WUGEN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer & EVP, R & D
Dr. Kabakibi has over two decades of experience in drug discovery and early development in large pharma and biotech companies. He took several projects, across multiple therapeutic areas, from concept through to clinical development. Most recently, he co-founded Tollnine Inc., an immuno-oncology company developing novel antibody conjugates and served as its Vice President of Biology. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of Biology at Solstice Biologics, an RNAi and immuno-oncology company exploring novel siRNA technologies for the development of human therapeutics. Before Solstice, Dr. Kabakibi was the Head of Biology and Pharmacology at Traversa Therapeutics. Prior to Traversa, he spent 5 years at Kalypsys Inc. as the Head of Pharmacology. He started his career at Pfizer working on inflammation and metabolic disease targets.
Dr. Kabakibi earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and performed his graduate research at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He earned a Master's Degree (M.Sc.) in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Northeastern University.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Partner at Abingworth
Dr. Muralidhar is a Managing Partner at Abingworth, a leading transatlantic life sciences investment firm. He has 15 years professional experience in healthcare across a range of functions including venture investing, R&D, clinical practice and teaching. He works with the Abingworth team in the London, Boston and Menlo Park offices to source and evaluate new investment opportunities and support existing venture investments through to exit. He represents Abingworth on the boards of Exicure Inc. (XCUR), NuCana (NCNA), Spruce Biosciences (SPRB), Reneo Pharmaceuticals (RPHM), Glycomine and Gynesonics.
Prior to joining Abingworth, Bali was a senior partner at MVM Partners LLP in London where he completed investments in and served on the boards of several companies, both public and private. Two of these were Wilson Therapeutics and Valneva, both also Abingworth portfolio companies. In 2018, Bali was named among Financial News' Rising Stars in Private Equity, which celebrated 25 men and women under the age of 40 standing out in the European private equity industry. Before MVM, Bali was a member of Bain Capital's healthcare deal team.
Dr. Muralidhar obtained a degree in clinical medicine from the University of Oxford and practiced general surgery at the John Radcliffe and Addenbrooke's Hospitals in Oxford and Cambridge, respectively. He has a PhD in translational cancer research from the MRC Cancer Cell Unit, University of Cambridge, and has published over a dozen peer reviewed papers. He was also a Bye-Fellow in Medical Sciences at Downing College, Cambridge where he taught pathology, surgery and medicine.
Mr. Hau currently is a managing director and co-head of private investments at Tybourne Capital Management, a Hong Kong based global public and private equity investment management firm. Previously, Mr. Hau served as a managing director and partner at Sailing Capital, a Hong Kong and Shanghai based global private equity firm. Mr. Hau also has served as a partner of MVM Partners LLP, a Boston and London based healthcare investment firm, as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Southeast Asia, and as an early stage biotechnology investor with S.R. One Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline's corporate venture group. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hau served as an equity research analyst covering the medical device and pharmaceutical industries for Prudential Securities, Inc. and JP Morgan Securities, Inc. Mr. Hau started his career in sales and marketing at Eli Lilly & Company.
Mr. Hau currently is a member of the boards of directors of Exicure, Inc., and of several private life sciences, fintech, consumer, and TMT companies. Mr. Hau has served as a director or observer to more than 20 publicly listed and private companies. Mr. Hau also is a Board Overseer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, and a Leadership Fellow of The Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Hau received a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, a B.S.H.S. in Physiological Sciences and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Arizona, an M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University and an M.B.A in Finance and Health Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Carol Weiss has over 20 years of industry experience in Quality Assurance. She joined Wugen in 2021 and has been instrumental in building the Wugen Quality systems, processes and team required to release GMP Drug Products for the Clinic. Prior to Wugen, Carol held broad range of Quality Assurance positions of increasing responsibilies at Pfizer, Wyeth BioPharma and Genetics Institute whichincluded a wide range of modalities and regulatory strategies and spanned the entire lifecycle of GMP drug manufacturing from Phase 1-3, BLA licensing and commercial. She is a Quality Subject Matter Expert in deviations, investigations, Root Cause Analysis, Quality Risk Management, and cGMP compliance, including documentation, vendor qualification and oversight, conducting and hosting audits and managing regulatory inspections.
