Mark Iwicki has more than 25 years of experience leading all aspects of R&D and commercialization in the biopharmaceutical industry. He is the chairman and CEO of Kala Pharmaceuticals, and was previously the CEO of Civitas Therapeutics, which was acquired by Acorda Therapeutics. Prior to Civitas, Mark served as the president and chief executive officer of Blend Therapeutics; president and chief executive officer of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals; and president and chief operating officer at Sepracor, which was acquired in 2009. During his previous tenure at Novartis, Mark served as business unit head and managed the cardiovascular, diabetes, arthritis, bone, gastrointestinal, HRT, infectious diseases, and urology therapeutic areas. Preceding these roles, Mark held management positions at Merck and Astra Merck. Mark serves on the boards of Kala Pharmaceuticals, Aimmune Therapeutics, Merus, Nimbus Therapeutics, and Pulmatrix. Mark holds a B.S. from Ball State University and an MBA from Loyola University.

Dr. Cheng has served as Akero's president and chief executive officer since September 2018. Before joining the company, he served for 19 years at Gilead Sciences, where his last role was chief medical officer. During his tenure, he was responsible for the clinical development of the HIV program resulting in 11 FDA/EMA approved products. Dr. Cheng serves on the board of directors of Vera Therapeutics. He previously served on the board of directors of MorphoSys (acquired by Novartis), Arbutus Biopharma, and privately held Syntimmune (acquired by Alexion). Dr. Cheng holds a B.A. in biology from Johns Hopkins University and an M.D. and Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his internal medicine residency at UCLA and was board certified in internal medicine.

Dr. Graham Walmsley is a co-founder and managing partner of Logos Capital, a fundamental biotechnology-focused hedge fund that combines in-house data analytics with scientific and clinical expertise to identify transformative therapies in healthcare. Based in San Francisco, Logos combines expertise across medical, scientific, and statistical disciplines to expand the depth of diligence in identifying compelling investment ideas and uncorrelated-market returns. Before Logos, Graham was a principal at Versant Ventures, where he invested in biotechnology companies across four funds totaling more than $1.5 billion in AUM. While at Versant, he served as a board director, built and launched multiple companies, and was head of business development for Jecure Therapeutics through its acquisition by Roche AG. Graham has more than 60 scientific publications and holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine.

Jane Pritchett Henderson has more than 28 years of experience in healthcare life sciences with a unique combination of extensive investment banking, corporate biopharmaceutical senior management, and board director experience, making her a trusted advisor to numerous companies. Jane currently is the chief financial officer of Adagio Therapeutics. Prior to joining Adagio, she served as chief financial officer at Turnstone Biologics, chief financial officer and senior vice president of corporate development at Voyager Therapeutics, and chief financial and business officer at Kolltan Pharmaceuticals until its sale to Celldex Therapeutics. Previously, Jane served in various financial and business development leadership roles at ISTA Pharmaceuticals, Axerion Pharmaceuticals, and Panacos Pharmaceuticals. Jane has an extensive healthcare investment banking background in addition to her industry experience, including execution of more than 95 M&A, advisory, and financing transactions over a nearly 20-year career at HSBC, CIBC, Lehman Brothers, and Salomon Brothers, collectively. Jane currently serves on the board of directors of IVERIC Bio (formerly Ophthotech) and Sesen Bio (formerly Eleven Biotherapeutics). Jane holds a BS from Duke University.

Judy Chou is a biotech industry leader with a 25-year track record of driving drug development and biomanufacturing successes in established and emerging growth biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Chou is currently president and CEO of AltruBio, Inc., a company focused on developing novel therapeutics for immunological diseases. Prior to AltruBio, she was senior vice president and global head of Biotech at Bayer Pharmaceuticals, where she oversaw a more than $3 billion biotechnology product portfolio and led drug development and launch activities for the companies’ biologics pipeline. Earlier in her career, Dr. Chou held senior pharmaceutical operations and manufacturing roles at Pfizer, Inc., formerly Medivation, and Tanvex Biopharma, Inc. Before joining the industry, Dr. Chou was a research faculty member at Harvard University Medical School, focused on cell biology and neuroscience research. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University and completed her post-doctoral training at Max-Planck Institute in Germany.

Seth Harrison is founder and managing partner of ATP (Apple Tree Partners), a leading life sciences venture capital firm with $2.65 billion in committed capital. To date, ATP has launched or invested in more than 30 transformative companies focused on delivering cutting-edge therapies for unmet medical needs, out of which 19 so far have gone public or been acquired. Prior to starting ATP in 1999, Seth was a general partner at Oak Investment Partners, and before that a venture partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. From 2002 to 2010, Seth also served on the board of the International Partnership for Microbicides. Seth received an AB from Princeton University and an M.D. and MBA from Columbia University, and completed a surgery internship at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

Tom Heyman has a long-standing track record of leadership and management in the biopharmaceutical industry, with particular experience in business development and venture capital. Spanning his 37-year career with Johnson & Johnson, Tom held a diverse range of leadership roles across legal, R&D, business development, general corporate management, and equity investments. Previously, he served as president of JJDC, the venture capital group within Johnson & Johnson, where he managed approximately $1.5 billion of capital and oversaw investments in more than 120 companies. Prior to his time at JJDC, Mr. Heyman spent 23 years leading business development for Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical group, Janssen. Tom currently serves on the Board of Directors of Adagio Therapeutics. Tom graduated as master of law from the K.U. Leuven in Belgium. He continued with post-graduate studies in International Law in Geneva, Switzerland, and post-graduate studies in business management at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

Yuan Xu has a long-standing track record of executive and scientific leadership in biopharmaceutical research, development, manufacturing, commercialization, and life-cycle management. Most recently, she served as a board member and chief executive officer for Legend Biotech Co., playing a leading role in its successful IPO. Dr. Xu’s prior career as a senior executive includes heading up Merck’s Biologics and Vaccines subdivision, as well leading biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing groups for Novartis, Gilead, and GlaxoSmithKline. Yuan currently serves on the board of directors of Fate Therapeutics and the scientific advisory board and manufacturing advisory board of National Resilience, Inc. Dr. Xu received a B.S. in biochemistry from Nanjing University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Maryland. She completed her post-doctoral training in virology and gene therapy at the University of California, San Diego.