Limitless possibilities revealed

John Orwin serves on the Board of Directors of Travere Therapeutics, Cargo Therapeutics (Chair) and AnaptysBio (Chair). He previously served on the Board of Directors of Array BioPharma, Inc. and Seagen, Inc. He also currently serves as president and CEO of Atreca, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, and previously was the CEO of Relypsa, until its acquisition by Galenica, and CEO of Affymax. In building successful businesses and commercializing a range of blockbuster products, Mr. Orwin has held leadership roles in marketing, sales, and operations for Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Alza Pharmaceuticals, Sangstat Medical Corporation, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, and Schering-Plough Corporation. Mr. Orwin holds a master’s degree in business administration from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Anna Berkenblit, M.D., M.M.Sc., brings to Nested’s board over 20 years of experience in clinical development of novel anticancer therapies in the life science industry. Dr. Berkenblit currently serves as the first-ever Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), the leading nonprofit in the fight against pancreatic cancer, where she is responsible for the organization’s overall scientific and clinical strategy. Previously, she served as Chief Medical Officer at ImmunoGen where she led the development of ImmunoGen’s novel, wholly owned product candidates, including the first-in-class antibody drug conjugate ELAHERE™ (mirvetuximab soravtansine) for ovarian cancer, initially approved in 2022. Prior to joining ImmunoGen, Dr. Berkenblit was Senior Vice President, Clinical Development at H3 Biomedicine, a developer of targeted anticancer compounds founded by Eisai Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that role, she was Vice President, Head of Clinical Research at AVEO Oncology, where she led the clinical development of oncology product candidates spanning early testing to registration trials. Dr. Berkenblit also held positions of increasing responsibility at Wyeth/Pfizer, becoming Vice President, Neratinib Asset Team Leader in the Pfizer Oncology Business Unit. She earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and an M.M.Sc. in the Clinical Investigator Training Program at Harvard/MIT Health Sciences & Technology. Dr. Berkenblit completed her internship and residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and went on to a hematology/oncology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where she stayed on staff to focus on clinical research in GYN and GI malignancies. She also led the Phase I oncology clinical trial program as part of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, prior to transitioning to industry.

Tom Frohlich brings more than 25 years of leadership experience across multinational pharmaceutical and emerging biotech companies. Mr. Frohlich co-founded Chinook Therapeutics in 2019 and served as Chief Operating Officer until Chinook’s $3.5B acquisition by Novartis in August 2023. Prior to Chinook, he was VP of business development at Arbutus Biopharma where he played a key role in multiple transactions including the merger of Tekmira/Oncore and the spin-out of Genevant. Previously, Mr. Frohlich worked internationally at J&J and Merck in various roles leading commercial strategy across all stages of product development including the global launches of telaprevir and Stelara. He has a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Victoria and an MBA from the University of Oxford.

Darrin Miles is the Chief Executive Officer of Nested Therapeutics. From his more than twenty years in the healthcare industry, Darrin brings invaluable experience in leading biotech program strategy and development and successfully overseeing novel cancer therapies through approval and commercial success. Prior to joining Nested, Darrin was the Chief Commercial Officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals, where he led the oncology and rare disease commercialization strategy and functions. While at Agios, he led the precision oncology program management function through the development and approval of IDHIFA^® and TIBSOVO^®, for the treatment of mutant IDH acute myeloid leukemia. His leadership at Agios was instrumental in developing company culture and expanding program leadership and commercial capabilities. Before Agios, he spent fourteen years at Genentech, taking on increasing responsibilities in global program leadership, marketing, sales management and market access to support a variety of brands including Rituxan^®, Herceptin^®, Tarceva^® and Lucentis^®. Darrin earned his B.S. in Applied Economics from Cornell University.

Josh Richardson serves on the board of Nested Therapeutics. He is currently a managing director in Growth Equity within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, focused on Life Sciences investing. Prior to joining the firm, Josh worked as a managing director at Longitude Capital, where he led investments in private and public biotechnology companies. Prior to that, he worked as a public equities analyst at HealthCor Management. Earlier in his career, Josh was a consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he worked in the Pharmaceutical and Private Equity practices. Josh earned his B.S. from the University of South Florida and his M.D. from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Carlo Rizzuto has served as a Director at Nested Therapeutics since Versant Ventures co-founded the company. As a Managing Director at Versant, he has been instrumental in establishing Versant’s presence in the Northeast and in building and investing in a number of Versant’s portfolio companies including Pandion (acquired), Repare (RPTX), Century (IPSC), Graphite (GRPH), Jnana, 858, and Stablix. Carlo joined Versant from Novartis, where he led global product development teams in their advancement of new medicines. Before that, Carlo served as the Associate Principal for McKinsey & company, where he advised international clients in the pharmaceutical, payor and provider sectors. Carlo earned a Ph.D. in Virology from Harvard University.

