RENOVACOR - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Professor of Medicine

Dennis McNamara, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Center for Heart Failure Research at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Dr. McNamara, a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Medical School, completed his research and clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston before joining the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 1994. For the last twenty years his research has focused on the pathogenesis of primary dilated cardiomyopathy and the impact of genetic heterogeneity on clinical outcomes. He directed the recently completed IPAC study (Investigation of Pregnancy Associated Cardiomyopathy), a thirty center investigation of myocardial recovery for women with peripartum cardiomyopathy. He is a recognized leader in the field of pharmacogenomics and heart failure therapeutics, and his laboratory has functioned as a core genomics lab for numerous multi‑center trials including the AHeFT study of Heart Failure in African Americans. He is the Principal Investigator for the NIH funded multicenter investigation GRAHF2, (Genomic Response Analysis for Heart Failure Therapy in African Americans) which will explore the potential use of genomics to tailor heart failure therapeutics.

Douglas Mann, MD, is the Lewin Distinguished Professor in Cardiovascular Disease and Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He received his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia and completed fellowships in clinical cardiology at the University of California San Diego, and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He served as chief of cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine (2005‑2009) and Washington University School of Medicine (2009‑2019). Dr. Mann's primary research interest has been the molecular and cellular basis of heart failure, with particular emphasis on the role of innate immunity in disease progression and recovery of the failing heart. The author of numerous peer reviewed articles on the role on inflammatory mediators in cardiac remodeling and myocardial recovery, Dr. Mann is also the founding editor of Heart Failure, A Companion to Braunwald's Heart Disease, and a co‑editor of Braunwald's Heart Disease, the leading textbook in cardiovascular medicine. Dr. Mann is currently the founding Editor‑in‑Chief for JACC: Basic to Translational Science, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Circulation, The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, JACC Heart Failure, Cardiology Today, Heart and Vessels, and Heart Failure Reviews. Among his honors are the Michael E. DeBakey award for excellence in research, the Alfred Soffer Award for Editorial Excellence, the Simon Dack Award from for outstanding scholarship, the Hugh McCullough Award from the American Heart Association, the Distinguished Mentor Award from the American College of Cardiology, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Heart Failure Society of America and elected membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians the Association of University Cardiologists, and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. He is the past president of the Heart Failure Society.

Job Titles:

• Director
• Founder
• Founder & Chief Scientific Advisor / Temple University

Arthur Feldman, MD, PhD, has served as a member of Renovacor's board of directors since 2013. After founding Renovacor in 2013, he served as Chief Executive Officer and President until July 2018 and as Chairman until August 2019. Dr. Feldman is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Medicine at Temple University. Dr. Feldman's research, supported through grants from the National Institutes of Health, has focused on the molecular biology of dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. He was initially recruited to Temple as the Executive Dean of the School of Medicine and Chief Academic Officer of the Temple Health System, a position he held from August 2011 through December 2015. Prior to joining the Temple University faculty, Dr. Feldman served as the Magee Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, a position he held from February 2002 until January 2011. Prior to this, he was the Chief of the Division of Cardiology and Tack Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he established one of the first geographically dispersed and multi-state cardiology practices. Dr. Feldman received numerous awards and honors for his work including election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of University Cardiologists, the Association of American Physicians, the American Clinical and Climatologic Association and the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. Dr. Feldman co-founded and served as a director of Cardiokine, a specialty pharmaceutical company developing drugs for cardiovascular diseases, from 2002 to 2012. He also served as the President of the Heart Failure Society of America, as the President of the Association of the Professors of Cardiology, was the founding Editor‑in‑Chief of Clinical and Translational Science (CTS) and he presently is a member of the council of the ACCA and the Council of the Johns Hopkins Medical and Surgical Association. He was the recipient of the Rolex Achievement Award from the USILA, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Gettysburg College, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Heart Failure Society of America, the Barry Coller Award from the Association for Clinical and Translational Science and the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College of Cardiology (Basic Domains). He has been listed in "Best Doctors in America®, Cardiovascular Disease" multiple years since 1997. Dr. Feldman received his BA in biology from Gettysburg College and an MS in Zoology and a PhD in physiology from the University of Maryland, College Park. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Saul Brusilow in the Department of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he received a MD from at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, Shreveport, where he was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He then returned to Baltimore where he completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiovascular disease at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Directors
• Partner and Chief Scientific Officer of Chardan

