Four new scientific board members for biopharm company

Vancouver, BC – February 20, 2004 – Biopharmaceutical company Forbes Medi-Tech says it has added four scientists in cardiovascular and metabolic syndrome research to its advisory board. The new members are Steven E Nissen, MD, Daniel J Rader, MD, Thomas A Pearson, MD, MPH, PhD, and Dr Steven Haffner, MD.

“This addition of expertise and leadership should prove to be a tremendous asset in the development of Forbes’ library of compounds for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and related diseases,” says Charles Butt, president & CEO of Forbes Medi-Tech. “The advisory board members are leaders in their field and recognized for their expertise.”

Dr Nissen is medical director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center. He has authored more than 200 journal articles, book chapters, and CD-ROMs, mostly in the field of cardiovascular imaging. He was one of the pioneers in the development of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and his research during the past decade has focused on this imaging technique. He is currently the principal investigator for several large IVUS studies of atherosclerosis regression and progression. He currently serves as vice president of American College of Cardiology (ACC), chairman of the educational products committee, and member of the budget and finance committee. Dr Nissen is also a member of the cardiorenal advisory panel of the US Food and Drug Administration.

Dr Rader is an associate professor of medicine and pathology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia PA, where he is director of preventive cardiology and the Lipid Research Clinic and associate director of the General Clinical Research Center. He runs a basic research laboratory focused on genetic regulation of lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis and directs a clinical research program focused on human genetics of lipid disorders and atherosclerosis and novel approaches to the treatment of dyslipidemia and regression of atherosclerosis. He is an established investigator of the American Heart Association, a recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research, and a recipient of the Doris Duke Foundation Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award. He has authored over 160 peer-reviewed publications as well as many reviews and book chapters.

Dr Pearson is Albert D Kaiser professor and chair of the department of community & preventive medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He is also senior associate dean for clinical research and professor of medicine at that medical school and adjunct professor of nutrition at Cornell University and Pennsylvania State University. He received his doctor of medicine, masters in public health and doctor of philosophy in cardiovascular epidemiology, all from the Johns Hopkins University, where he attained the rank of associate professor of medicine and epidemiology, before receiving his appointments at Columbia in 1988. A fellow of the American Heart Association and its epidemiology council, the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Preventive Medicine and the American College of Physicians, Dr Pearson has served as a member and chair of important committees of the American Heart Association, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. He has published extensively on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, including research at the patient, healthcare system, and community level.

Dr Haffner is professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, department of medicine, division of clinical epidemiology in San Antonio, Texas. He is certified in internal medicine, endocrinology, and metabolism by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. He has published more than 350 scientific publications and has written many book chapters and review articles in his field. His main research interests lie in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes as well as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.