Mark D. Dibner is President and founder of BioAbility^®. Mark received his Ph.D. in neurobiology and pharmacology from Cornell University Medical College, his MBA in strategic planning from Widener University and his BA in Physiological Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.  He spent 10 years as a research scientist in both academia and industry. He has written more than 115 published articles and is the author or editor of 13 books on commercial biotechnology and the life sciences. For 12 years he served as adjunct associate professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, teaching courses in management of  technology and entrepreneurship, and for three years was a Management and Technology Fellow of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  He has served on the boards of directors for four biotechnology companies, the Council of Biotechnology Centers, the Association of Biotechnology Companies, and the Emerging Companies Section of BIO, as well as on editorial boards.  Prior to starting BioAbility in 1994, he spent eight years managing BioAbility’s precursor group as a vice president of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and prior to that was a principal scientist at E.I. DuPont for six years.  He was also the co-founder and President of Strategic Outcomes Services, Inc., a pharmacoeconomics consulting firm (1998, until its sale in 2001), and is Chairman and Founder of Kramden Institute, Inc., a 501(c)3 not-for-profit charity (2003- ).  Mark has expertise in strategic planning, new business formation, and regional development.

Research  Team

Tracey V. du Laney, Director of Research.  Tracey has her Ph.D. in biochemical engineering from Duke University and her MS in biomedical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.  At BioAbility, she has been responsible for directing projects in due diligence, technology assessment, market research and competitor analysis.  She combines a background in both the biotechnology industry and academic research in tissue engineering and stem cell research.  Her academic research was both at the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill and at Duke University.  Prior to joining BioAbility three years ago, Tracey was a Senior Principal Scientist and Project Leader at Artecel Sciences, Inc., where she was involved in product development, GMP/cGMP compliance and protocols, and pre-clinical studies. 

Melanie C. Trull,  Senior Research Analyst.  Melanie has worked on projects at BioAbility for more than six years.  She holds a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Georgia and has six years of postdoctoral experience at Penn State in the field of plant biotechnology.  Melanie has been the lead researcher for BioAbility on market analyses, therapeutic studies, and international assessments. She has also contributed to many other projects including market surveys, regional development, technology assessments, and business plans.  Melanie also has expertise in creating and maintaining MS Access databases for several of BioAbility's clients. 

Michael J. Henz,  Strategic Planning Specialist.  Michael has been working with BioAbility for over two years and currently is an affiliate working on financial plans and strategies.  He has had experience as Director of Business Development for Syntherica Corp. and as a strategic consultant for Campbell Alliance. As a private consultant, he worked with five biotechnology and life sciences companies. Mike holds an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, and graduated magna cum laude in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Nancy P. Merrick is the Manager of Information Services. Nancy received her M.S.L.S. from the Catholic University of America and has 17 years of experience in medical and pharmaceutical librarianship.  She specializes in on-line information and data gathering and leads information collection for the research team.  She also maintains BioAbility’s library resources. She has been with BioAbility for over 13 years.

Katherine Willis joined BioAbility in 2007 as an Information Specialist with over 10 years of experience as a reference librarian including over 8 years of experience as a reference librarian at NC State University.  She specializes in on-line information retrieval and extensive research in many areas of the life sciences. Kathy received her M.L.S. from the University of Michigan, and her BA from Hamilton College.

Amy Solan is BioAbility's newest research analyst.  Amy joins BioAbility following four years as a researcher in the biopharmaceutical industry.  She holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Duke University.

 

Also on BioAbility's Team are our Director of Operations, and our student interns.  

Affiliates.  Also joining BioAbility as affiliates on specific projects are numerous researchers and experts.  We add expertise as needed to best serve our clients. BioAbility has affiliated with other companies for joint projects.  Among them are:

        >>Regulatory Affairs North America, LLC -- Nancy Chew, RAC -- Regulatory expertise

        >>Pro Re Nata, Inc. -- Mark Witcher, Ph.D. -- Biomanufacturing expertise

        >>QED Technologies -- Howard Wachtler, MBA -- Valuation and deal expertise

Strategic Information for the Life Sciences

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