Q32 BIO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Chief Executive Officer of Lifordi Immunotherapeutics
- Member Ofthe Research and Development Committee
Arthur Tzianabos has more than 30 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Arthur is the Chief Executive Officer of Lifordi Immunotherapeutics and Venture Partner at 5AM Ventures. Previously, he was Chair of the Board and President and Chief Executive Officer of Homology Medicines, which merged with Q32 Bio in 2024. Prior to Homology, Arthur held a nine-year tenure at Shire, where he was SVP of Research and Early Development and had an active role in the development, approval and commercial launch of multiple therapies for patients with rare genetic disorders. Earlier in his career, Arthur was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Arthur was the Chair of the Board of Akouos Therapeutics prior to its acquisition by Eli Lilly in 2022 and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of both Stoke Therapeutics and Oxford Biomedica Solutions. Arthur also serves on the Development Board of the University of New Hampshire's College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. Arthur holds a B.S. in Biology from Boston College and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Chairman of Research and Development Committee
- Member of the Compensation Committee / Chairperson Ofthe Research and Development Committee
- President and CEO at Merus
Bill Lundberg is President and CEO at Merus, a leading oncology biotechnology company. He was previously Chief Scientific Officer at CRISPR Therapeutics, as well as Vice President and Head of Translational Medicine at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for R&D from discovery to clinical proof-of-concept. Bill previously held senior positions at Taligen Therapeutics, Antisoma, Xanthus (acquired by Antisoma), Wyeth (now Pfizer) and Genzyme, overseeing the development of diverse portfolios.
Bill received his B.S. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), M.D. from Stanford Medical School and M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a post-doctoral fellow, he studied at the Whitehead Institute at MIT. He trained in internal medicine and oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Brian Kotzin is Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, at Nektar Therapeutics. He has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of inflammation and immunology in academia and industry, and expertise in various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Head of People at Q32
David Appugliese, Senior Vice President, Head of People at Q32 Bio, brings more than 20 years of experience leading the people function at growing and developing organizations. He has served in strategic leadership roles in healthcare companies including CVS Health and Boston Scientific. Prior to joining Q32, David served as the head of human resources for Red Oak Sourcing, LLC, a joint venture between CVS Health and Cardinal Health responsible for developing innovative purchasing strategies to efficiently deliver generic drugs to market.
Prior to establishing Red Oak Sourcing alongside his colleagues at CVS, David led CVS's executive compensation team. He joined CVS after a successful career leading the global benefits and mobility teams at Boston Scientific and serving as a trusted human capital advisor to a wide variety of companies as a senior consultant in Towers Watson's Governance & Advisory practice. David received his B.A. in economics from the College of the Holy Cross, and he received his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Research and Development Committee
- Partner at Atlas Venture
David Grayzel is a partner at Atlas Venture. Since joining Atlas in 2010, David has co-founded and served as chief executive officer of numerous companies, including Arteaus Therapeutics, acquired by Eli Lilly in 2014, Annovation Biopharma acquired by The Medicines Company in 2015, and was a founding board member of Delinia acquired by Celgene in 2017. David is a co-founder and board member of Surface Oncology (NASDAQ: SURF) and Cadent Therapeutics, and also sits on the boards of Xilio and Affinia Therapeutics.
David serves as an advisor to several organizations including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's (MSKCC) Technology Development Fund, the American Heart Association's One Brave Idea, and is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Tri-TDI that includes Rockefeller University, MSKCC, and Cornell. David earned his B.A from Stanford University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and completed his internship and residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. David serves on the board of Acera: The Massachusetts School for Science, Creativity, and Leadership, a STEM focused K-8 school, which his wife Courtney founded in 2009.
Job Titles:
- Principal on the Private Equity Team
Diyong Xu is a Principal on the Private Equity team at OrbiMed, covering venture capital investments in biotech, medical device and diagnostics companies. Diyong has been a board observer for Terns. He was previously a board observer for Arcutis, Imara, NextCure, Passage Bio, Repare and SpringWorks.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- General Partner at Acorn BioVentures
Isaac is a General Partner at Acorn BioVentures. Previously, he was a General Partner at New Leaf Venture Partners, where he invested across private and public biotechnology companies for 11 years. Prior to his venture capital career, he was an Associate equity analyst in the Global Biotechnology Equity Research group at Sanford C. Bernstein and prior to that in the Biotechnology Equity Research group at Deutsche Bank. Prior these roles he was a Senior Analyst at Health Advances, a biopharmaceutical and medical device strategy consulting firm.