Dr. Gbola Amusa is Partner and Chief Scientific Officer of Chardan. Working within the Investment Banking Division, he is responsible for advising disruptive healthcare companies on capital formation strategies, M&A, and other transactions. Dr. Amusa joined Chardan at the end of 2014 to focus on identifying companies that will generate exceptionally high long-term investment returns from creating and sharing in real value for society. While in Chardan's Equity Research Department from 2014 through early July 2021, Dr. Amusa's coverage, top picks, and counter-consensus calls were all associated with exceptional alpha generation, with Dr. Amusa for example ranked #2 out of over 6,000 Wall Street analysts in 2019 for his stock-picking performance in a study by TipRanks. Dr. Amusa was previously Managing Director, Head of European Pharma Research, and Global Pharma & Biotech Coordinator at UBS, where he oversaw 25 analysts, and ultimately finished as the #1 ranked European pharma analyst in the Institutional Investor (II) Survey. Prior to UBS, Dr. Amusa was a Senior Research Analyst and Head of European Pharma research at Sanford Bernstein. He started his career in finance at Goldman Sachs as an Associate in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group, where he worked on large transactions including the Amgen/Immunex merger. Additionally, Dr. Amusa was previously a Healthcare Finance & Strategy Consultant working with governments, companies, leading foundations and think tanks. Dr. Amusa's views on healthcare have been cited by socially responsible investing (SRI), ESG and sustainability organizations like FSG/Shared Value Initiative, GMI Ratings and the

Edward J. Benz, Jr, MD, is the President and Chief Executive Officer Emeritus of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Richard and Susan Smith Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Genetics, and Faculty Dean for Oncology Emeritus at Harvard Medical School. Previously, Dr. Benz served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Prior to joining Dana-Farber, Dr. Benz was Chairperson of the Department of Medicine, Sir William Osler Professor of Medicine, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Physician-in-Chief at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Benz currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Deciphers Pharmaceuticals, Candel Therapeutics (formerly known as Advantagene) and F-Star Therapeutics, and previously on the Boards of Knowledge to Practice, Inc., and Xenetic, Inc. His non-profit governance activities include the Boards of Trrustees of Rockefellar University, the Mount Desert Island Hospital, The MDI Biolabs, and Dana-Farber. Dr. Benz holds a MD magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, a MA Ad Privatim degree from Yale University and an AB degree cum laude from Princeton University.

Job Titles:

• Chief Business Officer
• Senior Vice President of Operations

Elizabeth White, PhD, is the Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President of Operations at Renovacor. Dr. White brings over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry specializing in strategic planning and business management with a focus in the fields of rare disease and gene therapy. Dr. White has held various leadership roles for start-up to large companies, including Wyeth/Pfizer Inc where she worked for 20 years and was responsible for advising new product planning strategy for Pfizer's Rare Disease and Gene Therapy Business and facilitated many successful licensing and acquisition deals. Dr. White received a PhD and MS with a concentration in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Rochester and a BS in biology from Allegheny College.

