Gary S. Jacob, Ph.D.

President & Chief Executive Officer

Gary Jacob has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director since July 2008 and as Chairman of Synergy from October 2003 until July 2008. 

Dr. Jacob currently also serves as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc.. 

Prior to his involvement with Callisto and Synergy, Dr. Jacob was at Monsanto/G.D. Searle, where he served as Director of Glycobiology and Monsanto Science Fellow, specializing in the field of Glycobiology and drug discovery.

From 1986 to 1990, Dr. Jacob managed the G.D. Searle Glycobiology Group located at Oxford University, England. Dr. Jacob earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Missouri, and holds a PH.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Jacob also serves on the Board of Directors of Trovagene, Inc..

Bernard F. Denoyer, CPA, M.B.A.

Senior Vice President, Finance

Bernard Denoyer has served as our Senior Vice President, Finance and Secretary since July 2008.  Since January 2004, Mr. Denoyer has also served as the Senior Financial Officer and Secretary of Callisto Pharmaceuticals, Inc..

From 2001 though 2003, Mr. Denoyer was an independent consultant providing interim CFO services to emerging technology companies, including Callisto. From 1994 through 2000, Mr. Denoyer served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President at META Group, Inc., where he was instrumental in their 1995 IPO.

From 1990 to 1993 he served as Vice President Finance of Environetics, Inc., a pharmaceutical water diagnostic business. Mr. Denoyer received a B.A. in Economics from Fairfield University, earned his M.B.A. in Finance from the Columbia Business School and his CPA while at Ernst and Young.

Laura Barrow, Pharm. D.

Vice President, Clinical Operations

Laura Barrow, Pharm.D. joined Synergy in February, 2011. Dr. Barrow has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having spent seven years in clinical research at Hoffmann–La Roche; 17 years in project management and organizational effectiveness at Bristol-Myers Squibb and was most recently Worldwide Head of Clinical and Regulatory Standard Operating Procedures at Pfizer. She has managed and led project teams that launched successful products in infectious disease and was executive director and coordinator for the exploratory development operating committee at Bristol-Myers for more than 10 years. 

Dr. Barrow has a 7 year Pharm.D. from St. John’s University with dissertation and research completed at Bellevue Hospital.  She was the first Rutger’s University Industry- Clinical Pharmacology Fellow at Hoffmann- La Roche.

Stephen Comiskey, Ph.D.

Senior Director, Product Development

Stephen Comiskey has served as Senior Director and formerly Director, Product Development since July 2008. Dr. Comiskey previously served as Director of Product Development at Nucleonics, Inc. and at Orapharma, Inc. and Group Leader at Aventis and American Home Products, (Wyeth) Dr. Comiskey is a pharmaceutical scientist with considerable experience in the development of biologics and drugs including formulation development, clinical supply manufacture and distribution.

Dr. Comiskey received him B.S. in Biochemistry, M.S. in Food Chemistry, and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kunwar Shailubhai, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Chief Scientific Officer

Kunwar Shailubhai, Ph.D., M.B.A has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since July 2008. From 2003 until July 2008, Dr. Shailubhai served as Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery, of Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc. From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Shailubhai held the position of Vice President, Drug Discovery at Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc where he was responsible for the preclinical development of Synergy's GC-C agonist program for drugs to treat colon cancer and GI disorders and diseases. Between 1993 and 2000, he was with Monsanto Company, serving as Group Leader of the cancer chemoprevention group. Dr. Shailubhai previously served as a Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, and as an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland. Dr. Shailubhai received his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Baroda, India, and his M.B.A. from the University of Missouri, St. Louis.