About Us

Niall Martin

Chief Executive Officer

Niall has over 30 years’ extensive experience in both biotech and pharmaceutical industries, predominately in the DNA Damage Response (DDR) field for cancer therapeutics.  Niall has been the CEO of Artios since setting up the company in 2016 and during this time has raised a total of $320M, with a ground- breaking $153M Series C financing in July 2021.

Prior to joining Artios, Niall was a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at MISSION Therapeutics, a company focused on the commercialisation of expert research into ubiquitin pathways for the treatment of neurological disease, cancers and other diseases. During his time at MISSION, Niall helped establish the deubiquitylating enzyme (DUB) inhibitor platform and helped raise more than $108M in Series A and B financing.

Prior to that, Niall was Head of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, UK (a subsidiary of AstraZeneca) from 2008 to 2010, delivering a number of DDR projects into the AstraZeneca oncology pipeline after it acquisition of KuDOS for $220M.  Niall previously held the role of Director of Drug Discovery, where he established the drug-screening capabilities that underpinned all KuDOS drug discovery programmes. Niall’s most notable achievement was establishing KuDOS’ programme against the DDR target PARP, which resulted in the discovery and development of Lynparza™ (olaparib), the first PARP inhibitor to market.

Niall also worked in thrombosis research at Fournier (Dijon, France) and in non-lipid cardiovascular research at Zeneca. He gained his PhD in Zoology from Aberdeen University.

Christine Silverstein

Chief Financial Officer

Christine is a seasoned biotechnology strategy, finance, and operations executive with 20+ years of public and private corporate strategy, business development, and financial planning experience. She has led numerous capital markets transactions, from structured financing and IPOs to partnerships and M&A.

Christine was most recently Chief Financial Officer at Excision Biotherapeutics Inc; previously serving as CFO of Emendo Biotherapeutics (acquired by AnGes Inc.).  Other senior roles have included CFO at Abeona Therapeutics and Managing Director at SCO Capital Partners, a New York based biotechnology venture fund.

She currently serves on the Boards of Marinus Pharmaceuticals and Abeona Therapeutics, both focused on rare pediatric diseases.

Recognised for recruitment and mentorship of successful female executives, Christine holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Peter Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University and has earned accreditations from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Harvard University.

Andrew Muncey

Chief Operating Officer and Company Secretary

Andrew brings over 30 years’ experience in corporate finance and management to Artios.  He previously served as Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of Acacia Pharma, and Chief Executive Officer of Amura Therapeutics. Andrew has been Chief Financial Officer or Finance Director of several biotechnology companies, including PhoreMost, MISSION Therapeutics, Bicycle Therapeutics, Kymab, and Virttu Biologics.

Andrew has raised significant amounts of equity and debt funding, including over $500 million in private equity, and has completed many acquisitions, disposals, restructuring and licensing deals in the healthcare market. He has over 15 years’ corporate finance and capital markets experience from PricewaterhouseCoopers and UBS. Andrew is a Fellow Chartered Accountant

Graeme Smith

Chief Scientific Officer

Graeme has served as our CSO since September 2017 and brings more than 30 years’ experience in oncology research, with significant expertise and in-depth knowledge in the field of DNA Damage Response (DDR). He joined Artios from AstraZeneca, where he held the position of Senior Director of Bioscience within the Oncology Innovative Medicines and Early Development (IMED) division. In this role, Graeme was a member of the Oncology Research Board and led teams in the discovery and development of novel targeted anti-cancer agents. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, he was Head and Research Director at KuDOS Pharmaceuticals where he played a key role in the discovery and development of Lynparza™ (olaparib), the first targeted DDR inhibitor to reach the market.

Graeme gained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh and subsequently worked as a Research Fellow at the Wellcome/CRC Institute at the University of Cambridge in the laboratory of Professor Steve Jackson, FRS.

Ian Smith

Chief Medical Officer

Ian joined Artios in 2019 as our Chief Medical Officer. He has a wealth of experience in the translational research and clinical development of medicines to treat cancer.

