Our Mission

Dr. Masoud Tavazoie is a physician-scientist by training. He has 15 years of experience spanning the fields of pharmacology, oncology, and small-RNA biology. He is co-inventor on multiple patents related to both small-molecule and biologic therapeutics in oncology and was instrumental in the development of the Inspirna drug discovery platform.

Dr. Tavazoie received his undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the College of Physicians & Surgeons at Columbia University. Following an internship in Internal Medicine, he completed clinical training in Dermatology at NYU, where he was later appointed as the Marion Sulzberger Research Fellow with a focus on discovery and development of novel immuno-therapeutic approaches to the treatment of melanoma and other solid tumors. He has authored publications in leading journals such as Nature, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Neuroscience, and Neuron. Among his awards are the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program Fellowship, the Brunie Neural Stem Cell Award, and the Lowenfish Prize for creative research in Dermatology.

Dr. Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine, Professor of Surgery, and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and the Chair of the Melanoma Committee at SWOG. Dr. Ribas Trained at the University of Barcelona, with postdoctoral research and clinical fellowships at UCLA.

He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). Antoni is a physician-scientist who conducts laboratory and clinical research in malignant melanoma, focusing on gene engineered adoptive cell transfer (ACT) therapies, anti-CTLA4 antibodies, anti-PD-1 antibodies, BRAF and MEK inhibitors and nanoparticle-siRNA, which have been published in major journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Nature Medicine and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His NIH, State of California and private foundation-supported research laboratory develops models of disease to test new therapeutic options and studies mechanism of action of treatments in patients. He has been instrumental in the clinical development of several new agents approved by the FDA, including pembrolizumab (Keytruda), vemurafenib (Zelboraf), dabrafenib (Tafinlar), and trametinib (Mekinist).

Dr. Yelena Y. Janjigian is a medical oncologist and Chief of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She specializes in the treatment of malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract, including esophagus and stomach cancers.

Her research focuses on development of new treatments for patients with esophagus and stomach cancers. Dr. Janjigian has a special interest in finding the best treatments for persons with cancer based on the molecular characteristics of their tumor specimens. She also runs clinical and translational studies designed to develop better prevention, early diagnosis, staging, and treatment strategies.

In addition, Dr. Janjigian is a principal investigator for numerous clinical trials at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Hossein Borghaei earned his degree at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed a residency at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Since completing his fellowship training at Fox Chase, he has been involved in a number of clinical trials aimed at developing new, antibody-based therapies and immunotherapies for patients with lung cancer.

In addition to his clinical practice and participation in immunotherapy-based clinical trials, Dr. Borghaei is the principal investigator (PI) of a laboratory that develops new monoclonal antibodies and novel immune-modulating drugs, with the aim of bringing these approaches to the clinic. He served as the PI of a phase III randomized study that proved the effectiveness of nivolumab in the treatment of patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer after progression on prior chemotherapy. This work led to the approval of nivolumab, one of the first immunotherapy-based drugs to be approved for lung cancer in this setting.

Dr. Borghaei is a member of the thoracic core committee at Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and, until recently, was a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer panel. He is the recipient of an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Award and an ASCO Career Development Award. Dr. Borghaei is a long-standing member of ASCO, AACR, IASLC, SITC and ECOG thoracic committee.

Dr. Borghaei has been a recipient of the Robert Krigel Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence from Fox Chase Cancer Center, ASCO’s Young Investigator Award and the Career Development Award from ASCO. His work has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Lancet Oncology, Leukemia Research, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Clinical Lung Cancer, and Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Bizzari is a world-renowned oncology expert who brings over 35 years of broad experience in oncology drug development. Dr. Bizzari served as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Oncology at Celgene Corporation, responsible for Celgene’s clinical development and operations-statistics teams across the United States, Europe, and Asia/Japan where he oversaw the development and approval of leading oncology products, including REVLIMID® (lenalidomide), VIDAZA® (azacitidine), ISTODAX® (romidepsin) and ABRAXANE® (nab-paclitaxel). In addition, he was chairman of Celgene’s hematology oncology development committee and a member of the company’s management committee. Prior to Celgene, Dr. Bizzari was the Vice President, Clinical Oncology Development for Sanofi-Aventis (formerly Rhône-Poulenc, Rhône-Poulenc Rorer and Aventis) where he oversaw the approval of Eloxatin® (oxaliplatin), Taxotere® (docetaxel) and Elitek® (rasburicase). Dr. Bizzari joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1983 as Head of Oncology at the Institut de Recherches Internationales SERVIER (France). Dr. Bizzari is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the French National Cancer Institute, and the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer and Chairman of the New Drug Advisory Committee. He also serves on the boards of Halozyme Therapeutics, Onxeo, Oxford BioTherapeutics, Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Nordic Nanovector and Transgene. Dr. Bizzari received his medical degree from the Nice Medical School and has trained at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and The McGill Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre (formerly the McGill Cancer Center) in Montreal, Canada.​

Josep Tabernero, M.D., Ph.D. is the Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and Head of the Medical Oncology Department of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital. He is also Co-Director of VHIO´s Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumours Group and the Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM). Dr. Tabernero is Principal Investigator of several phase I pharmacodynamic studies and translational projects with molecular targeted therapies, as well as phase II and III studies with novel chemotherapeutics. Dr. Tabernero previously served as ESMO president for the 2018-2019 term and currently serves as a member of several editorial boards, including Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Discovery, Clinical Colorectal Cancer, and Annals of Oncology. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain.

