Translating science from concept to commercial viability requires experience in drug discovery, development, and commercialization. Our board has extensive experience spanning decades in these areas.

Mr. Podlesak joined Domain Associates, LLC as a Partner in February of 2008. Domain Associates is a venture capital firm with an exclusive focus on life sciences. Prior to Domain Associates, Mr. Podlesak served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Cerexa, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Forest Laboratories. Additionally, Mr. Podlesak served as the President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from September 2004 to June 2005, when Peninsula was sold to Johnson & Johnson.

Prior to joining Peninsula, Mr. Podlesak served with Novartis AG as a Senior Vice President and Head of a North American Business Unit, and as a member of the Pharmaceutical Executive Committee and Global Leadership Team, from February 2003 to August 2004. Prior to joining Novartis, Mr. Podlesak served with Allergan, Inc. from July 1998 to October 2002 as a Vice President and was responsible for an Allergan eye care division.

Mr. Podlesak has served on a number of industry boards and currently serves on the board of directors of DOV Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Prevent Blindness, a non-profit organization that focuses on preventable blindness, with a particular emphasis on children. Mr. Podlesak received a B.A. degree in Business Administration and an M.B.A. degree from Pepperdine University.

Dr. Kamdar is a Principal at Domain Associates. Present board memberships include Rox Pharmaceuticals, Syndax, Tragara, and Tramoxia, as well as observer status at GenVault and Achaogen. Additionally, Dr. Kamdar serves as an advisory board member for Evolvence US-India Life Sciences.

Before joining Domain, Dr. Kamdar was a Kauffman Fellow with MPM Capital. Dr. Kamdar was formerly a Research Director at Novartis. She built and led a research team that focused on the biology, genetics, and genomics of model organisms to uncover small molecules that modulated signaling pathway networks.

Dr. Kamdar is a founder of Aryzun Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company utilizing protein-protein interaction mapping for small-molecule discovery with an initial focus on anti-infectives and oncology.

Dr. Kamdar is the author of 11 papers as well as an inventor on seven patents. Dr. Kamdar received her BA from Northwestern University and her PhD from Emory University.

Dr. Rosina Maar Pavia joined Pappas Ventures in 2000 where she is currently a Partner and Medical Director. Previously, she served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning for Quintiles Transnational Corporation and as Vice President, Clinical Operations. She managed the global clinical development of Actonel and oversaw the clinical components of projects leading to the approval of more than a dozen product approvals. Dr. Maar Pavia was the founder and Managing Director of StratWorks, LLC, a strategic consulting company focused on assisting biopharmaceutical companies. She is a director of Bayhill Therapeutics and Syndax, and is a board observer at Cequent Pharmaceuticals and CeNeRx BioPharma.

Dr. Maar Pavia earned her BS in Health Systems and Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, her MD from Morehouse School of Medicine, and completed her internal medicine residency at Emory University. She also holds an MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Steven St. Peter joined MPM Capital with experience from Apax Partners and The Carlyle Group, where his investment scope included both venture and buyout transactions across medical technology and pharmaceuticals. He began working at MPM in 2003 and was promoted to General Partner in 2005. He is a director of Helicos, Omrix, PharmAthene, Xanodyne, and Syndax and previously served on the boards of Atugen and IDEA.

Dr. St. Peter is board certified in internal medicine and was previously an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Columbia University. Prior to his medical training, he was an investment banker at Merrill Lynch.

He completed his MD at Washington University and his residency and fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Chemistry from the University of Kansas.

Formerly Vice President of Oncology at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi-Aventis) and Chief Operating Officer of CombinatoRx, Inc., Dr. Horobin has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical drug development experience in multiple therapeutic areas, with a focus on oncology and a particular interest in the development of combination strategies.

At Rhone-Poulenc Rorer she led the global oncology business, including directing the successful global launch, and subsequent market expansion, of Taxotere® (docetaxel). As Chief Operating Officer at CombinatoRx, a company focused on combination products, she raised over $70 million in private financing, transitioned the company from a discovery-focused start-up to a clinical-stage enterprise, and positioned the company for a successful initial public offering. Dr. Horobin was also Executive Vice President at EntreMed, a company developing angiogenesis inhibitors. She spent a year as Entrepreneur in Residence with the venture capital firm MPM Capital.

Her pharmaceutical experience spans clinical development, marketing, and general management in both public and private companies.

Dr. Horobin qualified in medicine from the Victoria University of Manchester, England, and additionally gained Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners in the United Kingdom. She holds the Diploma of Pharmaceutical Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians in the United Kingdom.