Ian has held leadership positions within the global clinical development organizations of both Eli Lilly in the US, and AstraZeneca and has held academic and clinical positions in the University of Aberdeen. Prior to joining Artios Ian served as Global Senior Medical Director within Eli Lilly where he led the worldwide clinical development, regulatory approval and subsequent commercialization of key successful breakthrough medicines for multiple indications. While at AstraZeneca, Ian led both early and late phase clinical development of several novel cancer therapeutics for both adult and pediatric indications. Ian has served as reviewer for several oncology journals and sat on national grant awarding panels within the United States and the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry Ian was a Clinical Lecturer in the University of Aberdeen where he led research projects evaluating novel methods of predicting and assessing early treatment response of cancer therapeutics

John Graham

VP of CMC

John has extensive Chemistry, Manufacturing & Controls (CMC) experience gained within a number of companies in Pharma (Fisons, Astra AB), CDMO (Quintiles) and Biotech (CeNeS Ltd, PAION AG, Mission Therapeutics and Destiny Pharma) over a 30+ year career. After qualifying as a Pharmacist following his BSc degree in Pharmacy, John gained a MSC in Pharmaceutical Analysis from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow before starting his career in the pharmaceutical industry, holding various positions in analytical chemistry, formulation development and project management before moving to senior management positions within CMC development. In his 20 years in biotech he has developed a number of new products within different therapeutic areas including injectables, oral and topical products in support of early to late-stage clinical research, some of which are now commercialised. In his role John has responsibility for API & Drug Product development and production through to clinical trial supplies and CMC regulatory interactions.

Bryony Harrop

VP of Clinical Development

Bryony is a seasoned pharmaceutical industry professional with over 20 years’ experience through all stages of drug development in cutting-edge oncology clinical trials across a broad range of malignancies.  She was previously Oncology Delivery Director at AstraZeneca where over a period of fifteen years she held various leadership positions in the Early Clinical Development, Global Project Management and Global Medical Affairs units.  Before AstraZeneca, Bryony worked at Eisai and at contract research organisations such as MDS Harris and Chiltern International Limited and in the NHS at Northampton Community Healthcare Trust. Bryony holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry from the University of Nottingham.

Desiree Headley

VP of Clinical Science

Desiree brings to Artios over 20 years of pharmaceutical experience working in various functions across Oncology Research & Development in a wide range of cancer indications. Most recently, she worked at GSK as a Cell and Gene Therapy Specialist overseeing investigator engagement initiatives and study oversight for multiple phase I/II trials. Prior to that, Desiree worked at AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly as a medical scientist responsible for the medical oversight and conduct of small and large phase II and III clinical trials. Desiree’s vast experience in late-stage oncology clinical development also includes regulatory submissions and approvals and working with product launch and commercialization teams.

Desiree has a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science from Eastern University and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Research from George Washington University.

Robert Heald

VP of Chemistry

Rob is a seasoned Medicinal Chemist and drug discovery expert with over 20 years of industrial experience.

Before joining Artios Rob was a Director of Chemistry at Argenta Discovery (latterly Charles River) where he managed a group of over 30 chemists and led teams and projects in collaborations with a wide range of institutions from Universities to large Biotech and Pharma.  These collaborations included 10 years with Genentech and 5 years with Chiesi.  During this time his teams were responsible for the discovery of 6 clinical candidates for oncology and respiratory indications, the most advanced of which is now in Phase III clinical studies.

Since joining Artios in 2016 shortly after Series A fundraising Rob has led the medicinal chemistry team responsible for delivering the first human DNA polymerase inhibitor to enter clinical trials, ART4215.

Rob is an author or inventor of over 50 publications and patents and holds a BSc and PhD from the University of Nottingham.

Gillian Langford

VP of Clinical Development

Gillian has over 25 years’ research and development experience in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Gillian joined Artios from Bicycle Therapeutics where she was part of the leadership team and was VP of Clinical and Project Management and responsible for moving Bicycle’s lead compound into the clinic.  Prior to joining Bicycle Gillian was Director of Programme Management at Boyd Consultants and worked with European and North American companies developing oncology products and gene based medicines. Gillian also worked at Alizyme Therapeutics, Ark Therapeutics and Imutran Ltd, a Novartis Pharma AG company.  At Ark Therapeutics Gillian was responsible for all aspects of the company’s lead gene therapy product, including non-clinical studies, manufacturing, regulatory and clinical trials (Phases 2 and 3).  At Imutran Gillian was Unit Head of Molecular Biology and subsequently as Unit Head of Retroviral research managing internal research projects and collaborations with academic groups.  Gillian has numerous publications, including in Science.

