Board of Directors

Gary Shearman, PhD, Director

Dr. Gary Shearman brings more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience to Artisan.  Dr. Shearman has been responsible for creating and implementing global drug development and regulatory strategies which have resulted in over twenty regulatory submissions and product approvals worldwide.

In August of 2007, Dr. Shearman was appointed President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Neuro-Hitech (NASDAQ: NHPI).  Neuro-Hitech, based in New York, is focused specifically on the development and commercialization of next-generation therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Shearman brings extensive insight into the biopharmaceutical market, having spent 2001 – 2007 as a venture capitalist and consultant to biotechnology companies, including over five years as Chairman and Managing Director of HBM Advisors USA, LLC, a provider of investment advisory services to HBM BioVentures and HBM BioCapital in the biotechnology and medical technology sectors.

Between May 1992 and January 2000, Dr. Shearman was employed by Rhône-Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi/Aventis) where he served in a variety of positions, most recently as Deputy Head of Global Research and Drug Development and Senior Vice President of Global Drug Development.  He was responsible for ensuring the global implementation of the corporate product strategy and coordinating all R&D, marketing and manufacturing activities related to the widely used cardiovascular and oncology drugs Lovenox® and Taxotere®. He also served as Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Drug Development for Rhône-Poulenc Rorer where he coordinated global drug development and regulatory strategies and directed global departments with over 2,200 employees and a consolidated annual budget of approximately $450 million.

From 1987 to 1992, Dr. Shearman worked at Merck & Co., Inc. where he served as Director of International Regulatory Affairs and prior to that as Associate Director, Clinical Neurosciences.  Dr. Shearman’s began his pharmaceutical career at Sandoz, Ltd., a Swiss pharmaceutical company (now a part of Novartis) where he worked in drug discovery and as a project leader for central nervous system products.

Dr. Shearman earned his Ph.D in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Rhode Island. He did his post-doctoral studies in the Department of Neuropharmacology at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. Dr. Shearman is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nereus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company.