Leadership

Faraz Ali, MBA

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Ali was most recently chief business officer at REGENXBIO, where he had accountability for corporate development, commercial planning, portfolio strategy, alliance management and corporate communications. Prior to that, he was a vice president at bluebird bio, where he had accountability for new product planning, program management, patient advocacy and external affairs. Mr. Ali also had roles of increasing global commercial leadership at Genzyme Corporation, where he helped launch multiple first-in-class enzyme replacement therapies for rare diseases. He started his career at General Electric, including technical roles at GE Healthcare and business assignments at GE Corporate. Mr. Ali received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his B.S. from Stanford University. He was appointed to the Board of Directors for The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the leading international advocacy organization dedicated to realizing the promise of regenerative medicines and advanced therapies, in 2022.

Whit Tingley, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Tingley joined Tenaya as chief medical officer in December 2018. Previously, he served at Cytokinetics as vice president of clinical development, cardiology, and at Genentech as therapeutic area lead for cardiovascular and metabolism research and early development. Between 2009 and 2017, he held medical director and group medical director roles with increasing responsibility at Genentech and Roche. Whit formerly was adjunct associate professor of medicine in the cardiology division at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and cared for patients as an attending cardiologist in the UCSF Cardiology Faculty Practice.

Dr. Tingley earned an B.A. degree from Brown University and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed internship and residency programs at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a cardiology fellowship at UCSF and post-doctoral research at the Gladstone Institutes.

Kee-Hong Kim, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Kim joined Tenaya in 2018 to serve as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations. During his tenure, he has led the company’s effort to internalize process development, analytical development and quality control capabilities, and overseen the establishment of Tenaya’s cGMP manufacturing facility. Prior to joining Tenaya, Dr. Kim was Senior Vice President, Head of Technical Operations at Agilis Biotherapeutics, where he had accountability for manufacturing of gene therapy drug products and establishing reliable clinical and commercial supply chains.

Prior to that, he was the Head of Gene Therapy Process Development and the Global CMC Lead of Gene Therapy at Shire. Dr. Kim also ran his own biopharma consulting firm, which he started after serving as Director of Process Development at Avalanche Biotechnology (now Adverum). Dr. Kim was responsible for the process development, manufacturing science and related regulatory filings for Dendreon’s commercial product PROVENGE™. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kim had roles of increasing leadership at several technical organizations including Aeras TB Foundation and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He completed his post-doctoral training at Cornell University and received his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from Colorado State University.

Kathy Ivey, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President, Research

Kathy Ivey brings nearly 25 years of experience in the discovery of transformative product candidates for heart disease. For the past several years, she has overseen the discovery and preclinical testing efforts that resulted in Tenaya’s TN-201 and TN-401 gene therapy product candidates. Dr. Ivey has also led the company’s capsid engineering efforts to create novel adeno-associated capsids with greater selectivity to deliver genetic medicines with the potential to prevent or reverse specific forms of cardiac disease. In addition, she has been responsible for much of Tenaya’s most cutting-edge endeavors, including early-stage gene editing and cardiac regeneration programs. Previously, Dr. Ivey was a Staff Researcher at The Gladstone Institutes where she directed the Gladstone Stem Cell Core and worked with Tenaya’s scientific co-founder, Deepak Srivastava, MD., and aided in Tenaya’s formation. Dr. Ivey is trained in Molecular and Cell Biology and holds a B.S. from Texas A&M University and Ph.D. from UT Southwestern Medical Center where she completed her thesis work within the Molecular Biology Department chaired by Tenaya co-founder, Eric Olson, Ph.D.

