Wendye is a physician scientist and biopharmaceutical entrepreneur with extensive operational, strategy, fund raising, and team building experience. She joined Blade in 2015. Wendye has made a career of building companies from the ground up. She has collaborated with diverse investor groups to co-found and managed several nascent biopharmaceutical companies (including Blade, Labrys, NeurogesX among others). Additionally, she functions as a strategic and scientific advisor to innovators and investors, and serves as an independent board member and head of the pricing and transaction subcommittees for Rapt Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RAPT) and board member for the California Life Sciences Association. Her expertise includes small and large molecule development from discovery through translational research through the clinic.

Wendye received her BS from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley and her MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in anesthesiology and pain at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions. She served as Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at UCSF from 1995-2000 and has been teaching faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine since 2002. She is board certified in anesthesiology.

Jean-Frédéric Viret, Ph.D., joined Blade Therapeutics as Chief Financial Officer in March 2021. In his role, Dr. Viret leads Blade’s finance and accounting functions, as well as investor relations and corporate communications. He has nearly two decades of corporate finance experience within the life sciences industry, most recently serving as CFO with Coherus BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRS), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company that he joined in 2014. Dr. Viret has previous experience in CFO roles during tenures at several public and privately held biopharmaceutical and diagnostics companies.

In addition to a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from Université Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg), Dr. Viret has a B.S. in Engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine and an M.B.A. from Cornell University. He was a visiting fellow at Harvard University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Prabha Ibrahim, Ph.D. has worked in biopharmaceutical/pharma industry for nearly 30 years and has held leadership roles in drug discovery and development in multiple therapeutic areas with a track record of identifying NCEs and advancing them through pre-clinical and clinical development. Her record of success and scientific achievements includes inventor and co-inventor of more than 100 published patents, contributions to the nomination of multiple development candidates and filing of more than 20 INDs, and co-author of more than 40 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals. She was instrumental in the discovery and development of multiple first-in-class medicines, including ZELBORAF^® (vemurafenib), a BRAF inhibitor approved in 2011 for metastatic melanoma; TURALIO^® (pexidartinib), a CSF-1R inhibitor approved in 2019 for symptomatic tenosynovial giant cell tumor; and LYFNUA (gefapixant), a P2X3 receptor antagonist approved in 2022 for chronic cough.

Prabha was a Chief Technology Officer of Afferent Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from November 2015 and continued her responsibility with Merck (NYSE: MRK) after acquisition of Afferent until March 2017. Prior to Afferent/Merck, she held multiple positions at Plexxikon for 14 years, with the last one being the Senior Vice President of Chemistry and Nonclinical Development. Prabha led multidisciplinary teams and held multiple project and program leadership roles. Prior to Plexxikon, Prabha was a Senior Research Scientist and Group Leader at CV Therapeutics (Nasdaq:CVTX), where she was a project co-leader for cell cycle project and a lead chemist for the second-generation ranolazine program. She started her career as medicinal chemist at Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN), where she played an integral role in small-molecule drug discovery in inflammation.

Prabha earned her Ph.D. at the University of Victoria, Canada, where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2020 and is a member of the Dean of Science’s Advisory Board. She was a Welch Foundation Fellow at Rice University, Houston, and received her M.Sc. Degree from The American College, Madurai, India, and B.Sc. degree from RDM College, Sivaganga, India. Prabha is a 2023 nominee for the Chemical Research Society of India’s CRSI Medal.

Felix Karim Ph.D. has worked in the biopharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years and has held leadership roles in business development and R&D management in both public and private biopharma companies, including Amgen, KAI Pharmaceuticals, Compugen, Celera and Exelixis.

Felix has led multidisciplinary teams across a variety of therapeutic programs that have attracted major pharmaceutical partnerships. While at KAI, Felix led the discovery team for Parsabiv™/etelcalcetide, which is approved for the treatment hyperparathyroidism in chronic kidney disease. He also served as Vice President of Business Development at KAI where he led the partnering efforts, including a license with Ono Pharmaceuticals for development and commercialization of Parsabiv™/etelcalcetide in Japan and the sale of KAI to Amgen in July 2012 for $315 million.

