Monte Rosa’s Epic Journey
Breakthroughs from Basel to Boston
Leading the Way
Markus Warmuth
M.D. Chief Executive OfficerMarkus brings over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and precision medicine to Monte Rosa Therapeutics. He joined Monte Rosa Therapeutics from Third Rock Ventures, where he worked as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and played an integral role in the venture capital firm’s formation of new biotech companies. Prior to his role at Third Rock Ventures, Markus spent seven years as the Chief Executive Officer of H3 Biomedicine, a biopharmaceutical company that specialized in the discovery and development of genomics-based precision oncology treatments. Markus has also previously served in multiple roles at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), including as Executive Director and Cambridge Site Head for Oncology Discovery. While at Novartis, he and his teams were involved in the development of Ceritinib and Ribociclib, as well as the discovery of the allosteric Abl inhibitor Asciminib, amongst others. He also currently serves as a Venture Partner at Versant Ventures and is a Member of the Board of Directors of Ventus Therapeutics. He earned his M.D. from Ludwig Maximilian University, in Munich, Germany, and currently resides in Boston, MA.
Sharon Townson
Ph.D. Chief Scientific OfficerSharon originally joined Monte Rosa as Chief Technology Officer and brings expertise in molecular glues and targeted protein degradation technology platforms. She joined the Company from Kymera Therapeutics, where she served as Executive Director of Platform Biology. Previously, she was on the leadership team of Warp Drive Bio and was responsible for developing their novel molecular glue approach to target KRAS. Sharon began her career at Pfizer as a structural biologist and holds a Ph.D. in structural biology and biochemistry from the University of Manchester Institute of Technology.
John Castle
Ph.D. Chief Data and Information OfficerJohn brings deep experience building AI/ML-driven computational chemistry, computational biology, and 'omics teams for drug discovery and biomarker development. John is currently the Chief Data Scientist and Information Officer at Monte Rosa Therapeutics. Previously, he served as Associate Vice President for Translational Sciences at Agenus, Associate Director at Rosetta Inpharmatics/Merck & Co., and Co-Director of the Biomarker Development Center of Translational Oncology at the University of Mainz, Germany. He also established the bioinformatics and genomics department at BioNTech AG, where he pioneered methods for tumor neoantigen identification, revolutionizing neoantigen vaccines. John studied physics at Rice University in Houston and at the University of Göttingen in Germany, was a Fulbright Scholar at the Australian National University in Canberra and received his Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Filip Janku
M.D., Ph.D. Chief Medical OfficerFilip joined Monte Rosa Therapeutics from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he served as a Medical Oncologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics and the Center Medical Director for the Clinical and Translational Research Center. Filip brings expertise in innovative early-phase clinical development of new cancer drugs with a special focus on proof-of-concept clinical studies of novel, biomarker-driven, personalized therapies. Filip’s work has been recognized with multiple awards including the Emil Frei, III Award for Excellence in Translational Research, Sabin Family Fellow Award, Khalifa Scholar Award, Sidney Kimmel Scholar Award; and he authored or co-authored over 290 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. Filip received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Charles University Prague in the Czech Republic. He completed his medical training at the same institution and at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Phil Nickson
Ph.D., J.D. Chief Business and Legal OfficerAs Chief Business and Legal Officer, Phil leads Monte Rosa's business development and legal departments to support the company's evolving strategic goals as we leverage our prolific QuEEN discovery engine to generate novel potential MGD therapeutics and advance our industry-leading pipeline of MGDs towards patients. Phil joined Monte Rosa in 2021 to support the company’s IPO. Prior to joining Monte Rosa, Phil spent 10+ years with Momenta Pharmaceuticals until the company’s acquisition by Johnson and Johnson in 2020, and then spent around 1 year with JnJ supporting integration of Momenta into JnJ. During his time at Momenta, Phil was pivotal in the discovery, development, and ultimately sale, of the company’s anti-FcRn antibody, nipocalimab, for use in multiple immunological indications. Phil also built innovative business and legal solutions to support the company’s diverse pipeline of novel large and small molecule therapeutics, biosimilars, and generics, and he built and supported multiple strategic partnerships, including with CSL, Mylan, Sandoz. Phil spent his early legal career as a patent attorney with Fish and Richardson in Boston where he focused his practice on supporting small to mid-size biotech clients. Prior to practicing law, Phil completed a post-doctoral research program at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute researching cardiomyocyte cell death. Phil holds a J.D. from Suffolk University and a Ph.D. from University of Manchester. Phil currently lives with his family in Lincoln, Massachusetts.
