Connect | Cullinan

Parissa Daneshmand is Senior Finance Associate at Cullinan, responsible for accounting, cash management and financial reporting.

Parissa joined Cullinan with 10 years of finance and accounting experience both in the private sector and at a public accounting firm. Most recently, Parissa was at MPM Capital for five years as a Corporate Accountant. In this role, Parissa was responsible for the accounting, financial reporting and tax compliance related to MPM’s management companies as well as a number of its seed portfolio companies. Parissa began her career at KPMG in Kansas City.

Parissa earned a B.S. in Accounting and Business-Finance from Baker University.

Tony Rosenberg is on the Board of Directors of Cullinan and a Managing Director at MPM Capital.

Previously, Tony was Global Head, M&A and Licensing (Corporate) for Novartis (NVS), based in Basel, Switzerland. In this role, he oversaw the Novartis portfolio transformation, a comprehensive set of transactions announced in 2014 to focus Novartis on its global businesses in innovative pharmaceuticals, eye care and generics.

Tony brings more than 30-years of biotech operations and strategic management experience to Cullinan. He joined Novartis predecessor company Sandoz in the U.K. in 1980, where he held diverse leadership positions across sales and marketing, business development and strategic planning. He moved to Basel in 1994, assuming roles of increasing responsibility, and in 2000 was appointed Global Head of the Transplantation and Immunology Business Unit. In 2005, Tony was appointed Global Head of Business Development and Licensing (Pharma), and managed over 30 major in-licensing transactions across therapeutic areas as well as numerous divestments. In 2010, he assumed added responsibility leading the Molecular Diagnostics Group.

Tony has a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Leicester and a M.Sc. in Physiology from the University of London.

Tony currently serves on the Board of Directors of argenx, Clinical Ink, iOmx Therapeutics, Radius and TriNetX.

Morana Jovan-Embiricos is on the Board of Directors of Cullinan and is the founder of F2 Ventures.

Morana has extensive experience in both the public and private biotechnology equity markets through a series of funds launched at F2 since 2003. She has also successfully managed a biotech allocation for one of the largest hedge funds in the US.

Prior to F2, Morana was a Partner with MPM Capital working both on the investment side and directly with portfolio companies to help them attain critical business development milestones and securing appropriate exits either through trade sale or an IPO. She also led life science activities at Banque Syz & Co in Geneva, launching one of the first long only biotech funds in Switzerland. She is a member of the Board of Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.

Morana holds an Executive Business Program from Stanford-National University of Singapore and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University having worked on protein un-caging in the Department of Developmental Biology. She received her PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Cambridge.

Morana currently serves on the Board of Directors of ElevateBio, TCR² Therapeutics and TriNetX.

Thomas Ebeling is on the Board of Directors of Cullinan and a member of the Advisory Board of the UBS Oncology Impact Fund by MPM Capital.

After earning a degree in psychology in Hamburg, Thomas began his career with Reemtsma in 1987, where he served as the product manager responsible for the “West” brand, among other duties. In 1991, he moved to Pepsi-Cola Germany, where he served as a marketing manager. In 1993, he was appointed Marketing Director for the entire beverage portfolio. Starting in 1994, he was National Sales and Franchise Director for the retail and restaurant sales of Pepsi-Cola. In 1996, he was appointed General Manager of Pepsi-Cola Germany.

In 1997, Thomas moved to Novartis, where he served as General Manager of Novartis Nutrition for Germany and Austria. In 1998, he assumed worldwide leadership of the Novartis Nutrition Division. In this position, he headed the three business units Medical Nutrition, Health Nutrition and Consumer Retail Brands, where, among other duties, he was responsible for the leading U.S. baby food brand Gerber. In 1998, he was appointed to the Novartis Executive Committee. From 2000 to October 2007, he served as CEO of the global Novartis pharmaceuticals business. Under his leadership, the company’s revenues more than doubled from US $11 billion to US $22.6 billion, after which he was CEO of the Novartis Consumer Health Division from 2007 to 2009.

