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PARTNERS IN RESEARCH: CNDR || IOA || UDALL || Penn ADC
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External Advisory Board Bios

Click on the IOA External Advisory Board member's name below to learn more about each individual and the expertise he/she brings to the IOA.

Kenneth A. Orr
Steven M. Paul, MD

Vivian Weyerhauser Piasecki
William Z. Potter, MD, PhD

Kenneth A. Orr

Kenneth A. Orr is the Founder and President of Triumph Small Cap Fund, Inc (TSC Fund), a venture capital firm in Melville, NY investing in emerging companies whose technology has the potential to dominate and or change an industry. Since 1997, Mr. Orr has been an early investor and/or financier of numerous public and private businesses. As a financier, Kenneth Orr has been credited with offering start-ups and small companies the financial resources to accomplish their goals and creating sustainable shareholder value through use of equity and debt based securities.

Prior to TSC Fund and shortly after graduating with a BS from Tufts University, Mr. Orr joined a small family business, North American Agriculture, Inc. (NAA), a global physical commodity trading company with warehousing and transportation operations. During Mr. Orr’s six years with NAA as head of commodity trading and head of M&A activities, the company’s workforce rose to over 320 employees and sales increased by 600%. After selling his interest in NAA, Mr. Orr founded the investment banking and brokerage firm, First Cambridge Securities, which served over 15,000 clients with offices in New York and Los Angeles. First Cambridge Securities employed over 350 employees in just three years since its inception.

Mr. Orr also serves on the board of numerous local and national charities, including serving on the board of the North Shore LIJ Hospital New Leadership Division, and is the founder of The Orr Foundation, which was established in 2004 for the purpose of funding educational programs, religious and racial appreciation, research for disease prevention and cures, as well as the fight against domestic violence. Mr. Orr was formerly the President of The Lawrenceville School Camp, which offers a summer camp program to inner city children. In addition, The Orr Foundation is a proud sponsor of the MPowering Kids program.

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Steven M. Paul, MD

Steven M. Paul, MD

Steven M. Paul, MD, became executive vice president for science and technology and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, a division of Eli Lilly and Company, in July 2003 and retired in 2010. He also is a member of the corporate policy and strategy, operations committees and the company's senior management council, a group of top Lilly executives who implements corporate strategies, ensures corporate performance and identifies corporate issues and opportunities.

He joined Lilly in April 1993 as vice president of central nervous system discovery and decision phase medical research in LRL and was named vice president, therapeutic area discovery research and clinical investigation, in 1996. Dr. Paul became group vice president of therapeutic area discovery research and clinical investigation for LRL in 1998.

Dr. Paul received a bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude with honors, in biology and psychology from Tulane University in 1972. He received a master of science degree in anatomy and neuroanatomy and his doctor of medicine degree, both in 1975, from the Tulane University School of Medicine. Following an internship in neurology at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, he served as a resident in psychiatry and an instructor in the department of psychiatry at The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine.

Prior to joining Lilly, Dr. Paul served as scientific director of the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), in Bethesda, Md.; professor of psychiatry at Tulane University School of Medicine; and chief of the clinical neuroscience branch, as well as chief of the section on preclinical studies at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Dr. Paul is a member of various professional societies, which include the Tulane Scholars and Fellows; Phi Eta Sigma; Alpha Epsilon Delta; Sigma Xi; Phi Beta Kappa; and the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society. He is the recipient of many honors and scientific recognitions, including the A.E. Bennett Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the Foundations' Fund Prize for Research of the American Psychiatric Association and The Distinguished Service Medal of the United States. In 1997, Paul was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Paul has authored or co-authored more than 500 papers and invited book chapters, and he was listed as one of the most highly cited neuroscientists in the world (1980-2000), by the Institute for Scientific Information (I.S.I.), Philadelphia, PA. He serves on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals and on several NIH extramural and intramural committees. He also serves on the executive board of PhRMA's Science and Regulatory Committee and is the incoming chairperson. Paul serves on the board of directors of the Lilly Foundation, the Foundation of the NIH, Butler University and the Indianapolis Zoological Society. He is currently a member of the National Institute of Health's advisory committee to the director (ACD).

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Vivian Weyerhauser Piasecki
A graduate of Vassar College and the New York School of Design, Vivian Weyerhaeuser Piasecki has contributed her creativity and philanthropic spirit as a longtime member of the IOA’s External Advisory Board. President of the Piasecki Family Foundation and active with the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation, Ms. Piasecki has served on numerous corporate boards, both locally and nationally, while maintaining her personal commitment to community involvement and service here in Philadelphia. Ms. Piasecki has served as a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, as Chairperson of the Board of Overseers of the Penn School of Nursing, and on the board of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. In addition to her tenure as a member of the IOA’s External Advisory Board, she currently participates as a senior board member for WHYY, Inc. and One to One - The Greater Mentoring Partnership. Ms. Piasecki also has been integral in the development of the National Constitution Center, co-chairing the Center’s Capital Campaign, which made the Center a reality, and serving as a member of the board and the executive committee.

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William Z. Potter, MD, PhD

William Z. Potter, M.D., Ph.D., is recognized world-wide as an expert in the field of neuropsychopharrnacology and the development of novel drugs for major Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Translational Neuroscience at Merck Research Laboratories, prior to which he was head of early CNS development at Lilly Research Laboratories (1996-2004).

Before working in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Potter had a distinguished career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where in 1971 he began as a fellow in the laboratory of B. B. Brodie. During his 25 year career in the Public Health Service, mainly in the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), he authored over 200 publications, won Distinguished Service and Alumni Awards, and was a mentor to numerous current chairs of departments in academia across US, Europe, South America and China, as well as senior executives in industry.

Dr. Potter received his undergraduate, graduate (pharmacology), and medical degrees from the University of Indiana and is board certified in Psychiatry. He served as Senior Surgeon and Medical Director in the US Military (1971-1995).

Dr. Potter was one of the early architects of the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), and he continues as former chair and active participant on the Industry Strategic Advisory Board. For the past 18 months he has served as co-chair of the Foundation of the National Institute of Health Biomarkers Consortium Neuroscience Steering Committee, where he has championed the collaborative development of both biochemical and cognitive measures to enhance drug development of Alzheimer's and other brain diseases. In addition, he serves on the Institute of Medicine Forum on Neuroscience where he has organized and chaired public forums on such diverse topics as: suicidology and novel CNS biomarkers. As current Chair of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Goverument, Industry, Academia Liaison Committee, Dr. Potter focuses on opportunities to align and leverage efforts among stakeholders, and has recently been working with the leadership of both the Alzheimer's Association and National Alliance for the Mentally III as representatives of patient concerns.

Dr. Potter's current major interest is in seeing that everything possible is done to "realize the potential of methods that have been advanced over the last decade that allow one to better explore the physiological and biochemical processes associated with brain function, especially with regard to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

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