Jay Vora, Ph.D., MBA

Senior Vice President, Portfolio and Program Management

Dr. Vora is senior vice president of portfolio and program management at Tenaya Therapeutics, where he is responsible for program and alliance management. Prior to joining Tenaya, Dr. Vora served in a variety of roles at companies focused on product development for orphan diseases with multiple modalities, including gene therapy, biologics and small molecules. Most recently, Dr. Vora served as head of alliance management and as program leader on one of Sangamo’s gene therapy programs. He was previously vice president of program and alliance management at REGENXBIO, where he supported multiple AAV gene therapy programs. Dr. Vora has also held roles in product development and program management at BioMarin and Chiron and has worked in management consulting at PRTM.

Dr. Vora earned his Ph.D. in pharmacokinetics and clinical pharmacology from Northeastern University, an M.S. in medicinal chemistry from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Jennifer Drimmer, J.D.

General Counsel

As Tenaya’s General Counsel, Ms. Drimmer brings a wealth of experience in legal oversight and executive leadership in corporate governance, contracting and operations. She previously served 13 years in roles of increasing responsibility at Exelixis, Inc., a commercial stage oncology-focused biotechnology company, where she was most recently Senior Vice President of Corporate Legal Affairs and Secretary, responsible for leading the corporate governance and public company reporting functions, as well as providing legal support for all general and administrative business units.

Ms. Drimmer was also the former Director of Legal Affairs for Banks.Com and, earlier in her career, was an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP where she worked extensively on mergers, acquisitions and venture capital financings among other functions. Ms. Drimmer received her B.A from the University of California, San Diego, and her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law.

Joanna Auch

Senior Vice President, People and Culture

Ms. Auch is the Senior Vice President of People and Culture and is responsible for leading all HR programs that drive our “One Tenaya”  team culture. Her focus is on delivering people strategies that engage, develop and grow our team members. Ms. Auch brings more than 15 years of hands-on senior leadership experience from multiple industries including pharmaceutical, healthcare and technology.

Before joining Tenaya, she was the Head of Human Resources, North America for Santen, Inc., a global pharmaceutical company focused on ophthalmology. Ms. Auch collaborated to drive organizational capabilities and scalable programs during a time of rapid growth and commercialization. Most notably, she led the human resources integration of multiple company acquisitions, driving a united team and one company culture. Prior to Santen, Ms. Auch held roles at IXIA and JumpstartMD where she built out HR operations, total rewards, performance management and leadership effectiveness tools. Joanna earned her B.A. in sociology from San Jose State University and is a member of CSHRP, Community for Strategic HR Partnerships.

Chihiro Saito

Senior Vice President, Accounting and Financial Operations

Chihiro Saito serves as Senior Vice President, Accounting and Financial Operations at Tenaya Therapeutics, bringing a broad range of leadership experience in financial reporting, finance operations as well as accounting and related internal control functions. She joined Tenaya in July 2021 as Vice President, Corporate Controller. Prior to Tenaya, Ms. Saito held a variety of financial management positions including Head of Financial Reporting for Gilead Sciences, Inc., a research-based biotechnology company, and Vice President of Accounting and Financial Reporting for McKesson Corporation, a global pharmaceutical supply chain company.

Ms. Saito in her earlier career was an audit manager with Arthur Andersen LLP servicing public and private clients in healthcare, technology, and manufacturing industries. Ms. Saito is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.A. in Political, Legal and Economic Analysis from Mills College and an M.S. in Business Administration, Accounting from San Francisco State University.

Matthew Pollman, M.D., M.S.

Senior Vice President, Clinical Development

A cardiologist and molecular biologist by training, Dr. Pollman most recently served as Executive Vice President for NaviGate Cardiac Structures, Inc. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Chief Medical Officer for Juventas Therapeutics and was the Founding CEO, President and Chief Scientific Officer of CV Ingenuity, a clinical stage company acquired by Covidien. Prior to founding CV Ingenuity, he served as Medical Director, Research and Development, at Abbott Vascular and was the principal medical and scientific strategist and advisor for the R&D pipeline and Business Development portfolios.

