Board of Directors

Carlos V. Paya, MD, PhD, has served as a member of our board of directors since March 2017 and as board chair since May 2020. Dr. Paya brings to the Board over 19 years of senior executive experience in the large, mid-cap, and small-cap biopharmaceutical industries, combined with a prolific scientific background and a track record of leading high-impact innovation. Dr. Paya previously served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a board member of Immune Design Corp., a clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on oncology, from May 2011 until its acquisition by Merck & Co., Inc. in April 2019. He previously served as President of Elan Corporation, a pharmaceutical corporation later acquired by Perrigo Company, from 2008 to 2011. Before joining Elan Corporation, Dr. Paya was at Eli Lilly & Company from 2001 to 2008 as Vice President of Lilly Research Laboratories. From 1991 to 2001, Dr. Paya was Professor of Medicine, Immunology, and Pathology and Vice Dean of the Clinical Investigation Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Paya currently also serves on the board of directors of Mallinckrodt plc. He received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Madrid and underwent postdoctoral training at the Institute Pasteur in Paris.

Gerhard F. Burbach joined our board of directors in January 2013. From January 2006 to September 2014, Mr. Burbach served as president, chief executive officer, and director of Thoratec Corporation (NASDAQ: THOR), a company that develops, manufactures, and markets proprietary medical devices used for circulatory support. In addition, from 2004 to February 2013, Mr. Burbach served as a member of the board of directors of Digirad Corporation (NASDAQ: DRAD), a company focused on diagnostic imaging products. From April 2005 to January 2006, Mr. Burbach served as president and chief executive officer of Digirad Corporation. From July 2003 to April 2005, he served as president and chief executive officer of Bacchus Vascular, Inc., a developer of catheter-based medical devices. From January 2001 to July 2003, he served as chief executive officer of Philips Nuclear Medicine, a division of Philips Electronics, and, before its acquisition by Philips, worked for four years for ADAC Laboratories, most recently as president. Mr. Burbach also spent six years with the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company, Inc., where he was most recently a senior engagement manager in the firm’s healthcare practice.

Eli Casdin has served as a member of our Board of Directors on behalf of the holders of our Series B-1 Preferred Stock since April 2022. Mr. Casdin currently serves as chief investment officer of Casdin Capital, an investment firm specializing in life sciences, which he founded in 2011. Prior to founding Casdin Capital, Mr. Casdin was a vice president at Alliance Bernstein’s thematic investment arm from 2007 until 2011, focusing on new technologies for the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Mr. Casdin previously held positions at Bear Stearns, an investment bank and Cooper Hill Partners, a biotechnology-focused investment firm. Mr. Casdin also currently serves on the board of directors of SomaLogic, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLGC), Sema4 Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: SMFR), Century Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: IPSC), Tenaya Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TNYA), Absci Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSI), and EQRx, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQRX). Mr. Casdin has previously served on the board of directors of Exact Sciences Corporation and as a board observer for Invitae, 4D Molecular Therapeutics, Fulcrum Therapeutics, Tango Therapeutics, and Verve Therapeutics, and served as chief executive officer and director of CM Life Sciences, Inc., CM Life Sciences II, Inc., and CM Life Sciences III, Inc., until August 2021, September 2021, and December 2021, respectively. Mr. Casdin also currently serves on the boards of directors of a number of privately held life sciences companies, and currently serves as a director on the Columbia University School of General Studies board of visitors, the Rockefeller University board of directors, and the New York Genome Center board of directors. Mr. Casdin earned his B.S. from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Laura M. Clague joined our board of directors in October 2018. Ms. Clague has served as Chief Financial Officer of Travere Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly known as Retrophin) since November 2014. Ms. Clague has over 30 years of experience as a financial executive, and oversees Travere accounting, finance, IT and facilities functions. Previously, Ms. Clague served as Chief Financial Officer of the San Diego and Ohio operations of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., after its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb and subsequent divestiture to AstraZeneca. Prior to the acquisition, Ms. Clague was the Vice President, Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Officer of Amylin for 10 years, when she also served as the Chief Financial Officer of Amylin's collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company. Earlier, Ms. Clague held financial roles at Sony Electronics, Inc., Cubic Corporation and KPMG. Ms. Clague currently serves on the board of directors of LRAD Corporation. Ms. Clague is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of California, and received a B.S. in Business Administration from Menlo College.

