About Us

With over 25 years of global experience in product development and commercial leadership both in small biotech and large pharma, Mr. Lee served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Forma Therapeutics (FMTX) from March 2019 until its acquisition by Novo Nordisk for $1.1Billion in October 2022.

During his tenure at Forma, Mr. Lee transformed Forma from an early-stage drug discovery company into one focused on the clinical development of lead assets in rare hematologic disorders and cancer.  Mr. Lee led three equity financings and built a patient centered organization.

Prior to Forma, Mr. Lee served as Senior Vice President, global product strategy and therapeutic area head for the immunology, ophthalmology and infectious diseases at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.  He was responsible for driving global development and commercialization strategy for the late-stage portfolio and for global in-line product sales of $11 billion.  Mr. Lee’s 13-year career path at Genentech included leadership positions of increasing scope and responsibility for delivering transformative medicines to patients and for driving the growth of multiple products to blockbuster / multi-blockbuster status including Xolair, Lucentis, Herceptin, Perjeta, Kadcyla, Tarceva, Tamiflu, Actemra and Esbriet.

Prior to joining Genentech, Mr. Lee spent approximately 13 years across Novartis, Janssen and Eli Lilly.

Mr. Lee received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of Business.

He currently serves as Chairman of Catamaran Bio (private ) Board of Directors and as a member of the Board of Directors of Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc. (BOLT).  Previously, he served on the Board of Directors of the Genentech Foundation.

Dr. Ashrafian a Managing Partner at SV and he co leads SV’s Biotech franchise, which has a long history of building high value, successful new companies and bringing transformational drugs from discovery to market. He joined SV in 2016 as a Venture Partner, was promoted to Partner in 2017 and became a Managing Partner in 2018. He has founded six SV companies – Sitryx, Enara Bio, Mestag, TrexBio, Alchemab and Catamaran Bio. He also serves on the boards of Therini, Imbria, Quell and Prilenia and is the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) Investment Committee.

Previously, Dr. Ashrafian co–founded the services company Cardiac Report in 2003, as well as Heart Metabolics in 2008. Heart Metabolics successfully repositioned perhexiline as a treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Perhexiline is now in advanced clinical trials and has orphan drug designation. He went on to become Vice President and Head of the Clinical Science Group at UCB Pharma.

Outside of SV, following completion of his cardiology training, Dr. Ashrafian was appointed as an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist in 2011 at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. He is Visiting Professor and head of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Oxford. Additionally, Dr. Ashrafian is co–founder and Chairman of Weatherden, a boutique clinical development company. Dr. Ashrafian received his undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge and his BM BCh, DPhil from the University of Oxford.

Mike Ross’ career spans 21 years in venture capital, which followed 21 years in senior operating executive roles for leading biotechnology companies. He joined SV Health Investors as a Venture Partner in 2001 and became a Managing Partner in 2002. Mike was the tenth employee at Genentech, where he worked for 13 years. He served as Genentech team leader for the Humulin^® Roferon^®, Protropin^® programs and was Vice President of Development during the development of Activase^®, Nutropin^® and Pulmozyme^®. He then started Genentech’s antibody engineering, protein engineering and small molecule discovery effort as Vice President of Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry. Mike was the Founding CEO of Arris Pharmaceutical, MetaXen, ExSAR and CyThera (now Viacyte).

Mike received his PhD in Chemistry from Caltech and went on to do his post-doctoral work at Harvard. He serves on the Board of the Thayer School of Engineering (Dartmouth College).​ Mike has served on numerous venture and public biotech boards.

Mr. Burgess has served as a director since Therini’s original Seed financing in 2019 and was Acting CEO of the Company until December 2021.  He is currently Chairman and CEO of Pulmocide, Ltd., a private biotechnology company.  Mr. Burgess is also a Venture Partner with SV Health Investors and serves as Chairman of Cidara Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CDTX), Nabriva Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NBRV) and as a director of Arbutus (Nasdaq: ABUS) and several private biotechnology companies.  Previously he was President & CEO of Rempex Pharmaceuticals, a company he co-founded and sold to The Medicines Company (now Novartis) and Mpex Pharmaceuticals which was sold to Aptalis Pharma (now AbbVie).  Earlier in his career he held executive level positions in a number of other public biotechnology companies.  He is also a Chairman Emeritus of Biocom California, the largest life science trade association in California, with more than 1500 member companies. Mr. Burgess holds a BA in economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Katerina Akassoglou, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center for Neurovascular Brain Immunology and Professor of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco and Gladstone Institutes, and the scientific founder of Therini Bio. Dr. Akassoglou’s laboratory discovered neurovascular and neuroimmune mechanisms of disease, and in particular the causal role of fibrin in neurological diseases. Dr. Akassoglou leveraged this knowledge to develop fibrin-targeting therapeutics to block its deleterious effects in inflammation and repair. Dr. Akassoglou is a leader in neuroscience and immunology, has published over 100 papers and book chapters and holds 20 issued and pending patents. Dr. Akassoglou is a Fellow of the American Neurological Association, recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by the White House, the John J. Abel Award by ASPET and Eli Lilly, the Dana Foundation Award, the Vilcek Prize in Creative Promise honor, The Marilyn Hilton Award for Innovation in MS Research, the NIH R35 Research Program and EUREKA Awards, the Greek TopWomen Award, the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research, and was named by the San Francisco Business Times in 2021 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business.

