Board of Directors
Willard H. Dere, M.D.
Catherine Friedman
Jean-Pierre Garnier, Ph.D.
Owen Hughes
Kelly Martin
Sean Murphy
Machelle Sanders
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
Willard H. Dere, M.D.
Willard H. Dere, M.D. has served on our Board of Directors since November 2014, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., Mersana Therapeutics, Inc., and Seres Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Dere has served as the Professor of Internal Medicine; B. Lue and Hope S. Bettilyon Presidential Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine for Diabetes Research, Associate Vice President of Research (interim) for Health Sciences; Vice Dean of Research (interim) for the School of Medicine; and Co-Principal Investigator of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center since November 2014. Prior to that, he served at Amgen Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, as the Senior Vice President, Global Development from December 2004 to June 2007, and from April 2014 to October 2014, and as International Chief Medical Officer from January 2007 to April 2014. Before he joined Amgen in 2003, Dr. Dere served as Vice President of Endocrine, Bone and General Medicine Research and Development at Eli Lilly and Company, a biopharmaceutical company, where he also held various other roles in clinical pharmacology, regulatory affairs, and both early-stage translational, and late-stage clinical research. Dr. Dere received B.A. degrees in history and zoology and a M.D. degree from the University of California, Davis. We believe Dr. Dere is qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his strong medical background and extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
Catherine Friedman
Catherine Friedman has served as a member of our Board since August 2015. Ms. Friedman has been an independent financial consultant serving public and private companies in the life sciences industry since 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Friedman held numerous positions over a 23-year investment banking career with Morgan Stanley, including Managing Director from 1997 to 2006 and Head of West Coast Healthcare and Co-Head of the Biotechnology Practice from 1993 to 2006. Ms. Friedman is Chair of the Board of Grail, Inc., a life sciences company focused on early cancer detection, and a member of the boards of directors of Altaba Inc. (formerly Yahoo! Inc.) and Lyell Immunopharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on cell-based immunotherapies for cancer. Ms. Friedman is a member of the Board of Trustees for Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton. She is a graduate of Harvard University and received an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, where she is currently a Trustee. We believe Ms. Friedman is qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors due to her extensive experience as a member on various boards of directors, her educational background and her previous leadership and management roles.
Jean-Pierre Garnier, Ph.D.
Jean-Pierre Garnier, Ph.D. has served on our Board since December 2015. Dr. Garnier is currently Chairman of Idorsia Ltd., and was previously Chief Executive Officer of GlaxoSmithKline plc. In addition, Dr. Garnier is also a member of the Board of Directors of United Technologies Corporation, Chairman of the Board of CARMAT, and an Operating Partner at Advent International. Dr. Garnier previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Pierre Fabre S.A. from 2008 to 2010 and as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of GlaxoSmithKline plc from 2000 to 2008. Dr. Garnier served as Chief Executive Officer of SmithKline Beecham plc in 2000 and as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of SmithKline Beecham plc from 1996 to 2000. In 2009, he was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire. In 2007, he was promoted from Chevalier to Officier de la Légion d’Honneur of France. In 2006, he was named to the global list of top 20 CEOs by the Best Practice Institute. Dr. Garnier was previously Chairman of Cerenis and Alzheon, Inc. and a board member of the Stanford Advisory Council on Interdisciplinary Biosciences, Weill Cornell Medical College and the Dubai International Capital Advisory Board. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Newman’s Own Foundation. Dr. Garnier received his M.Sc in pharmaceutical science and Ph.D. in pharmacology from Louis Pasteur University in France and MBA from Stanford University. We believe Dr. Garnier is qualified to serve as a member of our Board because of his significant business and professional experience, including his extensive experience in the life sciences industry, membership on various boards of directors and his previous leadership and management roles.
Owen Hughes
Owen Hughes has served on our Board of Directors since April 2013 and as Chairman of our Board of Directors since March 2020. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Cullinan Oncology, LLC and an Executive Partner at MPM Capital since October 2017. Prior to joining Cullinan and MPM, Mr. Hughes served as the Chief Business Officer and Head of Corporate Development at Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, from February 2013 to September 2017. Prior to Intarcia, he served as a Director at Brookside Capital, a hedge fund under the Bain Capital umbrella, managing public and private healthcare investments from March 2008 to January 2013. Mr. Hughes has over 16 years of Wall Street experience on both the buy and sell-side, starting his career in investment banking and healthcare research. Mr. Hughes is a director of Translate Bio and Wren Therapeutics, and was previously a director of Malin PLC from 2012 to 2017. He earned a bachelor of arts from Dartmouth College. We believe Mr. Hughes is qualified to serve as a member of our Board of Directors because of his extensive business and professional experience, including his experience in the venture capital industry and years of analyzing development opportunities in the life sciences sector.
Kelly Martin
President and CEO
Kelly Martin is our President and Chief Executive Officer and joined the company in April 2020.
He was the CEO of Elan Corporation plc, an Ireland-based pharmaceutical company. Prior to that he spent 21 years at Merrill Lynch & Co. Kelly currently serves as Executive Chairman of two private companies: Wren Therapeutics Limited and Transition Bio, Inc.
Sean Murphy
Sean Murphy has served on our Board of Directors since August 2020. He is a co-founder and has served as Executive Vice President of Malin PLC. Mr. Murphy was a senior advisor at Evercore. Prior to that, Mr. Murphy held numerous positions over a 30 year career with Abbott Laboratories/Abbvie. Mr. Murphy is currently serving on the Boards of Poseida Therapeutics, Xenex Corporation, Immucor, Altan Pharmaceuticals, and Prenosis. Mr. Murphy earned a BBA from Western Illinois University and an MSF from University of Illinois-Champaign and is a CPA.
Machelle Sanders
Machelle Sanders has served on our Board of Directors since 2021. She is a highly experienced pharmaceutical and biotechnology executive with over 25 years in the industry. Currently Ms. Sanders is Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Administration, having been appointed by Governor Roy Cooper. The Administration Secretary oversees the state agency whose mission is to provide a broad array of high quality public services to its customers: the citizens, agencies and communities of North Carolina.
While in the private sector, Ms. Sanders was responsible for the pharmaceutical operations and technology operational strategy for Biogen’s multi-billion dollar multiple sclerosis (MS) franchise. As vice president she was responsible for manufacturing and general management of the company’s most advanced and largest manufacturing facility located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Ms. Sanders holds a bachelor of science degree in Biochemistry from North Carolina State University and a masters of health administration (MHA) from Pfeiffer University.
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
Dr. von Eschenbach has served on our Board of Directors since 2021. He was appointed acting commissioner of the FDA in 2005, and confirmed as commissioner in 2006. He remained in that role until his resignation in 2009. Prior to that, he served as director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2002 to 2006. He served as a physician, surgeon, oncologist and executive at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from 1976 until 2002.
Dr. von Eschenbach earned a B.S. from St. Joseph’s University and a M.D. from Georgetown University. He served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval Medical Corps. His residency was at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. He also completed a fellowship in Urologic Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.