About Us

Organization

Vitalea Science is a leading contract research organization that provides ultra-sensitive detection strategies for drugs and drug candidates at microdose levels. Situated in Davis, California, the company was formed in 2003 by chemists and physicists from the University of California. Vitalea's scientists include the original developers and world's experts in AMS technology for applied bioscience as well as individuals with extensive backgrounds in the regulated CRO pharmaceutical industry. This unique blend of industry innovators and experienced bioanalytical scientists provides you the customer with data of the highest integrity under strict compliance with an understanding of the urgency of your timelines.

Leadership Team

President and CEO: Robert Bethem
Founder and Chief Scientific Officer: Stephen R. Dueker, PhD.
Laboratory Director: Jim Settlage, Ph.D.
Bioanalytical Laboratory Manager: Pete Lohstroh, Ph.D.
AMS Laboratory Manager: Jason Giacomo, Ph.D.
Executive Account Manager: Ann Hoffman
IT Administrator: Steve Edberg

Scientific Advisory Board

John Vogel, Ph.D.
Bruce Hammock, Ph.D.
James Harris, Ph.D.
Luis Ruzo, Ph.D.
Robert Ings, Ph.D.
Edmund Capparelli, Pharm. D.

Biographies

Robert Bethem

Robert (Bob) Bethem has been on the Board of Vitalea since 2008 and was appointed in 2010 as the President and CEO by Vitalea's Board of Directors. Bob brings with him over 20 years experience in senior management of several contract research organizations. He was a co-founder of Alta Analytical Laboratory in 1990 and the principal partner responsible for the development of their Bioanalytical LCMS Services Group which was acquired by Intertek, LLC in 2006. He currently sits as Chairman of the Board for Vista Analytical and a member of California-based investment groups. He is held in high regard for leading a personalized, service-oriented business approach with a commitment to scientific and data quality. He has been a member of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) since 1988 where he has served as a organizer of workshops and as an active participant in on-going focus groups that have helped shape key concepts in regulated bioanalysis, in particular Establishing the Fitness for Purpose of Mass Spectrometric Methods (JASMS Report, 2003). He is a co-author of Trace Quantitative Analysis by Mass Spectrometry (Wiley 2008) and frequent lecturer for short courses on Quantitative Mass Spectrometry. He is also a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS).

Stephen R. Dueker, Ph.D.

Dr. Dueker is a co-founder of Vitalea Science and served as President and CEO since 2003. In 2010 he was appointed as Chief Scientific Officer with the transfer of CEO duties to Bethem. He chairs the Vitalea Scientific Advisory Board, and is on Vitalea's Board of Directors. A trained bioanalytical chemist, he received a PhD. from the University of California, Davis (UCD), in comparative metabolism of natural products. He joined the UCD Human Nutrition Department in 1993 as an isotope chemist and forged collaborative projects with Dr. John Vogel at Lawrence Livermore National Lab to develop Accelerator Mass Spectrometry for clinical biokinetic studies of micronutrients and phytochemicals. There he managed all aspects of these studies, from radiosynthesis to the clinical design, regulatory approvals and analytical methodology. These seminal studies laid the foundation for pharmaceutical microdosing and microtracing while the methodology continues to be the basis for AMS best practices today. In 2007 he led the transfer of the next generation of AMS technology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology to Vitalea. With over 50 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and review articles Dr. Dueker is a frequent speaker on drug metabolism/quantification topics as well as on advances in AMS technology and its application to pharmaceutical science. He has been active in organizing workshops on metabolite quantification (CPSA 2009) and regulated bioanalysis (CPSA 2010) and is a participating member of the Global Bioanalysis Consortium group.

Le Thuy Vuong, M.B.A., Ph.D.

Dr. Vuong is a co-founder of Vitalea Science and has served as both an executive operation manager and directing scientist since its inception in 2003. She participated in the Executive Education program of the UCLA Anderson School of Management and received her Master in Business Administration from California Lutheran University. She obtained a Ph.D. in Nutrition Sciences and Epidemiology from the University of California at Davis (UCD). There her field of research focused in the roles of micronutrients in childhood development. She completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Western Human Nutrition Research Center and the Cancer Research Center of the University of Hawaii. Subsequently, Dr. Vuong consulted in the field of Food and Nutrition research, and pioneered the use of AMS to study bio-conversion of beta-carotene to retinol in infants. In 2003, Dr. Vuong co-founded Vitalea Science, Inc. She oversaw day-to-day business operations until early 2011 and was instrumental in Vitalea's expansion, the procuring of the BioMICADAS™, and the application of AMS in pediatric clinical research and development. In 2007, she received an SBIR award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for applying AMS to study drug disposition in pediatrics.

Jim Settlage, Ph.D.

