About Us
oRNA and LNP expertise.
Drug development
know-how.
Business and research
acumen.
Our Team 
Amit is a 30+ year industry veteran who is passionate about developing transformative medicines. Amit was most recently Chief Executive Officer of ReNAgade Therapeutics. Previously as President and CEO of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:ARNA), he built the company from a $300M market cap into a late clinical stage company with 37 programs, 4 drugs, and 11 indications before their $6.7B acquisition by Pfizer.
Joe has more than 45 years of industry and research experience. He is an Executive Partner at MPM BioImpact and was formerly Chief Scientific Innovation Officer at ReNAgade Therapeutics and Chief Scientific Officer at PureTech Health. Before joining PureTech, he oversaw all aspects of research and development for Moderna Therapeutics as President of Research & Development and Chief Scientific Officer. Previously, Joe was Chief Scientific Officer at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Global Head of Oncology Research at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. He held senior R&D positions at Hoechst Marion Roussel, Schering-Plough (DNAX) and Bristol Myers Squibb. Joe began his career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he contributed to the discovery of a class of proteins known as tyrosine kinase oncogenes as key regulators of the immune system. Joe earned a Ph.D. in Immunology and conducted his postdoctoral training in molecular virology at Kansas State University Cancer Center. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.S. in Microbiology and Chemistry.
Hope joins Orna with more than 25 years of legal experience, with the majority of her career spent in the healthcare industry, and deep knowledge of pharmaceutical, gene therapy and life sciences companies. Most recently, she was General Counsel at Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC), where she oversaw legal, IP and compliance. Before her tenure at AGTC, Hope served as General Counsel and Vice President of Administration at Spirovant Sciences, where she was a member of the company’s executive leadership team helping to develop strategy for, and lead operations of, the company. Hope also served as counsel at Reed Smith, LLC, representing biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in a variety of strategic collaborations, and as Executive-In-Residence at Militia Hill Ventures, supporting the building and growth of successful life sciences companies. Previously, she was Vice President and Associate General Counsel at GlaxoSmithKline, where she supported worldwide business development on numerous strategic collaborations, including licenses, divestments, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. Hope earned her J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and her B.S. in Economics from the University of Delaware.
Ciaran has deep experience in building and leading teams across biotech and consulting sectors. He was most recently Chief Operating Officer of ReNAgade Therapeutics. Prior to ReNAgade, he held a principal leadership role at The Boston Consulting Group where he led large projects / programs across corporate strategy, R&D operations, M&A, and commercial. Ciaran was previously an early scientific lead at Moderna where he helped build out delivery capabilities.
Robert has contributed to the research and development of multiple biologic programs, including several currently under clinical evaluation and the approval of Sintilumab, a PD-1 mAb. He joined Orna from Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he led the discovery and optimization of biological candidates and provided strategic support in overseeing their scientific operations. Prior to Takeda, Robert served as Vice President, Protein Sciences for Cogen Therapeutics, now Repertoire Immune Medicines. During his time as head of department, he was responsible for protein engineering, antibody technology, protein production and analytics. Robert has also held positions at Jounce Therapeutics, Adimab, ZymoGenetics, and ImClone Systems. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in Biology and Biochemistry from Baylor University.
Liz joined Orna in August 2021 as the Head of People and Culture. She brings over 10 years of experience in talent acquisition, leadership and talent development, and organizational design and effectiveness with global life sciences companies. At Orna, Liz is championing a mission-driven company culture that fosters growth, innovation, development, and having fun in the process.
Prior to joining Orna, Liz was most recently a People Strategy Leader at Foundation Medicine where she helped to develop the corporate People strategy as a member of the People Leadership Team for its 2,000 employees. Liz also provided strategic HR partnership to multiple functions through periods of high growth, team transformation, and acquisition.
Previously, Liz held positions at TESARO, a GSK subsidiary, and The Bowdoin Group, an executive search firm. She received a BS in Biology from Trinity College where she also rowed on the women’s crew team and met her husband in the school cafeteria!
Dr. Frank Neumann brings a record of proven leadership in cell therapy and oncology clinical development to his role as Chief Medical Officer.
Prior to joining Orna, Frank most recently served as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development at Kite, a Gilead Company. He previously held positions as Chief Medical Officer at Verastem, Inc. (also known as Verastem Oncology) and as Vice President, Head of Oncology Clinical Research at bluebird bio. In addition, Frank was clinical development head of all global cell therapy approaches at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he held various leadership roles of increasing prominence, including global clinical lead and medical team lead for two distinct cancer therapies. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the oncology medical teams at AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Aventis.
