Carol G. Gallagher, Pharm. D.
Executive Chair
Dr. Gallagher joined AnaptysBio in October 2011 as Executive Chair. Prior to AnaptysBio, she served as CEO of Calistoga Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Gilead Sciences in 2011. Prior to Calistoga, she served as President and CEO of Metastatix, SVP of Corporate Development at Anadys Pharmaceuticals and Vice President of Product Planning at CancerVax. Beginning in 2002, Dr. Gallagher led the Rituxan collaboration and oncology marketing at Biogen Idec. Dr. Gallagher also led oncology and ophthalmology global marketing planning at Pfizer, joining Pfizer through the acquisition of Warner Lambert and Agouron Pharmaceuticals.
James N. Topper, M.D., PhD.
Frazier Healthcare Ventures
James N. Topper is responsible for Frazier
Healthcare’s investments within the biopharma sector. Topper joined Frazier
Healthcare in 2003 as a venture partner and became a general partner in 2005. Since
joining Frazier Healthcare, Topper has led several biopharma investments. In
particular, he was responsible for the formation and financing of Arête
Therapeutics, an innovative drug development company that is pursuing
preclinical and clinical development of lead compounds directed at a novel
proprietary target for cardiovascular and inflammatory disorders. In addition,
Topper led Frazier Healthcare's investment in Cotherix (CTRX). Topper currently
serves on the boards of Amicus Therapeutics, Arête Therapeutics, Calistoga
Pharmaceuticals, Intradigm Corporation, MacuSight Inc., Zelos Therapeutics,
Inc., and is an observer on the boards of Point Biomedical and Portola
Pharmaceuticals. Topper is also an advisory board member to the
Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics.
Prior to joining Frazier Healthcare, he served as head of cardiovascular
research and development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and ran Millennium San
Francisco (formerly COR Therapeutics). Prior to the merger of COR and
Millennium, Topper served as the vice president of biology at COR and was
responsible for managing all of its research activities. He served on the
faculties of Stanford Medical School and Harvard Medical School prior to joining
COR, where he functioned as a clinician, instructor and basic investigator.
Topper received his M.D. and Ph.D. in biophysics from Stanford University
School of Medicine under the auspices of the Medical Scientist Training
Program. He completed his postgraduate training in internal medicine and
cardiovascular disease at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and is
board certified in both disciplines. After completing a research fellowship in
the Vascular Research Division in the department of Pathology at the Brigham
and Women's hospital, he joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School from 1997
to 1998, and subsequently Stanford University as an Assistant Professor of
Medicine (Cardiovascular) in July 1998. He has authored over 50 publications
and was the recipient of a Howard Hughes Scholars Award while on the faculty at
Stanford University. He continues to hold an appointment as a Clinical
Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and as a Cardiology
Consultant to the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital.
Kevin J. Kinsella
Avalon Ventures
Kevin
Kinsella founded Avalon in 1983 and has been in the venture capital industry
since 1981 when he founded Spectragraphics Corporation, which was followed
closely by his founding Landmark Graphics Corporation in 1982. Kinsella has
specialized in the formation, financing and/or development of more than 60
early-stage companies, including: Athena Neurosciences (acquired by Elan (NYSE:
ELN)); Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ONXX); Sequana Therapeutics (merged with
Arris to form AXYS Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Celera Genomics (NYSE: CRA));
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX); Synaptics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA); Vocera
Communications; and Sytera Inc. (acquired by Sirion Therapeutics). Kinsella was the founding chairman of Athena
Neurosciences, Aurora Biosciences, Landmark Graphics, NeoRx, Onyx
Pharmaceuticals, Synaptics, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, X-Ceptor and Sequana
Therapeutics.
Prior to founding Avalon, Kinsella worked for
Solar Turbines International (Caterpillar Tractor) where he was in charge of
all international joint ventures, barter and counter-trade. Previously he was
an advisor to the Peruvian government in national nutrition planning, ran a
technology exchange program between the U.S. and Latin America based in Mexico
City, and taught algebra at the American High School in Beirut, Lebanon. He was
also a guest op-ed columnist for the Boston Herald American.