Carol received her BS in Microbiology from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
- General Partner
Dave Johnson is currently a General Partner at Velosity Capital and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of Solve Therapeutics an oncology focused biologics company. In his most recent previous executive role, Dave was CEO of VelosBio. Velos, an oncology- focused clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on novel antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecific antibodies (BiAbs) targeting the oncofetal antigen ROR1 utilizing technology licensed from Tom Kipps, MD PhD and UC San Diego. Dave founded Velos in 2017, built a world-class leadership team, and raised approximately $200M in capital from a top-tier syndicate of life science investors to advance the company's programs. Under his leadership the company filed an IND for its lead ROR1-directed ADC VLS-101 in Q4 2018, started enrolling patients in the Phase 1 first-in-human clinical trial in Q1 2019 and in December 2020 the company was acquired by Merck for $2.75B.
Prior to VelosBio, Dave was CEO at Acerta Pharma, where he led the company through a critical phase of growth from approximately 40 to 150+ employees and from a signal-seeking first-in-human trial for acalabrutinib to more than 20 active clinical studies. Dave's tenure included the regulatory negotiation and launch of three registration-directed trials, including two global Phase 3 trials for acalabrutinib, and culminated in the execution of a strategic transaction with AstraZeneca valued at up to $7B. Dave's early experience spans from pre-clinical development to all phases of clinical development through product launch. He has extensive experience in fundraising and deal making and has made significant contributions to drugs ultimately garnering NDA/sNDA approval including acalabrutinib, idelalisib, romidepsin, and bortezomib. Dave is a co-author on numerous publications and holds a bachelor's degree from Indiana University.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Director at Lightchain Capital
Drew Dennison is Managing Director at Lightchain Capital, LLC, the family office for Scottrade Founder and former Chief Executive Officer Rodger Riney. At Lightchain, Mr. Dennison is responsible for venture capital investments in the life science and technology sectors. He also assists the Riney Foundations with their philanthropic endeavors. Previously, Mr. Dennison served as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Scottrade Financial Services, Inc. He led the Company's operations, technology, operations, finance, and strategic planning functions and worked at the Company for over a decade. Mr. Dennison led the sale of Scottrade to TD Ameritrade, then co-led the integration project, successfully combining the two companies. In addition, Mr. Dennison serves as Chairman of the Board of CareVet Holdings and as a Board Member of FinTech Studios.
Drew Dennison received his BBA in accounting from University of Iowa - Henry B. Tippie College of Business where he graduated Cum Laude. He also is a graduate of the Wharton School's Securities Industries Institute Executive Education Program.
Eileen joins Wugen with more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience. Eileen brings a broad set of expertise in the design and execution of clinical trials, developing, and implementing innovative clinical strategies and leading cross-functional teams to develop novel therapeutics. Most recently, Eileen was Associate Director of Clinical Operations at MacroGenics where she supported early and late phase programs for monoclonal antibodies as well as being one of the clinical operations leads on the Margetuximab (Margenza®) BLA team. Prior to MacroGenics, Eileen held various operational positions at Cerecor, Inc (now Avalo Therapeutics, Inc), Human Genome Sciences (now GlaxoSmithKline), and Otsuka America Pharmaceutical.
Dr. Davidson has over twenty years of research and clinical experience across both academia and the biotech industry, which includes firsthand understanding of the successful design and implementation of oncology clinical trials and an expansive immune-oncology research expertise that spans across a variety of cancers. In his most recent most role as Senior Director for Clinical Research at Macrogenics. Inc, Dr. Davidson oversaw the company's translational and clinical research efforts. Prior to MacroGenics. Inc, Dr. Davidson conducted clinical research at the National Heart and Lung Institute at National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he investigated NK cell ontogeny and subtypes, as well as their role in adoptive cell therapy. His substantial research and medical career saw him in senior positions at NHLBI Bone Marrow Transplant Service, Center for Human Immunology and the National Cancer Institute of the NIH, Montefiore Medical Center and The Rockefeller University Hospital among others.