Dr. Pollman received his medical training at the University of California San Francisco, Stanford University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has served as a full-time faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Morehouse School of Medicine.  He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and is the past recipient of two investigator-initiated NIH NHLBI R01 grants in basic cardiovascular research.  He has served on the American Heart Association’s National Peer Review Committee in addition to serving as a reviewer for several leading journals in the cardiovascular sciences. He was a charter member of the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center’s commercial advisory board and has served on the board of directors for several Cleveland Clinic spinouts, including Perfusion Solutions (miniaturized circulatory support pump), Juventas Therapeutics (biologics-based technology for cardiovascular diseases), NaviGate Technologies (percutaneous mitral valve) and Cardionomic (neurmodulatory technology for the treatment of heart failure).

Naymisha (Isha) Patel, MBA

Senior Vice President, Quality

Ms. Patel is Senior Vice President of Quality at Tenaya Therapeutics, leading quality strategy and quality programs for the company’s GXP operations. Ms. Patel has over 25 years of industry experience in quality and compliance, with a focus on building quality functions from the ground up for diverse therapeutics, including some cell and gene therapies. Most recently, Ms. Patel served as Vice President, Quality, for Evolus Inc., where she strengthened quality systems in support of global commercialization of medical aesthetic products. Previously, she has held positions of increasing leadership at Ocular Therapeutics, Prothena, StemCells, Geron and Nektar Therapeutics.

Ms. Patel earned her B.S. from Maharaja Sayajirao (MS) University, India, her B.A. from California State University, and her MBA from Northcentral University.

Whedy Wang, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President, Biometrics

Whedy Wang joined Tenaya in 2024 and is an accomplished and forward-thinking leader with more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Her expertise spans biostatistics, clinical data management, clinical programming, statistical programming and medical writing. Her career encompasses successful navigation through eight regulatory submissions, three advisory committee meetings and the successful registration and commercialization of six compounds. Whedy’s adeptness extends across diverse therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, GI, immunology, kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, neurology, respiratory and transplantation.

Whedy most recently served as vice president of biometrics & digital science at Alector, and previously held leadership roles at Theravance Biopharma, Orexigen, and Gilead Sciences Palo Alto (formerly CV Therapeutics). Whedy has led global projects, such as Lexiscan®️ and Ranexa®️, showcasing her expertise to boards, potential partners and regulatory authorities. Her proficiency in business development has resulted in successful collaborations, including substantial royalty financing deals and license agreements. Whedy is one of the co-founders of the Bay Area Biotech-Pharma Statistics Workshop, underscoring her commitment to fostering connection, leadership, growth and impact of the SF Bay Area statistics and quantitative science community. Whedy holds a Ph.D. in biostatistics and an MPH in epidemiology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Faraz Ali, MBA

Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Ali was most recently chief business officer at REGENXBIO, where he had accountability for corporate development, commercial planning, portfolio strategy, alliance management and corporate communications. Prior to that, he was a vice president at bluebird bio, where he had accountability for new product planning, program management, patient advocacy and external affairs. Mr. Ali also had roles of increasing global commercial leadership at Genzyme Corporation, where he helped launch multiple first-in-class enzyme replacement therapies for rare diseases. He started his career at General Electric, including technical roles at GE Healthcare and business assignments at GE Corporate. Mr. Ali received his MBA. from Harvard Business School and his B.S. from Stanford University.

Amy Burroughs, MBA

Chief Executive Officer, Terns Pharmaceuticals

Ms. Burroughs joined the Tenaya Board of Directors in 2022 bringing more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare and life science industries. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: TERN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing small-molecule product candidates for serious diseases including oncology and obesity.  She previously served as CEO at Cleave Therapeutics, an executive in residence at 5AM Ventures and, in parallel, as senior advisor to one of its portfolio companies, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in her career, Ms. Burroughs held roles of increasing responsibility in commercial and strategy at Genentech, commercial and business development at other high growth therapeutics companies, talent and governance at Egon Zehnder International, and brand management at Procter & Gamble.

She earned her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar, and her B.A. in computer science with a minor in economics from Dartmouth College.