Laurence is a Partner in the Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) and has supported the funding and formation of numerous DDF companies developing transformational new medicines for dementia. He joined SV Health Investors in 2016 having played an active role in setting up DDF. Prior to joining the DDF, Laurence was Head of Investment Management in Worldwide Business Development at GSK where he was responsible for managing GSK’s venture investment portfolio, covering both direct equity positions as well as a venture fund-of-funds portfolio. In addition, he led licensing transactions for the pharma R&D business. Prior to GSK, Laurence worked in business development at biotech companies Syntaxin and MorphoSys. Laurence received his Masters degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Tübingen, Germany, and an MBA from Cambridge.

Olga focuses on investing in preclinical stage companies translating novel biology into human medicines across therapeutics areas of high unmet need. Currently she serves as a Director on the board of Therini Bio and an Observer on the boards of Ambagon Therapeutics, Caraway Therapeutics, PAQ Therapeutics. Prior to joining MRLV in 2018, Olga coordinated the microbiome discovery efforts at the MRL Cambridge Exploratory Science Center, a subsidiary of Merck & Co, and was responsible for identifying immunological pathways through which the microbiome may contribute to disease progression. Prior to joining Merck, Olga was at Epiva Biosciences, a startup founded by Flagship Pioneering (merged with Evelo Biosciences). At Epiva, she helped define the company’s overall strategy and established a microbiology group that identified gut bacteria species that can be used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Olga earned her doctorate in microbiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and did her postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.

David Dolby is an active technology investor and philanthropist based in San Francisco. Under
Ray Dolby’s mentorship, David has developed a strong skill set to identify tough problems worth
solving and ways to change the world through technology and media.
David oversees a portfolio of family investments across a wide range of asset classes that
include private equity, venture capital and real estate. He directly manages a portfolio of over 20
venture investments ranging across Internet technology, aerospace, digital marketing and retail
platforms, Alzheimer’s drug discovery, cognitive health, medical diagnostics, security and
cryptography, 3D printing, virtual reality media platforms, independent film impact investments,
and consumer products.
David serves as a director of Dolby Laboratories and is a member of the technology strategy
committee focused on long-term growth opportunities. David is also a director of Cogstate
Limited, where he serves on the audit, nominating and governance, and compensation
committees. David is also the CFO of the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund, supporting a
variety of not-for-profit initiatives in academic and research institutions, and other social impact
sectors. David serves as a board member of Tipping Point focused on addressing root causes of
poverty in the Bay Area.
David has a BSE in Civil Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from the Stanford
Graduate School of Business. David has studied overseas in Salamanca, Spain; Oxford, England;
and Erlangen, Germany. David completed a year-long program at the Philanthropy Workshop
West with a focus on impact investing. David has been a guest speaker at the Milken Global
Conference and various impact investment and philanthropy conferences. David participates
regularly in public company directors’ programs, including Stanford University’s Rock Center for
Corporate Governance and Harvard Business School.

Laia joined Sanofi Ventures in 2018 as a Partner. She focuses on biotech investments and company creation. Prior to Sanofi, she served as Investment Director for Ysios Capital, where she led investments and served on the board of multiple early-stage biotech companies. Earlier in her career, Laia was part of the European New Business Development team of Janssen-Cilag, a pharmaceutical company part of the Johnson & Johnson group, where she assessed commercial and scientific licensing opportunities. Previously she worked as a researcher in the UK in companies such as Spirogen (now AstraZeneca), Medivir and UCB-Celltech.

Laia’s active investments include Eligo Bioscience, Muna Therapeutics, NodThera, OMass Therapeutics, QurAlis, T-Therapeutics and Therini Bio. Previous investments and board roles include Lava Therapeutics (LVTX).

Laia graduated in Chemistry from the University of Barcelona, where she also completed a Master in Science and a Ph.D. with honors. Laia holds an M.B.A. from Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, where she focused on biotechnology, healthcare and finance.

Dr. Naor held Chief Medical Officer positions of public and private biotechnology companies and partook in the development of biologics, small molecules, sustained release technologies, stem cells and photodynamic therapy.