Alan P. Venook, M.D. is the Madden Family Distinguished Professor of Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the University of California (UCSF) San Francisco and the Shorenstein Associate Director for Program Development at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Venook served as the Founding Chair of the National Cancer Institute’s Hepatobiliary Task Force and from 2011 to 2016 served as Chair of the GI Cancer Committee in the Alliance. A nationally recognized expert in colorectal and liver cancers, Dr. Venook served as Principal Investigator for the CALGB/SWOG 80405 trial which, amongst other findings, helped to clearly demonstrate the difference in outcome between colon cancers developing in the right vs. left side of the large intestine. Dr. Venook received his B.A. from Rutgers University and his M.D. from the UCSF School of Medicine.

Dieter Weinand is the former CEO of Bayer Pharma AG, and is an experienced business leader with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.  He earned an M.S. in pharmacology and toxicology from Long Island University, New York, and a B.A. in biology from Concordia College, New York. During his career, he has held various responsibilities in general management, commercial, operational and strategic leadership roles, leading business operations globally, for companies including Bayer, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Sanofi. He has also led the launch and marketing of products across primary care, specialty care, and oncology therapeutic areas. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Inspirna, Replimune (REPL), Fore Biotherapeutics, and Mnemo Therapeutics.

Dr. Usman “Oz” Azam serves as Chief Executive Officer of Inspirna. With over two decades of drug development experience, Dr. Azam most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Empyrean Neuroscience, a genetic engineering company advancing a pipeline of neuroactive compounds targeting disorders of the central nervous system, and before that was President and Chief Executive Officer of Tmunity Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing genetically engineered CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumor applications in cancer. Prior to Tmunity, he served as Global Head of Cell and Gene Therapies at Novartis, where he was responsible for commercial operations, business development licensing, new product commercialization, clinical development, regulatory affairs, and other aspects of the global cell and gene therapies business. Dr. Azam has also held roles as Chief Executive Officer of Novaccel Therapeutics, Chief Medical Officer of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, and Chief Medical Officer of Ethicon Johnson & Johnson. Earlier in his career, he held positions at Johnson & Johnson, GSK, and Pfizer. Dr. Azam received his M.D. from the University of Liverpool School of Medicine and is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Eric Rowinsky is principally focused on the comprehensive development and registration strategies of cancer therapeutics of all types. Dr. Rowinsky obtained his B.A. degree from New York University and his M.D. from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Following his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, he completed fellowship training in medical oncology and clinical pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Rowinsky served as an Associate Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where he performed seminal clinical development and pharmacologic studies on paclitaxel, docetaxel, irinotecan, topotecan, among other agents. From 1996-2004, he served as the Director of Clinical Research and later Director of the Institute for Drug Development of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center in San Antonio, where he held the SBC Endowed Chair for Early Drug Development from 1996-2005 and was a lead investigator on early developmental studies of many classes of targeted therapeutics such as erlotinib, gefitinib, panitumumab, temsirolimus, ridaforolimus, trabectedin, and many other agents. He was also Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio from 1996-2006.

From 2005-2007, Dr. Rowinsky served as the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at ImClone Systems, responsible for clinical development and regulatory affairs. From 2007-2009, he was an Executive Vice President of ImClone Systems, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly after its acquisition. Dr. Rowinsky and his team at ImClone were responsible for approvals of cetuximab (Erbitux) in various indications, as well as ramucirumab in four indications and necitumumab in one indication. Dr. Rowinsky was the Head of Research and Development, Executive Vice President, and Chief Medical Officer at Stemline Therapeutics from 2012-2015. He is also an Adjuvant Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine. Prior to joining ImClone in 2005, Dr. Rowinsky was a longstanding NCI principal investigator on anticancer drug development grants and integrally involved in pivotal clinical and preclinical investigations which lead to the development of both classical chemotherapeutics and targeted therapies, including a wide variety of cytotoxic and targeted anticancer therapeutics.

Dr. Rowinsky is the Editor-in-Chief of Investigational New Drugs, an Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member of Cancer Research (Associate Editor and Reviews Editor), Clinical Cancer Research, Annals of Oncology, Cancer Biology and Therapy and several other oncology journals and has published approximately 310 manuscripts in both the preclinical and clinical research fields. He has also served on the Board of Directors, Scientific Advisory Board and Project Advisory Boards of biopharmaceutical companies and has advised and/or presented aspects of New Drug Applications to the FDA on several occasions. Dr. Rowinsky’s honors include receipt of the career development award of the American Cancer Society and the 6th Annual Emil J. Freireich Award for outstanding achievement of a young researcher in clinical cancer therapeutics. He has also served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NCI. Dr. Rowinsky is on the board of directors of several public companies, including Biogen Idec Inc., Verastem, Inc., Purple Biotech, Inc., and Fortress Biotech Inc.

