Rohan Palekar is a seasoned C-suite executive with over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Rohan was the president and CEO of Avanir Pharmaceuticals (2015-2017) after serving as its EVP-Chief Operations Officer (2015). Rohan joined Avanir in 2012 as SVP-Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and as part of the senior leadership team led the organization through a dynamic growth phase. Avanir was acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals in 2015. Prior to Avanir, Rohan served as the CCO of Medivation (2008-2011), where he oversaw commercial, medical affairs, CMC & manufacturing, and public relations. Earlier in his career, Rohan spent 16 years at Johnson & Johnson in various senior commercial and strategic management roles, including worldwide VP of immunology and VP of sales and marketing at Centocor.
Rohan holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and a BA/BS in law and accounting from the University of Bombay.
Ram Waisbourd is COO and Chief Business Officer of 89bio. Prior to joining 89bio, Ram worked for nine years at Teva where he held a series of operational, strategy, and business development positions of increasing responsibility. His most recent position was VP of strategy and transformation and a member of the executive leadership team of Teva Specialty R&D. At Teva, Ram has been involved in multiple business development transactions, including the acquisition and integration of Labrys and Auspex Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Ram was VP of business development of US-based XTL Biopharmaceuticals, which has developed therapeutics for Hepatitis B and C. Before that, Ram was VP of Israel-based VC fund Biomedical Investments.
Ram holds a BSc from Wharton and an MBA from Tel-Aviv University.
Dr. Hank Mansbach is chief medical officer of 89bio. Dr. Mansbach has more than 20 years of clinical, regulatory, and medical affairs experience working across all stages of product development in a wide range of disease states. Most recently, Dr. Mansbach was head of metabolic and neurology global clinical development at Ultragenyx. There, he led clinical development for several programs on rare inborn errors of metabolism. Before Ultragenyx, Dr. Mansbach served as VP of medical affairs at Medivation, where he played a key role in the development and commercialization of enzalutamide for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Earlier in his career, Dr. Mansbach served as SVP of global drug development at Valeant Pharmaceuticals and chief medical officer at Cortex Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Mansbach began his industry career at Glaxo Wellcome after clinical practice and research in neurology. He earned a medical degree from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.
Quoc Le-Nguyen is the chief technical operations officer and head of quality of 89bio. He has over 25 years of experience in biopharmaceutical operations from large pharma and small startup and has the rare experience of both starting a manufacturing operation and closing a manufacturing plant. Quoc is a seasoned executive with extensive knowledge in technical operations and product supply, including building out facilities, organization, and systems as well as advancing programs through various stages of clinical development to licensure. His most recent position was SVP, global head of technical operations & quality for Aduro BioTech, where he was responsible for clinical supply including analytical/process development, manufacturing, supply chain, and quality for all three platforms: Cell Therapy, Small Molecule, and Antibody. Prior to that, Quoc was the VP of manufacturing operations for Bayer Healthcare, responsible for the Betaferon/Betaseron franchise. Quoc also played a critical role in the startup of BioMarin, in the development and approval of their first product, Adurazyme, in 2001.
Quoc holds a BS in biochemistry from the University of California at Davis.
Ryan Martins is chief financial officer (CFO) of 89bio. He brings almost 20 years of biotech experience to the company, including having completed strategic financings and acquisitions with an aggregate transaction value in excess of $1 billion. Ryan was most recently CFO at privately held Revolution Medicines, prior to which he was vice president, head of corporate strategy and investor relations at Ultragenyx. Prior to Ultragenyx, Ryan spent nearly 10 years as a biotechnology analyst at Jefferies, Lazard, and Barclays/Lehman Brothers, where he conducted in-depth analysis of profitable, public, and private biotech companies. Ryan began his career at Chiron Corp., where he held operating roles in commercial, business development, and legal until its acquisition by Novartis for approximately $5 billion.
Ryan earned his BS in Life Sciences from St. Xavier’s College, an MS degree in Biology from Virginia Tech, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley.
Dr. Altschuler is the managing director of Healthcare Ventures at Ziff Capital Partners, where he co-leads the firm’s efforts towards investing in and facilitating the startup and development of companies with potentially transformative technologies that emphasize cellular and molecular approaches to human disease. Dr. Altschuler developed this expertise while cofounding Spark Therapeutics to develop and commercialize the preclinical and clinical gene therapy programs advanced at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and other institutions. Dr. Altschuler served as Spark’s board chair from its founding through its acquisition by Roche in 2019. His tenure included leading the company through a successful transition to a public company and the launch of an approved commercial product. This was the first gene therapy for an inherited disease approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency.
Dr. Altschuler is the former executive vice president for Health Affairs at the University of Miami and CEO of UHealth – the University of Miami Health System. He also served as CEO for CHOP from 2000 to 2015.
Dr. Altschuler completed a pediatric internship and residency at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston and completed a fellowship in gastroenterology and nutrition at CHOP. He also served as a faculty member and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania prior to becoming CEO of CHOP.
Dr. Altschuler is a member of the board of directors of WW (formally Weight Watchers International), Orchard Therapeutics, AsclepiX Therapeutics, ImVaX inc. and Platelet Biogenesis. He is also an independent trustee of the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization at Mass General Brigham.
Dr. Altschuler holds a BA in mathematics and an MD from Case Western Reserve University.
