A GLOBAL TEAM
About Us
Our founders have come together to integrate the latest advancements in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and machine learning, and to attract top talent from around the world to solve some of today’s most fundamental challenges in health and disease.
Scientific co-founders ⟶ Leadership Team ⟶ Board of Directors ⟶
LEADERSHIP
Scientific co-founders
Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics & Applied Physics & Professor of Systems Biology. Experimentalist with a focus on soft matter physics, biophysics, and biotechnology. Developed widely adopted techniques to investigate the properties of biomaterials. Successful 18-year career at former Exxon Research and Engineering Co. Published: 800+ papers; h-index of 195. Co-founder of more than 10 startup companies. Member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and American Academy of Arts and Sciences
David A. Weitz
Harvard University
Professor of Physical Chemistry and Biophysics in the departments of Chemistry and Physics with a focus on protein biophysics. Developed approaches to study protein aggregation, protein self-assembly, and protein-protein interactions. Published 300+ papers, h-index of 80. Co-founder of three other companies (Fluidic Analytics, Wren Therapeutics, Xampla).
Tuomas Knowles
University of Cambridge
Professor of Experimental Neuroscience at University of Cambridge and University Professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology. Identified key genes responsible for nerve cell degeneration. One of the most cited authors in field of Alzheimer’s disease research. Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, a fellow of the American Neurological Association, Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of Canada, and a Foreign Member to the National Academy of Medicine of the United States National Academies. Published 165+ papers; h-index of 90.
Peter St George-Hyslop
University of Cambridge / University of Toronto
Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Director of Research at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, and Senior Research Fellow at Churchill College. Co-founder and co-leader of the global Human Cell Atlas initiative. Distinguished Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology, Fellow of the Royal Society, EMBO member, and fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Published 200 papers; h-index of 108.
Sarah Teichmann
Wellcome Sanger Institute / University of Cambridge
LEADERSHIP
Leadership team
Mr. Martin is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Transition Bio. Mr. Martin is the former Chief Executive Officer of Radius Health, an innovative endocrine therapeutics biopharmaceutical company that was acquired by an investment group in 2022 for $890 million. He also serves as Chairman of Wren Therapeutics. From 2003 to 2013, Mr. Martin was CEO of Elan Corporation plc, a pharmaceutical company focused on neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Headquartered in Ireland, Elan operated globally and maintained several strategic partnerships including Biogen Idec and Johnson & Johnson. The company was sold to Perrigo Company plc in 2013 for more than $8.6 billion in stock and cash. Mr. Martin’s professional career started in finance having spent 22 years at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., leading several global divisions including Debt markets, International Equities, Systems & Technology, and the International Private Banking Group. While at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Martin lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, and London.
G. Kelly Martin
Executive Chairman, Co-Founder
In addition to his role as Scientific Co-Founder, Tuomas Knowles was appointed CEO in May 2023. Prior to that, Tuomas served as Chief Technology Officer where he led the Company’s technology and data platform strategy as well as the overall direction of the Condensomics™ platform.
Tuomas Knowles
Chief Technology Officer, Co-Founder
Shilpi Arora initially joined Transition Bio in May 2022 as Senior Vice President of Discovery Research. Shilpi brings over 15 years of experience in leading multiple aspects of drug discovery, target ID & validation, pharmacology and translational sciences across academia, not-for-profit and biotech companies. Prior to joining Transition Bio, Shilpi worked as the Vice President of Discovery and Translational Biology at Exo Therapeutics. Prior to that, Shilpi has held roles of increasing responsibilities at X-Chem Pharmaceuticals, Constellation Pharmaceuticals and Translational Genomics Research Institute. Shilpi has led and supported drug discovery programs focused on oncology, inflammation, and rare diseases. Shilpi earned her M.S and Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and went on to complete post-doctoral research at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Canada, as well as working on the development of ChIP on chip technology at UC Irvine, California.
