Management
Ernest McEachern, PhD
CEO, Co-founder
Dr. McEachern received his PhD from the University of British Columbia in synthetic organic chemistry and subsequently carried out post-doctoral studies at Stanford University. Dr. McEachern has eleven years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He served in various capacities at AnorMed including leading a team in the hit-to-lead optimization and preclinical development of chemokine receptor antagonists as HIV entry inhibitors. Ultimately, these efforts culminated in Phase II clinical evaluation of a lead candidate. Dr. McEachern was closely involved in developing the intellectual property strategy at AnorMed for the HIV entry inhibitor program. He is a co-founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Alectos Therapeutics. Dr. McEachern has also served as a member of the board of directors since founding of the company. Dr. McEachern is co-author on 44 publications and patents.
David Vocadlo, PhD
CSO, Co-founder
Dr. David Vocadlo completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia in enzymology and carbohydrate synthesis. Following postdoctoral studies in chemical biology at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Vocadlo joined the Department of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Dr. Vocadlo is the Canada Research Chair in Chemical Biology and a Scholar of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. He is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and an associate member of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University. Dr. Vocadlo is a leader in understanding the mechanism of action of carbohydrate processing enzymes and using this information to interrogate these enzymes in biological systems. His research has focused on using a combination of chemical and biological approaches to study carbohydrate structures and to decode their roles in health and disease. Dr. Vocadlo is a co-founder of Alectos and is the Chief Scientific Officer and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board. He has served on the board of directors since founding of the company. Dr. Vocadlo has received several awards and is an author of over 60 scientific articles and patents.
Yuanxi Zhou, PhD
Director of Medicinal Chemistry
Dr. Zhou completed her doctoral studies in the field of Organic Chemistry at the University of Alberta. She received postdoctoral training at Florida State University with Prof Holton where she contributed to the total synthesis of Taxol. Dr. Zhou brings over twelve years of diverse experience in small molecule drug discovery having held positions at Neuromed and AnorMed, where she led efforts to discover preclinical candidates for treatment of neuropathic pain, epilepsy, and HIV. Dr. Zhou joined Alectos Therapeutics in 2009 as the Director of Medicinal Chemistry. She is co-author on over 30 publications and patents.
