Wendell Wierenga, Ph.D.

Wendell Wierenga has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2011. He has over 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical discovery and development. Dr. Wierenga is currently Executive Vice President of Research and Development of Santarus, Inc. From 2007 to 2011 Dr. Wierenga served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development of privately held Ambit Biosciences Corporation, where he was responsible for all research and drug development activities including clinical, regulatory affairs and manufacturing. Prior to joining Ambit, he served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development of Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. From September 2000 to August 2003, Dr. Wierenga served as the Chief Executive Officer of Syrrx, Inc (now Takeda San Diego). Previously, Dr. Wierenga was Senior Vice President, Worldwide Pharmaceutical Sciences, Technologies and Development for the Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert (now Pfizer Inc.) where he was responsible for worldwide drug development. Prior to joining Parke-Davis, Dr. Wierenga spent 16 years at Upjohn Pharmaceuticals, where he led drug discovery research. Dr. Wierenga currently serves as a board member of XenoPort, Inc. and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Wierenga earned his B.A. from Hope College and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University.