James N. Woody, MD, PhD

VICE CHAIRMAN,
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  • Over 30 years’ experience in biomedical R&D with  specialized PhD training in Immunology, and antibody technology

  • 15 years with Latterell Venture partners, organized 3 diagnostic instrument companies, two oriented toward antibody evaluation, all successful. 

  • Pediatrician, Board Member Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford for several 3-year terms, dedicated to Pediatric Health

Jim is currently the Vice Chairman, Board of Directors at MARAbio, and was previously its CEO.  He brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical research and management experience to MaraBio. In addition to his duties as a consultant to LV where he served as a General Partner for 14 years, Jim is currently Chairman of Viracta Therapeutics, a company focusing on unique therapies for virally induced cancers. He was founding CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, a cancer therapeutic antibody company. He was the Board member for both ForteBio and Protein Simple, antibody detection companies founded by LVP, and both were successfully acquired. Jim was President and General Manager of Roche Bioscience (formerly Syntex) in Palo Alto, CA, where he was responsible for a wide range of bioscience research and development, ranging from genetics and genomics to clinical development of numerous new pharmaceuticals. Previously, Jim served as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of R & D for Centocor, where he was responsible for the discovery and early clinical development of antibody and peptide-based therapeutic products. While at Centocor, Jim, along with colleagues, developed Remicade, the first of the TNF inhibitor biologics, that have benefited patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn's Disease and Psoriasis. He also helped develop ReoPro, a novel platelet blocking drug used in conjunction with angioplasty.

Prior to Centocor, Jim served as a Navy Medical Officer, and was Head of the Navy Transplant Research Program. With his colleagues and with both Navy and Congressional support, founded the National Marrow Donor Program, which has fostered over 80,000 transplants to date for patients in need of matched transplant donors. He was promoted to Commanding Officer and Director, US Naval Medical Research and Development Command in Bethesda Maryland. In that role, he was responsible for a wide range of medical research and development activities ranging from transplantation research to infectious diseases. He was responsible for the surveillance, detection and therapy for all Biologic Warfare Agents and Infectious Diseases in the first Gulf War and was awarded the Marine Corps/US Navy Legion of Merit for his service.

Jim previously served as Chairman of the Board of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group representing over 120 Silicon Valley Companies.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital (Stanford Children’s Hospital). He chaired the LPCH Quality, Service, and Safety Committee for over 10 years.

Jim holds an M.D. from Loma Linda University, trained in Pediatric Immunology at Duke University and Children's Hospital in Boston (Harvard), and holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of London, England. He was Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine 1982-1996. Jim has authored or co-authored over 140 publications.