Marc de Garidel, MIM, AMP

Chairman of the Board
Chief Executive Officer, Abivax

Mr. de Garidel is a recognized biotech entrepreneur and global pharmaceutical executive with a distinguished track record of building and scaling innovative healthcare companies, advancing breakthrough therapies, and creating substantial shareholder value value through organic growth and strategic M&A across the biotechnology sector. Since May 2023, he has served as Chief Executive Officer of Abivax, leading the development of obefazimod for ulcerative colitis and driving exceptional corporate growth, from a $500M to a $14B company in over 3 years. Prior to Abivax, he was Chief Executive Officer of CinCor Pharma from 2020 to 2023, where he successfully led the company through its acquisition by AstraZeneca. CinCor’s lead therapy was subsequently approved by the FDA as a first-in-class treatment for resistant hypertension. From 2018 to 2020, Mr. de Garidel served as CEO of Corvidia Therapeutics, overseeing its strategic growth and successful acquisition by Novo Nordisk. Earlier in his career, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Ipsen from 2010 to 2016, where he transformed the company into a leading global oncology player through the expansion of Somatuline and the landmark ex-U.S. licensing agreement for Cabometyx.

Mr. de Garidel began his career at Eli Lilly and Company before spending 15 years at Amgen in senior international leadership roles. He has also served as Chairman of Ipsen since late 2010. He holds a Civil Engineering degree from ESTP Paris, a Master’s in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and an Executive MBA from Harvard Business School.

Stephen Brady

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Brady brings nearly 30 years of operational and board experience spanning corporate strategy, M&A, business development, and finance across public and private life sciences companies. Prior to joining Claris Bio, he served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Tempest Therapeutics. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Strategy and Finance at Immune Design, where he played a key role in the company’s IPO, financings, licensing transactions, and sale to Merck. Earlier in his career, he held progressively senior roles at multiple companies, including Vice President of Corporate Development at Proteolix, where he led the business development and strategic efforts that resulted in the company’s sale to Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Brady currently serves on the Board of Directors of Claris and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).

Reza Dana, MD, MSc, MPH, FARVO

Co-Founder and Board Member

Dr. Dana is Senior Scientist and the Claes Dohlman Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Cornea Service at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Vice Chairman of Harvard Ophthalmology for Academic Programs, Director of the Laboratory of Ocular Immunology, Transplantation and Regeneration, member of the Harvard Medical School graduate program in Immunology, and Director of the Harvard-Vision Clinical Scientist Development Program. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University, he has subspecialty training in both corneal disease and ocular immunology. He is a clinician-scientist whose contributions to the fields of transplantation, regenerative medicine, angiogenesis, and ocular surface disease have led to 500+ publications, which have been cited more than 46,000 times. He is the recipient of numerous top international honors in the field of vision science and has received Harvard Medical School's top mentoring award. Apart from over 100 clinical trainees, he has trained more than 150 scientists from 36 countries in his laboratory to date; many are professors, senior scientists, division/department chiefs and leaders in industry. Dr. Dana has been the scientific co-founder of several biotech firms.

Michael Dybbs, PhD

Partner, Samsara BioCapital

Dr. Dybbs is currently a partner at Samsara BioCapital, where he has worked since March 2017. Prior to joining Samsara, Dr. Dybbs was a partner at New Leaf Venture Partners, where he worked from May 2009 until September 2016. Before joining New Leaf Venture Partners, L.L.C., Dr. Dybbs was a principal at the Boston Consulting Group. Dr. Dybbs currently serves on the boards of directors of Nkarta and several private companies. Dr. Dybbs previously served on the boards of directors of Versartis, Inc. and Dimension Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Dybbs received an A.B. in biochemical sciences from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship.

Meredith Fisher, PhD, MBA

Partner, Mass General Brigham Ventures

Dr. Fisher is a Partner with Mass General Brigham Ventures where she focuses on early-stage investments and company creation. Previously, she was Director of Private Investments in the private/family office at Bracebridge Capital where she led investments in early-stage life science companies. Prior to that, she led business development for Ginkgo BioWorks, was Senior Director at PureTech Ventures, and worked a scientist in anti-viral drug discovery for Idenix Pharmaceuticals and Anadys Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Fisher has co-founded multiple MGBV portfolio companies including three as founding CEO. She holds board seats at BraveBio, Claris Bio, CrossTalk, Falcon Bio, Violet Therapeutics and Sena Therapeutics and serves as a board observer for Altido, Mediar and Monimoi. Dr. Fisher holds an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College, an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a PhD from Harvard University. While at Harvard, she co-founded Harvard Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (HGWISE).

Kenneth Harrison, PhD

Senior Partner at Novo Ventures

Dr. Harrison is a Senior Partner with the Venture Investments team at Novo Holdings US and is based in San Francisco. He currently serves on the boards of several privately-held biotech companies across therapeutic areas and stages of development. Prior to joining Novo Holdings, Dr. Harrison was a member of the HER2 and Ophthalmology franchise teams at Genentech, and previously was a seed-stage investor with Mission Bay Capital, where he helped launch and build life sciences companies in the SF Bay Area. Dr. Harrison trained as an A.P. Giannini Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow at the J. David Gladstone Institutes / UCSF and earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Yale University.

Matthew Hobson, PhD

Principal, Catalio Capital Management

Dr. Hobson is a Principal at Catalio Capital Management. He joined Catalio at its founding in 2020 and primarily covers investments in therapeutics and diagnostics for their venture strategy. Dr. Hobson currently represents Catalio as a board director or observer for multiple companies including GlycoEra, Rhapsogen, lambic Therapeutics, Octant, and Pink Dx. Prior to joining Catalio, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where he also earned a PhD in biophysics and biophysical chemistry, studying proteins involved in DNA replication and repair. Dr. Hobson holds a B.S. in chemistry and physics from Emory University.

Maha Radhakrishnan, MD

Executive Partner, Private Equity at Sofinnova Investments

Dr. Radhakrishnan is currently Executive Partner at Sofinnova Investments. Her most recent role was Consultant to the CEO at Dyne Therapeutics, where she helped with the overarching strategy and direction of the company’s R&D and commercialization efforts. Prior to that, she was the Chief Medical Officer at Biogen, responsible for the Worldwide Medical function since rejoining Biogen in January 2020. Previously, from 2016-2019, Dr. Radhakrishnan was Senior Vice President and Global Head of Medical, Primary Care Business Unit at Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on human health. At Sanofi, she led the medical strategy and operations for the diabetes and cardiovascular products and development programs. Prior to this, she held several key leadership roles at Bioverativ Inc. from 2016-2018, Biogen for the first time from 2013-2016, Bristol Myers Squibb from 2009-2013, United Health Group from 2006-2008, and Cephalon from 2005-2006. Dr. Radhakrishnan has overseen the launch preparations and execution of several blockbuster launches, including Abilify, Orencia, Tecfidera, Praluent, Nusinersen, Qalsody, Leqembi, and Skyclarys, as well as the life cycle management of several critical programs in the Hemophilia, Immunology, Rare Disease, Cardiovascular and CNS Therapeutic areas. 

She received her M.D. in internal medicine with honors from the People’s Friendship University in Moscow, Russia in 1995, as well as a master's degree in Russian language. She is also a certified Russian language instructor and interpreter.