Felix received his BA in Biochemistry from University of California, Berkeley and his PhD from the Human Genetics Department at University of Utah and returned to UC Berkeley where he did post-doctoral training.

Bassem Elmankabadi, M.D., joined Blade Therapeutics as senior vice president of clinical development in November 2021. In his role, Dr. Elmankabadi will oversee strategy and execution of Blade’s clinical development programs.

Dr. Elmankabadi is a board-certified surgeon with more than 15 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience leading drug development, pharmacovigilance, and regulatory activities supporting investigational and marketed products for rare diseases, immuno-oncology and solid tumors. Prior to joining Blade, he held the position of executive medical director managing clinical development for the fibrosis and oncology platforms at FibroGen (Nasdaq: FGEN). Dr. Elmankabadi previously held a leadership role at Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) as senior medical director, global clinical safety officer. Before his roles with Amgen, he was a medical director, clinical instructor at UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles.

Dr. Elmankabadi received his doctor of medicine and masters’ degrees in ophthalmology from the University of Cairo School of Medicine & Surgery, Cairo. He completed an internship in trauma surgery at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine and general surgery residency at Brooklyn Hospital Center, School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.

Daven Mody joined Blade as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs in April 2019 bringing with him more than 20 years of industry experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology in several therapeutic areas. He previously served as Senior Director, Regulatory Affairs at Theravance Biopharma where he led the efforts in the FDA approval of YUPELRI^® in the United States. Prior to that, he was Head of Regulatory Affairs at Impax Laboratories where he was instrumental in the approval of RYTARY^® by both the United States’ FDA and Europe’s EMA. Daven began his career in the pharmaceutical industry in 2000 at ALZA Corporation and has held increasing leadership roles in Regulatory Affairs at Matrix Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, CoTherix, Johnson & Johnson, and Medivation. Daven received a Pharm.D. from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, an MBA from California State University, Hayward and is certified by the Regulatory Affairs Certification Board.

Ravi has worked for 17 years in various Bay Area biopharmaceutical companies as a biology leader and drug hunter. He has led projects ranging from early target validation, discovery, preclinical development through POC clinical trials. His teams have contributed to the discovery of four clinical-stage investigational medicines and two marketed drugs.

Ravi has been with Blade since its founding and directs translational strategy in support of the company’s fibrosis and neurodegeneration programs. Prior to Blade, Ravi led the drug discovery biology team at InterMune in the fibrosis and HCV therapeutic areas. His team supported the discovery and development of the marketed HCV drugs danoprevir and coblopasvir. Ravi began his career in industry as a biochemist supporting Celera’s HCV programs.

Ravi obtained his doctorate in biochemistry from The Ohio State University and conducted his post-doctoral research in enzymology at the Pennsylvania State University. He also holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology and Loyola College, respectively, each located in Chennai, India.

Michael is an accomplished and enthusiastic senior-level communications professional and business leader who applies the power of outstanding communications to build value. With almost 25 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience, Michael offers broad functional expertise, strong leadership, and proven ability to create sound strategy that translates into well-aligned execution and business results.

Michael joined Blade Therapeutics in August 2020 as Senior Vice President of Communications, responsible for strategy development and tactical execution for corporate communications. He previously served as Vice President of Communications with The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) where he helped build a compelling value proposition for the company’s revolutionary siRNA therapy for atherosclerosis. Those efforts contributed to the company’s acquisition by Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) for $9.7B.

Prior to The Medicines Company, Michael served in communications and marketing roles of increasing scope with Merck (NYSE: MRK), ultimately reporting into the Chief Communications Officer as a member of the Global Communications Leadership Team. Throughout a nearly 20-year span, he consistently delivered outstanding results, exceeded benchmarks, and served as a trusted counselor in support of major brands, corporate initiatives and executives across the breadth of the company. His biopharma career started with Zeneca Group after foundational experience with advertising and public relations agencies.

Michael earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from La Salle University in Philadelphia where he dual-majored in Communication and English (writing).

Outside of the office, Michael is an outstanding chef, lover of outdoor sports, passionate football fan, and traveler of all 50 U.S. states with wife and two children.