From 2009 to 2018, Thomas served as CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, and has been a member of the supervisory board of Bayer AG since 2012 as well as a member of board of directors at Sivantos (Hearing Aids) since 2016 and GFK since 2017.

Ansbert Gadicke is the Chairman of the Board at Cullinan and a co-founder and Managing Director at MPM Capital and the UBS Oncology Impact Fund by MPM Capital.

Ansbert co-founded MPM in 1997 with his partner Luke Evnin, and was the lead investor and has served on the boards of several of MPM’s most successful investments including BioMarin, Idenix, Pharmasset, Radius and Mitobridge. Prior to launching MPM’s venture investing activities, Ansbert led MPM’s Advisory and Investment Banking business, and previously, he was at The Boston Consulting Group.

Ansbert received an MD from J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt and held research positions at the Whitehead Institute at MIT and the Biochemistry Department at Harvard University. At the German Cancer Research Center he focused on HPV16 and 18 in Professor Harald zur Hausen’s group (Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 2008). Ansbert has published in leading scientific journals such as Nature and Cell.

Ansbert’s commitment to drug discovery and curing disease inspires his work both within and outside of MPM. Ansbert is a recipient of the 2017 Global Oncology Visionary Award. He is a member of the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School and the Research Advisory Council of the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Ansbert currently serves as Chairman of the Board of TCR²Therapeutics and a member of the Board of ElevateBio.

Julie is an Executive Assistant at Cullinan Oncology. Julie joined the Cullinan Oncology team in early 2018 and is responsible for the daily operations of the Cullinan office while supporting the Cullinan Oncology team with planning meetings, scheduling and travel. Prior to joining Cullinan Oncology, Julie worked at Intarcia Therapeutics. During and after receiving her business degree at Curry College, Julie spent 5 years in the cosmetology field.

Prior to joining Cullinan, Jennifer served as Senior Director and Executive Program Leader at Jounce Therapeutics, where she led the flagship ICOS antibody program, JTX-2011, from inception into Phase 2 development. An employee since company launch, Jennifer built and led multiple departments at Jounce, including Tumor Immunology, Pharmacology, and Preclinical Development. Jennifer was also a member of the Leadership Team at Jounce.

Previously, during her 10 year tenure at Biogen, Jennifer served as project leader for several monoclonal antibody and bispecific antibody programs in both the Oncology and Immunology therapeutic areas. Jennifer has also worked as a consultant at Third Rock Ventures for multiple stealth companies.

Jennifer received her A.B. in Biology from Princeton University and Ph.D from the Department of Cell Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Philip Leder’s laboratory in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

As an MPM portfolio company, Cullinan partners with MPM and its broad network of world-class clinicians, scientists, and entrepreneurs to sharpen and expand its thinking.

Kristin is an Executive Assistant at Cullinan Oncology. Kristin joined the Cullinan Oncology team in 2017 with more than 20 years of administrative experience. She is responsible for supporting the Cullinan Oncology team and assisting with the day-to-day office responsibilities. Prior to joining Cullinan Oncology, Kristin worked at MPM Capital. Previously, Kristin was an Executive Assistant at Matrix Partners for 8 years.

Asher Page is Director of Business Development and Licensing at Cullinan.

Prior to joining Cullinan, Asher worked as a Consultant in the Life Sciences practice of L.E.K. Consulting. At L.E.K., Asher worked on critical R&D and commercial strategy projects for a range of biopharma clients, with a focus on supporting small to mid-cap oncology companies.

Asher received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he characterized a highly conserved class of proteins involved in DNA metabolism. He then conducted post-doctoral training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston where he investigated the structure and regulation of kinases involved in cancer and the immune response.

Leigh Zawel is Chief Scientific Officer, Small Molecules at Cullinan and a Managing Director at MPM Capital.

Prior to joining Cullinan and MPM, Leigh led Pfizer’s Center for Therapeutic Innovation and worked as the site head for Pfizer’s New York and Boston offices. Prior to Pfizer, Leigh was the oncology site lead at Merck Research Laboratories Boston, where he was responsible for drug discovery efforts focused on the identification of development candidates for programs in the oncology franchise. Leigh worked previously at Sanofi-Aventis, where he was Director of Cancer Biology, and Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research/Oncology, where he was an Oncology Group Leader. Leigh has a deep background in identifying and validating oncology drug targets and in transitioning drug discovery programs through lead optimization to Phase 1 clinical trials.