Isaac received a Ph.D. in Biophysical Chemistry and Molecular Structure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a B.A. in Biology and B.A. in Chemistry at Minnesota State University (Moorhead). During his research career Isaac's discoveries led to several publications in top journals, including Science and Cell, and were selected by Science as one of the "2003: Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year". These discoveries also resulted in four issued patents.
Job Titles:
- Chief Medical Officer
- Chief Medical Officer of Q32
Jason Campagna, Chief Medical Officer of Q32 Bio, has more than 15 years of leadership experience with a focus on advancing clinical development and pipeline efforts at leading biopharmaceutical companies. He was most recently Chief Medical Officer at Intercept Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw the clinical development of a novel pipeline of therapeutics to treat progressive non-viral liver diseases. Before joining Intercept, Jason held a number of roles of increasing responsibility at The Medicines Company, including most recently Senior Vice President and Health Science Lead of Surgery and Perioperative Care. Prior to transitioning to the biopharmaceutical industry, Jason served as the Chief Medical Quality Officer at Cottage Health System and, prior to this, held faculty appointments at the University of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts General Hospital. Jason received his M.D. and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, as well as his bachelor's degree, from the University of Miami. He completed his post-graduate training at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Leadership Team
Jodie Morrison, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Q32 Bio, Inc., brings biopharmaceutical leadership experience from private start up through commercial public biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Jodie was previously Chief Executive Officer of Cadent Therapeutics until its sale to Novartis in 2020. Jodie also served as Venture Partner of Atlas Venture, interim Chief Executive Officer of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (executed the merger of equals with Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. in 2018), acting Chief Operating Officer of Syntimmune, Inc. (acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), and President and Chief Executive Officer of Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she oversaw the company's successful initial public offering (IPO) in 2014. Prior, Jodie held other senior positions with the company, including Chief Operating Officer and Head of Clinical Affairs and Program Operations. Earlier in her career, Jodie held roles in clinical operations and medical affairs at Dyax Corporation, Curis, Inc. and Diacrin, Inc.
Jodie founded and currently runs The CEO Forum, which has supported CEOs through challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, the SVB banking crisis, the Inflation Reduction Act and the recent evolution of the BIOSECURE Act. Jodie currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Rectify Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and was previously a board member of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., Aileron Therapeutics, Inc., Keryx Biopharmaceutics, Inc., Eledon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Novus Therapeutics) and Ribon Therapeutics, Inc (chair). Jodie also serves on the Board of Managers of Life Science Cares (LSC). Jodie holds a B.A. in Neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College, completed her business training in the Greater Boston Executive Program at the MIT Sloan School of Management and her clinical research certification from Boston University School of Medicine.
