Team

Management Team

Senior Director,
Operations & Genomics

Jorge Marques Signes, PhD

Dr. Jorge Marques Signes is the Senior Director of Operations and Genomics…

Jorge Marques Signes, PhD

Jorge Marques

Senior Director, Operations and Genomics, DHMRI

Dr. Jorge Marques Signes is the Senior Director of Operations and Genomics at DHMRI. Dr. Marques Signes works with several genomic platforms (Illumina, PacBio, 10X Genomics, nanoString) to elucidate diverse genomic questions in the fields of health and nutrition, cancer and agrotechnology.

Jorge has served as genomics scientist focused on designing, executing and analyzing projects in collaboration with different customers. Projects were designed to address the microbiome functional characterization after diet interventions, to develop cancer molecular diagnostic based in gene expression modelling, to assemble complex genomes with whole genome sequencing and transcriptomics, or to characterize the epigenetics control of gene expression associated with cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Marques has been successful in the study of plant-microbe interaction. Dr. Marques Signes study genomic instability as a mechanism for transcription control and the role of different DNA repair machinery proteins such as RAD51, BRCA2, RAD17 or ATR. Jorge has published in high impact scientific journals including: Nature, Nature Communications, Cell Host and Microbe and Molecular Cell.

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Nick Profile
Chief Science Officer

Nick Gillitt, PhD

Dr. Nick Gillett oversees the scientific direction of DHMRI and seeks to…

Nick Gillett, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer, DHMRI

Nick oversees the scientific direction of DHMRI and seeks to provide researchers with the cutting-edge research tools capable of uncovering the underlying biology associated with nutrition, health and agriculture.

In his previous role as Vice President of Nutrition Research for Dole Food Company he ran the Dole Nutrition Institute and was responsible for designing and implementing collaborative research agreements with NCRC’s academic partners to study the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables on a variety of aspects relating to human health. In addition, he managed all Doles consumer education efforts including the newsletter, brochures, DNI website and social media.

Nicholas graduated from the UK’s Newcastle Polytechnic in 1990 with a first-class honours degree in Applied Chemistry. He received his Physical/Inorganic Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, under the supervision of Dr. D.M. Davies. His post-doctoral work in physical organic chemistry was carried out under Prof. C.A. Bunton at the University of California Santa Barbara. Nicholas has co-authored over 50 papers in pier reviewed scientific journals.

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Julian Profile
Chief Business Officer

Julian Abery, MSc

A highly experienced sales, marketing and business development professional with a strong track record of…

Julian Abery, MSc

Julian Profile

Chief Business Officer, DHMRI

A highly experienced sales, marketing and business development professional with a strong track record of formulating a vision, building, leading and motivating multi-disciplinary teams for the development and successful commercialization of new technologies and contract research services for targeted global life science markets.

Prior to joining DHMRI, Julian held senior management roles with Carterra, Amphora and Biacore, as well as running a successful consulting business.

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Ann Profile
Chief Financial Officer

Ann Wilson, CPA, MBA

Finance Director with MBA, CPA and 20+ years combined CFO, nonprofit and healthcare consulting, public…

Anne Wilson, CFO, CPA, MBA

Ann Profile

Chief Financial Officer, DHMRI

Finance Director with MBA, CPA and 20+ years combined CFO, nonprofit and healthcare consulting, public accounting and financial leadership experience. Distinguished record of managing finance departments resulting in GFOA awards for excellence in both budgeting and financial reporting. Well-established ability to lead organizations to improved outcomes. Successful communicator at board, executive and operational levels. Strong reputation for professional integrity, problem solving skills, innovation and process improvement and humor under pressure.

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Board of Directors

Suresh Balu, MBA

Associate Dean for Innovation and Partnership, Duke University School of Medicine and Program Director, Duke Institute for Health Innovation

Suresh Balu, MBA

Associate Dean for Innovation and Partnership, Duke University School of Medicine and Program Director, Duke Institute for Health Innovation

As Associate Dean for Innovation and Partnership, Suresh Balu is responsible for creating, implementing, and sustaining innovation and partnership initiatives for the School of Medicine, specifically, to support the strategic priorities for clinical and translational research. As Program Director for the Duke Institute for Health Innovation (DIHI), he works closely with Duke Health leadership to develop innovation frameworks and approaches across healthcare delivery, education and research. His responsibilities include, strategic evaluation of opportunities, developing competitive landscape for healthcare and research initiatives, complex strategic, operational and financial analyses and recommendations for Duke Health leadership and corporate development for global and US-based collaborations as they relate to an innovation platform.

