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Mr. Sholar has more than 20 years of industry experience, serving as the head of North American legal for a large publicly traded pharmaceutical company, in private practice as a law firm partner focused on intellectual property development and pharmaceutical patent licensing and litigation, and in the military as a Naval Officer leading teams in new mission areas around the globe.

Prior to becoming an in-house counsel, Sholar was a partner at Husch Blackwell, LLP, an AmLaw 100 firm, where he led trial teams in patent disputes and counseled numerous multinational brand and generic pharmaceutical clients on FDA regulatory issues surrounding product launches and intellectual property exclusivities. He subsequently joined Santen Pharmaceuticals as the head of North American legal, while simultaneously serving as global head of legal and Corporate Secretary for Santen’s early-stage biotechnology investment vehicle, Santen Ventures, where he helped analyze the intellectual property estates of clinical stage biotech companies and execute licensing deals and equity investments. At Santen, he also supported the global research and development organization, overseeing all legal issues surrounding clinical trials and product launches in the Americas region. John is a past editor of the licensing and valuation chapter of a treatise on intellectual property law and has taught academic and continuing education courses on intellectual property and trial law. John earned his juris doctorate magna cum laude from the University of Illinois where he served as an editor of the Law Review and subsequently completed a federal appellate court clerkship in Washington, D.C.