Job Titles:
- CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
- PRESIDENT
- President and Chief Financial Officer of Q32
Lee Kalowski, President and Chief Financial Officer of Q32 Bio, brings more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical experience with a focus on strategy, raising capital, and financial operations. Prior to his current role, Lee served as the Interim Chief Financial Officer of Q32 Bio. Before that, Lee was with Bicycle Therapeutics from 2017-2023, where he served as President and Chief Financial Officer, leading strategic finance and operations to support the company's transition to a public clinical-stage biotech company. While at Bicycle, Lee helped raise $1 billion in capital, consisting of over $700 million in private, public, and non-dilutive financings including the company's 2019 IPO and all subsequent financings. Prior to Bicycle, Lee was Chief Financial Officer of Tokai Pharmaceuticals where he helped lead the company's IPO in 2014. Prior to Tokai, Lee served in global biotechnology equity research as a Senior Analyst at Credit Suisse, where he covered companies in the biopharmaceutical industry. Lee received a B.A. in biology and economics from Union College and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Lee currently sits on the board of Aro Biotherapeutics.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Program Operations
Maria Marzilli has over 15 years of industry experience across strategy, corporate development, and program and alliance management. Maria joined Q32 Bio from Agios Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for Portfolio Strategy and Alliance Management. In that role, she led cross-functional teams tasked with driving portfolio investment decisions and key assessments to inform the company's overall strategy, business development activities and geographic footprint. She also managed the metabolic immuno-oncology partnership with Celgene, ensuring alignment on strategic and operational goals and priorities. Prior to Agios, Maria held roles of increasing responsibility at Biogen, beginning in Corporate Strategy and supporting the refinement and implementation of the company's vision, and then moving to Global Market Access, where she helped support pricing and strategy decisions for portfolio programs as well as build out a world class Market Access team. Earlier in her career, she held roles at both Genzyme Corporation and Decision Resources. Maria received her B.A. in Biology from Harvard University and an M.P.H. in Health Services from the Boston University School of Public Health.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Chairman of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Research and Development Committee
Mr. Iwicki has more than 25 years of experience leading all aspects of R&D and commercialization in the biopharmaceutical industry. He is the Chairman, President and CEO of Kala Pharmaceuticals and was previously the CEO of Civitas Therapeutics which was acquired by Acorda Therapeutics. Prior to Civitas, Mr. Iwicki served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Blend Therapeutics and President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals. He was President and Chief Operating Officer at Sepracor, which was acquired in 2009. During his tenure at Novartis he was Business Unit Head and managed the Cardiovascular, Diabetes, Arthritis, Bone, Gastrointestinal, HRT, Infectious Diseases and Urology therapeutic areas. Previously, Mr. Iwicki held management positions at Merck and Astra Merck. He also currently serves on the boards of Merus N.V., Pulmatrix Inc. and Akero Therapeutics, Inc., all publicly-traded companies, and Nimbus Therapeutics, Inc. and Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., which are privately-held biotech companies. Mr. Iwicki holds a B.S. from Ball State University and an M.B.A. from Loyola University.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Audit Committee / Chairperson of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Mary Thistle has more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Mary previously served as Special Advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute, a non-profit biotech organization. Prior to that, Mary held various senior leadership positions at Dimension Therapeutics, Inc., a gene therapy company, including Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer. Before joining Dimension Therapeutics, Inc., Mary held numerous roles during her six year tenure at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., most recently as Senior Vice President, Business Development. Earlier in her career, Mary held various positions at Via Cell, Inc. and PerkinElmer, Inc. Mary was previously a member of the Board of Directors of Homology Medicines, which merged with Q32 Bio in 2024. Mary currently serves on the Board of Directors of Entrada Therapeutics, Inc., Vigil Neuroscience, Inc., Enterome and Cocoon Biotech, Inc. Mary holds a B.S. in Business and Accounting from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and is a former Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Michael Holers graduated from Purdue University and Washington University School of Medicine. After internal medicine training at Barnes Hospital and a rheumatology fellowship at the University of Colorado, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. After promotion there to Assistant and then Associate Professor with tenure, Michael was recruited to the University of Colorado to be the first Smyth Professor of Rheumatology. In 2000, he became Division Head of Rheumatology and is currently the Scoville Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Colorado.
The Holers' Laboratory has focused on the immunobiology of the complement system, including molecular genetics and structure-function relationships, and more recently the development of complement inhibitors in order to probe the biologic roles and therapeutic potential of complement modulation during the immune response and in tissue injury. These studies were recognized by receiving the singular American College of Rheumatology Distinguished Basic Investigator Award as well as being elected to membership in American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Association of American Physicians (AAP). Michael is Past-President of the International Complement Society.