Gillian graduated from Imperial College London and obtained her Ph.D. in molecular biology at York University.

Helen Robinson

VP of Biology

Helen has 20 years’ experience in oncology research, the majority within the DNA Damage Response (DDR) field. Since joining Artios in 2017, she’s overseen the building of the DDR biology platform and continues to lead the biology department, supporting the drug discovery process from target ID, cell assay development through to identifying and validating patient selection hypotheses.

Helen joined Artios from MISSION Therapeutics where she was both a team and project leader responsible for various drug discovery efforts up to the preclinical stage, leading both biomarker discovery and new targets functional teams.

Before moving into the biotechnology sector (including KuDOS Pharmaceuticals), Helen gained her PhD from the University of Glasgow then went on to post-doctoral training at the CRUK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research and subsequently University of Cambridge.

Dr Simon J. Boulton, FMedSci FRS

VP of Scientific Strategy

Simon is Senior Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute and VP of Scientific Strategy at Artios. He is also an honorary Professor at University College London and Kings College London, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) and member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

Over the last 15 years Simon’s laboratory has discovered novel DNA repair genes and provided molecular insights into their impact on human diseases. As a result of his ground-breaking work, Simon has received a number of prestigious accolades, most notably the EMBO Gold Medal and the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. He has also given numerous prize lectures, including the Royal Society Francis Crick Prize lecture and the Mendel Lecture. Simon previously established the DNA Damage Response Laboratory at Cancer Research UK, London Research Institute, Clare Hall Laboratory having completed post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard Medical School, Boston. Simon gained his PhD at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Stephen V. Frye

Scientific Advisor

Stephen is currently the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor and Director, Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the highest ranked school of pharmacy in the USA. As Director of the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at UNC, Stephen plays a key role in translational research through collaborative drug discovery projects with other UNC facilities.

Stephen has a broad background in drug discovery and development and most notably he was responsible for co-inventing the marketed product Avodart and created the department that discovered the FDA approved kinase inhibitor oncology therapies Lapatinib (Tyverb®) and Pazopanib (Votrient®), while at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Previously, Stephen was VP of Discovery Medicinal Chemistry at GSK. Stephen is currently Chair of Cancer Research UK’s Drug Discovery Committee, Member of A*STAR Project Review Committee of the Experimental Therapeutics Center in Singapore, Co-Founder and Vice President of the Academic Drug Discovery Consortiun and Member of the SAB for the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre/ Experimental Therapeutics Programme. Stephen received his PhD in organic chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill in the USA.

Professor Geoff Higgins

Scientific Advisor

Geoff Higgins graduated in medicine from Edinburgh University in 2000. He undertook specialty training as a Clinical Oncologist at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists in 2007. He subsequently moved to Oxford University and was awarded a D.Phil in 2010. For the last 9 years he has worked as a Clinician Scientist and Consultant Clinical Oncologist in Oxford. His laboratory research focuses on developing treatments that can selectively kill cancer cells when combined with radiotherapy. He previously demonstrated that disruption of POLQ induces tumour-specific radiosensitisation, and established the initial collaboration with Cancer Research Technology to develop inhibitors against this protein.

In the clinic, he has been the Chief Investigator of three clinical trials which have successfully translated new drug treatments into patient studies. Geoff also leads research relating to cancer imaging, and is joint-lead investigator of the CRUK funded National Cancer Imaging Translational Accelerator.

Professor Chris Lord

Scientific Advisor

Professor Chris Lord is Deputy Head of Division at The Institute of Cancer Research, Team Leader of the CRUK Gene Function Laboratory and Professor of Cancer Genomics and Deputy Director at Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at the ICR, London. Professor Lord completed his D.Phil., working on complex disease genetics at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford.

