Board of Directors

Laura Shawver, PhD

Chair of the Board

Laura is CEO of Capstan Therapeutics focused on in vivo engineering of cells through targeted lipid nanoparticles since September of 2022. Prior to Capstan, Laura served as CEO of Silverback Therapeutics (acquired by ARS Pharma) and President and CEO of Synthorx (acquired by Sanofi). She has more than two decades of experience in executive leadership positions, and serves on the Board of Directors of public and private companies. Laura received a B.S. in Microbiology and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, both from the University of Iowa.

Cariad Chester

Managing Partner, TCGX

Cariad is a Managing Partner at TCGX. Prior to joining TCGX, Cariad was a Managing Director at Aquilo Capital. His past investments include Icosavax (acquired by AstraZeneca), Iveric Bio (acquired by Astellas), Gracell Biotechnologies (acquired by AstraZeneca), Versanis (acquired by Eli Lilly), Akouos (acquired by Eli Lilly), VectivBio (acquired by Ironwood), Carmot (acquired by Roche), Upstream Bio (NASDAQ: UPB), and Structure Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GPCR). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pheon, Obsidian Therapeutics, Plexium, Vicebio, and Beacon Therapeutics. Prior to investing, Cariad was a research scientist at Stanford University studying tumor-immune system interactions during cancer progression and treatment. Cariad received his B.A. from Swarthmore College, where he double majored in Neuroscience and Comparative Religious Studies.

Ksenija Pavletic

General Partner, Jeito Capital

Ksenija Pavletic is a General Partner and Chief Commercial Officer at Jeito Capital, with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. She has a strong track record in company building, fundraising, M&A, and commercial strategy, supporting the scale-up of innovative healthcare companies.

Prior to joining Jeito, Ksenija was CEO of PregLem SA, where she led the company’s rapid growth and successful exit. Earlier in her career, she held multiple commercial and leadership roles at Serono (now Merck Serono).

Ksenija holds an MSc in Biotechnology from the University of Zagreb and an MBA from the American Graduate School of Business.

Carolyn Ng, PhD

Partner, TPG Capital

Dr. Ng is a Partner and Managing Director at TPG Life Sciences Innovations based in San Francisco, where she leads investments into transformative companies of early to mid-stage in different therapeutic areas. She currently serves on the board of directors of MbraceTherapeutics, Bicara Therapeutics and Adcendo. Prior to joining TPG in 2021, Dr. Ng was the Managing Director at Vertex Ventures HC, a global healthcare and life sciences venture fund, where she co-headed the investment team. Dr. Ng holds a PhD in Cancer Molecular Biology from the National University of Singapore.

Rajul Jain, MD

Managing Director, Vida Ventures

Rajul Jain, MD, is a Managing Director at Vida Ventures, where he has been an investor and operator since 2019. He has extensive experience in building and investing in biotechnology companies and currently serves on the boards of multiple portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Vida, Rajul was Chief Medical Officer at Kite Pharma, where he contributed to the global approvals of Yescarta and Tecartus. Earlier, he held a leadership role at Amgen.

Rajul holds a BA from Rice University and an MD from Southwestern Medical School, and completed clinical and research training at Rockefeller University and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Nandita Shangari, PhD

Managing Director, RA Capital

Managing Director at RA Capital Management and part of the Venture Investment team focusing on company creation and early-stage financings. Former Managing Director, Novartis Venture Fund, Oncology BD&L Director and Global Program Team Director for Kymriah (R) at Novartis.

Jeroen Bakker, PhD

Partner, Novo Holdings

Partner at Novo Holdings where he’s involved in company creation, early-stage financings and building a new investment strategy around quantum tech and life sciences. Jeroen was previously at the corporate VC arm of Merck KGaA.

Ohad Hammer, Msc

Partner, Pontifax

Ohad is a Partner at Pontifax, where he is in charge of scouting and project evaluation. He serves as a director in Adcendo, Agomab, Step Pharma and Emergence Therapeutics.

Iyona Rajkomar, MBBS, CFA

Managing Partner, Dawn Biopharma

Iyona is the Managing Partner of Dawn Biopharma, a platform controlled by KKR. She joined in May 2023 to lead investments into therapeutics with a global scope and is based in London. She was previously at Pontifax and Advent LS and trained as a physician.

Roy Baynes, MD PhD

Independent, Non-Executive Director

Roy is Chief Medical Officer at Eikon Therapeutics, and was previously Chief Medical Officer and head of clinical development at Merck (known as Merck Sharp & Dohme outside of the United States), where he supervised the entire clinical portfolio in Merck Research Laboratories and was the architect of the development strategy for dozens of important new medicines including Keytruda®, a drug that has revolutionized cancer treatment globally. Prior to Merck, Roy held clinical development leadership positions for oncology, respiratory and inflammation at Gilead Sciences and hematology/oncology at Amgen. Prior to industry, Roy held academic positions at South African and American Universities in hematology and oncology, in addition to leading the bone marrow transplantation service at the Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit, where he was Professor of Medicine and Oncology, and the Charles Martin Professor of Cancer Research. Roy received his degree in medicine and surgery (MB, BCh) from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he also received an MMed (specialist registration) and completed a Ph.D. exploring human iron metabolism. Roy is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the College of Physicians of South Africa.

Michael Pehl, MSc

CEO, Adcendo

Michael serves as our Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. Michael brings ample leadership experience from global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, having led multiple marketed hematology & oncology products through development and commercialization, including Revlimid®, Vidaza®, Trodelvy®, Abraxane® and Reblozyl®. Among his many roles, Michael served as Chief Executive Officer of Immunomedics, Inc. and President of Hematology & Oncology of Celgene Corporation.