Krishna Gorti joined Blade Therapeutics in August 2020 to lead Investor Relations (contract). He brings a rich and diverse background that has enabled him to repeatedly deliver value for investors, academic organizations and patients. His broad-based experience includes roles as an investment analyst covering biotechnology companies; investor relations lead for a mid-cap biotech; a physician certified in Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery; and a clinical and translational researcher who has published original research in high-impact scientific journals.

Krishna previously served as Senior Vice President of Investor Relations with The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) from 2015 through 2019, during which time he played an integral role in delivering substantial shareholder value and consummating the company’s acquisition by Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) for $85/share, resulting in a 344% shareholder return. He started with the company in 2013 playing an important role in business development and strategy.

Prior to in-house roles with biopharmaceutical companies, Krishna was a biotechnology industry equity research analyst (sell side) with leading financial institutions, including JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), Piper Jaffray and Rodman & Renshaw.

Krishna earned an MD from Andhra University, Vizag, India, and went on to qualify as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1997 after a residency in Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland. In 1999, Krishna completed a research fellowship in Thyroid & Parathyroid Diseases with the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard University. He then served as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University, where he subsequently completed Preliminary General Surgical Residency in 2004. In 2006, Krishna completed an Oncology Research Fellowship in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

Mark Timney has deep experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has repeatedly distinguished himself as a corporate leader who delivers value for patients and shareholders. In addition to his role as Chairman at Blade, he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and board member at Attralus Therapeutics and a board member at Sarissa Capital Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: SRSAU). He is also a strategic advisor to health care companies and investment groups.

Throughout a career defined by deep operational and commercial experience, Mark has led significant acquisitions and divestitures; reshaped country and global business operations; launched numerous breakthrough medicines; delivered growth strategies to achieve market leadership; and played key roles in pipeline governance. He has held senior roles in companies that include The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO), Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK), Purdue Pharmaceuticals, Zeneca Group, ICI Pharmaceuticals and Roussel Labs, and has led markets that include the United States, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Mark’s most recent executive role was CEO and Board member of The Medicines Company. Mark renewed investor confidence by focusing on value-creating activities within the Company’s pipeline. These actions increased shareholder return more than three-fold within one year and culminated in the company’s acquisition by Novartis (NYSE: NVS) for $9.7B.

Mark received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) in Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., holds a Sigma Executive Belt certification, and has completed executive education programs at Harvard, Wharton and Stanford.

Luke Evnin, Ph.D. , has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare investing, and is co-founder and managing director of MPM Capital. Luke co-founded MPM in 1997 with Ansbert Gadicke, M.D., and opened the San Francisco office in 1999. Luke’s passion for discovering and advancing groundbreaking drug discovery companies inspires his work and that of the MPM team, which has been the driving force behind building companies such as CoStim Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis, NYSE: NVS), Epizyme (Nasdaq: EPZM), Idun Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Pacira Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PCRX), Pharmasset (Nasdaq: VRUS, acquired by Gilead, Nasdaq: GILD), and Potenza Therapeutics (acquired by Astellas Pharma).

Over his career, Luke has served on over 30 boards, including nine public companies that include Idun, Pacira, and Potenza. Since 2015, as one key aspect of activities with MPM, Luke has co-founded seven MPM portfolio companies, including Blade Therapeutics, Harpoon Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HARP), Potenza Therapeutics, Maverick Therapeutics, Tizona Therapeutics and Werewolf Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HOWL). He has contributed as an inventor to several of these companies, as well as MPM portfolio company Oncorus (Nasdaq: ONCR) where he currently serves on the board of directors.

In recognition of MPM’s novel work to finance and build companies which may have a significant impact on cancer care and cures globally, Luke is a co-recipient of the 2017 Global Oncology Visionary Award. He has also devoted significant effort to working with the Scleroderma Research Foundation, serving as its chairman since 2002. Prior to co-founding MPM, Luke honed his skills as a venture capitalist at Accel Partners where he focused on emerging healthcare companies.

Luke advanced his technical training and launched his interest in curing disease in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California, San Francisco where he received his Ph.D. His passion for drug discovery began at Princeton University where he received an A.B. in Molecular Biology.