Anat Naschitz is a managing director at OrbiMed. OrbiMed is a preeminent global healthcare investment firm with ~$15 billion under management across public and private asset classes. The firm covers the entire healthcare spectrum, investing in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and digital health. Anat has over 20 years of healthcare experience, and currently serves on the boards of biotech and digital health companies.
Previously Anat created, invested in, and advised healthcare companies across stages and substance. She was an Associate Partner with McKinsey in London, where she managed strategy and M&A projects for senior management of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Among other accomplishments, Anat led pharmaceutical spinout work resulting in the creation of European biotech companies valued at billions of dollars. Post McKinsey, Anat joined Apax Partners, where she focused on life sciences investments.
Anat earned her MBA at INSEAD and her LLB at Tel Aviv University.
Dr. Grunberg is a managing director at Longitude Capital. Prior to joining Longitude Capital in 2012, Dr. Grunberg was at Rho Ventures and McKinsey & Company. Dr. Grunberg is a board-certified physician in Internal Medicine and completed his residency at Cornell's New York Presbyterian Hospital. He has maintained a limited clinical practice in Internal Medicine and affiliations with the University of California, San Francisco, and Kaiser Permanente.
Dr. Grunberg currently serves on the boards of Kala Pharmaceuticals (KALA), 89bio, and WelbeHealth, and he is a board observer at Sydnexis. Dr. Grunberg previously served on the board of California Cryobank (acquired by GI Partners) and led Longitude’s investment in Practice Fusion (acquired by Allscripts). While at Rho Ventures, he served on the board of AqueSys (acquired by Allergan) and was a board observer at both SARCode Bioscience (acquired by Shire) and PHT (acquired by ERT).
Dr. Grunberg holds an MD and MBA from Duke University, where he was a Fuqua Scholar, and an AB in Economics and English from Amherst College.
Derek DiRocco is a principal on the Investment Team at RA Capital Management, LLC, a multi-stage investment manager dedicated to evidence-based investing in healthcare and life sciences, including companies developing novel drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics. Derek works on both public and private investments and serves as a board director for 89Bio, Ltd. 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. Hayden was the president of global R&D and CSO at Teva from 2012 until the end of 2017. During this time, approximately 35 new products were approved in major markets, with many for diseases of the CNS such as migraine. He led the development of the first deuterated drug to be approved by the FDA and the second drug ever to be approved for Huntington disease (HD).
In 2015, Teva R&D was recognized as one of the 10 most exciting innovators in Pharma by IDEA Pharma, and in 2017 ranked top of the industry for CNS development and clinical trial success rate by Pharma Intelligence.
Dr. Hayden was recently named one of the 50 Canadians born in the 20th century who have changed the world. Dr. Hayden is the co-founder of six biotechnology companies and currently sits on different private and public boards in the biotech industry.
Author of over 860 peer-reviewed publications and invited submissions, Dr. Hayden has focused his research primarily on translational medicine, including genetics of diabetes, lipoprotein disorders, HD, and predictive and personalized medicine. Dr. Hayden and his research group have identified 10 disease-causing genes, which includes the identification of the major gene underlying high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in humans. Dr. Hayden also identified the first mutations underlying Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL) Deficiency and developed gene therapy approaches to treat this condition, the first approved gene therapy in the western world. Dr. Hayden is the most cited author in the world for ABCA1 and HD.
He is also a Killam professor at the University of British Columbia and the director of the Translational Laboratory in Genetic Medicine at the National University of Singapore and Astar.
Dr. Hayden is the recipient of numerous prestigious honors and awards. He was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2017. He was named one of PharmaVoice’s “100 of the Most Inspiring People” (2015). He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Gottingen (2014); the Luminary Award by the Personalized Medicine World Conference (2014); the Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), on behalf of HRH Queen Elisabeth II, in recognition of his significant contributions and achievements; the Margolese National Brain Disorder Prize (2011), awarded to Canadians who have made outstanding contributions to the treatment, amelioration, or cure of brain diseases; the Killam Prize by the Canada Council of the Arts (2011), in recognition of his outstanding career achievements; and the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award (2011), recognizing him as a physician-scientist who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in medicine and medical science. Dr. Hayden has also been awarded the Order of Canada (2011) and the Order of British Columbia (2010). He was named Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (NIH of Canada) in 2008, and he received the Prix Galien in 2007, which recognizes the outstanding contribution of a researcher to Canadian pharmaceutical research.
Dr. Hayden is committed to empowering others. In addition to mentoring over 100 graduate students and postdocs, he is also a TED mentor.
Rohan Palekar is a seasoned C-suite executive with over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Rohan was the president and CEO of Avanir Pharmaceuticals (2015-2017) after serving as its EVP-Chief Operations Officer (2015). Rohan joined Avanir in 2012 as SVP-Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and as part of the senior leadership team led the organization through a dynamic growth phase. Avanir was acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals in 2015. Prior to Avanir, Rohan served as the CCO of Medivation (2008-2011) where he oversaw commercial, medical affairs, CMC & manufacturing, and public relations. Earlier in his career, Rohan spent 16 years at Johnson & Johnson in various senior commercial and strategic management roles, including worldwide VP of immunology and VP of sales and marketing at Centocor.
Rohan holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and a BA/BS in law and accounting from the University of Bombay.