Metabolic Solutions Development Co.

Science and Medical Advisory Board

William Baer, MD, PharmD
William Baer, MD, PharmD is Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of ClinXus, a nonprofit life sciences alliance whose partner organizations include Cancer Hematology Centers of West Michigan, Grand Valley Medical Specialists, P.L.C., Grand Valley State University, Innovative Analytics, Jasper Clinical Research and Development, Inc., Metro Health, MPI Research, Saint Marys Health Care, Spectrum Health, and Van Andel Institute. Dr. Baer holds multiple faculty appointments, various appointments with local committees and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Nurses Choice Award: Physician of the Year from Spectrum Health Hospital Systems in 2008. Dr. Baer serves in various board/medical director capacities with a number of innovative and forward thinking organizations including Metagenics, Inc. and he is co-chair of the Translational Medicine Working Group of C-Paths PSTC. Dr. Baer received his MD from West Virginia University School of Medicine and did his residency with Michigan State University. He is a longtime practitioner of internal medicine at Grand Valley Medical Specialists.

Charles F. Burant, MD, PhD
Charles F. Burant, MD, PhD, is the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professor of Metabolism at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Burant received his bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin and his graduate and medical degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He completed his residency training at the University of California, San Francisco along with a fellowship in Endocrinology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Burant joined the faculty at the University of Michigan Medical Center in 1999. His clinical interests are in the area of metabolic syndromes and management of type 2 diabetes. Dr. Burants research laboratory investigates the mechanisms of insulin resistance and uses animal models of diabetes to identify pathways important in understanding diabetes progression. Additionally, his lab also studies adult pancreatic progenitor cells and how they might be used to generate new insulin secreting beta-cells.

Douglas R. Morton Jr., PhD
Douglas R. Morton Jr., PhD is a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, specializing in discovery, early development and strategic alliances. He was previously CEO of the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, an incubator and accelerator that provides wet-laboratory space, access to venture funding and business services to emerging companies in the life sciences arena. Dr. Morton spent the majority of his career in the pharmaceutical industry, joining The Upjohn Company in 1973. He remained with the surviving entity, serving in a series of increasingly significant discovery research management positions. At the time of Pharmacias merger with Pfizer in 2003, Dr. Morton was Group Vice President, Technology Acquisitions and Operations for Discovery Research.

Dr. Morton holds an AB in chemistry from Kenyon College and a PhD in organic chemistry from Columbia University. He completed postdoctoral studies in organic chemistry at Stanford University. Dr. Morton now serves on the Scientific Advisory Board and Management Committee of the Southwest Michigan Life Science Fund, the SAB for Hopen Life Sciences, the IAB for Cleveland Clinic Foundation Innovations and the Managing Directors for the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Tolera Therapeutics, Inc., TCH Pharmaceuticals, Inc., NephRx Corporation and Renovo Neural, Inc.