Dr. Davidson received his MBBS from the Royal Free & University College London Medical School and his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University College London in the UK. He is a physician-scientist with numerous research grants and awards under his name.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota
Dr. Miller is currently a Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation. He is the Deputy Director of the University of Minnesota Masonic Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has more than 25 years of experience studying the biology of NK cells and other immune effector cells and their use in clinical immunotherapy with over 275 peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of numerous societies such as the American Society of Hematology, the American Association of Immunologists, and a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation since 1999. Dr. Miller serves on the editorial board for Blood and is a reviewer for a number of journals and NIH grants. He was also the recipient of the National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award for 2015.
Dr. Miller received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and received his MD from Northwestern University School of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation at the University of Minnesota, he joined the faculty in 1991.
Dr. DiPersio is the Chief of Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine, where he is the Virginia E. and Samuel J. Golman Professor of Medicine. He is the Deputy Director of Siteman Cancer Center and Director of the Washington University Center for Gene and Cellular Immunotherapy. His research focuses on fundamental and translational aspects of leukemia and stem cell biology. These studies include identification of genetic abnormalities in human leukemias, understanding processes involving stem cell and leukemia cell trafficking, adoptive cellular therapy and clinical and translational programs in both leukemia/MDS and stem cell transplantation.
Dr. DiPersio received his M.D. and Ph.D from the University of Rochester. He conducted his internship and residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he became chief resident. He completed his fellowship in Division of Hematology-Oncology, UCLA School of Medicine, where he became Assistant professor. He spent four years at the University of Rochester School of Medicine before moving to Washington University where he now leads the Division of Oncology.
Dr. McKearn has three decades of drug development and investing experience in life sciences. John joined RiverVest in 2008 focusing on early-stage biotechnology start-ups. Prior to this, Dr. McKearn was President and CEO of Kalypsys. Before Kalypsys, he held positions of increasing responsibility, which included Global Head of Research at Searle/Pharmacia (1987-2003). Prior to 1987, Dr. McKearn was a senior scientist at DuPont, a member of the Basel Institute for Immunology and a research associate at Washington University in St Louis. Currently, Dr. McKearn serves on the boards of Allakos (NASDAQ: ALLK), OncoResponse, Good Therapeutics, Arch Oncology, Adarza BioSystems and OxaluRx. He previously served on the boards of Lumena Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Shire), Otonomy (NASDAQ: OTIC) and ZS Pharma (NASDAQ: ZSPH; acquired by AstraZeneca).
Dr. McKearn holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Biology from the Northern Illinois University. He has co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers and holds more than 50 patents and numerous patent applications, primarily in the areas of cancer treatment and inflammatory disease.
Dr. Hsu is a hematologist and medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Professor of Medicine at Cornell Medical College. Her research focuses on natural killer (NK) cell biology, stem cell transplantation, and adoptive cell immunotherapy. The major focus of her research is to determine how to use genetic, phenotypic, and functional information about innate immune cells to improve outcomes in the treatment of malignancies, particularly hematologic malignancies that currently can only be cured by allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
Dr. Hsu received her M.D. and Ph.D. from Cornell University Medical College. She conducted her residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA and completed her fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Partner at LYZZ Capital
Kevin Li is a Managing Partner at LYZZ Capital, a healthcare-focused venture capital/PE fund investing globally in leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Kevin has been an active biotech investor in the US and China for more than 15 years. Prior to co-founding LYZZ, he was a partner at DT Capital and HBM BioMed China. Earlier in his career, Kevin was involved in the building and management of several successful biotech companies, including GenoSpectra, Fountain Medical Development, and Amazin Biotech. Dr. Li received his Ph.D. in Biology from Indiana University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Li has been an investor and board member of a number of successful biomedical companies in China and the US, such as Nuokang Biopharma, Cathay Industrial Biotech, Xili Pharma, Wuhan Hiteck Biopharma, Chipscreen, Alpha Biopharma, Neurelis, Qpex, iGenomX, and Jumpcode, among others.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
Kumar Srinivasan, Ph.D., MBA, in his most recent role served as executive vice president and chief business officer at Turning Point Therapeutics with responsibility for corporate strategy and business development, including collaborations and alliances where he successfully lead the sale of the company to Bristol Myers Squibb for $ 4.1 billion.