Jack B. Nielsen is a Partner of Vivo Capital. Prior to joining Vivo, Mr. Nielsen worked within the Novo A/S organization and its venture activities since 2001 in several roles, most recently as a Senior Partner. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Nielsen was employed as a Partner at Novo Ventures (US) Inc. in San Francisco, where he established the firm’s U.S. office. Mr. Nielsen currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Aligos Therapeutics, ALX Oncology, Harmony Biosciences, Instil Bio, Macologix, and Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. He previously served on the board of directors of publicly-traded companies Akebia Therapeutics Inc., Merus, B.V and Apollo Endosurgery, Inc. He was also a member of the board of directors of a number of private companies including Alios Biopharma, Anokion, Kanyos Bio, NeoMend, Procept Biorobotics, ProteinSimple, Tobira Therapeutics, and Unchained Labs. From 1990 to 2001, Mr. Nielsen served various positions in Novo Nordisk A/S, ranging from R&D projects over large-scale production of enzymes to marketing and technical service in the textile areas. Mr. Nielsen received a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University in Denmark and a Masters in Management of Technology from Center for Technology, Economics and Management; Technical University of Denmark.

Michael Ginder is currently a research analyst at Sands Capital, a leading growth-oriented investment firm. Since joining in 2011, he has invested in life sciences businesses across the private and public markets, with a primary focus on therapeutics. In addition to Inspirna, he also serves on the board of Prilenia Therapeutics. Mr. Ginder earned a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia in 2011 and has been a CFA charterholder since 2015.

Antoine Papiernik is a Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, which he joined in 1997. Mr. Papiernik has been an initial investor and active board member in public companies like Actelion, Auris, ProQR, NovusPharma (then sold to CTI), Movetis (then sold to Shire), Mainstay, Pixium Vision and Stentys, which went public respectively on the Zürich stock exchange, the NASDAQ, the Milan Nuovo Mercato, the Belgium Stock Exchange, the Dublin Stock Exchange and EuroNext Paris, in Cotherix (initially NASDAQ listed, then sold to Actelion), CoreValve (sold to Medtronic), Fovea (sold to Sanofi Aventis) and Ethical Oncology Science (EOS, sold to Clovis Oncology).

He has also invested in and is a board member of private companies ReCor, MD Start, Shockwave Medical, Reflexion Medical, ProQR and Gecko Biomedical. Mr. Papiernik has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. In 2012 and 2011, Mr. Papiernik was selected by Forbes for its “Midas List” of the world’s top venture capital investors. Mr. Papiernik is one of the only Europeans on the list, and one of the few life science investors as well.

Raymond Camahort joined Novo Ventures in 2015 and has over 15 years of combined research, business development, and venture capital experience. Mr. Camahort has served as a Board Observer at Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, Arcellx, Stride Bio, and Inspirna. Prior to joining Novo Ventures, Mr. Camahort worked in business development at the Harvard University Office of Technology Development where he focused on licensing technologies developed in the Departments of Chemistry and Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology. Mr. Camahort completed a National Institute of Health (NIH) post-doctoral training fellowship at Harvard University while concurrently holding a business development role at Partners Healthcare Research Ventures and Licensing. Mr. Camahort was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, and he holds a PhD from the University of Kansas in biochemistry and molecular biology, and a BS in biological sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Peter Van Vlasselaer, PhD has over 30 years of experience in the biotech industry. He was most recently the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of ARMO Biosciences, which shortly after its public offering (ARMO) was acquired by Eli Lilly. Before that, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of iPierian (acquired by BMS), ARRESTO (acquired by Gilead) and AVIDIA (acquired by AMGEN).

In addition to founding ARMO, he was the founder of ARRESTO, co-founder and Executive Chair of TrueNorth (acquired by Bioverativ) and he was a member of the start-up teams of InterMune (ITMN) and Dendreon (DNDN). He was involved in the development of several products, some of which obtained regulatory approval (Provenge, Actimmune, Esbriet, Enjaymo).

He currently serves on the boards of Asceneuron and Inspirna. Dr. Van Vlasselaer has a degree in Zoology and a PhD in Immunology from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University Medical School and DNAX Research Institute. Dr. Van Vlasselaer has authored several peer reviewed scientific publications and book chapters and he is an inventor on multiple patents.

Jue Pu leads the cancer biomarker and liquid biopsy research and development at Lepu Medical. She also leads international investment for Lepu Medical, with successful investments including Viralytics (acquired by Merck). Ms. Pu holds a Master of Science degree in Materials Science Engineering at Stanford University. Ms. Pu holds a dual undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from the Wharton School of Finance and Materials Science Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.