Board of Directors
Doug Treco, Ph.D.
CEO, Chairman of Board of Directors
Douglas Treco, Ph.D., currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and has served as the chairman of our board of directors since May 2020. Dr. Treco was Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Ra Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on peptide and small molecule inhibitors of the complement pathway. The company was acquired in April 2020 by UCB S.A.. Its lead program, Zilbrysq® , has been approved for the treatment of myasthenia gravis in all major markets. Dr. Treco was CEO of Alchemab Therapeutics from April 2021 to April 2022. Previously, he co-founded Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. (TKT), which was acquired in 2005 by Shire plc. In his position as Senior Vice President of Research and Development, he established and directed TKT’s gene activation and protein production efforts, which led to the approval of Dynepo™, Replagal®, Elaprase®, and Vpriv®. Dr. Treco is a member of the Board of Directors of CRISPR Therapeutics AG. He is also a scientific advisor to Lightstone Ventures. Dr. Treco was a visiting scientist in the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a lecturer in genetics at Harvard Medical School from 2004 to 2007. He holds a BA in Biology from the University of Delaware, a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and performed post-doctoral research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Sarah Bhagat, Ph.D.
Director
Sarah Bhagat has served on our board of directors since March 2019. Dr. Bhagat served as a partner at Sofinnova Investments, Inc., or Sofinnova, a venture capital firm, from March 2020 to August 2022. She served as principal at Sofinnova from January 2019 to December 2019 and as an associate from May 2017 to December 2018. Dr. Bhagat was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University from April 2016 to May 2017. Dr. Bhagat served as a venture fellow at Canaan Partners, a venture capital firm, from February 2015 to February 2016.
Dr. Bhagat also served as a research assistant at The Rockefeller University from May 2008 to May 2010 and a clinical research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital from June 2007 to May 2008. Dr. Bhagat received a B.A. in biological psychology from Franklin & Marshall College and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Yale University.
Axel Bolte, MBA
Co-founder, Senior Advisor and Member of Board of Directors
Axel Bolte, MBA, co-founded our company in 2015 and served as CEO and President until April 2023. Mr. Bolte currently serves as a senior advisor and has been a member of our board of directors since founding. Since March 2017, Mr. Bolte also has served as a managing member of Healthcare Advisors GmbH, a private healthcare advisory company.
Mr. Bolte served as a venture partner at HBM Partners AG, a provider of investment advisor services in the life sciences industry, from February 2017 to September 2019 and as an investment advisor to HBM Partners AG from March 2003 to January 2017. Mr. Bolte currently serves on the board of directors of IVERIC bio, Inc. (formerly known as Ophthotech Corporation), or IVERIC, and previously served on the board of directors of Allena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Nabriva Therapeutics plc and PTC Therapeutics, Inc., all of which are publicly traded biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Bolte received a degree in biochemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland and an M.B.A. from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Reinaldo M. Diaz, MBA
Director
Reinaldo M. Diaz has served on our board of directors since January 2017. Mr. Diaz serves has served as the chief executive officer of Opna Immuno-Oncology S.A., or Opna, since December 2023 and previously served as the chief business officer of Opna from May 2020 to November 2023. Mr. Diaz served as venture partner at Longitude Capital Management Co., LLC, or Longitude, a venture capital firm focusing on healthcare companies, from November 2015 to December 2023, and beginning in January 2024, serves as an industry advisor to Longitude. Mr. Diaz has served as the managing member and managing director of DA Advisors, LLC, a financial and strategic consulting company focusing on biopharmaceutical companies, since 2005. Mr. Diaz served as a managing director at Auven Therapeutics, a private equity firm focusing on life sciences, from 2008 to 2018. Mr. Diaz served as managing member and co-founder of Diaz & Altschul Capital Management, LLC, an asset management firm focusing on healthcare companies, from 1996 to 2005. Mr. Diaz served as managing director and head of the healthcare group at Schroder Wertheim & Co., Inc. from 1993 to 1996. Mr. Diaz served in various roles at PaineWebber Development Corporation from 1985 to 1993, including as president from 1990 to 1993. Mr. Diaz is currently on the board of directors of Lexeo Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company. Mr. Diaz received a B.A. in general studies from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Martin Edwards M.D., MBA
Director
Dr. Martin Edwards has served on our board of directors since September 2017. Dr. Edwards currently serves on the board of directors of Morphic Holdings, Inc. and Verona Pharma plc, both of which are publicly traded pharmaceutical companies, and previously served on the board of directors of Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc., from July 2020 to September 2023, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from January 2015 to March 2017, and KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from July 2019 to October 2022.