His experience prior to Duke spans academia, management consulting, venture capital and private equity. As a corporate and competitive strategy consultant, he worked with leading life sciences and technology firms to develop strategies for innovation, revenue generation, organizational restructuring and product portfolio planning. His PE/VC experiences include product and technology due diligence, deal structuring and portfolio company management. As an entrepreneur, he was responsible for program management, market and product strategy at a venture-funded firm that focused on visualization and diagnostic products. He has operational and business development experience in Asia and Europe, where he helped to establish sales channels serving government and academic clients. He is an inventor named on more than 20 US and international patents. He holds MS (Computer Science) and MBA (Corporate Finance) degrees as well as a Master’s degree in Informatics and Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.

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Cory R. Brouwer, PhD

Director Bioinformatics Services Division
Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Executive Director of Research, University of North Carolina System

Cory R. Brouwer, PhD

Corey Brouwer Profile

Director Bioinformatics Services Division
Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Executive Director of Research, University of North Carolina System

Cory R. Brouwer, PhD, is Director of the Bioinformatics Services Division, Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics at UNC Charlotte, and Senior Research Advisor for the UNC System to the North Carolina Research Campus. He serves on the Charlotte Regional Advisory Board for NC Biotech and is also Co-Director of the Plant Pathway Elucidation Project (P2EP), an innovative public/private consortium on the North Carolina Research Campus.

Before coming to UNC Charlotte, he was leading a global computational biology group for the pharmaceutical company Pfizer out of their Sandwich, UK research campus located southeast of London. During his tenure at Pfizer, he led efforts in data integration, text mining, collaborative knowledge building and scientific software development supporting genomics and systems biology. He also was an active promoter of pre-competitive collaboration within the pharma industry and served as co-chair of the Knowledge and Information Services domain of the Pistoia Alliance, a cross-pharma precompetitive standards organization. He joined Pfizer from Curagen Corporation, where he led software projects in the area of gene expression, proteomics and toxicoinformatics. He gained his AgBio experience at Pioneer Hi-Bred, Intl, Inc. working as a computational biologist focusing on genetics and comparative genomics. He received his BS in Biology and PhD in Molecular Biology from Iowa State University.

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Nicholas Gillitt, PhD

Vice President of Nutrition Research, Dole Food Company
Director, Dole Nutrition Research Institute

Nick Gillitt, PhD

Vice President of Nutrition Research, Dole Food Company
Director, Dole Nutrition Research Institute

As Vice President of Nutrition Research and Director of the Dole Nutrition Institute (DNI) for Dole Food Company, Nicholas Gillitt, PhD, primarily researches the mechanism behind why fruits and vegetables are so healthy. He is particularly interested in the potential epigenetic properties of phytochemcials and how they can effect positive changes in human metabolism. In addition, he provides scientific support for product development and leads Dole's nutrition education efforts through his role at the DNI. He graduated from the UK’s Newcastle Polytechnic in 1990 with a 1st Class Honours degree in Applied Chemistry and received his PhD in Physical/Inorganic Chemistry in 1994 from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He then moved to the US completing his post-doctoral study in Physical/Organic Chemistry at the University of California at Santa Barbara with Professor Clifford Bunton and to date has co-authored over 50 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals.

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Mark Spitzer, MBA

President, Castle & Cooke North Carolina LLC and Atlantic American Properties INC.
Lead Mission Support Executive, North Carolina Research Campus

Mark Spitzer, MBA

President, Castle & Cooke North Carolina LLC and Atlantic American Properties INC.
Lead Mission Support Executive, North Carolina Research Campus

Mark Spitzer is the Vice President of Operations for Castle & Cooke North Carolina, the company that provides business development support for the NC Research Campus (NCRC). He assumed the position in November 2015 relocating from Westlake, California where he was Director of Human Resources for Castle & Cooke, Inc. In this position, he works closely with NCRC partners and the David H. Murdock Research Institute (DHMRI) to advance the overall development of the campus while overseeing Castle & Cooke’s real estate, recreational and hospitality operations in and around Kannapolis, North Carolina, where the NCRC is located.

Spitzer was chosen by David Murdock, the founder of the NCRC, to lead North Carolina operations because of his 35 years of professional and management roles in academia, construction and human resources. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and completed an MBA at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He worked at both universities, and at UCLA improved collaboration and cost management efforts in concert with academic and administrative departments. He later strengthened the leadership and collaborative skills of the management and executive teams at Flying Tigers, Rockwell International and National Medical Enterprises. He also built a successful residential remodeling business before returning to corporate life in the late 1990s as director of executive compensation at Computer Sciences Corporation and later as director of human resources in the corporate offices of Dole Food Company and Castle & Cooke, Inc.

