Duane J Roth

Duane J. Roth, 63, passed away Saturday, August 3, 2013, from injuries sustained in a bicycling accident on July 21 in preparation for a charity race. Duane J. Roth served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of CONNECT. CONNECT is the globally recognized public benefits organization fostering entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by assisting new business formation of technology and life sciences companies. Prior to joining CONNECT, Mr. Roth founded Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., where he served as CEO and Chairman of the Board for over twenty-five years. Prior to Alliance, he held senior management positions at Johnson & Johnson and American Home Products (now Pfizer) operating companies. He served as a member of the Board of Directors and executive committees of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) and BIOCOM (past Chair). Mr. Roth was appointed to the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee for the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) by the Governor in 2006 and was elected Vice Chairman in 2009. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute and a member of the Board of Directors of SAIC-Frederick, Inc., the contractor to the National Cancer Institute. Mr. Roth served on a number of advisory committees and boards of the University of California, including the President’s Board on Science and Innovation, the UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center (past Chair), the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), the UC San Diego Health Sciences advisory board and the UC San Diego Foundation Board of Directors (past Chair). He also serves on the San Diego State University College of Business (past Chair) and the Sciences & Engineering advisory boards. Mr. Roth is a member of the Executive Board for the California State University (CSU) (CSU) Professional Science Masters Program. Mr. Roth was active in the San Diego community serving as co-Chair of the Affordable Housing Working Group, a member of the Advisory Council for Math for America, a member of the Board of UC San Diego Preuss Charter School, and co-Chair of the advisory board to the National Conflict Resolution Center. Mr. Roth earned a B.S. from Iowa Wesleyan College, where he served as a trustee.