Kinsella is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a
bachelor of science degree in management and minors in electrical engineering
and political science. He holds a master of arts degree in international
relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
("SAIS") and conducted post-graduate work in political economy on a
Rotary International Fellowship at the University of Stockholm, Sweden. He is a
member of the Dean's Advisory Council at SAIS. Kinsella is a member of the
Circumnavigators Club, an elite group of explorers who have gone around the
world in a continuous trip using multiple modes of transport.
Kinsella is the largest individual producer of the Tony Award winning hit
Broadway musical, Jersey Boys and the partner of Rhino Records (Time
Warner) in producing the Grammy Award winning, Platinum record Jersey Boys
Original Cast Recording. In March 2009, Jersey Boys' London
production won the British Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
Kinsella is a director on the boards of Amira, AnaptysBio, InCode and Sirion
and is a board observer at Ambit, BioVex and Acceleron, all Avalon companies.
Kinsella is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a voting member of
the Broadway League. He is the holder of two U.S. Patents on anti-diabetic
compounds.
Heath Lukatch, Ph.D.
Novo A/S
Heath
Lukatch joined Novo A/S in 2006 as a partner in Novo Ventures working out of
the San Francisco, California office. Lukatch is a member of the board of
directors of Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inogen Inc., NeuroTherapeutics Pharma and
Synosia Therapeutics.
From 2001–2006, Lukatch was a managing director for SightLine Partners and
Piper Jaffray Ventures. He was responsible for biotech investments and served
on the boards of several biotech and medical device companies. Previously, he
was at McKinsey & Company where his primary focus was on strategy
consulting for biopharmaceutical companies. Lukatch also brings entrepreneurial
experience from his role as founder and chief executive officer of AutoMate
Scientific, Inc., a biotechnology instrumentation company.
Lukatch was a bench scientist at Chiron Corp, Cetus and Roche Bioscience, doing
molecular biology, protein chemistry and electrophysiology, respectively. He
holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University and a B.A. in
biochemistry from the University of California at Berkley.
Nick Lydon, Ph.D.
Granite Biopharma, LLC
Nick Lydon has extensive experience in drug discovery and development and is a recipient of the Lasker Prize and other awards for his achievements in medicine. Before founding his current consulting company, Granite Biopharma, LLC, Lydon served as Vice President, Small Molecule Drug Discovery at Amgen. Prior to joining Amgen, he founded and led Kinetix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of selective protein kinase inhibitors, a number of which are now advancing through clinical development. Kinetix was acquired by Amgen in 2000.
Prior to Kinetix, Lydon worked at CIBA-GEIGY, in Basel, Switzerland, where he was responsible for the protein kinase inhibitor program. He and his team identified a number of protein kinase inhibitors. The most advanced drug from this program is Gleevec®, a selective Bcr-Abl inhibitor for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Lydon began his pharmaceutical career at Schering-Plough Corporation, where his research involved studies on recombinant alpha, beta, and gamma interferons.
In 2009, Lydon was awarded the Lasker Prize for his work on developing Gleevec®,
converting a fatal cancer into a manageable chronic condition. Other awards
include the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, the AACR-Bruce F. Cain Memorial
Award and the Charles F. Kettering Prize from the General Motors Cancer
Research Foundation for his contributions to the discovery and development of
Gleevec®.
Lydon earned a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Leeds, England, and
received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Medical Sciences Institute,
University of Dundee, Scotland. His thesis involved research work on adenylate
cyclase and cAMP dependent protein kinase. Lydon currently serves as an advisor for
Avalon Ventures.
Hamza Suria, M.Sc., M.B.A.
AnaptysBio, Inc.
Mr. Suria joined AnaptysBio in December 2008. Prior to AnaptysBio, Mr. Suria was at Maxygen, where he was responsible for partnering and alliance management of next-generation protein therapeutics with Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Bayer, Astellas and others. Before Maxygen, Mr. Suria was responsible for business development at Diabetogen Biosciences and Viron Therapeutics. Suria holds a B.Sc. in biochemistry from Kalamazoo College, an M.S. in immunology from the University of Western Ontario and an Executive MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.