David Goeddel, Ph.D.

Managing Partner, The Column Group

Dr. Goeddel was the first scientist hired by Genentech and from 1978 to 1993 served in various positions, including staff scientist, director of molecular biology and Genentech Fellow. His pioneering work in the fields of gene cloning and expression of human proteins was the basis for five marketed therapeutics developed by Genentech, including human insulin, human growth hormone, interferon-alpha, interferon-gamma and tissue plasminogen activator.

Dr. Goeddel co-founded Tularik in November 1991, was vice president of research until 1996, and served as chief executive officer from 1996 until 2004, when Tularik was acquired by Amgen. Dr. Goeddel has received numerous scientific awards including the Scheele Medal, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, the Inventor of the Year Award, the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award, the Howley Prize for Arthritis Research and the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He holds a B.A. in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Colorado.

June Lee, M.D.

Former CEO of Esker Therapeutics

Dr. June Lee was most recently Founder and CEO of Esker Therapeutics. Previously, she served as Chief Development Officer and Chief Operating Officer of MyoKardia, Inc., where she built and led a world-class development organization culminating in the company’s $13.1 billion acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb. Prior to MyoKardia, Dr. Lee was Professor of Medicine at UCSF School of Medicine, where she served as Director of Translational Research and built the Catalyst Program, an internal accelerator at UCSF for early-stage technologies in therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, and digital health. Previously, she was therapeutic area head in early clinical development in cardiovascular, metabolism, respiratory, and infectious diseases at Genentech.

She currently serves on Johns Hopkins University Center for Therapeutic Translation’s Advisory Board, is a member of the Board of Directors for Eledon Pharmaceuticals Inc., GenEdit and Abivax, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Foresite Labs.

Dr. Lee completed a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, an M.D. at the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis, and her clinical training in internal medicine and pulmonary & critical care at UCLA and UCSF.

Karah Parschauer, J.D.

Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical

Ms. Parschauer currently serves as the Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for rare and ultra-rare genetic diseases, following five years as the company’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary beginning in June 2016. From June 2005 to June 2016, Ms. Parschauer served in various executive capacities, most recently as Vice President, Associate General Counsel, at Allergan plc, a pharmaceutical company. Before Allergan, Ms. Parschauer was an attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP, where she practiced in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and corporate governance.

Ms. Parschauer is a member of the board of directors for Evolus, Inc., a publicly traded performance beauty company. She is also a member of the board of directors for Anebulo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. From June 2019 to August 2021, she was a member of the board of directors of Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., a publicly traded RNA medicines company. Ms. Parschauer holds a B.A. from Miami University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Deepak Srivastava, M.D.

President, Gladstone Institutes; The Younger Family Professor, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease; Director, Rodenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine; Professor, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Srivastava’s laboratory discovered genetic bases for cardiac septal and valve defects and revealed complex signaling, transcriptional and translational networks that regulate progenitor cells to adopt a cardiac cell fate and subsequently fashion a functioning heart. He has leveraged this knowledge to reprogram fibroblasts directly into cardiomyocyte-like cells for regenerative purposes. Dr. Srivastava is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Srivastava received his B.S. from Rice University and his M.D. from the University of Texas. He trained in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and in pediatric cardiology at Harvard Medical School.

Catherine Stehman-Breen, M.D.

Chief Executive Officer, Chroma Medicine

Dr. Stehman-Breen is the chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors at Chroma Medicine. She was previously the chief research and development officer at Obsidian Therapeutics. Before that, she was entrepreneur-in-residence at Atlas Venture, serving as chief medical officer of both Dyne Therapeutics and Disarm Therapeutics. Previously, she was also chief medical officer at Sarepta Therapeutics. Prior to that, Dr. Stehman-Breen served as vice president, clinical development and regulatory affairs at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, initially as head, pain therapeutic area, and subsequently as head, clinical project management and operations. From 2003 to 2015, she held senior leadership roles at Amgen including vice president, global development, leading the neuroscience, nephrology and bone therapeutic areas. Dr. Stehman-Breen earned her M.D. from the University of Chicago in 1990. She completed her residency and fellowship training at the University of Washington, where she also received a Master of Science degree in epidemiology. Dr. Stehman-Breen spent six years as a faculty member in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Washington. Her research focused on bone and cardiovascular disease in kidney disease patients. Dr. Stehman-Breen remains active in a variety of national programs and serves as a reviewer for several journals.

