Board of Directors
Timothy Scannell
Director – Retired President & Chief Operating Officer at Stryker Corporation
Read Bio »
Director – Retired President & Chief Operating Officer at Stryker Corporation
Read Bio »Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors
Dr. Farr was most recently the Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zogenix, Inc. until May of 2022 upon the sale of Zogenix to UCB Pharma. Previously, Dr. Farr held positions of increasing responsibility at Aradigm Corporation from 1995 to 2006, serving most recently as Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. From 1986 to 1994, Dr. Farr was a tenured professor at the Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, UK, concentrating in the areas of biopharmaceutics. Dr. Farr is a Director on the Board of SteadyMed (NASDAQ: STDY) and two private companies, Oscillari, LLC, and Flow Pharma, Inc. He is author/co-author of more than 180 scientific publications and patents and retains his academic interests as adjunct Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.
Director - Executive Chairman of Vetana Animal Health, Inc.
Dr. Collins has led or had senior leadership positions in multiple pharmaceutical and biotech companies in a wide range of therapeutics areas, resulting in over a dozen approved drugs, devices and drug-device combinations, and multiple company acquisitions. Currently, he is Executive Chairman of Vetana Animal Health, Inc. a biologics based, anti-inflammatory focused company in clinical studies of a novel platform for improving the lives of dogs, cats, and horses. Most recently he was Chief Executive Officer of Biscayne Neurotherapeutics, an early clinical stage company sold to Supernus Pharmaceuticals. Earlier, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Ovation Pharmaceuticals, an oncology and CNS-focused company acquired by Lundbeck A/S. Prior to Ovation, Steve served as a Global Director and member of the Global In-Licensing Advisory Team at Johnson & Johnson and before that worked in Abbott Laboratories’ Pharmaceutical and Hospital Products Divisions. He has served on the boards of Engage Therapeutics, which was sold to UCB Pharmaceuticals, and Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Novartis. Prior to industry, Dr. Collins served on the faculties of medicine at Case Western Reserve University and the University of California-San Francisco. He earned his MD and PhD at Case Western Reserve University after completing undergraduate studies in Physics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Director - Principal at RA Capital Management
Dr. Hammond is a Principal on the Investment Team at RA Capital Management. He works on both public and private investments across therapeutic areas. Dr. Hammond holds a BS in Environmental Health Science from the University of Georgia and both a PhD in Biomedical Science and an MBA in Finance from the University of Connecticut. He is currently a board observer at Akouos, Imara Therapeutics, and Imbria Pharmaceuticals. He previously served as a board observer at Calimmune, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Eidos Therapeutics, Precision Biosciences, Solid Biosciences, and Stoke Therapeutics.
Director – Managing Partner of Lynx1 Capital Management
Dr. Nichols joined our Board in June of 2022. Since March 2020, Dr. Nichols has been the Founder and Managing Partner of Lynx1 Capital. Previously, from April 2016 until March 2020, he served as an analyst for Perceptive Advisors. From January 2015 to April 2016, Dr. Nichols was an analyst at Balyasny Asset Management, an investment management firm, and from May 2014 to December 2014, he was a biotechnology equity research associate at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Dr. Nichols holds a B.S. in Biological Engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the California Institute of Technology.
Director – Retired President & Chief Operating Officer at Stryker Corporation
Mr. Scannell joined our board in June of 2022. He previously served for over thirty years as an executive at Stryker, one of the world’s leading medical technology companies. Mr. Scannell served as President and Chief Operating Officer at Stryker from 2018 to 2021. Prior to this position, he served as Group President of MedSurg and Neurotechnology for ten years. Earlier in his career, he served as President of Stryker Spine, VP/GM of Stryker Biotech, and in a variety of sales and marketing leadership roles with Stryker Endoscopy. Mr. Scannell is a Director and Chair of the Board of Insulet Corporation and a Director of Novocure and Exact Sciences.
Director - Managing Director of Vivo Capital
Dr. Shah is a highly successful pharmaceutical entrepreneur and executive who has been at Vivo Capital since March 2010. He is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of Semnur Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Shah currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Essentialis Therapeutics, board member of Biotie Therapies (NASDAQ: BITI), and a member of the Board of Trustees of St. John’s University. From 2005 to 2009, Dr. Shah was the Founder, Chairman and CEO of NextWave Pharmaceuticals, which was sold to Pfizer for $700 million in upfront and milestone payments. From 1993 to 2003 he was Chairman and CEO of First Horizon Pharmaceuticals, where he raised > $200 million and built a highly profitable company before it was sold to Shionogi Pharmaceuticals for $1.4 billion. From 1991 to 1999, he was Vice President of E. J. Financial Enterprises, Inc. Previously Dr. Shah served on the Boards of Unimed Pharmaceuticals (UMED), Introgen Therapeutics (INGN), Inpharmakon, Protomed, Structural Bioinformatics, and Zarix. From 1987 to 1991 he was the Senior Director of New Business Development at Fujisawa USA (Astellas) and previously he worked in various scientific and management positions at Schering-Plough and Bristol Myers-Squibb.