Pankaj Bhargava, MD

Chief Executive Officer

Pankaj has over 20 years of drug development and senior management experience. He is an Entrepreneur Partner at MPM BioImpact Capital where he founded āshibio. Previously he served as the Oncology Therapeutic Area Head at Gilead Sciences. He has also held executive positions at multiple biotech companies during his career, including Sanofi and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, where he led development programs for oncology and rare genetic diseases. Pankaj earned his M.D. from the University of Delhi and completed fellowship training in medical oncology and clinical pharmacology at Georgetown University and NIH, including a visiting fellowship at FDA. He is an alumnus of Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School and has held academic faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and University of California, San Francisco.

Victoria Smith, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Victoria has over 25 years of experience in drug development and has worked across several therapeutic areas including oncology, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. She previously served as the Chief Scientific Officer at Amphivena Therapeutics, and head leadership roles at Gilead Sciences, and Arresto Biosciences, where she was a co-inventor of our lead product andecaliximab. She began her biotechnology career at Genentech, and her experience includes leading antibody engineering groups, providing cross functional Research project support and oversight, and supporting clinical programs across all phases of development. Victoria holds a B.S. from the University of Western Australia and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, UK, and she was a Research and Post-Doctoral Fellow at Stanford University in the Departments of Biochemistry and Genetics.

Deborah Wenkert, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Deborah is an experienced pediatric rheumatologist, specializing in rare bone and connective tissue disorders, with over 15 years of drug development experience in both academic and industry settings. She has previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Inozyme Pharma and PreciThera, as well as in clinical development positions at Amgen where she led clinical programs developing novel therapies for bone and connective tissue disorders. Prior to her industry career, Deborah was the Associate Director of the Center for Metabolic Bone Disease and Molecular Research at Shriners Hospital for Children and has held academic faculty positions at St Louis University School of Medicine and Washington University, St louis. Deborah earned her MD from University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston Texas and did her pediatrics residency at St Louis Children’s Hospital followed by a pediatric rheumatology fellowship at Tufts New England Medical Center and a post-doctorate fellowship in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Harvard University.

Mark Kaufmann

Acting Chief Operating Officer

Mark has over 20 years of senior management experience including CEO, CFO, CBO, and COO roles across multiple public and private biotechnology companies, with particular expertise in start-ups, turnarounds, and capital-efficient pipeline building. As CFO of Ardelyx, Mark led the company’s 2014 IPO and raised more than $600 million in public equity during his tenure. He has structured over $1 billion in business development transactions, including an $870 million collaboration with AstraZeneca and a $198 million license with Sanofi. As CEO he has experience building and leading teams across scientific, clinical, regulatory, and finance functions. A former molecular biologist, Mark holds an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a BA in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University.

Joseph Sarret, MD, JD

Strategic Advisor

Joe has over 20 years of senior management experience and most recently served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of CohBar. He previously worked as a consultant in the life science industry, focusing on business development and corporate development activities. His prior roles include Chief Business Officer at Corium International, Senior Vice President at Solazyme, CEO at Sevident, and Chief Business Officer at Codexis. Earlier in his career, Joe worked as a practicing clinician focused on patients with human immunodeficiency virus and an attorney specializing in IP transactional work in the life sciences industry. He received a B.A. in human biology from Stanford University, an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Brian Shuster, MBA

Acting Chief Business Officer

Brian has over 20 years of Corporate Development experience and was most recently the Chief Business Officer at Orna Therapeutics from May 2024 through its acquisition by Eli Lilly in May 2026 for up to $2.4 billion. While at Orna, Brian also structured a partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals (valued at $4.4 billion). He joined Orna via the acquisition of ReNAgade Therapeutics, where he was the Chief Business Officer since 2023. Brian previously held Corporate Development roles at Johnson & Johnson and BMS, where he executed 25 strategic transactions, including the $50 billion separation of J&J’s Consumer Health business in 2022. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, Brian was an investment banker at JPMorgan for 8 years.

Brian is experienced in acquisitions, divestitures, partnerships, financings, licensing, and venture capital across biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health sectors. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University and an MBA from Stern School of Business at New York University. Prior to business school, Brian was an Officer in the US Navy Civil Engineer Corps, where he received two Navy Commendation Medals for his service.

Debbie Tranowski

Senior Vice President, Development Operations

Debbie has over 20 years’ experience leading teams and providing project/alliance management, clinical operations and regulatory expertise to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Her prior roles include Head of CMC Operations at Immunomedics, Vice President Product Development at Coherus Biosciences, and leadership roles at Medivation, PSI CRO and Revance Therapeutics. Debbie holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics from University Of Maryland – College Park and began her biopharma career at Medimmune and Aviron.

Yasameen Qazen, PharmD

Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality

Yasameen has over 20 years’ experience leading regulatory affairs and quality at biopharmaceutical companies. She most recently served as Head of Regulatory Affairs and Quality at IconoVir Bio and previously served as Head of Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Medical Writing at Forty Seven Inc. prior to its acquisition by Gilead. She has worked in multiple therapeutic areas and has led regulatory filings at prior companies including Acerta, Astex, Genentech and Gilead. Yasameen earned her BS in Biochemistry from RUTGERS, The State University of New Jersey and PharmD from University of Pacific School of Pharmacy. She did a post-doctorate fellowship at Roche and was an Adjunct Professor of Pharmaceutics at Thomas J Longs School of Pharmacy.