R. Sanders (Sandy) Williams, M.D.

President Emeritus, Gladstone Institutes; Interim Vice President of Research and Innovation, University of California, San Francisco; Former CEO, Gladstone Foundation

Dr. Williams is a physician-scientist and biomedical executive. He is a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and, since February 2021, is acting as its interim vice president for research and innovation. Dr. Williams also serves as President Emeritus of the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, where he was president until December 2017. Dr. Williams also served as chief executive officer of the Gladstone Foundation. He previously served as dean of the school of medicine at Duke University; founding dean of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore; and chief of cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He was educated at Princeton University and Duke School of Medicine and pursued advanced training in science and medicine at Harvard (Massachusetts General Hospital), Duke, Oxford University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He is active at the interface between academia and the life science industries, serving currently as a director of Amgen and of the Laboratory Corporation of America. Dr. Williams is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.

Jeffrey T. Walsh, MBA

Chief Executive Officer, Nvelop Therapeutics

Jeff Walsh is the chief executive officer at Nvelop Therapeutics. He most recently served as venture partner at Third Rock Ventures and prior, he was the strategic advisor and chief financial and strategy officer at bluebird bio, which he joined in 2011. He held a variety of roles during bluebird’s growth from a fledgling, private gene therapy biotech company with 20 employees to a publicly traded, commercial stage leader in the field of gene and cell therapy with global operations and over 1,200 employees worldwide. Mr. Walsh served as chief operating and financial officer from 2011-2015, chief financial and strategy officer from 2015-2019, chief strategy officer from 2019-2020 and, most recently, strategic advisor to bluebird from 2020-2021.

Mr. Walsh has over 30 years of experience in healthcare leadership positions with responsibility for finance, business development, commercial and business operations, strategic planning and legal functions with established, emerging and start-up public and private life sciences companies. From 2008 to 2011, Mr. Walsh served as chief business and financial Officer of Taligen Therapeutics, Inc. where he played a key role in the growth of the company and the ultimate sale of Taligen Therapeutics, Inc. to Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Walsh started his career at SmithKline Beecham Corporation in finance and worldwide business development roles. He subsequently held senior business development, finance, sales and operations roles at PathoGenesis Corp. (acquired by Chiron Corporation), Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., EXACT Sciences Corporation and Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp. During his career, Mr. Walsh has raised over $3 billion in capital through venture capital financings, business development deals and initial and follow on public offerings. He received his B.A. in sociology and economics from Yale University and his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Mr. Walsh resides in Wellesley, MA with his wife and three daughters. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors at Tenaya, he is currently on the Board of Directors of Tevard Biosciences, a start-up company targeting genetic forms of epilepsy and other CNS diseases. He is also on the Board of Directors and executive committee of The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM), a non-profit advocacy organization supporting the cell and gene therapy industry. Mr. Walsh has been a guest lecturer on topics of entrepreneurialism and biotechnology organizational development at the University of Chicago (Booth), Dartmouth (Tuck), Boston University (Questrom) and MIT (Sloan).

Deepak Srivastava, M.D.

President, Gladstone Institutes; The Younger Family Professor, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease; Director, Rodenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine; Professor, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Srivastava’s laboratory discovered genetic bases for cardiac septal and valve defects and revealed complex signaling, transcriptional, and translational networks that regulate progenitor cells to adopt a cardiac cell fate and subsequently fashion a functioning heart. He has leveraged this knowledge to reprogram fibroblasts directly into cardiomyocyte-like cells for regenerative purposes. Dr. Srivastava is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Srivastava received his B.S. from Rice University and his M.D. from the University of Texas. He trained in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and in pediatric cardiology at Harvard Medical School.