Board certified in Hematology/Oncology, Internal Medicine and Palliative Care Medicine, Frank was a research scholar at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and is currently an assistant professor at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he received his M.D. He earned his Ph.D. from the Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Bonn, Germany. In addition to his role with Orna, Frank is an Entrepreneur Partner with MPM BioImpact.
Siva joins Orna Therapeutics as Chief Technology Officer and brings significant experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing. He has broad experience in clinical and commercial biologics, small molecule and vaccine manufacturing, CMC strategy, process development, external vendor/alliance and project management, regulatory support, and life cycle product management. Prior to Orna, Siva was Senior Vice President, Head of Technical Operations and Quality at Omega Therapeutics and Vice President, Head of Manufacturing for Alnylam’s internal and external manufacturing operations, including seminal contributions to the registration and launch of Onpattro®, Givlaari®, and Oxlumo®. Before Alnylam, he was Executive Director, Global Tech Services, Process and Analytical Development at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and earlier was Director of Manufacturing for Sanofi-Pasteur, where he was responsible for commercial vaccine product manufacturing and facility management. Siva began his industry career at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. supporting global biologics manufacturing teams. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology and additional postdoctoral research at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Pennsylvania State University.
Brian has 20+ years of experience in healthcare corporate development including leadership positions at JPMorgan where he was involved in 15 M&A transactions and 30 financings for biotech and pharmaceutical clients. He was most recently Chief Business Officer at ReNAgade Therapeutics. Additionally, he held leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson where he executed 25 strategic transactions.
Laurie has over 25 years of experience supporting the finance functions for biopharma companies, most recently as CFO of ReNAgade Therapeutics. Previously, she served as CFO of Arena Pharmaceuticals, where she helped lead the growth of the company toward its $6.7B acquisition by Pfizer. Laurie was also CFO at Halozyme Therapeutics, where she led the company’s finance, IT, business development, and project management functions. She also held senior management roles at Shire, including Senior Vice President of Finance, Division CFO for the Regenerative Medicine Division, and Head of Investor Relations. Laurie began her biotech career at Amgen, where she spent 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility, holding multiple roles in finance, global commercial operations, treasury and international/emerging markets. She received her B.S. in Accounting from Arizona State University and her M.B.A. from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Managing Partner, MPM BioImpact
Managing Partner, MPM BioImpact
Ansbert is Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of Orna, and Managing Director of MPM BioImpact. He founded MPM Capital in 1992 as a biotech venture capital firm and later its affiliate BioImpact Capital for private/public funds. Ansbert and the MPM BioImpact team have been the inspiration and driving force behind building leading biopharmaceutical companies such as BioMarin Pharmaceuticals, Idenix Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Merck & Co.), Mitobridge (acquired by Astellas), Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead Sciences) and, more recently, Cullinan Oncology (NASDAQ: CGEM), ElevateBio, Orna Therapeutics and ReNAgade Therapeutics. MPM BioImpact believes that these companies, in which Ansbert was the lead investor and served on the Boards of Directors, are some of the biggest successes in biotech – companies that ultimately result in helping thousands of patients live longer and vastly improved lives. Prior to founding MPM, Ansbert was at The Boston Consulting Group in its Boston office.
Ansbert’s commitment to drug discovery and curing disease inspires his work both within and outside of MPM BioImpact. In recognition of MPM’s novel work to finance and build companies which may have a significant impact on cancer care and cures globally, Ansbert and Luke Evnin are recipients of the 2017 Global Oncology Visionary Award. He is a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows and the Research Advisory Council of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Ansbert received an M.D. from J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt and held research positions at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Biochemistry Department at Harvard University. While 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.
Daniel G. Anderson is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology at MIT. The research done in Prof. Anderson’s laboratory is focused on developing new materials for medicine. He has pioneered the development of smart biomaterials, and his work has led to advances in a range of areas, including medical devices, cell therapy, drug delivery, gene therapy and material science. Prof. Anderson received a B.A. in mathematics and biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the University of California at Davis. His work has resulted in the publication of over 400 papers, patents and patent applications. These advances have led products that have been commercialized or are in clinical development, as well as to the foundation of companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and consumer products space. Dr. Anderson is a founder of Living Proof, Olivo Labs, Crispr Therapeutics, Sigilon Therapeutics, Verseau Therapeutics, VasoRx, and Orna.
Orna Therapeutics
Orna Therapeutics
Tom is a veteran entrepreneur who has turned creative scientific visions into successful businesses for both startups and established organizations for over 20 years and has co-founded or helped launch several companies, including Intellia Therapeutics and Eleven Biotherapeutics.