Leigh earned his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Danny Reinberg where he identified and characterized components of the RNA Polymerase II basal transcription machinery. Leigh’s postdoctoral training was in the laboratory of Bert Vogelstein and Ken Kinzler and focused on dysregulation of TGFB signaling in cancer. Leigh also holds a M.S. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin, as well as a B.S. in Biology from Rutgers University. He has published more than 30 scientific publications. He is also an author on 45 patents covering chemical matter, drug combinations, biomarker utility and gene function in areas of apoptosis, inflammation and TGFB signaling.

Corinne Savill is the Chief Business Officer at Cullinan.

Prior to joining Cullinan, Corinne served as Global Head, Business Development and Licensing for Novartis Pharma. In this role, Corinne oversaw the execution and management of over 20 major transactions across multiple therapeutic areas including in-licensing, option and equity deals, spin-outs and divestments. Corinne started her career as a researcher at AstraZeneca and Imutran, a UK based Biotech, where she was Research Director. Novartis acquired Imutran in 1996 and Corinne was promoted to CEO. Since 2001, Corinne continued to hold increasingly senior leadership positions within Novartis. She was the European Head of the Transplant and Immunology Business, the Global Head Search and Evaluation for Business Development and prior to her last role the Global Head of Pricing and Market Access where she was responsible for the price and access strategies for the entire Novartis portfolio.

Corinne received a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Manchester (UK) and conducted her postgraduate research at University College and Middlesex School of Medicine (Ph.D.) and the Charing Cross Sunley Research Centre in London.

Greg Sieczkiewicz is Cullinan’s Chief IP Counsel and a Managing Director at MPM Capital.

A registered patent attorney, Sieczkiewicz brings critical expertise as the architect of IP strategy of over a dozen venture-backed life sciences companies across the spectrum—from nucleic acid therapeutics, oral biologics, the microbiome, oncology, to protein engineering. Prior to joining Cullinan and MPM, Sieczkiewicz was Vice President, IP at Flagship Ventures. Earlier in his career, Greg practiced patent counseling and enforcement at national law firms Mintz Levin, Proskauer Rose and Foley Hoag. Greg completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.

He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with an A.B. in Biology, received his Ph.D. in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology from Tufts University School of Medicine and graduated magna cum laude from the evening program of Suffolk University Law School. Greg is a member of the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Greg is the former President of the Boston Patent Law Association.

Vibha Oza is Vice President, Preclinical Research and Development for Cullinan.

Vibha’s 17 years of oncology drug discovery and development experience includes delivery of several advanced preclinical and clinical candidates at AstraZeneca, Vertex, and Bantam Pharmaceuticals. Vibha has also served as a consultant for venture firms considering seed to series B financing around assets ranging from preclinical to clinical stage opportunities.

Vibha was one of the founding members of the oncology medicinal chemistry team at AstraZeneca-Waltham (AZ-Waltham) and instrumental in helping shape the AstraZeneca (AZ) oncology global portfolio by identifying and sponsoring opportunities and targets of strategic interest. She led the efforts for tumor directed drug delivery of advanced assets in need of therapeutic index modulation within the global portfolio. Vibha was a key contributor to various AZ-Global and local strategic initiatives including First-in-Class vs. Best-in-Class strategy, represented AZ-Waltham for the Global iScience Externalization team and was an invited member of the AZ- Breast Cancer Disease Area Team.

Vibha received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from University of Bombay, India, and a Ph.D. in Organic and medicinal chemistry from University of Wyoming-Laramie. She received her postdoctoral training in medicinal chemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison and The Scripps Research Institute.

Briggs W. Morrison is a Clinical Advisor to Cullinan and Managing Director at MPM Capital. Briggs is CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. an MPM portfolio company.

