Dr. Atkins has a PhD in Physical Organic Chemistry from Kings College, University of London, and has over 35 years of global pharmaceutical experience in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of inhaled medicines. He previously served as CEO of Oriel Therapeutics a start-up company utilizing unique technology to facilitate inhaled drug delivery and powder movement. During Dr. Atkins tenure at Oriel the company raised over $35M in venture and angel funding. The company was acquired in 2010 by Novartis. At Novartis, Dr. Atkins was VP of Operations and was responsible for all technical, technology transfer, regulatory and quality aspects of a variety of inhaler development programs. Previously, he served as Global Director, Respiratory Therapeutic Development, Delivery Systems at GlaxoSmithKline where he had responsibility for integration of technical, commercial, and manufacturing strategy related to inhaled delivery systems. He was part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that was awarded the Nobel Peace prize (along with Vice President Al Gore) in 2007.