In Memoriam:
Jean E. Rivier, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Founder, President
Professors Vale, C. Rivier, J. Rivier, and Dr. J. Spiess reported the structure of ovine CRF, a 50-year long historical challenge which led to the unraveling of a larger family of CRF-related peptides called the urocortins. Professor J. Rivier and colleagues showed that CRF and related peptides are responsible for many of the body’s reactions to stress, including disabling the immune system in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Professor J. Rivier was the Dr. Frederik Paulsen Chair in Neurosciences Professor at the Salk Institute (h index 134). He is the co-author of >700 refereed papers and co-inventor of >120 patents. He co-founded the Ferring Research Institute, Inc. in La Jolla where he co-discovered Degarelix/Firmagon (US Food and Drug Administration [FDA] and European Medicines Agency [EMA] approved for prostate cancer) and recently, a somatostatin receptor 2 (sstr2) selective antagonist (JR11) is also being clinically evaluated.
Read interview with Jean on Inside Salk
Dominic P. Behan, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Behan isolated corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) binding protein (CRF-BP) during his Ph.D. studies (supervisor Prof. Phil Lowry). He then spent three years as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Prof. Vale’s laboratory (Salk Institute, La Jolla, California). His industrial career began at Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. and he later co-founded Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer and was a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Behan has 28 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has contributed to and/or directed various programs involving multiple therapeutic areas that have collectively spanned across all stages of R&D from conception to approval and commercialization. In 2016, Dr. Behan co-founded Beacon Discovery. Dr. Behan was included in the PharmaVOICE 100 list of the most inspiring people and received a higher doctorate (D.Sc.) degree from the University of Reading where he was appointed Visiting Professor. Dr. Behan also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Keystone Symposia, a world-renowned organization that arranges scientific conferences of excellence.
Catherine L. Rivier, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita
Dr. Catherine Rivier, who is a Salk Institute Professor Emerita, was the first to develop a radioimmunoassay for the measurement of plasma ACTH in laboratory rodents. She then utilized this novel method to establish the first known in vivo bioassay that detected the biological activity of CRF during the various stages of its purification. This step represented an instrumental innovation for the successful isolation and characterization of this hypothalamic peptide. Using her close collaboration with Dr. Wylie Vale (who raised CRF antibodies) and Dr. Jean Rivier (who devised antagonists to the CRF family of molecules), Dr. Catherine Rivier demonstrated the physiological roles of these peptides and accomplished the in vivo characterization of numerous CRF analogs that Sentia intends to advance into clinical trials. In parallel studies, Dr. Catherine Rivier also established the in vivo assays that formed the basis for the development of GnRH antagonists, eventually leading to the clinical use of Degarelix. Dr. Catherine Rivier’s work has been reported in >500 peer-reviewed articles and provided evidence for the importance of CRF in the regulation of the neuroendocrine, behavioral, immune and reproductive responses to stress.
Bente Hansen Ph.D.
After earning a doctorate in Physiology from the University of Northern Colorado, Bente worked in the healthcare and life sciences industries before moving to the retained executive search industry. As Executive Director of the Executive Health Center at Scripps Memorial Hospital, she led operations and business expansion and guided the stress management program of the Center. She moved to EVP of Product Development and board member of HMG, a public cardiovascular company and VP of Business Development for Hygeia Pharmaceuticals, an early stage oncology company. For the past 20 years she has worked to bring executive leadership to life science companies as Vice President and Managing Director of DHR International, headquartered in Chicago, and West Coast Vice President and Managing Director for Gilbert Tweed based in New York before starting her company, Bente Hansen & Associates. Bente’s involvement has extended to numerous industry committees: The Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, Corporate Directors Forum, CONNECT, BIOCOM, and BIO. Bente is a member of WBL (Women Business Leaders) and Women in Bio. She was recognized by UCSD for her contribution to the Cancer Center. Her chapter on science recruitment was published in Alternative Careers in Science, in its second edition, and she has contributed to NextWave, an Internet career site for Science Magazine. She is the past Chairperson of the San Diego Chapter of the American Lung Association and the founding Chair of the Bioscience Affinity Group of Athena. Dr. Hansen has had a lifelong interest in the correlation between stress and disease.