Prior to joining Syndax, Briggs served as Chief Medical Officer and Executive VP for “Global Medicines Development” at AstraZeneca (ADR). His career also includes distinguished roles at AstraZeneca, Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK). At AstraZeneca, he was head of global medicines development, where he oversaw all clinical development functions and late- stage clinical development projects. As Head of Clinical Development at Pfizer, he oversaw Phase I-III development and operations for all therapeutic areas before being appointed the head of Development, Medical Affairs, Safety and Regulatory Affairs for all Pfizer human health businesses. While serving as head of Oncology Development at Merck, Briggs oversaw the development and approval of vorinostat (Zolinza^®) for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Briggs formerly served as Chairman of the Board of Transcelerate, an industry-funded company charged with improving aspects of clinical trials.

Briggs received his B.S. (Biology) degree from Georgetown University and his M.D. degree from the University of Connecticut, and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and additional post-doctoral work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Briggs trained in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Briggs serves on the Board of Directors of Oncorus and Repare Therapeutics, and is a member of the investment committee of the UBS Oncology Impact Fund by MPM Capital.

Kristen Laguerre is the Chief Financial Officer at Cullinan and Managing Director, Finance at MPM Capital.

With 18 years of financial leadership and management experience in the venture industry, Kristen most recently served as Partner and CFO at Flare Capital and, previously, Partner and CFO at Atlas Venture, an early stage life sciences and technology venture capital firm, where she was responsible for finance, operations and administration. Before Atlas Venture, she served as Vice President-Finance at SoftBank Capital, where she was responsible for the financial matters, human resources and operations associated with both SoftBank’s venture funds as well as its global activities outside of East Asia. At the beginning of her career Kristen spent seven years at Arthur Andersen LLP.

Kristen earned a B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from Boston University.

Patrick Baeuerle is a co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Biologics at Cullinan and a Managing Director at MPM Capital. An immune oncology pioneer, Patrick has co-founded MPM oncology start-ups Harpoon, TCR², iOmx and Maverick.

Prior to joining Cullinan and MPM, Patrick served as Vice President, Research, and General Manager of Amgen Research Munich GmbH, where he was responsible for the development of BiTE antibody Blincyto®, which was approved in 2014 in less than three months by the U.S. FDA for therapy of relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. From 1998 to 2012, Patrick served as Chief Scientific Officer for Micromet, Inc., and earlier headed small molecule drug discovery at Tularik Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company also acquired by Amgen (AMGN). From 1996-1998, he served as Professor and Chairman of Biochemistry and Molecular Biochemistry at the Medical Faculty of Freiburg University, Germany, where he did groundbreaking research on transcription factor NF-kappaB.

Patrick has published more than 238 PubMed-listed papers that have been cited more than 60,000 times to date. He has a Hirsh index of 120 and was rated Germany’s most frequently cited biomedical scientist of the decade (1990-1999), and among the top 50 worldwide (1990 to 1997). He holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Munich, and performed post-doctoral research with Dr. David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also an Honorary Professor of Immunology of the Medical Faculty at Munich University.

Patrick currently serves on the Board of Directors of Harpoon and TCR² and on the Advisory Boards of Amphivena, iOmx and Maverick. He also serves on the MPM Oncology Impact Fund (OIF) investment committee.

Owen Hughes is the Chief Executive Officer of Cullinan and a Managing Director at MPM Capital.

Prior to joining Cullinan and MPM, Owen served as the Chief Business Officer and Head of Corporate Development at Intarcia Therapeutics, where he was responsible for financing, M&A, business development and operations. He led several licensing and M&A transactions, including a long term partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and raised approximately $1.8 billion in private capital.

Prior to Intarcia, Owen served as a Director of Brookside Capital, a hedge fund under the Bain Capital umbrella, managing public and private healthcare investments. Prior to his tenure at Brookside, he was Senior Portfolio Manager at Pyramis Global Advisors, a Fidelity Investments Company. Owen has more than 16 years of Wall Street experience, on both the buy and sell-side. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College.

Owen currently serves on the Board of Directors of Radius Health (NASDAQ: RDUS), Malin PLC (ISE:MLC) and Translate Bio.