Darrin Miles is the Chief Executive Officer of Nested Therapeutics. From his more than twenty years in the healthcare industry, Darrin brings invaluable experience in leading biotech program strategy and development and successfully overseeing novel cancer therapies through approval and commercial success. Prior to joining Nested, Darrin was the Chief Commercial Officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals, where he led the oncology and rare disease commercialization strategy and functions. While at Agios, he led the precision oncology program management function through the development and approval of IDHIFA^® and TIBSOVO^®, for the treatment of mutant IDH acute myeloid leukemia. His leadership at Agios was instrumental in developing company culture and expanding program leadership and commercial capabilities. Before Agios, he spent fourteen years at Genentech, taking on increasing responsibilities in global program leadership, marketing, sales management and market access to support a variety of brands including Rituxan^®, Herceptin^®, Tarceva^® and Lucentis^®. Darrin earned his B.S. in Applied Economics from Cornell University.

Dr. Klaus Hoeflich is Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Nested Therapeutics. He brings twenty years of experience in R&D of small molecule drug discovery to the team, as well as a passion for precision medicine. As a member of the founding team, he was drawn to Nested’s strong commitment to pursue novel mechanisms for high conviction targets in order to develop the next generation of precision oncology medicines. Previously, Klaus served as Senior Vice President of Biology at Blueprint Medicines, utilizing their expertise in protein kinases to advance precision therapies for genomic cancers, immuno-oncology, and rare diseases. Before his eight years at Blueprint Medicine, he spent eleven years at Genentech Inc., where his team helped advance several programs into clinical development, including the approval of Cotellic® for metastatic melanoma. Throughout his career, he has contributed to the development of four FDA-approved cancer medicines and has over seventy research publications. Klaus completed his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Simon Fraser University and earned his Ph.D. in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Philip Komarnitsky is Chief Medical Officer at Nested Therapeutics. Philip’s career reflects an established record of leadership across a broad range of oncology targets and therapeutic modalities. Most recently, he was Vice President, Head of Translational Medicine/Early Development, at Sumitomo Pharma Oncology (SMPO) where he oversaw clinical proof-of-concept drug development. Prior to SMPO, Philip held numerous leadership positions driving oncology drug development in companies, including AbbVie, Aveo Oncology, and EMD Serono. Philip received his M.D. from State Medical University in Moscow, Russia, a Ph. D. in biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire, and an M.B.A. from MIT Sloan.

Tanja Weber is Chief Business Officer at Nested Therapeutics. Tanja brings over 25+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Before coming to Nested, she served as Chief Business Officer at Epizyme, where she was primarily responsible for business development (BD) and alliance management (AM) and led numerous strategic processes, including the sale of the company to Ipsen in August 2022. Prior to Epizyme, Tanja was responsible for BD and strategic collaborations in several leadership roles at Agios and for two decades at Sanofi and its various predecessor companies (Aventis, HMR, Hoechst). Throughout her career, Tanja has been leading multiple early and late-stage BD and M&A deals, initially as Corporate Counsel and now for more than 20 years on the business side, with a focus on oncology. Tanja received her law degree from Karl Ruprecht University of Heidelberg, Germany and is admitted to the German bar association.

