Kirk Johnson, PhD, is XOMA’s Vice President of Development.  Dr. Johnson joined XOMA in 2013 to lead the Company’s endocrine development programs.  Prior to XOMA, Dr. Johnson was Chief Scientific Officer at Medicinova, following its merger with Avigen Inc.  As an officer and V.P. Research & Development at Avigen, Dr. Johnson helped redirect the company from a gene therapy platform to one focused on neurologic pharmaceutical development.  Earlier in his career, Dr. Johnson worked at Genesoft Pharmaceuticals and Chiron Corp (Novartis), where he focused on both protein and small molecule therapeutic research and development activities.  Dr. Johnson earned a PhD in pharmacology and toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia and completed postdoctoral fellowships studying the mechanism of action of IL-2 at Dartmouth Medical School and University of California Berkeley wherein his discoveries included the STY class of kinases.  He has authored over 80 published manuscripts and holds at least a dozen issued patents.

 STY class of kinases.