Jim Settlage received his bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968. After teaching physics for several years he returned for his PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry at UC Davis which he received in 1981. In his graduate research he specialized in gas chromatography under Prof. Walter Jennings. Since then he has worked with several bioanalytical CROs starting in their early years and was instrumental in bringing them to maturity. In each case he was a member of the management team but stayed close to the lab helping to develop state-of-the-art methodology.

Pete Lohstroh, Ph.D.

Dr. Lohstroh joined Vitalea in 2008 as its director of bioanalytical operations. His primary responsibilities include the management of daily group operations, development of the VS Quality Systems to Good Laboratory Practices (21CFR part 58), project leadership for GLP studies, development and validation for bioanalytic AMS methods, preparation of protocols and reports, scientific peer-review, and the research and development of novel intellectual properties. In addition to his industry experience, Pete has a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology and completed postdoctoral research at the NCI-affiliated UC Davis Cancer Center. He has managed laboratories and conducted original, sponsored research for over 20 years in the areas of biomarker development, multi-platform bioanalytical immunoassay development, targeted nanoparticle drug-delivery, and reproductive toxicology at UC Davis. He has over 25 peer-reviewed publications in areas that include bioanalytic method development and validation with AMS.

Jason Giacomo, Ph.D.

Dr. Giacomo joined Vitalea in early 2008 to serve as director of AMS laboratory operations. He oversees the management, maintenance, and improvement of the BioMICADAS^TM AMS instrument and the advancement of AMS technology for bioanalytic applications. He is focused on the continued development of Vitalea's Quality Systems and leads equipment validation projects. Dr. Giacomo is an experimental physicist by training, having obtained a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. During his graduate studies he worked with many state-of-the-art instruments including the Spin Spectroscopy Facility on Undulator Beamline 7.0 and the Photo Emission Electron Microscopy Facility on Bend Magnet Beamline 7.3.1 at the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. He has designed and constructed various high value scientific equipment and electronics to meet ever more demanding scientific goals. Dr. Giacomo has trained under the guidance of the Paul Scherrer Institute/Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (PSI/ETH) Ion Beam Physics Group in the theory and operation of AMS. He continues to collaborate with the Ion Beam Physics Group in Switzerland and with scientists at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has continued to train under the direction of Dr. John Vogel (from Lawrence Livermore National Lab) and has emerged as a leading AMS technologist. He has 8 peer-reviewed publications with three recent publications on biological AMS.

Ann Hoffman

Ms. Hoffman has over 20 years of experience in the bioanalytical CRO industry from both the scientific and business perspectives. In her current position she serves as primary interface between Vitalea's AMS services and our Sponsors with the goal of developing loyalties that encourage repeat business. Prior to joining Vitalea Ann was the strategic account manager at Tandem Labs responsible for the company's largest accounts worldwide. She was Tandem's first Director of Business Development and was instrumental in growing the company from start up to a major Bioanalytical CRO with a reputation for quality and personalized service. Ann has been involved in product launches of early commercial ion trap systems at Torion Technologies, Finnigan Corporation (Thermo Fischer Scientific) and time-of-flight mass spectrometers at Perseptive Biosystems (Applied Biosystems) directed to early adopters of new technologies. She started mass spectrometry user groups in the greater Salt Lake City, Denver and Seattle areas bringing scientists together across a broad spectrum of applications to engage in open exchange of ideas. She is a member of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and CACO Pharmaceutical and Bioscience Society.

Tom Anderson, Ph.D.

Dr. Anderson joined the board of Vitalea in 2008, and was the company's first outside director. Dr. Anderson is the former CEO of Pediatric Bioscience, a Davis-based company with a focus in autism. In 1982, he co-founded Berkeley Antibody Company, Inc. (BAbCO) and served as its President and Chairman until its sale to Covance in 1998. After serving as a vice president of Covance for two years, Dr. Anderson pursued several consulting engagements with various biotechnology companies. Immediately prior to his role at Pediatric Bioscience, Dr. Anderson was CEO of Lipomics Technologies, a successful Davis/Sacramento area biotechnology firm that was recently acquired by Tethys. Bioscience. While leading Lipomics, Dr. Anderson successfully executed an angel round of funding followed by a venture capital round, directed the build-out and occupation of the company's first facility, staffed up the management team and initiated contracts with 11 of the world's top 12 pharmaceutical companies. He is a seasoned manager of new and growing biotechnology companies with a proven track record.

Dr. Anderson received his BA in Zoology from the University of Florida, his PhD in Physiology-Anatomy from UC Berkeley, and subsequently was a post-doctoral fellow at UC San Francisco. He has served on numerous boards.

John Vogel, Ph.D.

