About Neurelis -
Meet the Passionate
Individuals Behind Neurelis
Jenny Alonso
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Jenny Alonso joined Neurelis in 2020 as the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to joining Neurelis, she served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Head of Human Resources at Prometheus Laboratories Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company in San Diego, California. At Prometheus, she implemented and managed the Compliance Program, all licensing and research studies, managed care arrangements, litigation, reimbursement matters, marketing issues, laboratory licensing, and billing matters. Further, she oversaw all HR-related matters, including performance reviews, compensation, and employee relations. Prior to joining Prometheus, Jenny was an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP for 8 years focusing primarily on healthcare-related matters, including fraud and abuse, compliance, reimbursement, and physician arrangements. Jenny received her BA from the University of California, San Diego, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law. She was admitted to the California State Bar in 1998.
Enrique Carrazana, M.D.
Dr. Enrique Carrazana has over 25 years of experience in drug development and the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Carrazana is a member of the board of directors of Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Hawaii Biotech, and the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics. He currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Neurelis, Inc., where he is responsible for the management of the drug development and safety programs. Previously, he was the Chief Medical Officer of Acorda Therapeutics. Dr. Carrazana also held various medical leadership roles at Novartis, where his last role was Vice President, Global Head Development Established Medicines Franchise, based in Basel, Switzerland. He was Director of the Epilepsy Center of Excellence at the Miami Veterans' Administration (VA) Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. He has presented and published a wide range of research on various neurology topics. Dr. Carrazana received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his residency in neurology and fellowship in neurophysiology at the Harvard Longwood Neurology Program. He is a board-certified neurologist and Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society.
Craig C. Chambliss
President and CEO/Co-Founder
Craig Chambliss has 25 years invested in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and drug delivery arenas, with primary focus on diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) and epilepsy, in particular. He co-founded Neurelis in 2007 and has served as CEO and President since 2013.
In 2010, Mr. Chambliss joined NextWave Pharmaceuticals as Chief Business Officer and directed the corporate refocus to the CNS market, raising $45M in Series C financing and culminating in the sale of NextWave to Pfizer for over $700M in 2012. Prior to NextWave and Neurelis, he led commercial operations at Questcor Pharmaceuticals, from 2005-2007, where he was responsible for helping to engineer the transition to a CNS-focused company and establish the commercial infrastructure to support the relaunch of Acthar® Gel (repository corticotropin injection).
Mr. Chambliss began his career in pharmaceutical sales at Bristol-Myers Squibb and joined Alza Pharmaceuticals upon the launch of their commercial organization in 1994. While at Alza Pharmaceuticals, he served in various sales and marketing roles prior to joining Elan Pharmaceuticals where he served as Director of Business Development for CNS assets. In 2001, along with other former Dura and Elan executives, Mr. Chambliss launched Xcel Pharmaceuticals, a CNS start-up focused on epilepsy and, primarily, the treatment of acute repetitive seizures. He led commercial operations and the successful launch of Diastat® (diazepam rectal gel) until Xcel's acquisition by Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2005 for $280M. Mr. Chambliss holds a BS in Finance and a BS in Accounting from Missouri State University.
Chuck DeWildt
Chuck DeWildt has served in leadership roles in Sales, Marketing, and Market Access in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for more than 25 years. Chuck joined Neurelis initially as Sr. Vice President of Commercial and Market Access in early 2018 and has overseen the commercial buildout of Neurelis since joining. Chuck was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer in 2019. His specific experience includes work in the CNS, respiratory, and oncology markets. Chuck joined Neurelis from Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, where he was Vice President of Market Access. He joined Teva in 2011 as part of the Cephalon acquisition where he was the Head of Market Access and Reimbursement. Chuck began his pharmaceutical career at DuPont and joined Cephalon in 1999.
Steve Jenner
Vice President of Marketing & Operations
Steve Jenner has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry with specific experience in the neurology, pain, glaucoma, and dermatology markets. Steve joined the Neurelis team in early 2019. He has served in various leadership roles in Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Managed Markets. Steve joined Neurelis from Zogenix, where he most recently served as the Vice President of Commercial for the U.S. Market. At Zogenix, he was responsible for leading the commercialization of multiple product launches, acting as commercial point person for all business development initiatives, and for the initial buildout of the rare disease business unit for the U.S. Market. Prior to Zogenix, he served as the Senior Vice President of Client Services at MedAccess Communications, and held marketing and product management leadership positions with companies such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Allergan Pharmaceuticals, and Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (which was acquired by Alkermes Plc.).