Dr. Edwards also served as Senior Partner at Novo Holdings A/S from 2003 to 2020. Earlier in his career, Dr. Edwards served as chief executive officer of ReNeuron Ltd., a stem cell research company based in the United Kingdom, and as global head of drug development for Novo Nordisk A/S, where he led preclinical and clinical drug development. Dr. Edwards received an MBA from the University of Warwick (UK) and his medical degree from the University of Manchester (UK).
Rob Hopfner, Rph, Ph.D., MBA
Director
Rob Hopfner has served on our board of directors since November 2018. Dr. Hopfner has served as managing partner of Pivotal bioVenture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on life sciences, since October 2017. Dr. Hopfner served in various roles at Bay City Capital, a venture capital firm focused on life sciences, from August 2002 to October 2017, including as a principal from June 2007 to October 2009 and as managing director and investment partner from October 2009 to October 2017. Dr. Hopfner currently serves on the board of directors of RallyBio Corporation and previously served on the board of directors of Hyperion Therapeutics and Vaxcyte, Inc., all of which are or were publicly traded biotechnology companies.
Dr. Hopfner received a B.S. in pharmacy from the University of Saskatchewan, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Saskatchewan.
Edward Mathers
Director
Edward Mathers has served on our board of directors since January 2017. Mr. Mathers has served as a general partner at New Enterprise Associates, Inc., or NEA, a private venture capital firm focusing on technology and healthcare investments, since November 2019.
He served as partner at NEA from August 2008 to October 2019. Prior to joining NEA, Mr. Mathers served as executive vice president, corporate development and venture at MedImmune, Inc., or MedImmune, a biopharmaceutical company, and led its venture capital subsidiary, MedImmune Ventures, Inc. Mr. Mathers currently serves on the board of directors of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Synlogic, Inc. (formerly known as Mirna Therapeutics, Inc.), Trevi Therapeutics, Inc. and Reneo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., all of which are publicly traded pharmaceutical companies, and he previously served on the board of directors of ObsEva SA from November 2015 to June 2023, Liquidia Technologies, Inc. from April 2009 to May 2019, Ra Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from February 2010 to April 2020, Akouos, Inc. from October 2017 to December 2022, and Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from November 2018 to September 2022, all of which are or were publicly traded pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Mathers received a B.S. in chemistry from North Carolina State University.
Lynne Sullivan, MST
Director
Lynne Sullivan has served on our board of directors since May 2020. Ms. Sullivan has served as chief financial officer of UNITY Biotechnology, Inc., a biotechnology company, since September 2020. Ms. Sullivan served as chief financial officer of Compass Therapeutics, LLC, a biotechnology company, from December 2018 to August 2019. Ms. Sullivan served in various roles at Biogen Inc., a biotechnology company, including vice president of tax from April 2008 to February 2015, vice president of tax and corporate finance from February 2015 to March 2016 and senior vice president of finance from March 2016 to December 2018. Ms. Sullivan currently serves on the board of directors of Solid Biosciences Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, and previously served on the board of directors of BiomX Inc. Ms. Sullivan was a certified public accountant for over 25 years. Ms. Sullivan received a B.S.B.A. in accounting from Suffolk University and an M.S. in taxation from Bentley University.