As the Chief Medical Officer of Opthea Limited (Nsdaq: OPT) Joel oversaw a global phase 3 program while the company secured funding for up to US$170 million. Joel was Kodiak Sciences’ (Nasdaq: KOD) Vice President of Clinical Science and Development Operations through the company’s Initial Public Offering, leading its first in human program as the company’s first clinical employee. As the Chief Medical Officer of Macusight, Inc. he oversaw the development program, helped secure non-dilutive funding from Santen Inc., and went on to become Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs of Santen Inc. following its acquisition of Macusight Inc.. Joel has also held leadership positions at Allergan Inc., QLT Inc. and Stem Cells Inc.

Dr. Naor earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and completed training in Ophthalmology at the University of Toronto. He holds a Master of Science (MSc.) in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Dr. Joel Naor is a candidate for a Master of Clinical Informatics Management in Stanford University.

Rachel Schindler, MD is a neurologist, drug developer and medical strategist with over 20 years of pharmaceutical experience advising senior management of large and small companies, built upon extensive academic and patient care experience across neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. She is known for her unique blend of global experience in Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Commercial Development, Business Development, Public Affairs and Policy, and Patient Advocacy.

Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Dr. Schindler was Pfizer’s medical lead for late-stage Neuroscience and Pfizer’s “Face of Alzheimer’s disease.” She was Chair of the Technical Review Committee, reviewing all protocols and advancement decisions and Co-Chair of the Neuroscience Strategy Team. She was a founding member and Chair of the Alzheimer’s Association Research Roundtable and has a track record of building high impact public-private consortia, consensus groups and collaborations; and speaking at high impact venues such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA), EU Parliament and the House of Lords, to enable drug development, effect changes in regulatory guidance, and improve patient care.

Dr. Schindler holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and obtained her MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After completing an internship in internal medicine and a residency in neurology from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, she completed subspecialty training in cognitive and behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, she was a full-time faculty member in the Department of Neurology at SUNY Stony Brook where she founded and directed The Neurobehavior and Memory Disorders Center, providing full services to patients and their families with cognitive and behavioral disorders due to neurological conditions.

Ms. Schulze is Chief Financial Officer of Therini Bio.  She has over 20 years of accounting and finance experience, primarily as a senior biotech executive in start-up pharmaceutical R&D companies.  She has played a key role in venture capital (VC) financings, non-dilutive funding (including a government contract for up to $90M and multiple grants), corporate collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, asset acquisitions/sales, and the development of corporate infrastructure. 

In 2014, Ms. Schulze founded Cornerstone Business Solutions to provide CFO-level finance, accounting, and operations consulting services to start-up biotech companies. During this period, Ms. Schulze assisted Therini Bio in raising over $60M and obtaining a $3M NIH grant award, helped sell substantially all of the assets of Patara Pharma to Respivant Sciences (wholly-owned subsidiary of Roivant Sciences) for up to $342M plus royalties, helped re-acquire a drug (Quinsair) from Allergan (now AbbVie) that was then sold to Raptor Pharmaceuticals (now Horizon Pharma) for up to $418M plus royalties (Quinsair approved by CA & EMA) and co-founded a preclinical biotech, Origami Therapeutics, developing small molecule protein degraders targeting neurodegenerative diseases. 

Prior to Cornerstone, Ms. Schulze was co-founder and Vice President Finance and Administration at Rempex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by The Medicines Company for $474M (Vabomere approved by FDA & EMA).  Prior to helping found Rempex, Ms. Schulze served as Controller and Director of Finance at Mpex Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Axcan Holdings, Inc. (now AbbVie) for $230M plus royalties.  Prior to Mpex, Ms. Schulze was an Audit Manager at CBIZ Mayer Hoffman McCann, where she specialized in auditing small to mid-sized companies.  Ms. Schulze received her bachelor’s degree in Accountancy from the University of San Diego and is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Known for leading company-building efforts, strategic partnering, corporate transactions and board of directors’ governance for life sciences companies, Tara has guided strategic development, operations, partnering and transactions across a number of biotechnology companies.

As Chief Business Officer of Maze Therapeutics, a pre-IPO, clinical stage company developing novel therapeutics based on genetic insights, Tara led business development and operations including finance, legal and facilities. She played an instrumental role in publicly launching the company in 2019 with $191M+ initial financing and building the company to >100 employees during her tenure.

Tara was previously Chief Business Officer at Prothena Corporation (Nasdaq: PRTA) and was on the core team that formed Prothena as a public company via a spin-off from Elan Pharmaceuticals. Tara previously held Vice President roles in Business & Corporate Development at Neotope Biosciences and Elan Pharmaceuticals. Tara holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine and a BSc in Biology from McGill University. She also holds an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business.