Chris carried out post-doctoral work at the CIMR, University of Cambridge, and at the ICR. Much of the focus of his work is in exploiting genetic concepts such as synthetic lethality and functional genomics approaches to understand the behaviour of tumour cells. The ultimate aim of this work is to use this information to design novel ways to treat the disease.

Pierre Legault

Chairman

Pierre, who is based in the US, is a highly accomplished leader in the global biopharmaceutical industry with over 35 years’ experience leading companies through high phases of growth to deliver significant shareholder value.

Pierre currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Artios Pharma Limited, Bicycle Therapeutics, Amolyt Pharma and Poxel SA Biopharmaceutical.  He is also a Board Director at Syndax Pharmaceuticals and Lead Director at Urovant Sciences. In the past, he was a Board Director at Armo Biosciences, Tobira Therapeutics, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Regado Biosciences, lroko Pharmaceuticals, Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Eckerd Pharmacy and NephroGenex, a biotechnology focused on kidney diseases, where he served from 2012 to 2016 as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. From 2010 to 2012, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Prosidion Ltd., specialized in the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

From 2009 to 2010, he served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of OSI Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Legault also served as the President of Eckerd Pharmacy and Senior Executive Vice – President of Rite Aid Corporation. Between 1989 and 2005, he held various roles, such as President, CEO and Chief Financial Officer, at legacy companies of the Sanofi – Aventis group.

Pierre holds an M.B.A. in Marketing from McGill University and a Bachelor’s degree from HEC (France). He also studied at Harvard Business School. He holds an MBA, BAA, CA, CPA and Six Sigma Green Belt diplomas.

Niall Martin

Chief Executive Officer

Niall has over 30 years’ extensive experience in both biotech and pharmaceutical industries, predominately in the DNA Damage Response (DDR) field for cancer therapeutics.  Niall has been the CEO of Artios since setting up the company in 2016 and during this time has raised a total of $320M, with a ground- breaking $153M Series C financing in July 2021.

Prior to joining Artios, Niall was a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at MISSION Therapeutics, a company focused on the commercialisation of expert research into ubiquitin pathways for the treatment of neurological disease, cancers and other diseases. During his time at MISSION, Niall helped establish the deubiquitylating enzyme (DUB) inhibitor platform and helped raise more than $108M in Series A and B financing.

Prior to that, Niall was Head of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, UK (a subsidiary of AstraZeneca) from 2008 to 2010, delivering a number of DDR projects into the AstraZeneca oncology pipeline after it acquisition of KuDOS for $220M.  Niall previously held the role of Director of Drug Discovery, where he established the drug-screening capabilities that underpinned all KuDOS drug discovery programmes. Niall’s most notable achievement was establishing KuDOS’ programme against the DDR target PARP, which resulted in the discovery and development of Lynparza™ (olaparib), the first PARP inhibitor to market.

Niall also worked in thrombosis research at Fournier (Dijon, France) and in non-lipid cardiovascular research at Zeneca. He gained his PhD in Zoology from Aberdeen University.

Nora Brennan

Chair of the Audit Committee

Nora Brennan has served on management teams of publicly traded life science companies for the past 15 years, raising more than $2 billion in capital, building finance organizations and supporting operations from early development stage into commercialization.

She is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Fore Biotherapeutics, a private precision oncology company pioneering the development of cancer therapies guided by functional genomics. Prior to Fore, she was the Chief Financial Officer of TELA Bio, Inc., where she guided the company through a successful IPO and follow-on financing. Previously, Ms. Brennan spent 11 years as the Senior Vice President of Treasury and Investor Relations at Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation, where she served in numerous capacities and led Integra through a myriad of financings. She was key to the capital markets strategy over a significant period of time and successfully integrated 18 acquisitions leading to significant revenue growth for the company.

She earned her B.A. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Ms. Brennan is currently serving as a Director and Audit Chair at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Irena Melnikova

Director

Irena Melnikova, Ph.D. is a Partner at Pfizer Ventures. She is an accomplished biopharma and finance executive with over 20 years of experience in equity financings in both public and private markets, corporate strategy, business development, and operations. She currently serves as a board director of Crossbow Therapeutics, Flare Therapeutics and Telavant Holdings.

