Kelly Romano joined our Board of Directors in December 2020 and was appointed Chair of the Board on August 5, 2021. She is the founder and chief executive officer of BlueRipple Capital, LLC, a consultancy firm working with global technology companies, and previously served as an operating partner at AE Industrial Partners. Previously, she spent 32 years working at United Technologies Corp. Ms. Romano is a member of several boards of directors, including UGI Corporation, Dorman Products, Inc., Potter Global Technologies and Altus Fire & Life Safety.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo, an MBA degree from Syracuse University, and is a graduate of the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management’s Corporate Board Governance Executive Program, as well as senior executive programs at Darden School of Management, University of Virginia.

Mark Litton is President and CEO of LeonaBio, a position he has held since October 2021. Previously, he served as LeonaBio’s COO since July 2019. Prior to joining LeonaBio, Mark served as the President and COO of Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. Prior to that he spent more than 14 years at Alder Biopharmaceutical Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, which was acquired by Lundbeck A/S. As co-founder and CBO, Mark helped build the business and oversaw finance, investor relations, deal making, business development, alliance management, human resources, and overall corporate strategy. While at Alder, Mark was directly responsible for raising over ~$1B in equity capital and led negotiations for numerous corporate alliances between biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Mark has a PhD in immunology from Stockholm University, an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Santa Cruz.

Joe Edelman has served on our board of directors since May 2020. Mr. Edelman is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Perceptive Advisors, a hedge fund that specializes in investing in biotechnology stocks. He founded Perceptive Advisors in 1999, aiming to support progress in the life sciences industry by identifying opportunities and directing financial resources toward the most promising technologies in modern healthcare.

Mr. Edelman earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, San Diego, graduating magna cum laude. After initially pursuing a graduate-level degree in Psychopharmacology, he pivoted to earn a M.B.A. at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. Combining his training in psychology with his experience in investing and portfolio management, Mr. Edelman has built an investment team of M.D.’s and Ph.D.’s who are dedicated to identifying trends, technologies and underappreciated assets in the life sciences industry to drive returns for investors and help improve lives through science.

Mr. Edelman is deeply committed to causes to improve the lives of people and communities. In addition to his role on our board of directors, he serves on the board of directors at the New York Genome Center and the board of trustees at Brown University.

John Fluke, Jr. has served on our board of directors since December 2014. Mr. Fluke is chairman of Fluke Capital Management, L.P., which he founded in 1976, and was chairman and chief executive officer of the John Fluke Manufacturing Co. until 1990. Mr. Fluke previously served on the boards of PACCAR Inc., CellCyte Genetics Corporation, Cell Therapeutics, Primus International, and American Seafoods Group. Mr. Fluke is a current trustee of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce (formerly serving as its chairman) and previously served as chairman of the Washington State China Relations Council and a trustee emeritus of the Museum of Flight. He also previously served as chairman of the Washington Technology Center at the University of Washington, which is an organization responsible for managing technology transfers from public universities in Washington state to the private sector for commercialization. Mr. Fluke has also served as chairman of the trustees of Junior Achievement of Washington and president of the Seattle Council of Boy Scouts of America.

Mr. Fluke earned an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1966 and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington in 1964.

James Johnson has served on our board of directors since August 2020. Mr. Johnson previously served as the chief financial officer of Nohla Therapeutics, a cell therapy company. Prior to Nohla, Mr. Johnson served for five years as the chief financial officer of NanoString Technologies, a publicly held provider of life science tools for translational research and molecular diagnostics. During his tenure as chief financial officer at NanoString, Mr. Johnson oversaw strategic and corporate finance activities from private stage through the company’s initial public offering and additional rounds of financing, marking the third initial public offering in his career as a chief financial officer. Prior to joining NanoString, Mr. Johnson served as chief financial officer of Relypsa, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Prior to Relypsa, Mr. Johnson served for nearly 10 years as chief financial officer of ZymoGenetics, Inc., until the company was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in October 2010. Previously, he served for seven years as chief financial officer of Targeted Genetics Corporation (now C3J Therapeutics) and as Vice President of Finance at Immunex Corporation during its evolution from product development to commercial operations.

Mr. Johnson received a B.A. in business administration from the University of Washington in 1979.

Barbara Kosacz joined our Board of Directors in March 2021, bringing over 25 years of experience in the biopharma industry. Ms. Kosacz served as chief operating officer and general counsel for Kronos Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines that target deregulated transcription, the hallmark of cancer and other serious diseases, from July 2020 to February 2024, where she continues to serve as a strategic business development advisor. Prior to that she served as the head of Cooley LLP’s international Life Sciences Practice. During her years at Cooley, she served as outside counsel to scores of biopharma companies, helping them structure and negotiate their most transformative transactions. Ms. Kosacz also served multiple terms on Cooley’s management committee, overseeing the firm during its greatest growth periods. She has received numerous awards and accomplishments, including being recognized by Best Lawyers in America since 2008, and most recently as Biotechnology Lawyer of the Year for 2018, being elected to Northern California’s “Super Lawyers” annually since 2011, being listed as a “Band 1” attorney in the latest edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, and in the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

Ms. Kosacz is a thought leader on deal making in the industry and has served as a member of the BIO Emerging Companies’ Section Governing Board, the board of trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute, the business advisory board of Locust Walk Partners, and as a guest lecturer at both the law and business schools of UC Berkeley and Stanford University. She is also a member of the board of directors of XOMA Corporation. Ms. Kosacz received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University.

Michael A. Panzara, MD, MPH joined our Board of Directors in March 2022. He is currently Chief Medical Officer, Neurvati Neurosciences.  He has over 20 years of experience developing therapies for neurological disorders having served in leadership roles at Sanofi, Genzyme, and Biogen before his most recent position as Chief Medical Officer and Head of Therapeutics and Development at Wave Life Sciences from 2016-2022.

Dr. Panzara received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania, medical degree from Stanford University, trained in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital with post-doctoral training in immunology and rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and received his Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Grant Pickering has served on our board of directors since January 2022. Mr. Pickering is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder at Vaxcyte, Inc., a vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases. He previously served as CEO of Mymetics Corporation and Juvaris BioTherapeutics. Prior to Juvaris, Mr. Pickering served as Senior Vice President, Operations at Dendreon Corporation and led marketing and business development for Algos Pharmaceutical Corporation. Mr. Pickering began his career at Glaxo and Johnson & Johnson in sales, marketing, and clinical research roles.

Mr. Pickering earned his BS degree in marketing from The Pennsylvania State University and his MBA from Georgetown University with high honors.