in protocol and synopsis design, and trial execution from Phase 1 through Phase 3 in multiple indications. Previously, he was a medical affairs director for Merck focused on immunotherapy, allergy and asthma, and served as medical director and principal investigator for DaVita Clinical Research, a contract research organization. Dr. Galloway received his MD degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and was a resident in emergency medicine at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. He received a BA in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, and is licensed to practice medicine in Colorado and Texas. Dr. Galloway is a Diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine and a Diplomate with the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians.
Bill Hornung
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Hornung has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc. since September 2018 and prior to that served as our Chief Business Officer from August 2017 to September 2018. Mr. Hornung has over twenty years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry.
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As CBO of the Company, Mr. Hornung has responsibility for implementing the Company’s overall business development strategy and will manage investor, bank, and analyst relationships. Prior to joining Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Mr. Hornung held the position of Chief Financial Officer at Contravir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Contravir, Mr. Hornung held positions of increasing responsibility with PTC Therapeutics Inc., most recently serving as Vice President of Finance. During his tenure at PTC Therapeutics (December 2002 through March 2014), Mr. Hornung oversaw the IPO process in which PTC became a publicly traded company. Mr. Hornung also held positions of increasing responsibility with Elan Pharmaceuticals (formerly The Liposome Company) from 1998 through 2002. At Liposome and Elan, he was responsible for strategic planning and operations of the company’s UK-based European headquarters. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hornung worked for a clinical research organization where he was responsible for project management and all financial aspects of the company. Mr. Hornung holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the William Paterson State University of New Jersey. He lives in Virginia with his wife Kristin.
William Elder, JD
General Counsel
Bill Elder has served as General Counsel since September 2020. He is an attorney with nearly a decade of experience advising public and private companies in a variety of corporate, securities, governance, regulatory, and general commercial matters. He also previously served as a consultant to Diffusion from July 2020 to September 2020.
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Prior to joining Diffusion, Bill spent eight years as an associate at the law firm of Dechert LLP, counseling clients in a broad range of transactions and other matters, including serving as outside counsel to Diffusion in connection with the Company’s reverse merger in 2016 and several subsequent financings. Bill received a JD from the University of Pennsylvania School in Law, a MSF (Master of Science in Finance) from Villanova University, and a BA in Economics from Tufts University. Bill is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where he lives with his dog, Stamos.