Eric Olson, Ph.D.

Founding Chair, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Olson is the founding chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He holds the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair and the Annie and Willie Nelson Professorship of Stem Cell Research. Dr. Olson and his trainees discovered many of the key transcription factors and mechanisms responsible for heart and muscle development and disease. Dr. Olson is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies, including Myogen Therapeutics, Miragen Therapeutics and Exonics Therapeutics to design innovative therapies for heart and muscle disease.

Bruce R. Conklin, M.D.

Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and Professor of Genomic Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Conklin’s research focuses on genome engineering to identify novel therapeutic approaches to human disease. By making precise genetic changes in induced pluripotent cells he seeks to reveal the cellular and molecular mechanisms of disease and identify new methods for therapeutic editing. He began his research career by working for two years at the National Institutes of Health with Nobel Laureate Julius Axelrod, Ph.D. He then completed his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Henry Bourne, M.D., at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In 1995, Dr. Conklin joined the Gladstone Institutes and the UCSF faculty where he is now a senior investigator at Gladstone and a professor at UCSF. Dr. Conklin is also the Gladstone Scientific Officer for Technology & Innovation and the deputy director of the Innovative Genomics Institute. He is the founder of BayGenomics, GenMAPP, AltAnalyze and WikiPathways. He pioneered the field of chemogenetics using designer GPCRs (RASSLs). He founded the Gladstone Genomics and Stem Cell Cores. He advises multiple organizations including the Allen Institute for Cell Science, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He is a fellow in the California Academy of Sciences and a member the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Sheng Ding, Ph.D.

William K. Bowes, Jr. Distinguished Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Ding is the William K. Bowes, Jr. Distinguished Investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He received his B.S. in chemistry with honors from Caltech and a Ph.D. in chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute. Before moving to Gladstone/UCSF in early 2011, Dr. Ding was an assistant professor and then associate professor of chemistry at Scripps. Dr. Ding has pioneered the development and application of innovative chemical approaches to stem cell biology and regeneration, with a focus on discovering and characterizing novel small molecules that can control various cell fate/function, including stem cell maintenance, activation, differentiation and reprogramming in various developmental stages and tissues. Dr. Ding has published over 130 research articles, reviews and book chapters, has over 30 patents and has made several seminal contributions to the stem cell field. He is a co-founder of several biotech companies.

Saptarsi Haldar, M.D.

Vice President, Research, and Head of Cardiometabolic Disorders, Amgen; Visiting Investigator, Gladstone Institutes; Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Haldar is a scientific founder of Tenaya Therapeutics. He is currently vice president of research and head of cardiometabolic disorders at Amgen. He is also a visiting investigator at the Gladstone Institutes and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He received his B.S. from Cornell University and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He trained in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins followed by a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining Gladstone, he was on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Dr. Haldar is a physician-scientist who has made important discoveries in the areas of cardiac, skeletal muscle and metabolic biology. His laboratory seeks to gain a deep understanding of how cells in the cardiovascular system control gene expression and how these processes go awry in disease. He has a particular interest in discovering signaling effectors that are tractable pharmacologic targets for disease therapy. His work has elucidated therapeutically relevant insights for a broad range of conditions including heart failure, vasculopathy and muscular dystrophy. Dr. Haldar has been elected as a fellow of the American Heart Association. He is an active member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and continues to practice general adult cardiology at UCSF.

Benoit G. Bruneau, Ph.D.