Job Titles:

• Chief Financial Officer

Fred is the Chief Financial Officer of Renovacor. Fred has more than 25 years of experience in financial management of life sciences companies. Prior to joining Renovacor, he served as Chief Financial Officer at Flexion Therapeutics (Flexion), in 2021 where he was a member of the merger and acquisitions executive team that executed the sale of the Company to Pacira BioSciences. He previously served as Flexion's Chief Financial Officer from 2013 to 2017, during his tenure he spearheaded an initial public offering in 2014 and was at the financial helm through the commercial launch of ZILRETTA. Prior to joining Flexion, Mr. Driscoll served as Chief Financial Officer at Novavax, Inc. from 2009 to 2013. From 2008 to 2009, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Genelabs Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company later acquired by GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to serving as Chief Executive Officer of Genelabs he was the Chief Financial Officer from 2007 to 2008. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Driscoll served as Chief Executive Officer at OXiGENE, Inc., where he subsequently served as Chairman of the Board and Audit Committee Chair. He was also a member of the Audit Committee for Cynapsus Therapeutics, Inc., which was sold to Sunovion Pharmaceuticals in 2016. Mr. Driscoll earned a B.S. in accounting and finance from Bentley University and currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Cue Biopharma, Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. and MEI Pharma.

Job Titles:

• Adjunct Professor at Bryant University
• Executive Advisor of Novavax, Inc

Since April 2021, Mr. Covino has served as an Executive Advisor of Novavax, Inc., a company engaged in the development of novel vaccines such as COVID-19, flu and other infectious diseases, and from November 2020 until April 2021, Mr. Covino served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Novavax, Inc. From January 2020 until November 2020, Mr. Covino was a biotech financial consultant, which included acting as interim Finance and IT Lead for Oncopeptides, Inc., a Swedish oncology company, and interim controller of Unity Biotechnology, Inc., a company developing therapeutics to slow, halt or reverse diseases of aging. From January 2019 until January 2020, Mr. Covino served as the Group Chief Financial Officer of the TESARO oncology division of GlaxoSmithKline plc, a science-led global healthcare company. Prior to the acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline plc, Mr. Covino served as the Chief Accounting Officer of TESARO, Inc., a global oncology company engaged in commercial operations, R&D and worldwide sourcing and distribution from July 2018 until January 2019. From June 2017 through December 2017, Mr. Covino served as the Interim Principal Financial Officer for Biogen Inc., a global biotechnology company engaged in commercial operations, R&D, multiple collaborations and worldwide biologics and small molecule production, sourcing and distribution. Prior to that role, he served as the Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller of Biogen beginning in March 2012. Mr. Covino has been an adjunct professor at Bryant University. Mr. Covino received his B.S. in Business Administration from Bryant University and was previously a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Job Titles:

• Chief Regulatory Officer

Jiwen Zhang, Ph.D. is the Chief Regulatory Officer at Renovacor. Dr. Zhang has over 20 years of regulatory affairs experience, with over 10 years specifically in the field of cell and gene therapy. Dr. Zhang has held various executive and regulatory affairs roles in the biopharma industry, including Passage Bio, Inc. and Tmunity Therapeutics, Inc.where she successfully led numerous IND filings. She also previously worked for over seven years at GE Healthcare where she was responsible for building a regulatory affairs function to support the company's newly formed cell technology and regenerative medicine business. Dr. Zhang received a Ph.D. in in physiology and neurobiology from Rutgers University and a BS in biology from the University of Science and Technology of China.

Dr. Lau delivers more than 20 years of biopharma leadership experience, including as Chief Executive Officer for several venture-capital-backed biotech companies. In May 2016, Dr. Lau co-founded Spirovant (then called Talee Bio), a gene therapy company focused on cystic fibrosis and other pulmonary diseases, and since May 2016 has served as its Chief Executive Officer where she has been responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the company. In 2013 Dr. Lau co-founded Militia Hill Ventures, a venture fund focused on building and growing high quality life sciences companies, where she has served as a Partner or Managing Partner since 2013. Dr. Lau has also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Azelon Pharmaceuticals, a venture-backed clinical stage company, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Locus Pharmaceuticals, a computational chemistry discovery company. In addition, Dr. Lau held various leadership roles at Merck, including roles in R&D drug development and business development. Dr. Lau is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Pennsylvania and serves on several boards, including the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice and the Roy & Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences Management. Dr. Lau earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Job Titles:

• Managing Partner and President of Chardan

Jonas Grossman is Managing Partner and President of Chardan, where he oversees the firm's banking and capital markets activities. He has broad transactional experience having led or managed more than 500 transactions since joining Chardan in 2003. Under Mr. Grossman's leadership, Chardan has become one of the most notable underwriters, advisors and sponsors of SPACs, having underwritten more than 90 transactions raising over $11 billion. Chardan has also served as advisor to 24 SPAC transactions. Additionally, Mr. Grossman is Chief Executive Officer of Chardan's 11th sponsored or co-sponsored SPAC, Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp, a disruptive technology and healthcare focused SPAC. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Chardan Healthcare Acquisition 2 Corp. until its merger in September 2021 with Renovacor, Inc. (NYSE: RCOR). He is currently a director of Renovacor. He also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Chardan Healthcare Acquisition Corp. from March 2018 until its merger in October 2019 with BiomX Ltd. (NYSE: PHGE). Mr. Grossman is currently a director of BiomX. Mr. Grossman was a Founder and Director of LifeSci Acquisition Corp. from March, 2020 until the close of its business combination with Vincera Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: VINC) in December of 2020. He has served as a Director to Ventoux CCM Acquisition Corp. since December, 2020 and as a Director to CleanTech Acquisition Corp. since July 2021. From 2001 until 2003, Mr. Grossman worked at Ramius Capital Group, LLC, a global multi-strategy hedge fund where he served as Vice President and Head Trader. Mr. Grossman holds a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from NYU's Stern School of Business. He has served on the board of directors for UNICEF since December 2016.

Job Titles:

• Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Translational Science

Jordan Shin, MD, PhD, FACC is the Senior Vice President of Clinical Development and Translational Science. Prior to joining Renovacor, Dr. Shin most recently served as Vice President of Medical Development at Lung Biotechnology/United Therapeutics where he developed small molecule, biologic and device therapies for rare disease populations, ranging from pre-clinical to global late-stage trials. Before transitioning to industry, Dr. Shin spent 16 years as a physician scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. During his time at the MGH, Dr. Shin served as the Medical Director for the Mechanical Circulatory Support program as a specialist in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant cardiology. His lab in the Cardiovascular Research Center at MGH used zebrafish to investigate the basic pathways of cardiovascular development, and the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension and cardiomyopathy and were supported by competitive awards from the AHA and NIH. Dr. Shin received his graduate and medical degrees at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Joseph Glorioso III, MD, PhD, is the Emeritus Chair of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, having served as chair for 20 years. He served as the founding editor for Gene Therapy for 20 years. He is a founding member and former president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and former president of the Dept Chairs of the US Medical School Microbiology and Immunology Departments. He is a fellow of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has had an active NIH supported research program for 40 years and has been active NIH study Section member for several decades. He also Co‑founded and is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Oncorus, Inc. Cambridge, MA and Coda Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, CA. He is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council for the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy, a non‑profit foundation to support innovative cancer therapies. Dr. Glorioso's contributions to science include defining antiviral immune responses to herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, the genetics of HSV pathogenesis and latency, and mechanisms of HSV infection. He has pioneered the design and application of HSV gene vectors for the treatment of nervous system diseases such as peripheral neuropathies, chronic pain, and brain tumors. He continues to be a worldwide leader in the HSV gene vector field through the creation of innovative gene delivery technologies and the development of manufacturing methods for application of HSV vectors in human clinical trials.

Job Titles:

• Senior Vice President of Technical Operations

Kumar Dhanasekharan, Ph.D. is the Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at Renovacor. Dr. Dhanasekharan has over 20 years of CMC development and manufacturing experience across complex protein therapeutics, monoclonal antibodies and in recent years, AAV gene therapies. Dr. Dhanasekharan has held various executive and technical operations leadership roles in the biopharma industry, including SwanBio, Amicus, Catalent, Genzyme, Sanofi spanning early phase, late phase and commercial programs leading them successfully through IND, comparability assessments, tech transfers and BLA. Dr. Dhanasekharan received a Ph.D. from Rutgers University and a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (Chennai), India. He is well published in the field with many conference presentations and peer reviewed publications.