Dr. Srinivasan has over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, most recently as vice president and global head of business development for the BioPharmaceutical business unit of AstraZeneca.
During his 9+-year tenure at AstraZeneca, Dr. Srinivasan was responsible for all in- and out-licensing, business development and alliance management activities within several therapeutic areas. During the pandemic Dr. Srinivasan lead the licensing and global supply agreements for the AstraZeneca's vaccine and mAb cocktails and contributed significantly to the success of both these programs which made a tremendous impact on global health.
Earlier in his career Dr. Srinivasan held senior business development roles at Wyeth; Vivoryon (formerly known as Probiodrug), a publicly traded biotech based in Germany; and Torrey Pines Therapeutics.
He has a Ph.D from Case Western University in chemistry, did his postdoctoral work at Caltech and has an MBA with a concentration in finance and strategy from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
Dr. Simpson has 18 years of regulatory experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. She was most recently Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs at Regeneron, where she had roles of increasing responsibility, leading the global marketing applications for approval of Regeneron's anti-PD-1 antibody LIBTAYO® in advanced non-melanoma skin cancers. Prior to Regeneron, Laura spent several years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the Office of Clinical Research in New York City.
Dr. Simpson has a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Tulane University in New Orleans and completed her postdoctoral work at the Institute for Cancer Genetics at Columbia University in New York City.
Mark Alles is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Celgene Corporation. During his 15-year tenure at Celgene, Mr. Alles executed on several multi-billion-dollar company and asset acquisitions, helped to build a broad portfolio of globally marketed medicines and high-potential cancer therapeutics, and led the expansion of Celgene from a US-based organization of 500 employees to a global company with more than 8,800 employees serving patients across the world. Mr. Alles' leadership at Celgene ultimately led to the company's acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb for $74 billion in 2019. Prior to joining Celgene in 2004, Mr. Alles served as Vice President of the U.S. Oncology business unit at Aventis Pharmaceuticals, where he held additional senior management roles. He began his career in industry at Bayer and Centocor prior to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson.
Job Titles:
- VP, Finance & Business Operations
Dr. Lewis has over 10 years of biotechnology and oncology research experience. Before joining Wugen, Dr. Lewis was appointed Venture Capital Fellow at BioGenerator (2018-2019), an evergreen investor that creates, develops and funds innovative companies and entrepreneurs in the St. Louis region. Prior to completing his doctoral work, Dr. Lewis held several positions at Monsanto Company (2006-2013), leading efforts to validate and implement novel sequencing technologies and on-board data management systems.
Dr. Lewis received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and M.Sc. in Biology from the Washington University in St. Louis and his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the Eastern Connecticut State University.
Job Titles:
- Chief Scientific Officer
- Co - Founder
Dr. Cooper has over 15 years of experience in oncology and is a founder of Wugen. He conducted his post-doctoral research in hematologic malignancies with Dr. John DiPersio at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Cooper has since held the position of Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Cooper's work has focused on developing next generation CAR-T for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, overcoming the barriers that limit the safety and efficacy of adoptive cellular therapies.
Dr. Cooper received his Ph.D. in Cancer Genetics and his B.Sc., with Honors, in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Surrey, in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Berrien-Elliott has over 10 years of experience in cytotoxic cellular immunotherapy and is a co-founder of Wugen. Dr. Berrien-Elliott's interest is in translational immunology and immunotherapy. Dr. Berrien-Elliott has extensively studied in vivo memory NK cell differentiation in patients with hematologic malignancies. Dr. Berrien-Elliott is an Instructor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. Berrien-Elliott received her Ph.D. with honors from Saint Louis University School of Medicine's Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Program. She conducted her post-doctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine in Dr. Fehniger's laboratory investigating NK cell immunotherapies and in vivo immune modulation in the context of clinical trials.