Jim Scopa has served as a member of Blade’s board of directors since 2015. Jim served as a managing director of MPM Capital from May 2005 to June 2017. Jim spent the prior 15 years working at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown and Thomas Weisel Partners advising growth companies in biopharmaceuticals and medical devices. At Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown Jim served as managing director and global co-head of Healthcare Investment Banking, and at Thomas Weisel Partners Jim served on the Investment Committee for TWP’s Health Care venture fund as well as co-director of Healthcare Investment Banking.

Jim currently serves on the board of directors of various biotechnology companies, including Aligos Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ALGS), Neuron 23 Inc., DiCE Molecules& (Nasdaq: DICE), and Adverum Biotechnologies (Nasdaq: ADVM), Inc. He previously served on the boards of Semma Therapeutics (sold to Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Nasdaq: VRTX), True North Therapeutics (sold to Bioverativ), iPierian, Inc. (sold to Bristol Myers Squibb, NYSE: BMY), Conatus, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNAT) and Solasia KK. Jim also currently serves as a member of the Investment Advisory Committee and Advisory Board of One Ventures, an Australian based venture capital firm.

Jim holds an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Dr. Wheeler joined Deerfield in 2014 as a Partner on the Private Transactions team at Deerfield where he is focused on therapeutics companies. Prior to Deerfield, Dr. Wheeler worked for and on behalf of Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. as a director since 2009. Previous to Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc., Dr. Wheeler was the Manager of the Business Development and Operations team at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and a Senior Associate at Third Rock Ventures, LLC from 2008 to 2009. Dr. Wheeler holds a Ph.D. and S.M. in Biological Engineering and an S.B. in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Slattery is a Partner on the Private Transactions team at Deerfield, which he joined in 2000. He began his professional career studying immune system complications associated with End Stage Renal Disease. Prior to joining Deerfield, Mr. Slattery was a senior healthcare analyst between 1990 and 2000 at Amerindo Investment Advisors overseeing biotechnology investments. He has held various positions in research including those at National Medical Enterprises, Johnson & Johnson, and HMSS. Mr. Slattery has a degree in Biology from State University of New York at Albany and completed coursework in Immunology at the Graduate School-New Brunswick, Rutgers University.

Rana Al-Hallaq, PhD is Senior Director and Principal at Pfizer Ventures. Rana leverages her preclinical, clinical, and business development experience to assess, invest in, and manage equity investments for Pfizer Ventures. She oversees the Pfizer Ventures investments in Mitokinin, Inc. (San Francisco, CA) and Blade Therapeutics (South San Francisco, CA). Prior to her current role, Rana was a Transactionalist in Worldwide Business Development at Pfizer where she was responsible for negotiating and transacting licenses, acquisitions, and partnerships across therapeutic areas. Rana joined Pfizer in 2015 as an Early Candidate Clinical Lead where she advised early clinical programs in CNS to ensure alignment with business strategies. Prior to joining Pfizer, she held roles at Allergan (formerly Actavis, formerly Forest Laboratories), first in Clinical Development Psychiatry as scientific and operational lead on Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies investigating novel treatments for Major Depressive Disorder and schizophrenia, and later in Business Development where she assessed and executed on a number of acquisitions and licenses across therapeutic areas. She began her training as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Rana graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Biology from Hamilton College and holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Georgetown University Medical Center.

Lloyd Klickstein, M.D., Ph.D., is the chief scientific officer at Versanis Bio, the clinical stage company developing bimagrumab for the treatment of obesity. Prior to Versanis Bio, Lloyd held executive leadership roles at Adicet Bio (Nasdaq: ACET) and resTORbio (Nasdaq: TORC) and was head of translational medicine for the New Indication Discovery Unit (NIDU) and the Exploratory Disease Area (DAx) at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NYSE: NVS). Under his leadership, NIDU & DAx teams carried multiple projects forward from target identification through clinical proof-of-concept in novel areas of drug development including non-infectious liver disease, hearing loss and aging, among others.

Prior to his 13 years at Novartis, Lloyd was an academic physician-scientist at Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, where he directed an NIH-funded basic research laboratory and maintained an active clinical practice in the Arthritis Center as a staff rheumatologist & immunologist. Lloyd earned a B.S. degree from Tufts University, his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University, completed post-graduate clinical training in Internal Medicine, Rheumatology & Immunology at BWH and a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Center for Blood Research in Boston.

