Executive Team
Ben Gibson
Chief Executive Officer / Co-founder
Business Leadership, Strategy & Execution
Previously MD of Investment Banking at Canaccord Genuity Group
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Ken Batchelor, PhD
Head of Research & Development
Drug Discovery & Clinical Asset Development
Former SVP R&D at GSK, Founder & CEO of NovaTarg Therapeutics, Inc.
Email / Linkedin
Board of Directors
Dr. Morris J. Birnbaum, MD/PhD
Non-Executive Director
Former SVP of Pfizer and CSO of Pfizer’s Internal Medicine Research Unit (2014-2022); Previously, a professor and research scientist at UPenn / Perelman School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School.
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Dr. Joan Mannick, MD
Non-Executive Director
CEO of Tornado Therapeutics. Previously Head of R&D at Life Biosciences; co-founder and Chief Medical Officer at resTORbio; Executive Director of the New Indications Discovery Unit at Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research; Medical Director at Genzyme Corporation focused on early stage oncology products.
Linkedin
Ben Gibson
Chief Executive Officer / Co-founder
Email / Linkedin
Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Morris J. Birnbaum, MD/PhD
Chair of Scientific Advisory Board
Former (2014-2022) SVP of Pfizer and CSO of Pfizer’s Internal Medicine Research Unit (IMRU) responsible for leading Pfizer’s IMRU portfolio and technology strategies in the general areas of cardiometabolic and neurological diseases, spanning from initial drug discovery through clinical proof of concept into late-stage clinical development. Dr. Birnbaum was also responsible for selecting and managing external academic and private collaborations as well as performing scientific diligence for licensing and M&A opportunities, and participated in Pfizer’s Worldwide Research, Development, and Medicine Leadership team. Previously, Dr. Birnbaum had a three-decade career as a Physician Scientist, leading an academic laboratory focused on basic research in fundamental mechanisms in metabolic regulation. His research focused on the study of insulin action, metabolism and how organisms respond to both a deficit and a surfeit of food. He occupied roles at Harvard Medical School, the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Birnbaum has published over 200 refereed papers in the world’s leading scientific journals.
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Douglas C Wallace, PhD
Director of the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Human Genetics, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
More than 30 years ago, Dr. Wallace and his colleagues founded the field of human mitochondrial genetics by discovering the first inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diseases. The mitochondria contain their own DNA which encodes the wiring diagram for the cell’s power plants. Dr. Wallace showed that the human mtDNA is inherited exclusively from the mother and that genetic alterations in the mtDNA can result is a wide range of metabolic and degenerative diseases as well as being important in cancer and aging. Prof. Wallace was the recipient of the 2012 Gruber Genetics Prize, the 2017 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, and the 2017 Johnson & Johnson Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research.
Bio
Wallace Lab
Kevin Foskett, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Physiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Foskett focuses his research on the mechanisms and regulation of cellular and mitochondrial ion transport and signal transduction, primarily related to Ca2+ signaling. This work has fueled studies of the molecular mechanisms of genetically inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease, cellular bioenergetics with relevance for Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, and the molecular physiology of taste perception.
Bio
Alessia Fornoni, MD/PhD
Professor, Dept. Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Chief, Katz Family Division of Nephrology and Hypertension; Chai, Peggy and Harold Katz Drug Discovery Center.
Dr. Fornoni was formerly the Global Head of Discovery in Cardiovascular and Metabolism at Hoffman-La Roche. She is currently a physician-scientist focused on research on the pathogenesis of chronic kidney diseases, and novel therapeutic strategies to address them. Through her work on kidney metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction, she has uncovered novel pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic approaches for glomerular disorders such as Alport Syndrome and diabetic nephropathy.
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Michael Caplan, MD/PhD
Chair, Cellular and Molecular Physiology Department, Yale Medical School
Dr. Caplan's work focuses on understanding the ways in which kidney cells organize and maintain their unique structures. His laboratory also studies the mechanisms responsible for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease and is working to identify targets for new therapies, with a focus on AMPK and other signaling pathways associated with cellular energetics.
Bio
Dr. Zan Fleming, MD Endocrinology
Executive Chairman, Kinexum Services
At the US FDA from 1986-98, Dr. Fleming was responsible for the therapeutic areas of diabetes, other metabolic and endocrine disorders, growth and development, nutrition, lipid-lowering compounds, and reproductive indications. He led reviews of landmark approvals, including metformin and the first statin, insulin analog, PPAR-agonist, and growth hormone for non-GH deficiency indications. Dr. Fleming oversaw clinical review of the earliest biotech products, including human insulin and growth hormone. Subsequent to his work at the FDA, Dr. Fleming founded Kinexum Services, a strategic & regulatory advisory firm focused on the complex diseases of aging.
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Dr. Ralph DeFronzo, MD Endocrinology
Chair in Diabetes at UT San Antonio Long School of Medicine.
Dr. DeFronzo's major interests focus on the pathogenesis and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus as well as diabetic kidney disease (diabetic nephropathy) and the central role of insulin resistance in the cardio-renal-metabolic cluster of disorders known collectively as the Insulin Resistance Syndrome. He has helped to define the biochemical and molecular disturbances responsible for insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus. He led the U.S. development of metformin, and ushered it through FDA approval in 1995, and subsequently dapagliflozin, empagliflozin, and canagliflozin.
Bio
Dr. Michael Pollak, MD
Dr Michael Pollak holds the Alexander Goldfarb Research Chair in cancer research at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and directs the Division of Cancer Prevention of the Department of Oncology.
Dr. Pollak practices medical oncology at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. His research considers the correlation of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, including the consideration of metabolic drugs and novel agents related to growth factor targets for oncology applications. He has led various studies focused on the preclinical & clinical development of Metformin for oncology indications including pancreatic cancer. He also runs a research lab at the Lady Davis Research Institute, which is affiliated with the Hospital and McGill. The laboratory conducts research focusing on insulin and IGF physiology in relation to cancer, and also provides specialized ELISA assays for epidemiologic and pharmaceutical collaborators. Dr Pollak has published more than 485 research papers and collaborates with leading cancer research groups worldwide in laboratory, clinical, and epidemiologic studies related to the role of growth factors in human cancer. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has appointed Dr. Pollak as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Prevention Research, an international journal published by AACR.
Bio
Dr. Fred Hausheer, MD
Global CMO, Lepu BioPharma Co., Ltd.
Previously Global CMO & SVP at WuXi AppTec, the world’s largest CDMO of both small molecule and biologics, Dr. Hausheer has extensive experience in global oncology clinical drug development and translational science and medicine, including translational/IND programs, clinical trial design, commercial clinical development, and involvement in regulatory interactions for novel agents spanning from pre-IND and Phase I-III development. Dr. Hausheer obtained his MD at the University of Missouri-Columbia and his MS in Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois-Champagne/Urbana). He currently holds adjunct professorships in Medical Oncology at the University of Missouri and The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center. He is an inventor/co-inventor on more than 400 issued US and international patents.
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