Dr. Vogel is widely viewed as a key founder of biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. He received a PhD from Case Western University in 1977 in Physics. After positions at Washington University (Physics) and Simon Fraser University (Archeology) he was recruited as a principal Research Scientist at the Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL). At Livermore he lead the development of biological Accelerator Mass Spectrometry as applied to questions in toxicology, nutrition, biochemistry, drug development, and animal science. He has published many fundamental reference articles and tutorials for the application of AMS to biomedical research. In total Dr. Vogel has published over 160 research articles that address both AMS technology and its applications to biomedical sciences. Starting in the mid 1990s he was a highly sought out speaker on the use of AMS to solve pharmaceutical research problems. This included metabolite quantification, human ADME, and low dose microdosing. In collaboration with Merck he published the first in vivo microdosing studies to address the issue of dose linearity in anti-retrovirals.

Dr. Vogel holds five (5) key patents in AMS application for bioanalysis and sample definition methods. In 2005 he was appointed at Vitalea Science as its Chief Science Advisor. Since joining Vitalea, Dr. Vogel has led numerous workshops/seminars on AMS and metabolism and is an active plenary level speaker at national meetings including the American Association of Pharmaceutical Science, American Society for Mass Spectrometry, American Chemical Society, Applied Pharmaceutical Analysis and the International Isotope society. He is lead author on the book chapter Quantitative drug metabolism with accelerator mass spectrometry", published in Mass spectrometry in drug metabolism and disposition: basic principles and applications (2011). He currently is directing several internal research projects at Vitalea while also providing PBPK modeling and bioanalytical expertise to Vitalea's sponsors.

Bruce Hammock, Ph.D.

Dr. Hammock is a distinguished Professor of Entomology & Cancer Research Center and Director of NIEHS-UCD Superfund Basic Research Program at University of California, Davis. Dr. Hammock's research efforts have had an exemplary impact on many different areas of biology, agriculture and medicine. He has received numerous academic awards including the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Award in 1995 for his research contributions to U.S. agriculture and the Burroughs Welcome Toxicology Scholar Award from the Society of Toxicology in 1987. He was elected in 1999 to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors for scientists in the United States. He was an original adopter of AMS technology and has published many of the fundamental papers on applied AMS.

James Harris, Ph.D.

Dr. Harris is a Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Bioavailability Systems (BAS) and the sole inventor of all BAS patents. From 1991 to 1996, Dr. Harris worked for the FDA, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, ultimately becoming a key member in clinical pharmacology research. During that time he published papers on the elucidation of the metabolism of Taxol^TM by CYP 3A and the isolation of the principal Taxol^TM metabolite. Dr. Harris earned an MS and a PhD in Toxicology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1989 and 1991 respectively, and a BS in Chemistry from Vanderbilt University in 1987.

Luis Ruzo, Ph.D.

Dr. Ruzo is founder and managing director of PTRL West. PTRL West is a full service contract research laboratory located in Hercules, California on the San Francisco Bay. The company was founded in 1987. Its sister company in Germany, PTRL Europe, has been in operation since 1992. PTRL West conducts studies needed to satisfy regulatory requirements in the areas of environmental fate, metabolism, and analysis of agrochemicals, industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Dr. Ruzo provides insight and market penetration into the enviromental/agrochemical testing area for which Vitalea's technology is well suited.

Robert Ings, Ph.D.

Dr. Ings graduated in biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK with a B.Sc. (Hons.) then obtained a Ph.D. while working in industry in conjunction with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine researching the mode of action of metronidazole in the parasite and host. He joined Vitalea's Scientific Advisory board in 2008 and since has been working closely with Vitalea in developing PK solutions for microdosing and absolute bioavailability studies. He has an extensive industrial career covering over 30 years, initially with several European pharmaceutical companies in the UK plus assignments in Italy, Sweden and ultimately the US, most recently as Vice President DMPK, Roche, Palo Alto, CA. He has directed pharmacokinetics and metabolism laboratories of approximately 100 staff supporting both small and large molecule discovery and development in many therapeutic areas include oncology, CNS, metabolic disease, inflammation, cardiovascular and anti-infectives, including anti-viral. He has contributed to 11 global/US and 13 European successful registrations of new medicines. Dr. Ings has authored over 80 publications, including several book chapters, and given over 120 presentations/training courses throughout the world.

Edmund Capparelli, Pharm. D.

Dr. Capparelli, Director, Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit (PPRU) & International Maternal, Pediatric and Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network Pharmacology Laboratory; Clinical Professor, Pediatrics Division of Pharmacology and Drug Discovery School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Skagg's School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences University of California, San Diego, will assist Vitalea in the development of tools for pediatric clinical pharmacology using Accelerator- technology, and particularly in applications in clinical trials of treatments of HIV/AIDS and related infections in pediatrics.