Wendye is a physician scientist and biopharmaceutical entrepreneur with extensive operational, strategy, fund raising, and team building experience. She joined Blade in 2015. Wendye has made a career of building companies from the ground up. She has collaborated with diverse investor groups to co-found and managed several nascent biopharmaceutical companies (including Blade, Labrys, NeurogesX among others). Additionally, she functions as a strategic and scientific advisor to innovators and investors and as an independent director for Rapt Therapeutics, and the California Life Sciences Association. Her expertise includes small and large molecule development from discovery through translational research through the clinic.

Wendye received her BS from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley and her MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and in anesthesiology and pain at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Institutions. She served as Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at UCSF from 1995-2000 and has been teaching faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine since 2002. She is board certified in anesthesiology.

Hal Dietz is Victor A. McKusick Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and Molecular Biology & Genetics in the McKusick-Nathans Department of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, an Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and non-executive director on the board of GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK). As a physician scientist, he has dedicated his entire career to the care and study of individuals with heritable connective tissue disorders with primary perturbations of extracellular matrix homeostasis and function. His lab has identified the genes for many of these conditions, for which he uses model systems to elucidate disease mechanisms. Dr. Dietz has received multiple prestigious awards including the Curt Stern Award from the American Society of Human Genetics, the Colonel Harland Sanders Lifetime Achievement Award in Medical Genetics, the Taubman Prize for excellence in translational medical science, the Harrington Prize from the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Harrington Discovery Institute, the Pasarow Award in Cardiovascular Research, the InBev-Baillet Latour Health Prize from the country of Belgium, and the Research Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. He is an inductee of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of American Physicians, National Academy of Medicine, and National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Eickelberg is Vice Chair for Basic and Translational Sciences and Professor of Medicine (under committee review) in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, USA. He was previously Professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver, CO, USA, from 2016 to 2020. Dr. Eickelberg acted as Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC) at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munich and the University of Munich, as well as Vice Chairman of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL) from 2008 to 2016. He is associate editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine since 2010, member of the Editorial Boards of the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology since 2007, the European Respiratory Journal since 2008, and serves as section editor “Lung Biology and Disease” for PLoS One since 2007.

Dr. Eickelberg’s research focuses on the molecular events that initiate, perpetuate, or resolve tissue fibrosis. Investigations from his group have identified and mechanistically interrogated TGF-beta and WNT signaling as a novel mechanism driving lung fibrogenesis. His studies have delineated in detail the components of the lung extracellular matrix in health and fibrosis, as well as immune cell populations that drive fibrosis in the lung. Most recently, these investigations enabled the stratification of fibrosis subtypes and, by identifying long-lived MZB1+ plasma cells in tissue fibrosis, uncovered a novel common mechanisms of tissue fibrosis.

Dr. Eickelberg has been awarded two very prestigious awards of international renown (the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the German Ministry of Research and Education and the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation in 2001, and the Gay-Lussac-Humboldt-Award of the French Ministry of Science and Education in 2013). He was selected as a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2018.

Dr. Scott L. Friedman is the Dean for Therapeutic Discovery and Chief of Liver Diseases, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has performed pioneering research into the underlying causes of fibrosis associated with chronic liver disease. His work has spawned an entire field that is now realizing its translational and therapeutic potential. A 1979 graduate of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, he was a Medical Resident at the Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, followed by a GI Fellowship at UCSF. In 1995-1996 he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Weizmann Institute in Israel. He has mentored over 85 fellows and students. Dr. Friedman has been awarded the EASL International Recognition Award and Distinguished Achievement Awards from both the AASLD and the American Liver Foundation. He is widely respected as a key opinion leader working closely with the biotech and pharmaceutical industry in developing new therapies for liver disease.