Fenel is a seasoned executive in the Life Sciences Sector. He is currently the Managing Partner of P&M Capital Partners, LLC, a private equity firm engaged in angel investing of life sciences startups. He was most recently the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., a privately held Life Sciences company, from September 2005 to March 2018. Prior to that, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Interleukin Genetics, Inc., a formerly NASDAQ-listed diagnostic company, for 5 years. Prior to Interleukin, he was Chief Financial Officer at LifeCell, Corp. and Genome Therapeutics, Corp., both formerly NASDAQ- listed companies, for a combined period of 12 years. Mr. Eloi currently serves on the board of 908 Devices, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company. He also serves on the boards of Vaxess, Inc., Ultivue Inc., and Mito Therapeutix, Inc., all private life sciences companies. He also serves on the board of VIC Technology Development, Inc., a venture investment company in life sciences. During his professional career, Fenel has scaled up operations, expanded businesses both organically and through strategic partnerships and completed a number of public and private financing transactions. His leadership experience spans various sizes of companies from start- ups to multinationals. Fenel has an MBA from Anna Maria College and a BA in Business and Finance from Lee University.

Martin D. Madaus, Ph.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors on behalf of the holders of our Series B-2 Preferred Stock since April 2022. Dr. Madaus has served as senior healthcare operating executive of The Carlyle Group, a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation, since February 2019. From June 2014 to February 2019, Dr. Madaus served as chairman and chief executive officer at Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc., a diagnostics company that makes products and diagnostic equipment for blood testing. Dr. Madaus previously served as chief executive officer of Quanterix Corporation, a life sciences company, from October 2011 to July 2012 and its President from June 2011 to July 2012. . Previously, Dr. Madaus was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Millipore Corporation (MIL), a life sciences company serving the bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry, from January 2005 to July 2010, when Millipore was acquired by Merck KGaA. From July 2009 to May 2015, Dr. Madaus served as a member of the board of directors of Mettler Toledo International, a manufacturer of scales and analytical instruments. Dr. Madaus currently serves as a member of the boards of directors of Quanterix Corporation (Nasdaq: QTRX), Candela Corporation, Ultivue Inc., Emulate, Inc. and Unchained Labs. Dr. Madaus received a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Munich in Germany and a Ph.D. in Veterinary Medicine from the Veterinary School of Hanover in Germany.

Frank Witney, Ph.D., joined our Board of Directors in April 2022. Dr. Witney has served as an operating partner at Ampersand Capital Partners, a private equity firm, since September 2016. From July 2011 to March 2016, Dr. Witney served as president and chief executive officer of Affymetrix, Inc., a provider of life science products and molecular diagnostic products, until Affymetrix was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. From April 2009 to May 2011, Dr. Witney served as president and chief executive officer of Dionex Corporation, a provider of analytical instrumentation and related accessories and chemicals. From December 2008 to April 2009, Dr. Witney served as Affymetrix’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer. From July 2002 to December 2008, Dr. Witney served as president and chief executive officer of Panomics Inc. Dr. Witney currently serves on the boards of directors of PerkinElmer Inc. (NYSE:PKI), CODEX DNA (Nasdaq:DNAY), Cerus Corporation (Nasdaq:CERS), Emulate, Inc., Leinco Technologies, Inc., and JumpCode Genomics, Inc. He has previously served on the boards of Gyros Protein Technologies, RareCyte Inc., GeneOptx, Canopy Bioscience, and Nexcelom Inc. Dr. Witney earned a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Illinois as well as a M.S. in microbiology and a Ph.D in molecular and cellular biology from Indiana University.