Team

Ernest Mario, PhD
Venture Advisor and SAB Member

Ernie has 40 years of experience in the research-based pharmaceutical industry. His career began in 1966 as a pharmaceutical researcher at Strasenburgh Laboratories in Rochester, NY. He later held various management positions within SmithKline and Squibb Corp., overseeing operations, quality control, and manufacturing. He was elected to the Squibb Board of Directors in 1984. He joined Glaxo plc in 1986, and subsequently served as Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman, during which time he oversaw the launch of five major brands that grew the company's sales and profits by nearly 15 percent annually – making it the second largest pharma company in the world. In 1993, Ernie joined Alza Corporation as CEO, where he ultimately combined Alza with JNJ, in what at the time was one of the largest mergers in pharmaceutical history. In 2001, he founded Apothogen, Inc., a company involved in early stage pharmaceutical development, which subsequently merged with IntraBiotics, Inc. He recently retired from Reliant Pharmaceuticals where he served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2003 to 2007. Ernie currently is chairman and chief executive officer of Capnia, a privately held development-stage pharmaceutical company in Palo Alto, CA, which is developing novel therapeutic products for migraine and other conditions using a proprietary medical gas delivery system. Ernie has been a member of Pappas Ventures' Scientific Advisory Board since 2002.

An adjunct professor of pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island, Ernie also holds honorary doctorates from the University of Rhode Island and Rutgers University (whose School of Pharmacy bears his name). In addition to his service on the boards of several publicly traded corporations, Ernie is active in numerous educational and healthcare organizations, including Duke University, for which he serves as a director of the Duke University Health System and the American Foundation of Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE), for which he serves as chairman of the board.

In 2007, he was awarded the Remington Medal of Honor, the pharmacy profession’s highest honor.

Education

Rutgers University (Bachelor of Science, Pharmacy)
University of Rhode Island (PhD, Physical Sciences)