Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch is the president and chief executive officer at Vigil Neuroscience, Inc., where she led the in-licensing deal that secured the company’s anchor assets from Amgen. Under her strong leadership, Vigil has evolved from inception, through IPO, to an organization with two clinical-stage development programs. Prior to Vigil, Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch was the executive vice president and chief business officer at Ipsen where she was responsible for growing the pipeline through strategic transactions. Before joining Ipsen, Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch served as senior vice president and head of global business development for the specialty drug business at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. where she executed multiple transactions across different therapeutic areas and modalities. Prior to Teva, Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch held multiple pivotal roles at Dyax including executive vice president, chief operating officer, chief business officer, and general counsel. During her time, she executed equity financings, revenue monetization, corporate partnerships, and licensing agreements. Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch has served on the Board of Directors of Absci, Aeglea Therapeutics and Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation. She holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University and a J.D. in high technology law from Suffolk University Law School. She graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A. (summa cum laude) in biology and chemistry.
Dr. Baum is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mirati Therapeutics and has been a Board member since November 2012. Prior to joining Mirati, Dr. Baum was Senior Vice President for Biotherapeutic Clinical Research within Pfizer’s Worldwide Research & Development division. He was at Pfizer from 2003 to 2012, serving in roles of increasing responsibility, including Vice President, Head of Oncology Development and Chief Medical Officer for Pfizer’s Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center. He was responsible for the development of Pfizer’s oncology portfolio, including Inlyta, Xalkori and the approval of Sutent. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Baum was at Schering-Plough where he was responsible for the Phase I-IV development of several oncology compounds, including Temodar. His career has also included academic and hospital positions at Stanford and Emory universities. Dr. Baum serves on the Board of Directors at Poseida Therapeutics, PMV Pharma, Odyssey Therapeutics, and Terremoto Biosciences. He is also on the scientific advisory board at ALX Oncology. Dr. Baum received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University School of Medicine and completed his post-graduate training at Stanford University. Additionally, he has received research support from the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society, published more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and holds a number of patents and patent applications.
Michael Tomsicek, M.B.A., has served on our board of directors since October 2022. Mr. Tomsicek has served as a member of the board of directors of Milestone Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company, since April 2019. Mr. Tomsicek served as the Chief Financial Officer of CRISPR Therapeutics AG, a Nasdaq-listed gene editing company, from November 2017 through October 2021. Prior to that, Mr. Tomsicek served as Chief Financial Officer of Abiomed, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed medical device company, from July 2015 to August 2017. Before that, he was Chief Financial Officer at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Cubist, a Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company. He was at Cubist from August 2010 to January 2015, through the company’s sale to Merck, and held a series of roles of increasing responsibility leading finance, investor relations and strategic sourcing. Prior to Cubist, Mr. Tomsicek spent nearly eight years at General Electric Healthcare, ultimately as Chief Financial Officer of the global ultrasound business. Mr. Tomsicek holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Engineering, both from the University of Wisconsin.
Dr. Shacham co-founded E44 Ventures in June 2022 and serves as Managing Director. Dr. Shacham co-founded Karyopharm in 2008 and served as their Chief Scientific Officer from October 2010 to May 2022. She was also President of Research and Development from December 2012 to May 2021. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Shacham served as the Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research and Development, and prior to that, as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Shacham currently is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Karyopharm.
Prior to joining Karyopharm, Dr. Shacham served as Senior Vice President of Drug Development at Epix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Director, Algorithm and Software Development at Predix Pharmaceuticals Inc., which merged into Epix Pharmaceuticals in 2006, and where she led the company’s efforts in GPCR modeling, computational chemistry, lead optimization and development of clinical trials.
Dr. Shacham holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, a Doctor of Philosophy in Biophysical Chemistry, and a Master of Business of Administration from Tel Aviv University.
Derek DiRocco is a Partner at RA Capital Management. Derek works on both public and private investments and serves as a Board Director for 89Bio, iTeos Therapeutics, Connect Bio, CANbridge, and Werewolf Therapeutics. Previously, Derek covered solid tumor oncology landscapes.
Derek holds a BA in Biology from Holy Cross College and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Washington. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where he researched the role of the Wnt signaling pathway in mouse models of kidney disease, and was part of a team that discovered a stem cell subtype responsible for solid organ fibrosis.
Dr. Palani is a former investment partner and a current advisory partner at PFM Health Sciences. At PFM, Dr. Palani led public and private biotechnology investments, and served on the board of companies in the cell therapy and gene editing fields. Prior to joining PFM in 2020, Dr. Palani was a Principal at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) where he invested in early-stage private biotechnology companies and served on the boards of companies in the radiopharmaceuticals, cell therapy, targeted oncology, and gene editing fields. From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Palani was the Vice President of equity research at Cowen and Company, where he covered small- to mid-cap biotechnology stocks across numerous therapeutic areas. Prior to Cowen, Dr. Palani was in oncology drug development at Pfizer Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Palani has a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his postdoctoral work in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University. He also holds an M.S. in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Madras. Dr. Palani is a CFA ® Charterholder.