While at Intellia Therapeutics, a CRISPR/Cas9 company which Tom joined as Chief Scientific Officer, he helped build the research team, raise funds (including an IPO), and provide a vision for technology extension. He played a significant role as the corporate spokesperson to lay and industry press, and to governmental and non-governmental organizations on the rapidly evolving and intensely followed CRISPR landscape. Tom has wide-ranging knowledge of biological systems through his work across diverse platforms including gene editing, genomics and gene discovery, small molecule drug repositioning, and protein engineering.
He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and completed research fellowships at Harvard Medical School and McGill University. He is currently also an Executive Partner at MPM.
David currently serves as Vice President of Cell Biology at Kite Pharma. Prior to joining Kite, he held several translational research positions at Tmunity Therapeutics and spent over sixteen years at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. David holds a PhD in Human/Medical Genetics and an MD from the Virginia Commonwealth University.
Partner, MPM BioImpact
Partner, MPM BioImpact
Dr. Brian Goodman is responsible for investment identification, due diligence, business development and new company creation activities at MPM BioImpact Capital. Brian served as the founding Head of Business development at Orna Therapeutics prior to joining the Board of Directors. Additionally, Brian is a cofounder and head of corporate development and operations at Aktis Therapeutics and serves as a Board Observer of Triplet Therapeutics.
Prior to joining MPM BioImpact, Brian co-founded Evelo Biosciences (EVLO) and served as Head of Technology and Innovation. At Evelo, Brian led a team that established new programs to discover, formulate, and evaluate the pharmacology of microbial drugs across multiple therapeutic areas. He contributed to the in-licensing of foundational IP and forged collaborative research with multiple academic groups to complement Evelo’s internal research and development efforts. He is an inventor on multiple patent applications. Before taking the operational role at Evelo, Brian was a Senior Associate at Flagship Pioneering where he worked with the entrepreneurial division to build and launch new biotech ventures.
Brian holds a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from Harvard Medical School, and B.S. and B.A. degrees in biochemistry and economics, respectively, from Brandeis University.
Morana Jovan-Embiricos is on the Board of Directors of Orna Therapeutics 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 BioImpact 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 AlloVir, ElevateBio and Cullinan Management.
Amit is a 30+ year industry veteran who is passionate about developing transformative medicines. Amit was most recently Chief Executive Officer of ReNAgade Therapeutics. Previously as President and CEO of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:ARNA), he built the company from a $300M market cap into a late clinical stage company with 37 programs, 4 drugs, and 11 indications before their $6.7B acquisition by Pfizer.
Paul most recently served as CEO & Managing Director at CSL. Prior to that role, he served as CSL Behring’s President and Executive Vice President of Worldwide Commercial Operations and Business Development. He also held several executive positions at Aventis Behring, including, Vice President and General Manager of Plasma Operations and Vice President and General Manager Hospital Products in North America and Puerto Rico. Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Central Florida and completed advanced business management training at the Kellogg and Wharton schools of business.
Matthew Roden is President and Chief Executive Officer at Aktis Oncology, and a member of the Aktis Board of Directors. Matt is also an Executive Partner at MPM BioImpact and serves on the Board of Directors of NextPoint Therapeutics. Matt’s career has spanned senior leadership roles in the biopharma industry, the healthcare equity capital markets, and in basic science as an immunologist and structural biologist. Prior to Aktis Oncology and MPM, Matt was a senior leader at Bristol Myers Squibb, serving as SVP and Head of Enterprise Strategy, as Head of Strategic Corporate Development, accountable for mergers and acquisitions, and as Head of Global BD Assessment, leading business development search and evaluation activities for all therapeutic categories. Matt served on the R&D Leadership Team representing External Innovation and led teams on over 100 business development transactions cumulatively valued at over $125 billion. Prior to his corporate leadership career, Matt was a leading equity research analyst covering the biotechnology sector globally at UBS and J.P. Morgan. He holds a PhD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and was a pre-doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute.
Tom is a veteran entrepreneur who has turned creative scientific visions into successful businesses for both startups and established organizations for over 20 years and has co-founded or helped launch several companies, including Intellia Therapeutics, Eleven Biotherapeutics, and Orna Therapeutics. While at Intellia Therapeutics, a CRISPR/Cas9 company which Tom joined as Chief Scientific Officer, he helped build the research team, raise funds (including an IPO), and provide a vision for technology extension. He played a significant role as the corporate spokesperson to lay and industry press, and to governmental and non-governmental organizations on the rapidly evolving and intensely followed CRISPR landscape. Tom has wide-ranging knowledge of biological systems through his work across diverse platforms including gene editing, genomics and gene discovery, small molecule drug repositioning, and protein engineering. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and completed research fellowships at Harvard Medical School and McGill University. He is currently also an Executive Partner at MPM.