Prior to Pfizer Ventures, Dr. Melnikova served as the Chief Financial Officer at Umoja Biopharma where she was a senior member of the executive team responsible for all aspects of financial strategy and operations of the company.

Prior to Umoja, Dr. Melnikova was a Managing Director, Biopharma Investment Banking at SVB Leerink, where she provided critical advice to biopharma companies and their boards on equity financing strategies, completing over 80 transactions raising over $9 billion for clients. Earlier in her career, she held leadership positions at Sanofi and TVM Capital.

Dr. Melnikova holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine/Molecular Biology from the University of Texas.

Chris Liu

Director

Chris Liu, Ph.D. brings over 10 years of financial and biotechnology experience, specializing in oncology therapeutics across diverse indications, technology platforms and stages of development. He currently serves as a Senior Research Analyst at RTW where he leads oncology research on biotechnology companies and covers life sciences companies in China. Prior to joining RTW, Chris spent 5 years in Business Development at GenScript, where his work focused on antibody drug discovery and development including novel immuno-oncology targets. He also helped design and optimize chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) constructs for CAR-T cell therapy companies such as Kite, Juno, and Bellicum.

Chris received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from SUNY Stony Brook and a B.S. in Chemistry from Fudan University. He also received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance and Management from NYU Stern School of Business.

Michelle Doig

Director

Michelle Doig has over 20 years’ experience working with life sciences companies at leading International Venture Capital and Investment Banking Firms.

She joined Omega Funds in December 2016, as a Partner and Head of Corporate Development. Prior to that, she was Director of Corporate Finance at Third Rock Ventures from 2013 to 2016, where she supported numerous portfolio companies. From 2004 to 2013, Ms. Doig was a Principal, Corporate Finance at Abingworth.

After graduating with honors from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University, London, Ontario, Michelle began her career as a life sciences investment banker with multiple investment firms, including Morgan Stanley (Toronto and New York), JPM H&Q (New York and San Francisco) and Lehman Brothers (London, UK).

Michelle served as a Director of the Nuvation Bio Inc. from July 2019 to June 2021 and is currently serving as a Director and President of Omega Alpha SPAC.

John Hohneker

Director

John Hohneker, M.D., brings over 30 years of extensive experience in drug development and leadership across the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors. He most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Anokion SA. Prior to this, he held the role of President of Research and Development at FORMA Therapeutics Inc. Before joining FORMA Therapeutics, Dr. Hohneker held roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis AG, including most recently as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Development, Immunology, and Dermatology.

Dr. Hohneker currently serves on the Board of Directors of Arrivent Biopharma, Carisma Therapeutics, Curis, Inc., Sonata Therapeutics, Inc., and Trishula Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Hohneker received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Gettysburg College and his M.D. from the Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (formerly the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School).

René Kuijten

Director

René Kuijten is Head of EQT Life Sciences and Partner at EQT since 2022. Rene was Managing Partner at LSP from 2001 until 2022, when LSP joined forces with EQT and was renamed EQT Life Sciences. René is currently also Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Oncode Institute which he co-founded, and he advises the Dutch government on life sciences policies through HealthHolland.

Prior to LSP, René was senior consultant for 8 years at McKinsey & Company and co-leader of their European Healthcare Practice. Furthermore, he served on the board of the Dutch Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (NVP) for 12 years.

René obtained his MD from Utrecht University; his PhD from the University of Amsterdam on research performed as a WHO fellow at the University of Pennsylvania; and his MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau.

Nikola Trbovic

Director

Nikola is Partner at SV Health Investors in the Biotech team having joined SV in January 2022. Previously, Nikola was a Partner at Pfizer Ventures, Pfizer’s corporate venture capital group. There he was responsible for investments in emerging companies developing transformative medicines spanning all therapeutic areas and modalities aligned with the future directions of Pfizer. In prior roles at Pfizer, Nikola held responsibilities for R&D technology investments, R&D strategy and early clinical portfolio management within the R&D organization. Nikola joined Pfizer from McKinsey & Co., where he served as an Associate Principal and senior member of the Pharmaceuticals Practice, advising top pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare companies on a range of strategy, corporate finance and commercial topics across geographies and therapeutic areas.

Outside of SV, Nikola enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, snorkeling/scuba diving and sports.

Academic credentials
Nikola received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from Columbia University, and holds a Diploma in Biochemistry from Goethe University Frankfurt.

Samantha Truex

Director

Samantha Truex was the founding CEO of Upstream Bio.  Sam has served in leadership roles at multiple venture-backed companies including as CEO of Quench Bio, COO of Synlogic and CBO for Padlock Therapeutics. Previously, Sam was Vice President of Corporate Development at Biogen where she led transactional business development activities and served as program executive for now-marketed products FAMPYRA,® ELOCTATE™ and ALPROLIX™. Sam also previously worked in Corporate Development at Genzyme, Chiron Diagnostics and Health Advances.  Sam earned a BA in biology from Dartmouth College, a BE in biomedical engineering from the Thayer School at Dartmouth and an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth.   Sam is also on the boards of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth and Life Science Cares.

Raphael Wisniewski

Director

Raphaël joined the Life Sciences Team of Andera Partners (formerly Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners) in 2001. Previously, he worked in Healthcare Corporate Finance at Goldman Sachs starting at Salomon Smith Barney.

He worked in the Finance Department of Health in London and in the finance department of General Healthcare in London, the private hospital group. Raphaël is a graduate of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and holds a postgraduate diploma in Economics and Finance from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP), Paris. Raphaël is a Director of Axonics, Poxel, ReViral, MedDay and Grey Wolf.

Chen Yu

Director

Dr. Yu is the founder and Managing Partner at TCG X. Prior to founding TCG X, Dr. Yu was a Managing Partner for seventeen years at Vivo Capital where he pioneered the firm’s efforts in cross border investments between the US and China.   Dr. Yu has extensive operating experience with leadership roles at both private and public companies, including his time as COO of Sagent Pharmaceuticals and CBO of China KangHui, both of which went public and were ultimately acquired.  Dr. Yu also serves on the California Leadership Council for the Nature Conservancy and was previously a member of the Stanford Medical School Alumni Board of Governors. Dr. Yu received his M.D. and M.B.A. from Stanford University and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Biology from Harvard University.

Hakan Goker

Observer

Hakan is a Senior Investment Director at Merck Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, having joined the company in 2013. Previously, he was a partner at Aescap Venture in Amsterdam and prior to that at Atlas Venture in London.

Hakan has global investment and deal flow experience, and was instrumental in the creation, financing and development of business and R&D strategies for various companies including Orphazyme-DK, f-Star NL, Protaffin- Austria/UK, Bicycle Therapeutics -UK, Nimbus Discovery -US, Lumavita -CH, Nitec now Horizon Pharma -CH/US, and Egalet -DK. He is currently a board member of Asceneuron, Forendo Pharma, Raze Therapeutics, Tocopherx, Synaffix, and Storm Therapeutics.

Hakan gained his PhD in oncology from the Institute of Cancer Research/ University of London, UK and was post-doctoral fellow at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Centre/Royal Marsden Hospital.

Lisa Patel

Observer

Lisa is a partner in the LS Team at IP Group and sits on several portfolio groups. With 10 years’ experience at GSK, starting at SB in product lifecycle, and post merger into the CV CEDD where she led programs from target ID to candidate and beyond. Lisa had responsibility for strategic initiatives in 7TMs and NRs and led, and was part of several candidate selections during this time.

Latterly she was in CPDM, reporting to Barbara Weber and then Perry Nisen with responsibility for translational medicine support for programs in the autoimmune/inflammatory and CV space. Lisa joined an IP Group company, Modern Biosciences in 2007, and since 2008 has been its sole employee, leading the development of its main project from lab hit to a recent PoC in RA. The company was rebranded 2 years ago to Istesso and is currently valued at £140m. She has a PhD in molecular Genetics and an MBA.