Shilpi Arora
Chief Scientific Officer, Co-President
Martin Kulander joined Transition Bio in June 2021 from AstraZeneca where he was Senior/Executive Director, Oncology R&D Strategy. His experience at AstraZeneca includes leadership roles in the oncology commercial, R&D, and business development organizations. He was on the team that delivered the Enhertu and Dato-DXd (DS-1062) deals and subsequently worked on both assets in-house. Martin’s broad life sciences operating experience includes portfolio investment and analysis as well as strategy consulting. He has worked on more than 10 FDA approved drugs in his career and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
Martin Kulander
Chief Operating Officer, Co-President
LEADERSHIP
Board of directors
Samuel Cohen
Dr. Cohen is a co-founder and Board member of Transition Bio. Dr. Cohen has a background as a research scientist, as well as experience in venture capital and strategy consulting. He was most recently Chief Executive Officer of Wren Therapeutics, a company he founded and continues to serve as a member of the Board. He was previously a Research Fellow in Biophysical Chemistry at the Centre for Misfolding Diseases at the University of Cambridge, where he worked on the chemical kinetics of protein misfolding and aggregation. Dr. Cohen’s research included the development of the network kinetics theoretical framework and its application to multiple disease systems. In particular, he was part of the team that established the central role of secondary nucleation in the misfolding and aggregation pathway. Dr. Cohen was formerly an investment director at Malin plc, and a consultant in the London office of Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he advised leading healthcare and technology companies across Europe and the US. He was also previously the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at St John’s College, University of Cambridge. Dr. Cohen graduated with bachelors and masters in Natural Sciences (Physics) and a PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. He also spent a year as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. Dr. Cohen is co-author of more than 30 scientific papers. His TED talk on Alzheimer’s disease has been viewed more than 2 million times.
Tuomas Knowles
Professor of Physical Chemistry and Biophysics in the departments of Chemistry and Physics with a focus on protein biophysics. Developed approaches to study protein aggregation, protein self-assembly, and protein-protein interactions. Published 300+ papers, h-index of 80. Co-founder of three other companies (Fluidic Analytics, Wren Therapeutics, Xampla).
G. Kelly Martin
Mr. Martin is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Transition Bio. Mr. Martin is the former Chief Executive Officer of Radius Health, an innovative endocrine therapeutics biopharmaceutical company that was acquired by an investment group in 2022 for $890 million. He also serves as Chairman of Wren Therapeutics. From 2003 to 2013, Mr. Martin was CEO of Elan Corporation plc, a pharmaceutical company focused on neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Headquartered in Ireland, Elan operated globally and maintained several strategic partnerships including Biogen Idec and Johnson & Johnson. The company was sold to Perrigo Company plc in 2013 for more than $8.6 billion in stock and cash. Mr. Martin’s professional career started in finance having spent 22 years at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., leading several global divisions including Debt markets, International Equities, Systems & Technology, and the International Private Banking Group. While at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Martin lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, and London.
Connor McDermott
Connor McDermott is a Vice President at Northpond Ventures where he evaluates and supports biotechnology companies. Connor joined Northpond in 2019 as a member of the investment team and has conducted diligence on 16 closed investments in biotherapeutics companies since January 2020. Connor is a Board Observer of Aro Biotherapeutics, Faro Health, Garuda Therapeutics, Opna Bio, Stride Bio, Totus Medicines, Triumvira Immunologics, and Walking Fish Therapeutics. Previously, Connor worked in Investment Banking at Leerink Partners, a life science-focused investment bank, where he supported biotechnology companies on business development, corporate strategy, IPOs, and M&A transactions. Connor earned a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Economics from Brown University.
Al Sandrock
Dr. Sandrock joined the Board of Transition Bio in 2022. Dr. Sandrock is renowned for his prolific career in biopharmaceutical drug development, in which he spent 23 years at Biogen where he identified and developed novel therapies for a variety of serious diseases. While at Biogen, Dr. Sandrock served in positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in his service as Executive Vice President, Research and Development. He also served as Chief Medical Officer and held a seat on the Biogen Executive Committee. Over the course of his tenure, he led the discovery and development, and regulatory approval of numerous medicines including: ADUHELM™, PLEGRIDY®, SPINRAZA®, TECFIDERA®, and TYSABRI®. Dr. Sandrock is currently CEO and Board member of Voyager Therapeutics. Dr. Sandrock earned a B.A. in human biology from Stanford University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University. He completed an internship in medicine, a residency and chief residency in neurology, and a clinical fellowship in Neuromuscular Disease and Clinical Neurophysiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Kathy Yi
Kathy Yi, M.B.A., serves as Chief Operating Officer, Affini-T Therapeutics. Previously, Ms. Yi served as Chief Financial Officer of Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERE) from June 2019 to November 2021, and Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO), from February 2017 to June 2019. Prior to Sangamo Therapeutics, Ms. Yi was Head of Finance at Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation (NYSE: NVS) from February 2014 to February 2017. From 2007 to 2014, Ms. Yi held various financial management positions of increasing seniority at Life Technologies Corp., which was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2014, including Finance Leader, Corporate FP&A from 2012 to 2014, Director of Finance, M&A/Corporate Development, from 2010 to 2012, and Director of Finance, Global Manufacturing Operations, from 2007 to 2010. From 2001 to 2007, Ms. Yi held increasing roles of responsibilities in corporate finance at Intel Corporation. Ms. Yi holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School. Since June 2021, Ms. Yi has served as a member of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the Audit Committee, of Theseus Pharmaceuticals.
LEADING RESEARCH CENTERS
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