Dr. Mount was the Chief Executive Officer of Adaptate Biotherapeutics from inception until its recent acquisition by Takeda. Adaptate specialized in the discovery and development of novel therapeutic antibodies to modulate gamma delta (γδ) T cell mediated immune responses. Prior to Adaptate, Dr. Mount was Chief Scientific Officer of GammaDelta Therapeutics (acquired by Takeda), where she was a founding member of the management team and led the company's research and development operation to build its allogeneic cell therapy platform. Prior to GammaDelta, she was the Chief Clinical Officer at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult where she was responsible for translational, regulatory, and clinical development activities across a broad portfolio of cell-based therapies. Dr. Mount began her career at Pfizer, where she spent 16 years leading development activities across various therapeutic areas, including Pfizer's late pre-clinical and clinical portfolio of cell therapies. Dr. Mount has previously served on the Boards of several cell and gene therapy companies and is currently an Independent Director at Rinri Therapeutics.
She holds a first-class degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from University College, London.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Venture Partner at ICG Life Sciences
Dr. Kiener is currently a Venture Partner at ICG Life Sciences. Peter is an industry veteran with extensive experience in both biologics and immunotherapy, and across the entire value chain of biopharmaceutical research and development. Peter was the former Chief Scientific Officer at Sucampo, until the company's acquisition by Mallinckrodt in February 2018 . Prior to joining Sucampo, he served as CSO of Ambrx Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of antibody-drug conjugates. Prior to Ambrx, Dr. Kiener was President and Co-founder of Zyngenia Inc., an early-stage biopharmaceutical company. He also held executive leadership roles at MedImmune LLC, the global biologics arm of AstraZeneca, including Executive Vice President and Global Head of Biologics Research and Development, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Research, and Vice President of Research. He also worked on biologics for Bristol-Myers Squibb prior to his work at MedImmune. Peter has led or contributed to the development and approval of multiple drugs including antibodies, fusion proteins and vaccines. Dr. Kiener is a member of the Board of Directors of Cue Biopharma and Pieris.
Dr. Kiener earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Lancaster, UK and a doctorate of philosophy in biochemistry from the University of Oxford. He has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is an inventor on more than 40 patents and patent applications.
Sunny joined Aisling in 2019 and serves as a Principal. Prior to Aisling, Sunny was at Leerink Partners, a healthcare-specialist investment bank, focusing on biopharma/therapeutics. Prior to SVB Leerink, Sunny was a Quantitative Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch specializing in credit derivative products. He was also a research scientist working in oncology drug development prior to his careers in finance and investing.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Physician
- Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine
Dr. Fehniger is a physician-scientist with over 25 years of experience in Immunology and Oncology. Dr. Fehniger is a Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, Scientific Co-Director of the Center for Gene and Cellular Immunotherapy, and Co-Leader of the lymphoma program at the Siteman Cancer Center. Dr. Fehniger leads a research team focused on mechanisms of NK cell development and function, strategies to enhance immune responses to cancer, and lymphoma immunogenomics. His laboratory identified human memory NK cells differentiating after stimulation through combined cytokine receptors and pioneered translating NK cell memory as a cellular immunotherapy for leukemia. His clinical interests are hematologic malignancies, hematopoietic cell transplantation, and cellular immunotherapy.
Dr. Fehniger received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Immunology from Ohio State University, performing graduate training in the laboratory of Michael Caligiuri studying human NK cells. He conducted post-doctoral research studying the mechanisms of lymphocyte cytotoxicity with Dr. Timothy Ley at Washington University School of Medicine. He has led an independent basic, translational, and early phase clinical research program since joining the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine in 2008.