Executive Team
Robert Young
Founder & President
- 30+ years leading discovery at Merck resulting in $80B+ in revenue from development of Singulair®. Vioxx®, Arcoxia®, Previcox®, Tredaptive® and odanacatib
- Recipient of Heroes of Chemistry award and the Order of Canada award
- Two time recipient of Prix Galien (UK and Canada)
Jon Polak
CEO
- Prior to joining Mesentech Jon was founder and former CEO of Datapoint Diagnostics (sold to Otsuka), and co-founder of C7bio • Previously in capital markets at Perimeter, a portfolio company of Goldman Sachs, where he created the first depth-of-book distressed debt electronic trading platform • Trained in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and holds an MBA, both from University of Toronto.
Michael Underhill
Chief Science Officer
- Leading foundational research on mechanisms underlying bone formation
- Co-founder of Corigen and Nexigen
- Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at UBC
Pat Tam
Chief Development Officer
- Development scientist with over 20 years of industrial experience
- Expertise across all aspects of early-phase drug development, including PK/ADME, pharmacology, toxicology, bioanalytical methods, validation, clinical pharmacology, Phase I-II clinical program development
- Former Senior Director at Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Director, Nonclinical Development at Forbes Medi-Tech, and Senior Scientist, Preclinical at Inex Pharmaceuticals
Anand Mehta
Chief Medical Officer
- Dr. Mehta is a board certified endocrinologist from UC San Francisco currently practicing at Stanford Medical Partners. He has served as Principal Investigator on numerous clinical trials across a range of metabolic conditions. He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the Lazard Global Healthcare Group. Previously he was with the investment banking team at Lazard advising biopharma companies on financial and strategic options. He has an MD from UC San Francisco where he was a Fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in molecular neuroscience and has a BA from UC Berkeley in molecular biology.
Directors
Jay Mohr BA, MBA
- Experienced healthcare executive, transaction advisor and entrepreneur • Over 25 years P&L responsibilities, C-level roles in established and VC-backed companies • Chief Financial and Business Officer of New York Blood Center Enterprises • Partner Emeritus and co-founder of Locust Walk Partners, life sciences transaction advisory firm • Founding CEO and Director of cancer therapeutics company Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Celgene for $640 million • Director of T1D Exchange, a nonprofit organization to accelerate therapies and improve outcomes for Type 1 Diabetes • Member of Executive Advisory Board of Leonard Davis Institute at UPenn • MBA from Wharton
Dr. Samuel Wu MD, PhD
- Healthcare VC investor since 2002 • Founding partner at Acuris, recently launched by MedImmune Ventures from AstraZeneca • Former principal at SV Life Sciences, investing in biopharmaceutical and medical devices • Board member of Applied Genetic Technologies Corp (NASDAQ:AGTC), Cerapedics, Hydra Biosciences, Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL), and California Life Sciences Institute • Former Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company • B.A. magna cum laude in Biochemistry from Harvard University • M.D. Ph.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine
Barbara Yanni
- Formerly Chief Licensing Officer at Merck & Co • Independent director of two public clinical-stage ventures; Trevena (NASDAQ: TRVN) and Vaccinex (NASDAQ: VCNX) • Nominated to Board of Supervisory Directors of Pharming Group NV (Amsterdam: PHARM) • Former board member of Akcea (NASDAQ: AKCA), Abionyx (Paris: ABNX) and Symic Bio • Structured agreements for over 150 compounds, programs, and technologies for Merck • JD Stanford Law School, AB Wellesley College
David C. Dvorak
- President & CEO Zimmer-Biomet (NYSE: ZBH) 2007-2017, which was built into a Fortune 500 Company with revenues growing from $1.2 billion to $7.7 billion, expanding from 3,400 to 18,500 employees, and market cap from $6.2 billion to $25.8 billion • Former Senior Vice President and General Counsel of STERIS Corporation (NYSE: STE) • B.Sci in Business Administration from Miami University • JD magna cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law • Served on the board of St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE: STJ), and AdvaMed from 2007 to 2017 • Current Chairman and CEO of DeepThink Health, director of Mach Medical, LLC, and director of Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation
Peter Savas
Executive Chairman
- Serial CEO with 9 positive exists for shareholders • Current CEO of Likeminds • Formerly CEO of Alseres Pharma • Chairman and CEO of Aderis Pharmaceuticals, developer of the Neupro® transdermal Parkinsons’ treatment
Bob Ward
- Since 2018, Robert “Bob” Ward, serves as an Independent Director for OncoSec Medical and as Chairperson of the Audit Committee. From Dec 2017 to March 2020 Mr Ward served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer for Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. establishing the Corporate headquarters in Boston and uplisting the Company to NASDAQ . Previously, Mr. Ward served as the Chief Executive Officer, President and member of the Board of Directors at Radius Health, Inc., completing the 2014 IPO leading to the FDA approval and commercial launch of TYMLOS, from December 2013 to July 2017. He was a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Governance Committee of Akari Therapeutics from October 2016 to August 2018. Prior to joining Radius, Mr. Ward was Vice President for Strategy and External Alliances for the New Opportunities iMed of AstraZeneca from 2011 to December 2013. He has held a series of progressive management and executive roles with established companies such as NPS Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough (Merck), Pharmacia (Pfizer), Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech. Mr. Ward was awarded a B.A. in Biology and a B.S. in Physiological Psychology, both from the University of California, Santa Barbara; an M.S. in Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.A. in Immunology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. We believe Mr. Ward is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors because of his service and experience as an executive of a public pharmaceutical company.