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer
• President

Magdalene Cook, MD, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Renovacor. Dr. Cook has over 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry primarily in investing, consulting and launching new ventures. Previously she worked as an investment professional at Aisling Capital, and served on the board of directors of companies in the life sciences and diagnostics industry. Dr. Cook received a MD from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Virginia, where she was an Echols Scholar.

Job Titles:

• Chief Medical Officer
• Cardiologist

Marc Semigran, MD is a cardiologist with subspecialty expertise in cardiomyopathy, heart failure, and cardiac transplantation. Prior to joining Renovacor, Dr. Semigran was Senior Vice President of Medical Sciences and Chief Medical Officer at MyoKardia (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in Nov. 2020). There, he led the early development of mavacamten for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, as well as development of other pipeline agents for the treatment of cardiomyopathy. Prior to joining MyoKardia, Dr. Semigran led the Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Program at Massachusetts General Hospital as Section Head and Medical Director. Dr. Semigran was a member of the internal medicine and cardiology staff of Massachusetts General Hospital for more than 25 years and is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Semigran has published numerous peer-reviewed papers, received many research awards, served as a principal investigator in major clinical trials, and served in scientific and medical advisory capacities to companies such as GSK, Medtronic, and Bayer. Dr. Semigran earned AB, AM and MD degrees from Harvard University. He completed his internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Job Titles:

• Senior R & D Advisor

Marcia Bologna is the Research and Development Lead at Renovacor. Ms. Bologna has over 35 years of experience in the biotechnology industry both as an independent consultant and within large organizations, including Pfizer where she was a Senior Director responsible for biosimilar development. She has led early-stage development through proof-of-concept for over 20 biologics programs in the areas of inflammation, oncology, cardiovascular, hemophilia, tissue repair and biosimilar development. Ms. Bologna began her biotechnology career at Genetics Institute where she contributed to many of the industry's earliest marketed products, including EPO, FVIII and BMP-2. Ms. Bologna received a BA in cell biology from Connecticut State University.

Job Titles:

• Chief Scientific Officer

Matt Killeen, Ph.D., is the Chief Scientific Officer at Renovacor. Prior to joining Renovacor, Dr. Killeen served as the Head of Cardiovascular Research at BioMarin, where he led the discovery and development of AAV-based gene therapies for genetic cardiac diseases. At BioMarin, Dr. Killeen founded the Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area and scaled it into a dedicated R&D unit, built a pipeline of programs, and forged multiple R&D partnerships across industry and academia. Earlier at BioMarin, he led R&D portfolio strategy initiatives for the company's early pipeline. Prior to BioMarin, Dr. Killeen led efforts to support the commercialization and launch of new therapies for multiple sclerosis at Biogen. He also advised pharmaceutical companies on R&D and commercialization strategies for multiple pipeline therapies for cardiovascular diseases at Clarivate, formerly Decision Resources Group. Dr. Killeen was a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in the laboratory of Calum MacRae, focusing on the disease biology of common and rare heart diseases. He has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers on a wide range of topics spanning genetic heart diseases and cardiac electrophysiology, and authored a textbook on the role of cardiac electrophysiology in pharmaceutical R&D. Dr. Killeen is a member of the Advisory Council for the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC). Dr. Killeen holds a Ph.D. in cardiac electrophysiology from the University of Cambridge and a BSc (Hons) in pharmacology from the University of Leeds.

