John Didsbury

JOHN DIDSBURY, President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Scientific Officer
of DARA BioSciencess, Inc., is a highly qualified executive manager with over 18
years of experience within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He
most recently served as President and CEO for Nuada Pharmaceuticals Inc., where
he transformed the company from a chemistry database/service company to a highly
successful drug development company in under 14 months. Formerly of
GlaxoSmithKline, Inc., Dr. Didsbury’s achievements include creating and leading
a new rheumatoid arthritis disease research program area, setting disease area
strategies in metabolic and musculoskeletal diseases, and eventually serving in
an executive management role determining the strategic direction of drug
discovery efforts in metabolic, musculoskeletal and viral diseases and
overseeing operational planning for the drug discovery unit in RTP, North
Carolina. His positions included head of strategy and operations, drug
discovery; disease strategy director; disease program leader and senior research
investigator. Dr. Didsbury has worked as Associate Director, Biology for
Macronex, Inc.; Assistant Professor at Duke University Medical Center; and as a
scientist with Genentech, Inc. A co-author of several patents and a published
writer and researcher, Dr. Didsbury earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in
Biology/Chemistry at the University of Connecticut in 1977 and his PhD in
Medical Microbiology at the University of Vermont Medical College in 1982.