Board Committees

Mr. Beck has served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, since May 2018. From 2008 until its acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2012, Mr. Beck, served first as a board member and later as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of finance & operations of Ardea Biosciences Inc. (“Ardea”). Before joining Ardea, Mr. Beck spent 10 years with Metabasis Thereapeutics Inc., as a Co-Founder and its Chief Financial Officer. Since leaving Ardea in 2012, Mr. Beck has been serving as a board member and advisor to August Therapeutics, Inc., a San Diego California-based company developing non-systemic therapeutics to treat disordered eating and obesity, and Pinnacle Medical Holdings, LLC, a Denver Colorado-based physician-led network of health-care providers, which was acquired by OnPoint Medical Group, LLC in August 2017. Mr. Beck also serves as a financial mentor to UCSD’s TRITON Funds. Mr. Beck holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Washington, Seattle and a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from a Seattle-area seminary.

Steven Kelly has served on our Board of Directors since May 2017. He brings nearly thirty years of experience in Pharma/Biotech at all phases of the business across multiple therapeutic categories. Mr. Kelly is currently CEO at Carisma Therapeutics, a venture backed biotech pioneering the development of CAR macrophages, a disruptive approach to immunotherapy in cancer. Previously, Mr. Kelly was the founding CEO of Pinteon Therapeutics, an early stage oncology and CNS development company. Prior to this he held a number of leadership positions in the biotechnology industry including: CEO, Theracrine; CCO, BioVex; CEO, Innovive Pharmaceuticals; as well as various commercial and manufacturing roles at Sanofi, IDEC Pharmaceuticals and Amgen. Mr. Kelly holds a BS from the University of Oregon and an MBA from Cornell

Steven Kelly has served on our Board of Directors since May 2017. He brings nearly thirty years of experience in Pharma/Biotech at all phases of the business across multiple therapeutic categories. Mr. Kelly is currently CEO at Carisma Therapeutics, a venture backed biotech pioneering the development of CAR macrophages, a disruptive approach to immunotherapy in cancer. Previously, Mr. Kelly was the founding CEO of Pinteon Therapeutics, an early stage oncology and CNS development company. Prior to this he held a number of leadership positions in the biotechnology industry including: CEO, Theracrine; CCO, BioVex; CEO, Innovive Pharmaceuticals; as well as various commercial and manufacturing roles at Sanofi, IDEC Pharmaceuticals and Amgen. Mr. Kelly holds a BS from the University of Oregon and an MBA from Cornell

Mr. Beck has served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, since May 2018. From 2008 until its acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2012, Mr. Beck, served first as a board member and later as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of finance & operations of Ardea Biosciences Inc. (“Ardea”). Before joining Ardea, Mr. Beck spent 10 years with Metabasis Thereapeutics Inc., as a Co-Founder and its Chief Financial Officer. Since leaving Ardea in 2012, Mr. Beck has been serving as a board member and advisor to August Therapeutics, Inc., a San Diego California-based company developing non-systemic therapeutics to treat disordered eating and obesity, and Pinnacle Medical Holdings, LLC, a Denver Colorado-based physician-led network of health-care providers, which was acquired by OnPoint Medical Group, LLC in August 2017. Mr. Beck also serves as a financial mentor to UCSD’s TRITON Funds. Mr. Beck holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Washington, Seattle and a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from a Seattle-area seminary.

Douglas W. Blayney, MD was appointed as a member of our board in July 2017. He is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford and former Medical Director of Stanford Cancer Center. Dr. Blayney is a past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and a founder of the ASCO Quality Symposium. He was previously a Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Michigan, and prior to that practiced and led Wilshire Oncology Medical Group, Inc. a physician owned multidisciplinary oncology practice in southern California. Dr. Blayney served on the Food and Drug Administration’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee and is Founding Editor-in-Chief and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of ASCO’s Journal of Oncology Practice. He has over 70 scientific publications with expertise on clinical trial development, use of oncology drugs in clinical practice, and information technology use. Dr. Blayney earned a degree in electrical engineering from Stanford, is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, and received post graduate training at UCSD and at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Emanuele was appointed as a member of our board in September 2017. He has more than 30 years of bio-pharmaceutical industry experience including over 20 years at the senior executive level at companies including CytRx Corp., Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Kemia Inc, DaVita Inc, and Mast Therapeutics (now Savara). Dr. Emanuele has been a successful independent scientific investigator and awarded several US patents and drug development grants from the National Institutes of Health and the US Food & Drug Administration. During his career he has led four original IND’s for new chemical entities and been a key participant in the NDA approval for two first-in-class drugs. Dr. Emanuele also has extensive experience with collaborative drug development and has established and led partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies including Merck, GSK, AstraZeneca and Novartis. He earned a PhD in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics from Loyola University of Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine and a BS in biology from Colorado State University. He also holds an MBA with an emphasis in healthcare and pharmaceutical management from the University of Colorado.

Connie Matsui has served as our Chair of the Board of Directors since May 2017. She brings to her role over 16 years of general management experience in the biotechnology industry. Ms. Matsui retired from Biogen Idec in January 2009 as Executive Vice President, Knowledge and Innovation Networks. She served as an Executive Committee member at both Biogen Idec and IDEC Pharmaceuticals, a predecessor of Biogen Idec. Among the major roles she held after joining IDEC in November 1992 were: Senior Vice President, overseeing investor relations, corporate communications, human resources, project management and strategic planning; Collaboration Chair for the late stage development and commercialization of rituximab (tradenames: Rituxan®, MabThera®) in partnership with Roche and Genentech; and Project Leader for Zevalin®, the first radioimmunotherapy approved by the FDA. Prior to entering the biotechnology industry, Ms. Matsui worked for Wells Fargo Bank in general management, marketing and human resources. Ms. Matsui currently serves as the Chair of the Board at Halozyme and has been active on a number of not-for-profit boards. She was National President/Board Chair of the Girl Scouts of the USA from 1999 to 2002. Ms. Matsui earned BA and MBA degrees from Stanford University.