Job Titles:

• President and CEO of ARCA Biopharma
• Professor of Medicine

Michael Bristow, MD, PhD, is Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and Director of the Section of Pharmacogenomics in the University of Colorado Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Bristow received his MD and PhD in pharmacology in 1970 and 1971 from the University of Illinois Chicago MD/PhD Program, completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacology at the University of Illinois, and received his medical training at Stanford University. He remained at Stanford to complete a fellowship in cardiology, and joined the Cardiology faculty in 1979. He moved to the University of Utah in 1984, where he co‑founded the first multi‑hospital heart transplant program in the US. In 1991 he was recruited to the University of Colorado in Denver as Head of the Division of Cardiology, and served in that capacity until 2004. Dr. Bristow has authored more than 500 peer‑reviewed papers and chapters on heart failure, cardiac transplantation, pharmacogenomics and other cardiovascular topics. He has received many academic and industry honors, including the Therapeutics Frontiers Award by the American college of Clinical Pharmacy (1993), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Clinical Trial Exceptional Service Award (2008), the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Heart Failure Society of America (2008), Scientist of the Year by the Colorado Chapter of the ARCS Foundation (2008), University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award, (2009) and the Distinguished Scientist Award (Translational Domain) by the American College of Cardiology (2014). Dr. Bristow is also President and CEO of ARCA Biopharma, a Westminster, CO company he founded in 2003 to develop genetically targeted therapies for heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. In 2007, he co‑founded Miragen Therapeutics, Inc., a Boulder company dedicated to utilizing the biologic properties of microRNA in developing therapies for cardiovascular diseases. He was the principal founder and former Chief Science and Medical Officer of Myogen, Inc., a Westminster, CO biopharmaceutical company that was acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2006. These companies, all founded on university‑licensed intellectual property generated by Dr. Bristow and his collaborators, have been responsible for creating hundreds of jobs in Colorado, and have returned over $2 billion to investors.

Job Titles:

• Founder and President, RWP BioConsulting, LLC

Richard Peluso is a virologist with a PhD from The Rockefeller University. After doing a post-doc at the University of California San Francisco and Vanderbilt University he was a faculty member with several medical schools (Thomas Jefferson University, University of Minnesota, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine) for 13 years where he taught medical and graduate students and ran an NIH-funded laboratory studying structure and function of human paramyxovirus glycoproteins and control of transcription and genome replication in a model rhabdovirus. He left academia in 1996 to work for a contract biosafety testing company then for two gene therapy companies with expertise in rAAV vectors (Genovo and Targeted Genetics) where he was Vice President of Process Sciences and Manufacturing. He joined Merck Vaccines in 2010 initially leading the analytical development group, then assumed responsibility and leadership for all vaccine Bioprocess Research and Development; he later added a similar role for Merck Biologics Bioprocess R&D. He retired from Merck as a Vice President at the end of 2018. Richard formed RWP BioConsulting, LLC at the beginning of 2019 to bring his expertise and experience to serve the life science industries. He currently sits on the Editorial Board for the publication Human Gene Therapy. Dr. Peluso received his PhD from The Rockefeller University in New York, and his B.A. in Biology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Thomas Needham, MBA, has over 25 years of experience in venture capital, business development, corporate strategy, and executive management responsibilities in public and private life science companies. Mr. Needham is currently the Director and Head of the Biopharmaceutical practice at Broadview Ventures. Prior to joining Broadview Ventures, he held leadership roles in the biotechnology industry as Chief Business Officer at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: MACK), and Senior Vice President of Business Development at C4 Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CCCC). Mr. Needham previously spent 13 years as a venture capital investor as a Managing Director at Synthesis Capital and a Principal at Advent International. Mr. Needham holds a BA from Bowdoin College and an MBA from Babson College's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.

Job Titles:

• Director of Preclinical Science
• Senior Director, Preclinical Development

Valerie Myers, PhD, is the Director of Preclinical Science at Renovacor. Dr. Myers has over 10 years of experience researching signaling in heart failure. Most recently she has focused on mutations in BAG3, their contribution to adverse outcomes in individuals with heart failure, and the use of BAG3 gene therapy in animal models of heart failure. Dr. Myers completed her doctorate in Organ Systems and Translational Medicine at Temple University. She received an MS in Cell and Developmental Biology from Thomas Jefferson University and a BS from Pennsylvania State University.