From these studies, the Holers' Laboratory and collaborators have developed and then commercialized several types of complement therapeutics. Before founding Q32 Bio, he co-founded Taligen Therapeutics, a company acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and has served as a consultant and Scientific Advisory Board member for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that focus on complement therapeutics and autoimmune disease pathogenesis.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Financial Expert
Ms. Kathy LaPorte is a biotech industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in executive leadership and venture investing. Ms. LaPorte previously served as Chief Business Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Nodality Inc. She was a Founding Partner of New Leaf Venture Partners, which was a spin-out from the Sprout Group, where she served as a General Partner. Ms. LaPorte was also a Co-Founder of Health Tech Capital. She has extensive Board experience at numerous public and private companies, and currently serves on the Boards of Elysium Therapeutics, Precipio Diagnostics, D2G Oncology, and Bolt Biotherapeutics. Ms. LaPorte received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania
Peter A. Merkel is the Chief of Rheumatology and a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. Peter is an internationally recognized research and clinical expert in vasculitis and scleroderma and is an author on over 400 scientific publications. He is the Principal Investigator of the Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (VCRC), a leading international research infrastructure for vasculitis clinical investigation. Peter's research focuses on clinical trial design and conduct, outcome measure development, clinical epidemiology, genetic epidemiology and biomarker discovery.
Peter has previously served as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine. Peter received his M.D. from Yale University, his M.P.H. from Harvard University, and completed his residency training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and his fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Clinical Medicine at Washington University Division of Biology
John P. Atkinson, M.D., Samuel B. Grant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Washington University Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, is a leading expert in rheumatology and innate immunity, specifically the complement system's role in infectious, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
In the last decade, his research has focused on the etiology and pathogenesis of autoimmune rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, microvascular thrombotic disorders and debris deposition diseases (especially age-related macular degeneration). His research has been documented in more than 270 peer-reviewed publications.
Among John's honors are the American Association of Immunologists Steinman Award for Human Immunology Research and election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He currently serves as Chairman of National Human Genome Research Institute Board of Scientific Counselors.
John received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Kansas. After an internal medicine internship and residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in immunology and allergy at the NIH, he began his career at Washington University School of Medicine in 1974 as a postdoctoral fellow in allergy and rheumatology in the laboratory of Charles Parker. He joined the faculty in 1976. He was Chief of the Division of Rheumatology from 1976 to 1992 and then again from 2007 to the present. He was an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for 16 years before serving as chair of the Department of Medicine from 1992-1996.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technical Officer
- Chief Technical Officer of Q32
Saul W. Fink, Chief Technical Officer of Q32 Bio, has more than 20 years of leadership experience with a focus on strategy and business operations across R&D and manufacturing functions. Prior to joining Q32 Bio, Dr. Fink served as Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical and Nonclinical Development at Normunity, where he led the CMC and nonclinical teams. Previously, he was Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development and Interim Lead of Nonclinical Development at Goldfinch Bio, leading manufacturing and nonclinical development of both small molecules and biologics. Prior, Dr. Fink spent 26 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb, partnering with executive management to define CMC strategy, drive business transformations and optimize manufacturing operations. Dr. Fink received his Ph.D. in Physical/Analytical Chemistry from the University of Houston, and his B.S. in Chemistry from Millersville University where he is currently a member of the Council of Trustees as part of his extensive service on not-for-profit and local government boards. He also serves as a scientific advisory board member for Intrommune Therapeutics.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- Founder
- Co - Founder, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research of Q32
Shelia Violette, co-founder, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research of Q32 Bio, is a scientific leader in the field of inflammation, autoimmunity and fibrosis. In her more than 20 years of industry experience advancing programs from early research to clinical development, Shelia has provided strategic and operational leadership to multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, led several research and early clinical programs, and authored more than 90 manuscripts and patents. Prior to co-founding Q32 Bio, she was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Atlas Venture. Prior to her role at Atlas, Shelia served in leadership roles in the Immunology Research group at Biogen, joining Stromedix as Vice President of Research and returning to Biogen as Vice President of Research, spearheading the tissue injury and fibrosis therapeutic area. She also has directed research and led therapeutic programs at several biotechnology companies including Repligen and Ariad. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Yale University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer of Mariana Oncology
- Co - Founder and Board Member of Triana Biomedicines
Simon serves as Chief Executive Officer of Mariana Oncology. He is Founder, President and a member of the Board of Directors. Before founding Mariana Oncology, Simon was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Atlas Venture. Prior to this, Simon was CSO at Ra Pharma (NASDAQ: RARX) until its acquisition by UCB Pharma. Simon brings to Mariana more than 25 years of R&D experience including leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Roche/Genentech. Simon has worked on the clinical development of some of the most widely used drugs in the industry including Rituxan® and Actemra®.