Advisors
Roland Baron DDS PhD
- Professor at the Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital • Chair of Oral Medicine at Harvard School of Dental Medicine • Former professor of orthopedics and cell biology at Yale University School of Medicine, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the International Bone and Mineral Society • Former Vice-President and head of bone disease group at Hoechst Marion Roussel and later Aventis • Published over 300 scientific papers in bone biology and bone disease
Joseph Lane
Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery, New York • Senior member of Orthopedic Trauma Service, Chief of the Metabolic Bone Disease Service, Medical Director of the Osteoporosis Prevention Center, and Assistant Dean at Weill Cornell Medical College • Renowned for publications and lectures on bone biology, osteoporosis, fracture repair, and bone cancer
Navdeep Tangri MD
Nephrologist, Professor of Medicine at University of Manitoba • Advised Tricida on developing metabolic acidosis as a surrogate end point, resulting in NDA for accelerated approval in renal disease • Developed the Kidney Failure Risk Equation to predict need for dialysis in patients with CKD • Conducted large prospective study on frailty, physical and cognitive function in advanced CKD • Lead a multinational randomized trial on the safety and efficacy of a new CKD therapy • Published over 200 manuscripts • Recipient of the CIHR New Investigator Award, and a CIHR Foundation grant
Peter K. S. Siegl, Ph.D.
- Extensive experience in drug development, 27-year tenure at Merck & Co. • Biotech and VC consulting for 14 years • Over 125 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals • Founder and first president of Safety Pharmacology Society • Chaired ILSI/Health and Environmental Science Institute Cardiovascular Safety Subcommittee • Deputy Topic Leader representing PhRMA on the International Conference on Harmonization: Topic ICH S7B, guideline for assessing risk for QT interval prolongation • Former Safety Pharmacology Technical Group Co-Leader in the PhRMA DruSafe Committee • Scientific Advisory Board Member for Medicines for Malaria Venture, Oculogics, Inc., and Aldehyde Therapeutics
Dr. Michael Kelly
Chief Scientific Officer of CureDuchenne • Over 25 years experience in drug development • Served as president and US site head of Renovis • Held senior positions at Amgen, Inc., Wyeth (Pfizer) and Wellcome (GlaxoSmithKline) • Ph.D. from University of Southampton • Inventor on over 100 patents • Widely published in peer-reviewed journals
Ernest Wong, PhD MBA
- Dr. Ernest Wong has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. As President and CEO of NervGen Pharma, he led the company’s successful Initial Public Offering on the TSX-V and was instrumental in bringing NervGen’s technology and NVG-291 to Phase 1 readiness. Prior to joining NervGen, Dr. Wong was the Vice President, Corporate Development of Accera, Inc., a Nestle Health Science backed clinical stage biotechnology company that develops therapies for central nervous system disorders. Prior to Accera, Dr. Wong was the Head of Business Development and Licensing at Piramal Imaging Limited where he successfully completed a number of high-value strategic transactions as part of the commercial launch of a neuroimaging agent.
- Prior to Piramal Imaging, he led the corporate development function at YM Biosciences where he executed a partnering campaign for a phase 2/3 product that resulted in the acquisition of the company by Gilead Sciences, Inc. for over US$ 500 million in 2013. His experience also includes executing business development transactions, managing partnerships and global clinical programs at OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and AnorMED Inc.
- Dr Wong currently advises a number of public and private biotechnology companies on corporate strategy, drug development and business development projects.
Founders
Bob Young
Pharmaceutical chemist specializing in drugs for bone formation
Michael Underhill
Stem Cell Biologist researching the mechanisms behind molecular and cellular interaction
Fabio Rossi
Cellular & Molecular Biologist and expert in tissue regeneration and mesenchymal stem cells
Pieter Cullis
Nano-particle Biochemist specializing in drug delivery