Director and William H. Younger Investigator, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and Professor of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Bruneau is associate director and senior investigator at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. He holds the William H. Younger, Jr., endowed chair in cardiovascular disease, and is the recipient of the Lawrence J. and Florence A. DeGeorge Charitable Trust/American Heart Association Established Investigator Award. Before joining Gladstone, Dr. Bruneau was a scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto. He earned his doctorate in physiology at the University of Ottawa and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Jonathan and Christine Seidman. Dr. Bruneau’s research is aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which gene programs are deployed during cardiac differentiation. He is interested in how all levels of transcriptional regulation coordinate this process, and how it is integrated during organogenesis. Ultimately through his lab’s efforts, he would like to uncover how these processes are dysregulated in congenital heart disease, and how they could be harnessed to regenerate diseased hearts.

Alexander Marson, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology; Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes; Professor, Medicine, UCSF; Center Director, The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Gladstone Institutes

The goal of Dr. Marson’s research group is to understand genetic circuits that control human immune cell function in health and disease, employing powerful new CRISPR genome engineering technologies. His lab is decoding gene programs in pro-inflammatory T cells that drive effective anti-cancer immune responses and programs in anti-inflammatory regulatory T cells (Tregs) that are critical to prevent autoimmunity. With the goal of engineering cells to create “living” medicine to treat a wide range of diseases, they are designing programs to make cells that can recognize and eliminate cancer, cells that are resistant to infections like HIV and cells that can reduce inflammation in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Marson received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his MPhil in biological sciences from the University of Cambridge. He earned his Ph.D. at the Whitehead Institute at MIT, and an M.D. at Harvard Medical School.

Christine Edry Seidman, M.D.

Director, Cardiovascular Genetics Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital; Thomas W. Smith Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator; Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Dr. Seidman leads a laboratory that aims to define genetic causes, mechanisms, treatments and cures for human heart disease. She has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles that describe notable discoveries including the first monogenic causes for hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies and congenital heart malformations. Her work enabled development of the first mechanism-based treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Through the BWH Cardiovascular Genetics Center, she has translated research discoveries into clinical care with improved diagnostic precision, management strategies and opportunities for curative interventions.

Dr. Seidman earned her B.S. in biochemistry at Harvard University and her M.D. at George Washington University. She has received research funding from the Fondation Leducq, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, British Heart Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

Jonathan Weissman

Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Core Member, Whitehead Institute

Dr. Weissman’s research team studies how cells ensure correct protein folding, and the role of protein misfolding in disease. The team also develops innovative tools for broadly exploring organizational principles of biological systems, including ribosome profiling in protein translation, CRIPSRi/a for controlling the expression of human genes and rewiring the epigenome, and lineage tracing tools to record the history of cells.

Dr. Weissman was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, where he worked with Arthur Horwich studying the mechanism of molecular chaperone protein GroEL.

Dr. Weissman has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2009.

Douglas Mann, M.D.

Lewin Chair and Professor of Medicine, Cell Biology and Physiology, and Chief of the Division of Cardiology, Washington University School of Medicine

Dr. Mann is the Lewin Chair, professor of medicine, cell biology and physiology and chief of the Division of Cardiology at the Washington University School of Medicine. He also is cardiologist in chief at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He received his M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia and completed fellowships in clinical cardiology at the University of California, San Diego, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Mann’s primary research interest is the molecular and cellular basis of heart failure, with emphasis on the role of innate immunity in disease progression and recovery of the failing heart. He has been engaged in translational research for over two decades. His awards include the Michael E. DeBakey award for excellence in research, the Alfred Soffer Award for Editorial Excellence, the Simon Dack Award from the American College of Cardiology for outstanding scholarship, the Hugh McCullough Award from the American Heart Association and the Distinguished Mentor Award from the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Mann is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Association of University Cardiologists, The Association of Professors of Cardiology and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. He is a past president of the Heart Failure Society and received the Medical Alumnus of the Year award from Temple University School of Medicine.

Elizabeth McNally, M.D., Ph.D.