Tara served on the board of privately held Inversago Pharma Inc, from Series A through to Series C financing, prior to its acquisition by Novo Nordisk in 2023.

Dr. Weiner has over 25 years of experience in the discovery and clinical development of novel therapeutics for neurological and rare diseases. He started his career at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, where, over a ten–year period, he held a series of discovery research and clinical development roles working on multiple CNS therapeutics, most notably pimavanserin which is approved for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease psychosis. He subsequently joined EMD Serono in a late clinical development role, ultimately&nbspleading early clinical development activities in neurology globally. Dr. Weiner has extensive experience in rare disease drug development, serving as chief medical officer and Interim CEO for Proteostasis Therapeutics, and as CMO at aTyrPharma and Lumos Pharma. He most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer at Amathus Therapeutics. He received his M.D. from the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, SUNY at Buffalo, was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar at the NIH in Bethesda, trained in clinical neurology at New York Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Cornell Medical Center, and did a post–doctoral fellowship in neuropharmacology at the University of Vermont. Dr. Weiner has authored over 30 scientific publications and patents and serves on multiple company clinical and scientific advisory boards, including the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research.

Dr. Gold recently served as Chief Medical officer for Neumora Therapeutics where he oversaw the clinical development of several assets including the phase 3 program for Navacaprant in MDD and the initiation of clinical trials for MNRA-266, an M-4 PAM.

Between 2017 and 2023, he served as the Vice President, Therapeutic Head CNS Development at AbbVie. In that role, Dr. Gold was accountable for setting the strategic vision for the CNS therapeutic area and leading a group of approximately 40 physicians and scientists focused on conducting superlative clinical trials. Dr. Gold was accountable for the prosecution of the AbbVie’s CNS pipeline from first-in-man studies through life-cycle management for a broad range of neurological and psychiatric indications and the integration of the both the CNS therapeutic area staff and assets from the acquisition of Allergan Prior to joining AbbVie, Dr. Gold spent several years in large pharmaceutical companies (BMS, J&J and GSK) in roles of increasing responsibility as well as in senior leadership roles in several biotech companies (CMO of Allon Therapeutics and Accera Inc.), in a specialty pharmaceutical company (UCB) and a short stint in a CRO (PPD). Dr. Gold has worked across all stages of CNS drug development, on small molecules, biologicals, drug-device combinations and diagnostics. Dr. Gold and his teams have worked on compounds for AD, PD, Stroke, RLS, migraine, epilepsy, MS, chronic somatic and neuropathic pain resulting in a number of successful approvals in the US, EU and Japan.

Dr. Gold earned his BS (Chemistry, cum laude), MS (Mathematics and Computer Science) and MD degrees at the University of Miami, completed his Neurology training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and then completed a fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. After completing his training, Dr. Gold was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of South Florida (Tampa) where he provided care for patients, trained medical students, residents and fellows. During his tenure at USF, Dr. Gold was appointed as the Medical Director for USF’s Memory Disorder Clinic, where patients with a broad range of cognitive impairments were evaluated, treated and offered participation in clinical trials. Over the last 20 years, Dr. Gold has been involved in many clinical trials for neurodegenerative disorders from the investigator, sponsor and CRO perspectives and has continuously pushed for the adoption of innovative designs in clinical trials. Dr. Gold has served on a number of Scientific Advisory Boards for biotech companies, serves as a grant reviewer for several philanthropic organizations and serves as an editor and reviewer for several peer-reviewed medical journals and has been invited to present at several international scientific conferences. Dr. Gold is an author of approximately 50 peer-reviewed publications.

For the last 10 years, Tom has worked primarily as a CNS drug development consultant, serving in various operational jobs: CMO at Flex Pharma and Asceneuron, EVP of R&D for Relmada Therapeutics, CMO at Motric Bio, CEO at Cognesy Therapeutics, and Acting CMO at NurrOn Pharmaceuticals.

Before working in drug development, Tom was an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell in New York City, participating in clinical trials as an investigator in Alzheimer’s disease, and he served as the director of the Movement Disorder Clinic at the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, providing outpatient and inpatient care for patients with Parkinson’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Aaron is a multidisciplinary scientist with over 30 years of relevant research and development experience. He joined Therini Bio in 2022 with a focus on translation sciences and biomarkers. He currently leads all research activity and supports our clinical trials. He has held leadership positions at the Immune Tolerance Institute, the Biomarker Discovery Sciences unit of Pharmaceutical Product Development, Gilead Sciences, the biomarker biotechnology start-up SurroMed Inc., and the therapeutic cell separation company AmCell.

Throughout his career, Aaron has authored over 70 scientific publications and patents. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford where his work focused on cellular and molecular aspects of B cell immunology and development of flow cytometry applications. He has a PhD in Biophysics from UC Berkeley and BA in Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania.