Anthony is the Head of Chemistry at Sardona Therapeutics, where he integrates an interdisciplinary approach to the discovery effort. He most recently led the DGK (diacylglycerol kinase) immuno-oncology program at Gossamer Bio to successful candidate nomination. Before transitioning into biotech, Anthony was an original member of the antibacterial monobactam team at Novartis, where he played an integral role in the design, synthesis, optimization and development of the clinical candidates LYS228 (phase II) and IID572 (IND-enabled). While at Novartis, he was part of the search and evaluation taskforce and worked with the Novartis Venture Fund. Prior to pursuing doctoral studies, he made key contributions to the HCVNS3/4A protease project at Gilead Sciences, synthesizing the first sample of the clinical candidate GS-9256 (phase II).
Anthony completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Princeton University in the laboratory of David MacMillan (2021 Nobel Chemistry Laureate for organocatalysis), where he developed new organocatalytic methods and applied them to natural product synthesis. He holds an M.S. in Chemistry from University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in Biochemistry from San Francisco State University.
Cristina Csimma is the Executive Chair of Sardona’s Board of Directors. She is a biopharmaceutical leader with decades of experience in global drug development, new company formation, value creation through several successful exits, venture capital and strategic guidance.
In addition to her Executive Board Chair role at Sardona, Cristina serves as a Board Director of Syncona Ltd (Life Science Fund, UK FTSE 250). Previous roles include Executive Chair/Chair of the Board of Directors of Caraway Therapeutics (acquired by Merck), Forendo Pharma (acquired by Organon), Exonics Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex), Board Director of Juniper Pharma (acquired by Catalent), Vtesse (acquired by Sucampo), Idera Pharma, Palisade Bio and T1DX (non-profit Type 1 Diabetes). She was the founding CEO, President, and a Board Director of Cydan. Cristina has served on multiple NIH and other non-profit advisory committees including the Harvard MRCT Center External Advisory Board, the Muscular Dystrophy Association Venture Advisory Committee, the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics (TACT) and other foundations.
Earlier in her career, Cristina held roles with Clarus Ventures LLC (now Blackstone Life Sciences), Virdante Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth and Genetics Institute (now Pfizer) and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She holds a Doctor of Pharmacy and Bachelor of Science from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and a Master of Health Professions from Northeastern University.
Bill is a Professor of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology and an Associate Director at the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine at UCLA. His research focuses on cell fate decisions in Ectodermal derivatives including the epidermis and the nervous system. This research has already resulted in the discovery of new drugs that are currently in clinical development. Bill is a co-founder of Sardona Therapeutics and the clinical-stage company Pelage Pharmaceuticals. Over the course of his career, Bill has received many awards, including the Allen Foundation Distinguished Investigator Award, Basil O’Connor Award from the March of Dimes, and several UCLA Innovation Awards. Research in the Lowry lab is funded by NIH, CIRM, and several private foundations. Bill performed postdoctoral research at the Rockefeller University with Elaine Fuchs and earned a doctorate in neuroscience from Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
Kevin is Director, Translational Research at Sardona Therapeutics. In this role, he leads integrated translational research efforts by working with the Discovery Oncology and Pharmacology functions. Prior to joining Sardona, Kevin worked and took increasing levels of responsibilities in the Translational Research group at Revolution Medicines, where he provided pharmacology support to several programs and contributed to development candidate selection, IND-enabling studies, IND application, and clinical development strategies. Kevin also served as project lead for one program, and he was involved in several academic collaborations. Kevin received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia and postdoctoral training at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Kevin is a co-author on numerous publications and a named inventor on several patents and applications.
Advisor, Discovery Oncology
Chuck is Head of Discovery Oncology at Sardona, where he supports ongoing drug and biomarker discovery efforts and drug target characterization. Chuck is an experienced drug discovery scientist with more than 30 years of industrial experience in medium to large pharma. Prior to Sardona, Chuck was Executive Director and a founding member of the Cancer Biology research group at the Tumor Microenvironment Thematic Research Center at Bristol Myers Squibb. In this role, his team built a translationally informed novel oncology portfolio, which included eight small molecule and novel payload antibody drug conjugate projects that seek to make tumor cells more visible to the host immune system.
Prior to Bristol Myers Squibb, Chuck was Director and led the Cancer Biology group at Chiron and then the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. He was the project lead that created the PI3K inhibitor BKM120 (buparlisib) and the ERK inhibitor LTT462 (rineterkib). He also led the research group that developed the V600E mutant B-RAF kinase inhibitor LGX818 (encorafenib), PIM kinase inhibitor PIM447 and RAF kinase inhibitor LXH254, as well as contributed to functional genomics screens (Project Drive), and early target ID.
Prior to this, Chuck took increasing levels of responsibilities at Pharmacia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pfizer that was created from a merger of Monsanto and Searle. Chuck received his Ph.D. training in genetics from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed postdoctoral fellowships at UC Berkeley in the Department of Genetics and at the Howard Hughes Medical institute, UCSF in Immunology.
Member
Krishna is a member of Sardona’s Board of Directors where he brings a wealth of operating experience with a track record of pipeline advancement and drug approvals across multiple therapeutics areas. Most recently, Krishna served as a Principal at Red Tree Venture Capital, a life sciences focused venture capital firm, where he was part of the founding team. During that period, he supported a number of the firm’s investments, including serving as a member of the board of directors of Bicara Therapeutics and board observer for Magnus Medical. Prior to Red Tree, Krishna served as a clinical development executive at numerous public companies including Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ), Raptor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RPTP), CytomX Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTMX), Affymax (OTCMKTS:AFFY), and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN).
In addition, he has worked in varying capacities for leading venture capital firms, helping to found and finance companies. Previously, Krishna was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Frazier Healthcare, where he founded the renal immunology search company, Expedition Therapeutics and served as interim CEO of Scout Bio, an animal health gene therapy company. More recently he served as a board member at Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:FLACU), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) organized by Frazier Healthcare, which led a successful business combination with New Amsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ:NAMS).
He has also served as an advisor to Catalys Pacific, a venture capital firm focused on new company creation, helping to found two clinical stage companies, Mineralys Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MLYS) and Pathalys Pharma. In addition to his role as a board director for Bicara Therapeutics, Krishna also serves as a board observer for Magnus Medical.
He received his B.A. in human biology from Stanford University and an M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Colorado followed by a fellowship in nephrology at Harvard Medical School at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Bill is a Professor of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology and an Associate Director at the Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine at UCLA. His research focuses on cell fate decisions in Ectodermal derivatives including the epidermis and the nervous system. This research has already resulted in the discovery of new drugs that are currently in clinical development. Bill is a co-founder of Sardona Therapeutics and the clinical-stage company Pelage Pharmaceuticals. Over the course of his career, Bill has received many awards, including the Allen Foundation Distinguished Investigator Award, Basil O’Connor Award from the March of Dimes, and several UCLA Innovation Awards. Research in the Lowry lab is funded by NIH, CIRM, and several private foundations. Bill performed postdoctoral research at the Rockefeller University with Elaine Fuchs and earned a doctorate in neuroscience from Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
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Mike is the Walter and Shirley Wang Chair in Medicinal Drug Discovery and a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA. He is a world renowned synthetic medicinal chemist and is the co-inventor of two FDA approved drugs for prostate cancer (XTANDI® & ERLEADA®) which together have been used to treat more than a million men. He has many collaborative projects with physicians and biologists both at UCLA and with other biopharmaceutical companies. Mike is a cofounder of Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Trethera, Pelage, Katmai Pharmaceuticals, and Sardona and has several drugs currently in clinical trials. He has won many significant awards for his research, most notably the IUPAC-Fischer Prize in Medicinal Chemistry and the AACR Research Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research. Mike was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at ETH Zurich with Albert Eschenmoser and received his Ph.D. training from Columbia University, New York.
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Martina is the CEO and Cofounder of Sardona Therapeutics. Prior to joining Sardona, Martina was an Assistant Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles. There, she led a translational research program, funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Cancer Institute (NIH NCI), on the discovery of RNA-binding proteins in the spliceosome that drive therapy resistance. She was further a Co-Investigator on Phase I clinical trials for novel combination treatment strategies in acute myeloid leukemia, designing and implementing RNA-based biomarker strategies.
She was previously a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at UCLA, where she investigated how RNA-binding proteins regulate long non-coding RNAs. She additionally worked at Roche Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED). Martina holds a Master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry from ETH Zurich and is a licensed pharmacist.
Group Lead, Protein Biochemistry
Stefan is Associate Director, Early Discovery at Sardona Therapeutics. In this role, he leads early discovery efforts, including target identification and validation as well as establishing Sardona’s novel platform. Prior to joining Sardona, Stefan was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Early Discovery Biochemistry Department at Genentech, where he supported numerous research projects in the fields of immunology, oncology, and ophthalmology, including the discovery of the precise mechanism of action for a clinical antibody for age-related macular degeneration.
In his scientific career, he has contributed to high profile research at EMBL Heidelberg, Stanford University, University of Guelph, and ETH Zurich. He has published numerous papers in high impact journals, including Cell and the Nature publishing group. Stefan holds a Master and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from ETH Zurich.
Business and Corporate Development
Wayne is acting head of Business and Corporate Development at Sardona Therapeutics. In this role, he leads key initiatives, including fundraising, corporate strategy, and partnering. He was most recently at MyoKardia, where he joined in 2015 prior to MyoKardia’s IPO. At MyoKardia, Wayne held roles of increasing responsibility, culminating in his position as Head of Business Development and Head of Corporate Strategy until Bristol Myers Squibb’s acquisition in 2020 of MyoKardia for $13.1 billion. In this role, he led all licensing, partnering and M&A, corporate strategy, and competitive intelligence. Additionally, at various points during his time at MyoKardia, Wayne led and served as a key contributor to the portfolio strategy, investor relations, corporate communications, capital markets, and finance functions. Prior to MyoKardia, he held operating, investing, or finance roles at Silk Road Medical, American Infrastructure Funds, RBC Capital Markets, and Valero. Wayne is an active volunteer with the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Wayne holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. with honors in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Head of Chemistry
Dr. Joe Vacca is a highly experienced medicinal chemist and drug discovery expert. He led the early drug discovery campaign at Sardona and remains a strategic advisor to the team. Before transitioning into consulting, most recently, Joe served as Senior Vice President of Early Success Sharing Partnerships at WuXi AppTec. He had a distinguished career, spanning three decades, at Merck Research Labs, where he made major contributions to several approved drugs including the HIV protease inhibitor CRIXIVAN™ (indinavir sulfate), the HIV integrase inhibitor ISENTRESS™ (raltegravir); HCV protease inhibitor VANIHEP™ (vaniprevir), and the combination HCV inhibitor product ZEPATIER™ (grazoprevir, elbasvir, and doravirine). Joe has more than a 100 publications and patents and is the holder of many awards including a Merck Directors Award (1998); PhRMA Discoverers Award (1999); Intellectual Property Owners "National Inventor of the year Award" (1997); European Inventor of the Year (non-EU nation) (2007); ACS "Award for Creative Invention" (1999); and was a named a Merck Research Laboratories Presidential Fellow in 2008. He was inducted into the American Chemical Society Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame (2012) and was also named a “Hero of Chemistry” (along with the research team) for his role in the discovery and development of the ISENTRESSI™.
Acting Chief Financial Officer
Greg is a consulting CFO specializing in providing financial and administrative consulting services primarily to venture-backed, start-up companies in the life sciences field. He has more than 30 years of experience in a variety of companies ranging from start-up to Fortune 500, public to private, and domestic to international. Current and former clients include Que Oncology, Sardona Therapeutics, Aqua Medical, Aqua Heart, CytomX Therapeutics (CTMX), Afferent Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Merck), Ablexis (acquired by Deerfield), Primaeva Medical (acquired by Syneron), Sapphire Medical (acquired by Tornier), BARRx Medical (acquired by Covidien), Protexis (acquired by Bertelsmann AG), and Xros (acquired by Nortel). Previously, Greg was CFO at Micronics Computers (acquired by Diamond Multimedia) and Dynamic Isolation Systems (acquired by Berwind). Greg started his finance career with Gates Corporation, the majority owner of LearJet. Greg holds an MBA in Accounting from the University of Colorado, a BS in Biological Science from Colorado State University and is a CPA (inactive).
Board Chairperson
Martin Babler is an independent member of the Board of Directors at Sardona. Martin is Chief Executive Officer (CEO), President, and Chairman of the Board of Alumis, a precision immunology company that is reimagining the discovery, development, and treatment of autoimmune disorders. Prior to Alumis, he served as President and CEO of Principia Biopharma, until its acquisition by Sanofi S.A. Prior to Principia Biopharma, Martin served as President and CEO of Talima Therapeutics. Prior to that, he held several positions at Genentech, most notably as Vice President, Immunology Sales and Marketing. While at Genentech, he also helped to build and lead the Commercial Development organization and led the Cardiovascular Marketing organization. Previous to Genentech, Martin served at Eli Lilly and Company in positions focused on sales, sales management, global marketing, and business development.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Neoleukin Therapeutics, Prelude Therapeutics, and Omega Alpha SPAC and on the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). Martin received a Swiss Federal Diploma in Pharmacy from ETH Zurich and completed the Executive Development Program at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Independent Member
Julie is an independent member of the Board of Directors at Sardona. She is a Venture Partner at Brandon Capital Partners and serves on the Boards of Syncona Ltd, KisoJi Biotechnology, MycRx, Mirati Therapeutics, and Actym Therapeutics (Chair).
Julie has served as President and CEO at several biotechnology companies, including QUE Oncology, Arch Oncology, Revitope Oncology, Zenith Epigenetics, and Pathway Therapeutics. In addition, she served as President and Executive Vice President, R&D at Phenomix Corporation. Earlier in her career, Julie was Vice President of Preclinical and Clinical Research at SUGEN, a Pharmacia/Pfizer company. Julie began her career at Gilead Sciences, where she held a range of positions of increasing responsibility. Additionally, Julie is active in entrepreneurship initiatives through CLS, UC San Francisco, UC Davis, and Equalize. Julie holds a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in microbiology from UC Davis. She received her Ph.D. training in microbiology and immunology from the University of Minnesota and Stanford University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC San Francisco.
Member
Nina is a member of the Board of Directors at Sardona, representing Canaan Partners, where she is a General Partner. Nina invests in biopharma and digital health companies that serve unmet therapeutic and access needs. She is a director of Tyra Biosciences (NASDAQ:TYRA), Panacea Acquisition II (NASDAQ:PANA), and private biopharmaceutical firms, including PACT, Rondo, Tizona (optioned by Gilead), and Trishula (optioned by AbbVie). Prior to Canaan, Nina was a General Partner at InterWest Partners, where she supported many companies including Aspreva (NASDAQ:ASPV; acquired by Galenica), Cidara (NASDAQ:CDTX), CNS Therapeutics (acquired by Mallinckrodt), Eiger (NASDAQ:EIGR), Labrys (acquired by Teva), Novacardia (NASDAQ:NCAR, acquired by Merck), Paratek (NASDAQ:PRTK), Tesaro (NASDAQ:TSRO, acquired by GSK), and Trius (NASDAQ:TSRX, acquired by Cubist). Additionally, as a founder of Women Who Venture (WoVen), Nina is a vocal advocate for women entrepreneurs and investors. She is a Health Innovators Fellow of the Aspen Institute and serves as a director of Essential Access Health, Life Sciences Cares Bay Area, and Girl Effect, and is a member of the Leadership Council of the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Center. She holds a B.A. in human biology from Stanford University.
Member
Jeremy is a member of the Board of Directors at Sardona, representing Red Tree Venture Capital, where he is a partner. A widely respected executive and scientist with deep industry expertise, his accomplishments span from creating innovative drug development companies to driving discovery, and translation of novel therapies.
Most recently, Jeremy was CEO of Inception Therapeutics, Versant Ventures’ San Diego-based discovery engine for new company formation, a venture partner with Versant Ventures and a member of the firm’s investment team. In these roles, he co-led the formation of Chinook Therapeutics (acquired by Novartis), Lycia Therapeutics, Belharra Therapeutics, and Light Horse Therapeutics, acting as founding CEO and board director of each. Prior to Inception/Versant, Jeremy was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Third Rock Ventures, where he supported the formation of Revolution Medicines (NASDAQ:RVMD), Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX), Decibel Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DBTX), Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) and Nurix Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NRIX). Prior to that, he served as executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Ardelyx, Inc., and held key leadership roles within. Jeremy received a B.A. in molecular and cellular biology with an emphasis in neuroscience from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from Stanford University.
Head, DMPK and Clinical Pharmacology
Jianhong is Head of DMPK and Clinical Pharmacology at Sardona Therapeutics, where she brings more than twenty years of experience in the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics. Jianhong supports DMPK for small molecule lead optimization, designs and oversees IND-enabling ADME and clinical pharmacology studies, as well as IND/NDA filings. Jianhong previously led the nonclinical team in completing IND and NDA package for Biktarvy®, the number one best-selling medicine to treat HIV. She also led a cross functional discovery team on the long acting injectables for the treatment of HIV. In addition, Jianhong held leadership positions at Cortexyme Inc. and Ideaya Biosciences, where she served as a clinical pharmacology subject matter expert.
Jianhong received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Iowa State University and a B.S. in applied chemistry from Beijing University of Chemical Technology.
Associate Professor, Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Jordi Rodón is Associate Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics with a joint appointment in the Department of Genomic Medicine. Dr. Rodon also serves as Associate Medical Director for the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy and Clinical Co-director of the Precision Oncology Decision Support Group. Prior to MD Anderson, he was Director and Clinical Head of the Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer at the Vall d’Hebrón University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Dr. Rodón’s areas of expertise include first-in-human studies of targeted therapies, rational combinations of novel therapies, biomarker-driven trials, and trials in molecularly selected populations. Over the course of his career, he has developed an extensive experience in early drug development, being the principal or co-principal investigator on over 100 early phase clinical trials, focusing on a range of advanced solid malignancies and partnering with leaders in industry including Novartis, Merck, Eli Lilly, Genentech, Sanofi, and others. With this, he has contributed to more than 100 peer-reviewed publications detailing both trial results and basic research findings, including the development of PI3K, FGFR, and TGF beta inhibitors. Dr. Rodón earned his medical and doctoral degrees at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and completed a doctorate at the Universitat de Barcelona. He spent two years at the Advanced Drug Development program at the Institute for Drug Development in San Antonio, Texas. He completed his training in drug development as a senior clinical research fellow at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he also completed an internship at the Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers under the direction of Dr. Gordon Mills.
Professor, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, ETH Zurich
Dr. Frédéric Allain is Professor of Biomolecular NMR in the Department of Biology at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Dr. Allain’s research interests lie primarily in determining structures of protein-RNA complexes in solution to understand mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene regulation such as alternative-splicing, RNA editing and translation regulation. This research is highly relevant for understanding the molecular basis of many genetic diseases originating from defects in RNA splicing, including spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Dr. Allain was elected an EMBO member in 2009 and has been Co-director of the Swiss National Science Foundation National Center of Competence in Research (SNSF-NCCR) RNA & Disease since 2014.Dr. Allain was a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA under Drs. Juli Feigon and Doug Black. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, in the UK, where he worked at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology under the supervision of Dr. Gabriele Varani. He was born in France and educated at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris.
Professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Douglas L. Black is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Black is an RNA biologist who studies the mechanisms that regulate alternative pre-mRNA splicing in mammalian cells and the role of post transcriptional gene regulation in neuronal development and other cellular processes. His studies have been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and a variety of private disease foundations. Dr. Black was a recipient of fellowships from the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation and the Packard Foundation for Science and Engineering. He serves on the editorial boards for the scientific journals RNA, Genes and Development, and eLife, and has served on numerous advisory boards and grant review panels for the NIH and other funding agencies. He is a past President of the RNA Society and was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Black did postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and MIT, working with Drs. David Baltimore, Don Rio, and Phillip Sharp. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University working with Dr. Joan A. Steitz and earned his B.A. with highest honors in chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Associate Professor, Department of Biophysics & Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Hani Goodarzi is Associate Professor and Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator at the University of California, San Francisco. With a dual background in computational and experimental genomics, he brings a multidisciplinary approach to studying complex human diseases. His research is focused on developing novel discovery platforms that help reveal previously unknown molecular mechanisms underlying cancer progression and neurodegeneration. By developing novel technologies for genome-wide measurement of hard-to-quantify RNA molecules, he has also made key discoveries about the role of non-coding RNAs in cancer progression. On the computational front, Dr. Goodarzi is focused on building biology-inspired and genome-scale machine learning models that help decode the biology of the human genome. For his contributions to cancer research, he was awarded the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise and AACR-MPM Oncology Charitable Foundation Transformative Cancer Research Grant. He also received the AAAS Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Award and a Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society. He completed his training at The Rockefeller University in New York City, where he was a Ruth L. Kirschstein and Anderson Cancer Center postdoctoral fellow. He received his Ph.D. in quantitative and computational biology at Princeton University.
Independent Member
Dr. Pamela Klein is a Venture Partner at Ysios Capital Venture and is additionally founder and principal of PMK Bio Research, an advisory and strategic consulting firm for the biotechnology industry and venture firms. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Argenx, Patrys, F-Star, and I-Mab Biopharma, as well as a member of several Scientific Advisory Boards. Dr. Klein was most recently the founding Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Olema Oncology and previously served as CMO for multiple successful biotech companies, including Intellikine (acquired by Takeda). Prior to that, she held increasing positions of responsibility at Genentech, ultimately serving as Vice President, Development. At Genentech, Pam led the development for a portfolio of drugs including HERCEPTIN®, RITUXAN®, PERJETA®, and TARCEVA®. Prior to Genentech, Dr. Klein cofounded and was Research Director for the Navy Breast Care Center at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Klein received her bachelor’s degree in biology from California State University and her M.D. from the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. She trained in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute, where she served as Chief Fellow.
Professor, Department of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology), University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Hope Rugo is Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Breast Care Center. She is a medical oncologist and hematologist specializing in breast cancer research and treatment. Dr. Rugo is the Director of the Breast Oncology Clinical Trials Program and is the principal investigator of multiple clinical trials focusing on combining novel targeted therapeutics with standard treatment to improve the treatment of both early and late stage breast cancer. In addition, Dr. Rugo is working on studies to evaluate cognitive function in women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer, as well as novel ways to reduce toxicity from therapy. Dr. Rugo has established collaborations with a number of other large academic medical centers for the purpose of expanding the novel therapies that are available for our patients, including herbal agents that appear to have an antitumor effect in the laboratory. She is an active member of the national cooperative group, Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), and is a founding member of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium, as well as serving as an investigator in the UCSF Breast SPORE (Specialized Program of Research Excellence). Dr. Rugo has been recognized for both her excellence in patient care and as an educator and mentor to medical students and training physicians. She has received several awards, including the A.P. Giannini Foundation Award and an intramural award from the UCSF Clinical Cancer Center Investigator Research Program. In 2006, she was honored for her work in Breast Cancer Research by the Friends of the Breast Care Center. Dr. Rugo was a postdoctoral fellow in immunology participating in laboratory research at Stanford University and completed a residency in internal medicine and primary care followed by a fellowship in hematology and oncology at UCSF. She earned her M.D. from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Acting Chief Financial Officer
Stacy Holland is currently the acting Chief Financial Offer for Sardona Therapeutics. Stacy consults in a similar capacity for other early-stage, life sciences clients through her affiliation with Potrero Hill Advisors LLC. She most recently served as Chief Financial Officer for a multi-national subsidiary of Dover Corporation with responsibility for financial matters, regulatory compliance, and information technology services. She previously held auditing, accounting, and management positions at Deloitte LLC, Rockwell Automation, and Briggs and Stratton. Stacy is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Sardona’s scientific founders have made seminal discoveries to uncover the role of RNA binding proteins (RBPs) in driving cancer. The leadership team and advisors are experts in RBP biology and small molecule drug development and have successfully built companies to advance drug candidates into clinical trials.
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Sardona’s investors are major supporters and experienced partners in building new life science companies. Together, we believe we can develop novel therapies that breakthrough therapeutic resistance mechanisms and help millions of people with late-stage cancers.
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