Board of Directors

Kenneth Bate has served as a member of our Board of Directors since January 2014, as Co-Chair from February 2016 to February 2019, and as Chair since February 2019. From 2009 until 2011, Mr. Bate was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Archemix, a privately held biotechnology company. From 2006 to 2009, Mr. Bate served in various positions at NitroMed, a public pharmaceutical company, most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Bate was head of commercial operations and Chief Financial Officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Millennium, Mr. Bate co-founded JSB-Partners, LLC., a banking and advisory services firm for biopharmaceutical and life sciences companies. From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Bate was employed with Biogen, Inc., a public biotechnology company, first as Chief Financial Officer and then as head of the commercial organization. Mr. Bate is currently also on the board of directors at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals. He holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in chemistry from Williams College.

Joanne T. Beck, Ph.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors since February 2019. Dr. Beck is currently the Chief Technology Officer at Aerium Therapeutics, a position she has held since November 2022. Previously, Dr. Beck was Chief Operating Officer at Boston Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company where she currently serves as a Scientific Advisor, from December 2019 to November 2022. From April 2016 to December 2019, Dr. Beck was the Executive Vice President of Global Pharmaceutical Development and Operations at Celgene Corporation, a publicly held biopharmaceutical company. From 2012 to March 2016, Dr. Beck was Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development at Shire Plc, a former publicly held biopharmaceutical company. Prior to Shire, she held positions of increasing responsibility in Global Pharmaceutical Operations at Abbott Laboratories, a publicly held pharmaceuticals and healthcare products company, and was the site head of Abbott Vascular Instruments GmbH. Prior to Abbott, Dr. Beck held positions in Process Development at both Genentech and Amgen. Dr. Beck currently serves as a member of the board of directors of public biopharmaceutical company Orchard Therapeutics. Dr. Beck holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Oregon Health and Science University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Beck also holds a BA in Chemistry from Lewis and Clark College.

Fred Callori has served member of our Board of Directors since January 2021. Mr. Callori serves as Executive Vice President at Xontogeny, LLC, a life sciences accelerator, a position he has held since January 2023.  Prior to that Mr. Callori served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development of Xontogeny, LLC from September 2017 to December 2022.  Mr. Callori has also served as a partner in the Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds since December 2019. Prior to Xontogeny and Perceptive, from 1998 to August 2017, Mr. Callori served as a partner in the Life Science and Emerging Companies practices of Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP. Mr. Callori also serves on the Board of Directors of Landos Therapeutics, a publicly held biotechnology company. Mr. Callori holds a J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.A. in Economics from Binghamton University.

Hugh M. Cole has served as a member of our Board of Directors since July 2019. Mr. Cole has held a number of senior executive positions at biopharma companies, including most recently Chief Operating Officer at Jounce Therapeutics. Prior to Jounce, Mr. Cole was the Chief Business Officer at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, a publicly held pharmaceutical company acquired by Takeda in 2017. Prior to ARIAD, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Shire Pharmaceuticals, including Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Program Management, Global Franchise Leader, and Head of Business Development for Shire’s rare disease business. Prior to Shire, Mr. Cole held various positions in Business Development at Oscient Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Cole holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard University and an M.B.A. in Health Care Management and Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael D. Kishbauch has served as a member of our Board of Directors since April 2016. Mr. Kishbauch previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Achillion Pharmaceuticals from July 2004 until his retirement in September 2013. Prior to that, he founded and, from 1996 to 2004, served as President and Chief Executive Officer of OraPharma, a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on oral health care that was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2003. Mr. Kishbauch also held senior management positions with MedImmune, Inc., a biotechnology company, from 1992 to 1995. Mr. Kishbauch formerly served as a director of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, from July 2004 to January 2020, Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2013 to 2019, and TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals Corporation from 2014 to 2016. Mr. Kishbauch holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in biology from Wesleyan University.

Gregg Lapointe has served as a member of our Board of Directors since January 2019. Since 2012, Mr. Lapointe has served as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cerium Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company. He previously held varying roles at Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, from 2001 through 2012, including Chief Operating Officer from 2003 to 2008 and Chief Executive Officer from 2008 to 2012. From 1996 to 2001, Mr. Lapointe served as Vice President of Operations and Vice President, Controller of AstenJohnson, Inc. (formerly JWI Inc.). Mr. Lapointe began his career at Price Waterhouse and is a Certified Public Accountant. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of two other public biopharmaceutical companies: Soligenix, Inc. and Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. During the last five years, Mr. Lapointe served as a member of the Board of Directors of public biotechnology companies Plus Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly known as Cytori Therapeutics, Inc.), SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Inc. He holds an MBA from Duke University, is a Certified Public Accountant, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University.

Jill Milne, Ph.D. is a co-founder of our company and has served as a member of our board of directors and as our President and Chief Executive Officer since June 2008. Prior to co-founding our company, Dr. Milne worked as head of discovery biology at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company, from 2004 to 2008, when it was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline. From 1998 to 2004, Dr. Milne worked at Pfizer Global Research and Development, where she served as the worldwide head of the Drug Pfinder Program and head of the Enzyme Target Group at the Pfizer Discovery Technology Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to joining Pfizer, she was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in the department of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard Medical School from 1995 to 1998. Dr. Milne holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a B.A. in biological chemistry from Wellesley College.

Jon Violin has served as a member of our Board of Directors since January 2021. Dr. Violin was a co-founder of Quellis and was its Treasurer and Secretary from December 2018 until the Quellis Acquisition, and served as President of Quellis from December 2018 to December 2020. Dr. Violin also served as a consultant for Quellis from December 2017 through April 2021. Dr. Violin served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly Miragen Therapeutics, Inc.), a biotechnology company, from January 2021 to February 2023, and he previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Viridian from October 2020 until January 2021. Dr. Violin currently serves as a consultant to life science companies, including to Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Violin also co-founded Dianthus Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, in May 2019 and co-founded and helped lead Trevena Inc., a biotechnology company, in various roles from 2008 until November 2018, most recently as SVP, Scientific Affairs and Investor Relations Officer. Dr. Violin holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego, a M.B.A. with a concentration in Health Sector Management from the Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor of Sciences in Chemical Pharmacology from Duke University.