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Steven A. Lommel, PhD

William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor
Associate Dean for Research, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University
Director of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service

Steven A. Lommel, PhD

William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor
Associate Dean for Research, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University
Director of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service

Steven A. Lommel is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology. He is Director of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University. He is leading the build out of the Plant Sciences Initiative at NC State University. He conducts research on plant virus pathogenesis, evolution and taxonomy. His research on virion structure and assembly at the molecular and atomic level is leading towards using small RNA plant viruses as nano-cargo vessels for the targeted delivery of therapeutics to cancer cells and for seed treatments in agricultural applications.

As a result of this research, he co-founded and is a Scientific Advisor for the company, Nanovector. Dr. Lommel has an active research program funded by the NSF, USDA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop RCNMV as a nanoscale packaging and delivery vehicle. He was the co-investigator on a project that sequenced the Nicotiana Genome. His teaching responsibilities include graduate courses in Plant Pathology and Plant Virology as well as invited lectures in Biotechnology and Genetics. He is the editor for the Journal “Virology” and is on the editorial board for four other scientific journals. He has published more than 100 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, reviews and proceedings. He is a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of San Francisco in 1978, and his doctoral degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1983. He was an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University. He joined the faculty at NCSU in 1988 and has risen through the ranks. He held a number of research administration positions at both the College and University level since 1992. He serves as special scientific advisor to the US EPA on the release of transgenic crops. He administrates North Carolina State University’s presence at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. He is on the Board of Directors for the David H. Murdock Research Institute and was the President of the Institute. He also serves on numerous University, State, Federal and International Scientific Boards, Committees and funding panels.

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L. Kristin Newby, MD, MHS

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Duke University Medical Center
Director of the Translational Population Health Research Center
Duke Clinical & Translational Science Institute

L. Kristin Newby, MD, MHS

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology
Duke University Medical Center
Director of the Translational Population Health Research Center
Duke Clinical & Translational Science Institute

After receiving her medical degree from Indiana University, L. Kristin Newby, MD, MHS, completed a residency in internal medicine and a cardiology fellowship at Duke University. Currently, she is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and Co-Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Duke University Hospital. At the Duke Clinical Research Institute, she has been engaged for many years in cardiovascular clinical trials, incorporation of biorepositories in clinical trials, and the development of integrated biosignatures of risk and response to treatment. Within the Duke Clinical & Translational Science Institute, she is Director of the Translational Population Health Research Center.

Dr. Newby serves as principal investigator of the multi-tiered MURDOCK Study, and co-led its cardiovascular disease component, Reclassifying Risk for Cardiovascular Events. She is the principal investigator for the 12,400-person MURDOCK Study Community Registry and Biorepository in Cabarrus County and Kannapolis, North Carolina, led protocol development and served as an inaugural principal investigator for the 10,000-person Project Baseline Study, collaboration between Duke, Stanford, Verily Life Sciences, and Google. She is also one of the principal investigators of the coordinating center for the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program and co-chairs its Biospecimens Working Group.

She has authored more than 340 peer-reviewed publications, and was named to Thompson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers listing in 2015-2017. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the American Heart Journal and serves as the Deputy Editor of JACC: Basic to Translational Science. She is a Past Chair of the Council on Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association, an elected member of the Association of University Cardiologists and the Association of American Physicians.

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Simon Gregory, PhD

Director of Genomics and Epigenetics, Duke Molecular Physiology Institute
Professor in Neurology, Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator, Duke University MURDOCK MS studies
Founder and Principal Investigator, Discovery MS

Simon Gregory, PhD

Director of Genomics and Epigenetics, Duke Molecular Physiology Institute
Professor in Neurology, Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine
Principal Investigator, Duke University MURDOCK MS studies
Founder and Principal Investigator, Discovery MS

Simon Gregory, PhD, applies the experience he gained from leading the sequencing of human chromosome 1 for the Human Genome Project to elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying multi-factorial diseases. His primary area of research involves the identification of the genetic, genomic, and epigenetic factors that give rise to the development of complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis and autism.

He discovered the first gene outside of the MHC to be associated with MS, and has since continued to make significant contributions to MS research by establishing the role of IL7R, and now DDX39B, in the development of the disease. As the principal investigator of the MURDOCK MS study, he is working with samples from over 1,000 MS patients to establish the basis for genetic, genomic and metabolomic biomarker identification of MS disease development and progression. His autism research involves targeted approaches to identify predictors of oxytocin response in human cohorts and animal models.

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