Dr. Yongxin Han is the Executive Vice President and Head of Drug Discovery at Nested Therapeutics. In his career as a drug hunter, Yongxin led multiple teams in their discovery and advancement of twelve development candidates in oncology, immune-oncology, chronic HIV and HCV infections, pain and inflammation, metabolic disorders, hypertension, and glaucoma (PCCs). He also co-led and was a core member of several Early Development Teams that managed development activities up to clinical proof-of-concept. Before joining Nested Therapeutics, Yongxin spent more than 27 years at Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) in Montreal Canada, Shanghai China, and Boston USA. In his distinguished career at MRL, he served as a respected mentor, authored and co-authored over fifty-five publications in peer reviewed journals, and invented and co-invented more than seventy patents. Yongxin earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Alberta and completed his postdoctoral training from the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Arvin Dar is co-founder and observing member of the Board of Directors at Nested Therapeutics. He is also Professor and Member in the Chemical Biology Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and the Center for Experimental Therapeutics. Prior to this role, Arvin started his independent career at Mount Sinai, NYC. Based on his background, Arvin brings a storied and unique blend of expertise in cancer biology, drug design and discovery, chemical genetics, and small molecule chemistry to the Nested team. His lab takes an interdisciplinary approach to developing new classes of small molecule modulators for cancer and disease pathways, enabling the formulation of innovative medicines and therapeutic approaches. His groundbreaking research has earned him numerous awards and recognition, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Damon-Runyon Rachleff Innovation Award, the Pew Charitable Trusts Pew-Stewart Scholarship for Cancer Research, Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Award, and the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Aspire Award. Arvin earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco.

Adriana is an observer on Nested’s Board of Directors. She currently serves as Vice President of Life Sciences Investing at Goldman Sachs, where she specializes in evaluating and facilitating investments in life sciences companies. Most recently, she served as Head of External Innovation at insitro, a biotechnology company applying machine learning to drug discovery. Previously,  she was a Principal at The Column Group, where she supported company-formation efforts in innovative therapeutics companies, building on her prior experience at QB3, a leading life science entrepreneurship institute at the University of California San Francisco. Adriana has also served on the boards of A2 Biotherapeutics, Accent Therapeutics and Carmot Therapeutics. She earned her Ph.D. in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology from Harvard and her B.S. in Biology from MIT.

Dr. Arvin Dar is co-founder and observing member of the Board of Directors at Nested Therapeutics. He is also Professor and Member in the Chemical Biology Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and the Center for Experimental Therapeutics. Prior to this role, Arvin started his independent career at Mount Sinai, NYC. Based on his background, Arvin brings a storied and unique blend of expertise in cancer biology, drug design and discovery, chemical genetics, and small molecule chemistry to the Nested team. His lab takes an interdisciplinary approach to developing new classes of small molecule modulators for cancer and disease pathways, enabling the formulation of innovative medicines and therapeutic approaches. His groundbreaking research has earned him numerous awards and recognition, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, Damon-Runyon Rachleff Innovation Award, the Pew Charitable Trusts Pew-Stewart Scholarship for Cancer Research, Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Award, and the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Aspire Award. Arvin earned his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco.

Kevan Shokhat is a scientific co-founder of Nested Therapeutics. He is currently an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at UCSF and a Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley. He was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences (2010), the Institute of Medicine (2011), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011). His lab is most well-known for drugging the “undruggable” oncogene K-Ras (G12C) in 2013. K-Ras was the first human oncogene to be discovered in 1982 and remained undrugged until work from the Shokat lab at UCSF. In May of 2021, the drug sotorasib which binds to the same pocket on K-Ras (G12C) was approved for the treatment of lung cancer patients with this mutation. Recently his lab has applied covalent somatic cysteine targeting drugs to reactive the tumor suppressor p53 (Y220C) mutant. Kevan has been a co-founder of a number companies from their inception to public offering or acquisition: Intellikine (acquired by Takeda), Araxes (acquired by Janssen), eFFECTOR Pharmaceuticals (stock symbol: EFTR), Erasca (stock symbol: ERAS), Kura Oncology (stock symbol: KURA), and Revolution Medicines (stock symbol: RVMD). He is a co-founder of several currently private companies. Kevan earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Ryan Corcoran is a scientific advisor for Nested Therapeutics. He currently serves as the Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center Program and the Scientific Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Ryan directs a research laboratory focused on personalized cancer medicine: the development of therapeutic strategies that target the specific mutations driving individual patients’ tumors. His work focuses on understanding the molecular determinants of response or resistance to anti-cancer therapies. Ryan’s laboratory is also studying new ways to utilize liquid biopsy, and specifically analysis of circulating tumor DNA, in the clinic to optimize how we deliver cancer care to individual patients. Ryan is a member of the National Cancer Institute GI Steering Committee, and an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). Ryan received his A.B. from Princeton University, and his M.D./Ph.D. from Stanford University. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and his fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana Faber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. Ryan also co-founded Alterome Therapeutics.