Thomas Liquard
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development
Thomas Liquard brings more than 15 years of organizational, corporate development, and commercial development leadership experience in the life sciences industry to Neurelis. Prior to joining Neurelis in late 2017, Thomas served as CEO of Immuron Limited and was COO and then CEO of Alchemia Limited after spending seven years with Pfizer. At Pfizer, he held various commercial roles of increasing scope and responsibility including in New Product Planning, Portfolio Decision & Analysis, U.S. Established Brands and Emerging Markets. Thomas began his life sciences career as a Senior Consultant with the Frankel Group (now part of the Huron Group).
Stuart Madden, PhD, CChem, FRSC
Stuart Madden has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry working on drug development programs, from proof of concept through to commercialization for New Chemical Entity (NCE) and 505(b)(2) products that have encompassed small molecules, biologics, and combination products. Dr. Madden has worked with Neurelis since 2008, supporting the development of VALTOCO and, in July 2020, joined Neurelis as a full-time employee. Since 2003 and prior to joining Neurelis, Dr. Madden was Vice President of Scientific Affairs at ICON Clinical Research where his role was providing strategic consulting expertise to biotech and pharmaceutical clients in optimizing their development programs. From 1995 to 2003, Dr. Madden worked for Elan Corporation, a specialty drug delivery company specializing in the development and commercialization of controlled-release oral dosage forms. Earlier in his career, Dr. Madden worked in large pharma, including Mallinckrodt and Schering Plough. Dr. Madden received his BS degree in chemistry and his PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Wales, Swansea, UK, and spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow at San Diego State University, California. He is a Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a past special government employee for FDA's Advisory Committee for Pharmaceutical Science and Clinical Pharmacology.
Adrian Rabinowicz, M.D.
Senior Vice President of Clinical Development & Medical Affairs
Dr. Adrian L. Rabinowicz joined Neurelis in 2018 and is a board-certified neurologist with over 20 years of experience in global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Prior to joining Neurelis, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Sancilio & Company, where he led all development programs, operational activities, and interactions with regulatory authorities. Previously, Dr. Rabinowicz was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Acorda Therapeutics, and also spent over seven years with Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, holding various roles of increasing responsibility in different therapeutic areas. Dr. Rabinowicz received his medical degree from the Universidad Del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina and completed his residency in neurology at the University of Buenos Aires and his fellowship in Epilepsy and Neurophysiology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He served as both an Assistant Professor of Neurology and the Co-Director of the USC Comprehensive Epilepsy program. Dr. Rabinowicz has received several national and international awards for his research, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, and has published over 75 peer-reviewed papers and several book chapters.
Edward F. Smith III, PhD, MBA, RAC
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance
Edward Smith III has been in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry for over 30 years, and has more than 20 years of experience leading Regulatory Affairs at several companies. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs & Quality Assurance at Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., from 2016 to 2019. Previously, from 2007 to 2016, he was the head of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Zogenix Inc., leading the successful approval of the Sumavel DosePro and Zohydro ER new drug applications (NDAs). At Connetics, he managed the approval of 3 NDAs for dermatology indications, and previously he was the head of Regulatory Affairs at Nektar Therapeutics, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and Radiance Medical Systems, Inc., working with drug, device, and drug/device combination products. He has successfully led efforts for U.S. Food and Drug Administration fast track designation, and orphan drug designation and approvals in the US and EU.
Dr. Smith started his career in cardiovascular R&D, having held positions at Mallinckrodt, Inc., serving as R&D team leader of the endovascular and cardiology divisions; at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals where he was part of the team that discovered and developed Carvedilol for congestive heart failure and hypertension; and at Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Dr. Smith has authored over 95 peer-reviewed scientific articles. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina and the Institute of Pharmacology, University of Cologne in West Germany. Dr. Smith received his MBA at Washington University, and his PhD in Physiology at Thomas Jefferson University. He graduated from Montana State University with a BS in Biology.
George Stuart
George Stuart has 29 years of finance and accounting experience, the majority of which have been spent within the specialty pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He has experience as a finance executive with both private and public companies, providing finance-related consulting services to early-stage specialty pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Prior to his involvement with Neurelis in 2010, George spent 3 years as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Questcor Pharmaceuticals where he led the move of Questcor's listing from the American to the NASDAQ exchange. In 2001, he helped launch Xcel Pharmaceuticals, a CNS start-up focused on epilepsy, serving as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer until its acquisition by Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2005. Prior to the founding of Xcel, George was the Director of Finance for Ligand Pharmaceuticals and began his career with Deloitte in 1986 where he last held the position of Senior Manager.