Dr. Hirth has over 30 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical discovery and development experience. He was a co-founder and CEO of Plexxikon were he built a novel, structure-guided drug discovery platform, which over the last ten years, has brought several NCEs into the clinic in a variety of indications. Most advanced from this portfolio is a V600E B-raf selective inhibitor that was FDA approved for metastatic melanoma together with a companion diagnostic and is sold under the brand name Zelboraf™. In addition Turalio™ , recnemtly obtained FDA approval for TGCT, a rare tumor affecting the synovium and tendon sheaths. After Plexxikon was acquired in April 2011 by Daiichi Sankyo, Dr. Hirth had agreed to stay for a two year transition period until April 2013.

Previously, he was at Sugen, Inc. from 1991 until 2000 and helped build the company from its inception and advanced several kinase inhibitors through clinical trials in oncology. Sutent was the first Sugen product to reach the market in renal cell carcinoma. After the acquisition of Sugen by Pharmacia Upjohn in 1999, Dr. Hirth stayed on to help with the integration until 2000. At Sugen, Dr. Hirth held several positions with increasing responsibilities, last as President. Prior to Sugen, Dr. Hirth was a vice president in research with Boehringer Mannheim where, among other responsibilities, he successfully led the company's erythropoietin program to approval in 1989, sold under the name Recormon™ . Before joining Boehringer Mannheim, Dr. Hirth was a research scientist with the Max Planck Institute, following the completion of his post doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Hirth received his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Heidelberg University, Germany.

Dr. Hirth currently serves as the chairman of IO Bio in Copenhagen and as a director on the BOD of Iconic Therapeutics in South San Francisco, CA , SutroVax Inc. in South San Francisco and Trex Bio in South San Francisco and Escient Pharmaceuticals in San Diego. Former BOD memberships include Afferent Pharmaceuticals in San Mateo, CA and Kolltan Pharmaceuticals in New Haven, CT and Alios Biopharma in South San Francisco.

Richard Hynes is the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at the Koch Institute and Department of Biology at MIT and Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute. He was formerly Associate Head and then Head of the Biology department and was Director of the MIT Center for Cancer Research (now the Koch Institute) for 10 years and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for 30 years. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) of London, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the AACR Academy and an ASCB Fellow and is a Member of the US National Academies of Sciences and Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Hynes did his undergraduate work in Biochemistry at Trinity College, Cambridge, UK, and his PhD in Biology at MIT and was a postdoctoral fellow at Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. Dr. Hynes returned to MIT in 1975 as an Assistant Professor and one of the founding members of the MIT Cancer Center. 

Dr. Hynes’ work over the past 45 years has played a major role in establishing the molecular basis of cell adhesion and its many diverse and important effects on cells both in vitro and in vivo. This molecular understanding forms the basis for development of antibodies and drugs that modulate cell adhesion and are in clinical use against thrombosis, inflammation and autoimmune diseases and under investigation for efficacy against cancers. Molecular understanding of cell-ECM interactions is also being exploited in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Most recently the Hynes laboratory has focused on metastasis, particularly the contributions of the ECM in promoting metastasis and has developed methods for systematic characterization and analysis of ECM changes in vivo, clearly implicating ECM proteins in tumor progression.

Dr. Hynes’ awards include the Gairdner International Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Pasarow Award and the E.B. Wilson medal of the American Society for Cell Biology, in recognition of his research on extracellular matrix, integrins and cell adhesion. He has served as President of the American Society for Cell Biology, chaired the NAS committees on Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and, most recently, the NAS/NAM Committee on Human Genome Editing. He was a Governor of the Wellcome Trust, UK. 2007-2016.

Mervyn Turner has almost 35 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery, research and development, licensing and business development, emerging markets strategy development and implementation. He spent 27 years at Merck & Co. Inc., holding positions of increasing responsibility in Merck Research Laboratories before joining the company’s Executive Committee as Chief Strategy Officer. Since his retirement from Merck & Co., he has served as an Advisor to Bay City Capital, a San Francisco-based venture firm. He is currently an Advisor to Bridge Medicines, a commercial incubator for early stage innovation based in New York City. He is also an Advisor to Adagene, a China-based therapeutic antibody company, and a member of the Board of EnGeneIC (Sydney, Australia). He is Chairman of the Board of LUNAC, an academic spin out company, based in Leeds, UK.  He is also a Senior Healthcare Advisor to Lazard, a leading financial services and investment banking firm.