Dr. Lars Ekman has more than 28-years experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Cebix Incorporated and is an Executive Partner of Sofinnova Ventures. Dr. Ekman recently held the positions of EVP and President of R&D at Elan Pharmaceuticals. During this period, Elan received approval of four U.S. New Drug Applications and three European Marketing Approvals. Prior to joining Elan, Dr. Ekman seved as EVP, R&D at Schwarz Pharma AG. His industry career started at Pharmacia, now Pfizer, where he held a variety of senior scientific and clinical roles. Dr. Ekman is a board certified surgeon with a PhD in experimental biology. He obtained his PhD and MD from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and has more than 100 publications. Dr. Ekman is also Executive Chairman of Protox Therapeutics and serves as a board director for Elan, Amarin, and InterMune.