Meet the Team/Contact

Dr. Karen Reeves is Ligand’s Senior Vice President, Investments and Head Clinical Strategy. She brings more than 20 years of experience in all phases of drug development across multiple therapeutic areas, as well as regulatory and business development. At Pfizer, Inc., Dr. Reeves served in senior leadership positions in Worldwide Research & Development, including team leader Chantix®️, which won the Prix Galien for Best Pharmaceutical, and as VP Head of Global Science at Astellas Pharma, Inc., where she oversaw global physicians. Prior to joining Ligand in 2024, Dr. Reeves served as President and Chief Medical Officer at AZTherapies, Inc., a private late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs for Alzheimer’s and ALS. . Dr. Reeves earned a B.A. from Yale University and M.D. from the University of Vermont Medical School.

Dr. Antle joined Ligand in 2011 following Ligand's acquisition of CyDex Pharmaceuticals. He joined CyDex in 2005. Dr. Antle is currently responsible for quality assurance, internal drug product quality, operations, distribution and logistics for Captisol. From 1999 to 2005 Dr. Antle was Technical Operations Manager and Head of Process Development at EaglePicher Pharmaceuticals Services. Prior to 1999, Vince was the Group Leader for the Combinatorial Chemistry Department of MDS Panlabs in Bothell Washington. Dr. Antle has contributed to publications, presentation and patents and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati in Medicinal Chemistry, and a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Dr. Pipkin joined Ligand in 2011, following Ligand's acquisition of CyDex Pharmaceuticals. He joined CyDex in 2001. Dr. Pipkin's responsibilities include leading internal or assisting clients with development of new applications, intellectual property and products utilizing CAPTISOL, whether the application involves new molecular entities (NMEs), an Orphan designated drug, or reformulations of existing drugs for life cycle management via the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway. Prior to joining the Company, he was Executive Director for CMC Services and Director of Formulation Development at Oread Laboratories from 1995 to 2001. From 1986 through 1995, he was a Research Fellow with Merck Research Laboratories in the INTERx Research Division and West Point PR&D facilities; his area of research interest was in the design and evaluation of controlled release devices for ophthalmic and oral delivery to enhance therapeutic efficacy and lower systemic burden. He was at The Squibb Institute for Medical Research from 1980 through 1985, where he directed the preformulation activities for new chemical entities. He has contributed to numerous presentations, publications and patents and holds a M.S. and Ph.D. from The University of Kansas in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and B.A. in Mathematics and Chemistry from Kansas University.

Dr. Rajewski joined Ligand in October 2020. Her current responsibilities include designing and performing analytical and formulation studies to support internal projects, client projects, and intellectual property . Prior to joining Ligand, Lian was a Research Professor for 11 years at the University of Kansas, Biopharmaceutics Innovation and Optimization Center where she participated in and managed many formulation, pre-formulation, analytical, and bioanalytical projects, including many development projects involving Captisol. From 2000-2007, Dr. Rajewski held multiple roles at Aptuit its predecessor company, Quinitles, including Director of Solids Formulation Development, Senior Manager, and Senior Scientist. Prior to that, Lian was a Senior Scientist at Oread Laboratories. From 1995-1998 Lian worked in the Solids Formulation Development at Hoechst Marion Roussel and its predecessor company, Marion Merrel Dow. Lian began her career at Merck Research Laboratories, INTERx Research Division. Lian has contributed to publications and patents and holds a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Perrone joined Ligand in 2024. He is responsible for strategic partnerships to advance new Captisol-enabled product concepts, developing next-generation applications for the technology, and working with partners to bring our pipelines into new indications & fields. Prior to joining Ligand, Ben was Director of BD & Finance at Spexis AG (SIX:SPEX) a biopharma company deploying a macrocycle therapeutic discovery platform in oncology & rare disease. From 2014-2021, he held increasing titles at EnBiotix, Inc, an MIT/Boston University spinout of Professor James J Collins’ (Wyss, Broad Institutes) systems & synthetic biology inventions. He has consulted or held part-time leadership roles for a number of other biopharma companies, including Proterris (organ transplant therapeutics) & Apeiron Partners, a boutique life science investment bank. He holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Boston University (with a research focus on neurophysiology & neural coding) and a B.A. (with honors) in physics from the University of Chicago (minor in computational neuroscience).

Jessica Wolzen re-joined Ligand in 2018, but has been working with Vince, JD, and the Captisol team since 2006 while working at CyDex Pharmaceuticals. Her role includes regulatory responsibilities such as maintaining the multiple Captisol Drug Master Files, handling submissions to global health agencies, and providing our partners with access to our extensive safety and CMC data. Her role also includes Captisol operations, managing inventory, and coordinating with our partners to distribute Captisol around the world. And she heads Ligand’s environmental committee, which is committed to positive community engagement, employee education, and reducing our environmental impact. She obtained a B.S. in Biology from Kansas State University.

Jessica Beach rejoined Ligand in 2022, bringing with her a deep history and expertise in the Captisol® technology. She began her career in 2008 with the Captisol team at CyDex Pharmaceuticals, where she developed a strong foundation in both the technical and business aspects of the platform. Today, Jessica plays a central role in Captisol customer support, managing everything from small-scale orders of 100 grams to large-volume shipments of metric tons. She serves as the primary point of contact for customers, handling orders, addressing technical questions, and ensuring a smooth customer experience. In addition to her customer-facing responsibilities, Jessica also oversees Captisol marketing initiatives, website content, and the coordination of annual industry conferences. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Community Health from the University of Kansas.

Jo Krise joined Ligand in 2022 in the role of scientist. Jo’s responsibilities include analytical method development and formulation development support. She has 26 years of broad-based laboratory experience in the pharmaceutical, molecular biology and medicinal chemistry fields, acquired both in academic and industrial settings. She obtained her Bachelor of Science and Honours degrees in Biochemistry from Monash University, Victoria, Australia.

Lauryn Micheals joined Ligand in 2025 as an Analytical Chemist, bringing hands-on experience from the animal health CRO and CDMO space where she contributed to method development, validation, and analytical testing. Today, she supports both internal and client driven projects through analytical method development, testing, and formulation development. Her role focuses on generating reliable data and contributing to the execution of high-quality testing. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry from Northwest Missouri State University.