Elizabeth J. Ward Professor and Director, Center for Genetic Medicine, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine

Dr. McNally directs the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and is the Elizabeth J. Ward Professor of Genetic Medicine. Dr. McNally is a cardiologist with an expertise in cardiac genetics. She established one of the first cardiovascular genetics clinics in the nation, and her work focuses on understanding the genetic mechanism of cardiovascular disease and using genetic signals to drive therapy development. Her translational work was recognized by an award from the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation and as a recipient of a Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. She serves on the advisory boards for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy and is the vice chair for the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences of the American Heart Association. She is a past president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a member of the Association of American Physicians.

Mark A. Kay, M.D., Ph.D.

Dennis Farrey Family Professor in Pediatrics; Professor of Genetics, Stanford University

Dr. Kay is a leading researcher in the fields of gene therapy and adeno-associated virus (AAV) biology, including the identification of new AAV capsids. Dr. Kay is the head of the Division of Human Gene Therapy and professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is one of the founders of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, served as its president from 2005-2006, and was the recipient of the society’s Outstanding Investigator Award in 2013. Dr. Kay received the E. Mead Johnson Award for Research in Pediatrics in 2000. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1997 and the Association for American Physicians in 2010. He has organized many national and international conferences, including the first Gordon Conference related to gene therapy. Dr. Kay is respected worldwide for his work in vector development, gene therapy and non-coding RNA biology. He has published over 250 papers. He is currently the deputy editor of Human Gene Therapy and serves on the editorial boards of other peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Kay holds a B.S. in physical sciences from Michigan State University, as well as a Ph.D. in developmental genetics and an M.D. from Case Western Reserve University.

Deepak Srivastava, M.D.

President, Gladstone Institutes; The Younger Family Professor, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease; Director, Rodenberry Center for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine; Professor, University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Srivastava’s laboratory discovered genetic bases for cardiac septal and valve defects and revealed complex signaling, transcriptional, and translational networks that regulate progenitor cells to adopt a cardiac cell fate and subsequently fashion a functioning heart. He has leveraged this knowledge to reprogram fibroblasts directly into cardiomyocyte-like cells for regenerative purposes. Dr. Srivastava is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Srivastava received his B.S. from Rice University and his M.D. from the University of Texas. He trained in pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and in pediatric cardiology at Harvard Medical School.

Eric Olson, Ph.D.

Founding Chair, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Olson is the founding chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He holds the Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair and the Annie and Willie Nelson Professorship of Stem Cell Research. Dr. Olson and his trainees discovered many of the key transcription factors and mechanisms responsible for heart and muscle development and disease. Dr. Olson is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies, including Myogen Therapeutics, Miragen Therapeutics and Exonics Therapeutics to design innovative therapies for heart and muscle disease.

Timothy Hoey, Ph.D.

Dr. Hoey was previously chief scientific officer at Tenaya Therapeutics, where he was responsible for directing research to develop novel agents for treating heart disease. Prior to Tenaya, he directed preclinical research and drug development as senior vice president and co-chief scientific officer at OncoMed Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Hoey previously served as biology director at Amgen (formerly Tularik) in San Francisco. He conducted postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley under Dr. Robert Tjian and completed his graduate work at Columbia University with Dr. Michael Levine. Dr. Hoey is an inventor on numerous patents and co-author of over 70 peer-reviewed publications.

Barry J. Byrne, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Barry Byrne is a renowned clinical scientist specializing in the development of medicines for inherited muscle diseases. Since joining the University of Florida in 1997, he has served in a variety of clinical, research and educational roles, and is now the Director of the Powell Gene Therapy Center. As a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Byrne’s focus is on conditions that lead to skeletal muscle weakness, cardiac dysfunction and respiratory dysfunction. His research team and has contributed to the advancement of genetic therapies for Pompe, Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, Friedreich’s ataxia, and other neuromuscular conditions. Dr. Byrne earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Illinois after obtaining a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Denison University. He completed his pediatric residency, cardiology fellowship training and post-doctoral training in Biological Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University. He is a board-certified pediatric cardiologist with greater than 330 publications.