Lawrence Alleva
Mr. Alleva has served as a member of our Board of Directors since June 2019 and also serves as Chair of our Audit Committee. He is a former partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), where he worked for 39 years from 1971 until his retirement in June 2010, including 28 years’ service as a partner. Mr. Alleva worked with numerous pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as clients and, additionally, served PwC in a variety of office, regional and national practice leadership roles, most recently as the U.S. Ethics and Compliance Leader for the firm’s Assurance Practice from 2006 until 2010. Mr. Alleva currently serves on the boards of directors of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc., Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. and Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC and chairs the audit committee for those companies. He previously served on the boards of directors and as chair of the audit committees of TESARO, Inc. from March 2012 to the time of its sale to GSK in January 2019, Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. from June 2015 until its merger with another company in September 2017 and of GlobalLogic, Inc. from June 2011 through the sale of the company in June 2014. Mr. Alleva is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive). He received a B.S. degree in Accounting from Ithaca College and attended Columbia University’s Executive M.B.A. non-degree program.
Emmett Cunningham, MD, PhD, MPH
Dr. Cunningham has served as a member of our Board of Directors since September 2018. Dr. Cunningham is an Operating Partner at Blackstone Life Sciences, a life sciences investment firm, having joined Blackstone as part of its acquisition of Clarus in December 2018. He joined Clarus in 2006 as a Principal. From February 2004 to December 2005, he was Senior Vice President, Medical Strategy at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company. From April 2002 to February 2004, Dr. Cunningham was Vice President of Clinical Research Development and Licensing. Dr. Cunningham is also Adjunct Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine and the co-founder and Chair of the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit. Dr. Cunningham currently serves on the board of directors of SFJ Pharmaceuticals Group and Silktech Biopharmaceuticals, both private companies. He previously served on the board of directors of Annexon Biosciences from December 2014 until February 2021, Graybug Vision from May 2016 to September 2020, and Lumos Pharma from January 2019 until February 2021, and as the Chair of the board of directors of Restoration Robotics from October 2017 to June 2018. Dr. Cunningham received a B.S. from Drexel University, a B.A., M.D. and M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California at San Diego.
Kevin Lokay
Mr. Lokay has served as a member of our Board of Directors since March 2019. Mr. Lokay is Head of the U.S. Immuno-oncology Franchise at AstraZeneca plc, a pharmaceutical company, a position he has held since November 2019. Prior to that, Mr. Lokay was the Head of the U.S. Lung Cancer Franchise at AstraZeneca plc from August 2018 until November 2019. Mr. Lokay served as an advisor to AbbVie Inc., a pharmaceutical company, from August 2017 until December 2017. Mr. Lokay was previously Vice President and Business Unit Head, Oncology at Boehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceutical company, a position he held from December 2009 until December 2016. Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Cytogen Corporation from 2007 until 2008 and served in various positions at GlaxoSmithKline from 1997 until 2007 and at Merck & Co. from 1981 until 1997. Mr. Lokay received a B.A. in Economics from Lafayette College and a M.S. from Purdue University.
Michael Powell, PhD, Chair
Dr. Powell has served as a member of our Board of Directors since November 2016 and as its Chair since July 2017, and also serves as Chair of our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. In August 2021, Dr. Powell joined Omega Funds as an Executive Partner. Previously, he was a General Partner at Sofinnova Investments, a biopharmaceutical investment firm, from 1997 until June 2021. Dr. Powell was Group Leader of Drug Delivery at Genentech from 1990 until 1997 and Director of Product Development at Cytel from 1987 until 1990. Dr. Powell currently serves as the Chair of the board of directors of Checkmate Pharma and serves on the board of directors of Aerium, a private company. He also serves on the Washington University board of trustees in St. Louis and is an Adjunct Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas. Dr. Powell holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Toronto and he completed post-doctoral studies in Bioorganic Chemistry at the University of California as a National Science and Engineering Research Council Scholar.
J. Mel Sorensen, MD
Dr. Sorensen has served as Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Galera since November 2012. Dr. Sorensen serves on the boards of directors of several private companies including Esanik Therapeutics, Medsyn Biopharma and PlanetVerify Ltd. He is an advisor to the Biomarkers Consortium of the National Institutes of Health and to the Irish Cancer Society. Dr. Sorensen holds an M.B., B.Ch. and B.A.O. from University College, Dublin. Dr. Sorensen’s postgraduate education and work has been in the United States, including an internal medicine residency in St. Louis and medical oncology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, seven years at the National Cancer Institute as Senior Investigator in the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program and four years each with Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Sorensen served as Director, Chief Executive Officer and President of Ascenta Therapeutics from 2004 until he joined Galera.
Linda West
Ms. West has served as a member of our Board of Directors since March 2020 and also serves as Chair of our Compensation Committee. Ms. West served in multiple leadership roles of increasing responsibility for E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company from August 1981 until her retirement in December 2019. Ms. West most recently served as Vice President, Corporate Planning and Analyses, where she led the execution of transformational transactions from October 2009 until her retirement, including major divestitures, spin-offs, acquisitions, and the merger with The Dow Company followed by simultaneous spin-offs into three independent companies. Throughout her career with DuPont, Ms. West led early and late stage businesses including DuPont Imaging Technologies, DuPont Personal Protection, DuPont Microcircuit Materials, and DuPont Industrial Imaging. Prior to serving as Vice President, Corporate Planning and Analyses, Ms. West was the Chief Financial Officer of multiple DuPont businesses and was the Vice President, General Auditor and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for five years during the initial implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Ms. West currently serves on the board of directors of Context Therapeutics. Ms. West holds a B.S. in Accounting with a minor in Business Administration from the University of Delaware.
