Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of novel small molecule therapeutics for cancer and other hypoxia-related diseases, has announced the appointment of Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr., Ph.D., to its Board of Directors.

“We are delighted to welcome Bob to the Board,” stated David Kalergis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “His comprehensive pharmaceutical industry experience and drug development knowledge will add real value to Diffusion.”

Dr. Ruffolo currently serves as President of Ruffolo Consulting, LLC, and sits on the Boards of Directors for numerous biotechnology companies, in addition to several non-profit charitable organizations. He previously served as President of Research and Development of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Corporate Senior Vice President of Wyeth (now Pfizer). Previously Dr. Ruffolo spent 17 years at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline) as Senior Vice President and Director of Biological Sciences, Worldwide, and before that, he was Chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Committee at Lilly Research Laboratories.

During his distinguished career in the pharmaceuticals industry, Dr. Ruffolo played a significant role in the discovery and/or development of marketed products such as Carvedilol for the treatment of heart failure and acute myocardial infarction, Ropinirole for Parkinson’s disease, Dobutamine for congestive heart failure and Eprosartan for hypertension. He has authored nearly 500 full-length publications and over 200 abstracts, in addition to editing 15 books. Dr. Ruffolo was Editor-in-Chief of four international scientific journals, and has served on the editorial board of 29 international scientific journals. He has received numerous prestigious awards throughout his career, including the Discoverers Award for Carvedilol in heart failure. Dr. Ruffolo received a B.S. degree in pharmacy and his Ph.D. degree in pharmacology from The Ohio State University.  Thereafter, he spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health.