Magnus Walter
DPhil SVP, Drug DiscoveryMagnus joined Monte Rosa Therapeutics from Abbvie Germany where he led Discovery Research focused on Alzheimer and Parkinson's disease as Senior Director and Senior Research Fellow in Neuroscience since 2018. Prior to that Magnus held several positions at Eli Lilly where he worked for 17 years. These included Chief Scientific Officer for global Neuroscience Medicinal Chemistry and Head of Chemistry UK. Magnus started his career as team leader working for Astrazeneca after receiving his DPhil from the University of Oxford and a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Bonn.
Jennifer Champoux
Chief Operating OfficerJen joined Monte Rosa with over 15 years of operations experience in the biotech industry, including site operations, strategic planning, finance, communications, and culture & employee engagement. Prior to joining Monte Rosa, Jen was Executive Director of Operations at H3 Biomedicine where she led the operations, communications, and finance operations teams. She previously worked at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research where she led operations for the Discovery Chemistry group in Cambridge. Jen started her career in several pharmaceutical development functions, including process chemistry, program management, and clinical operations at Merck and Array BioPharma. Jen holds a M.S. in chemistry from Indiana University.
Andrew Funderburk
SVP, Head of IR and Strategic FinanceAndrew joined Monte Rosa from Kendall Investor Relations, where he was a Managing Director working with management teams and boards of small and mid-cap biotech companies to guide them through critical data releases, fundraising, and corporate updates. Andrew was previously a Managing Director and Partner at the strategy consulting firm Health Advances, where he led over 250 projects for clients ranging from global biopharma companies to early-stage startups, with a focus on corporate strategy, partnering/BD, global commercialization strategy, and development planning. Andrew also oversaw financial and operational aspects of Health Advances' business including budgeting, forecasting, real estate, and IT. Early in his career, Andrew worked with Professor Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School on business strategy and healthcare policy, and with Monitor Group in their Pharmaceutical and Corporate Finance practices. Andrew holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Andrew Schiff
M.D. Managing Partner, Aisling CapitalDrew joined Aisling Capital in 1999 and serves as one of the Managing Partners. Prior to Aisling, Drew practiced internal medicine for six years at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he maintains his position as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine.
Drew currently serves as a director of Aclaris Therapeutics and ARMGO Pharma. His prior board service includes Adams Respiratory Therapeutics (acquired by Reckitt Benckiser), Agile Therapeutics, ArgiNOx Pharmaceuticals, Barrier Therapeutics (acquired by Stiefel Laboratories), Bioenvision (acquired by Genzyme), CardioKine (acquired by Cornerstone), Cempra Pharmaceuticals, F2G, Harmony Biosciences, Miramar Labs (acquired by Sientra), Myogen (acquired by Gilead Sciences), PowerVision (acquired by Alcon), Quintiles, SkinMedica (acquired by Allergan), Sirion Therapeutics (licenses acquired by Alcon), TransEnterix, Zavante Therapeutics (acquired by Nabriva), and ZELTIQ Aesthetics (acquired by Allergan). He is a longtime supporter and board member of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. Drew received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and his B.S. with honors in neuroscience from Brown University.
Ali Behbahani
M.D. General Partner, New Enterprise AssociatesAli joined NEA in 2007 and is currently a General Partner on the healthcare team. He specializes in investments in the biopharmaceutical, medical device, specialty pharmaceutical, and healthcare services sectors. Prior to joining NEA, Ali worked as an intern and later as a consultant in business development at The Medicines Company, a specialty pharmaceutical company developing acute care cardiovascular products. He previously held positions as a Venture Associate at Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and as a Healthcare Investment Banking Analyst at Lehman Brothers. He conducted basic science research in the fields of viral fusion inhibition and structural proteomics at the National Institutes of Health and at Duke University.
Ali concurrently earned his M.D. degree from The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and his MBA degree from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, where he graduated with Honors and was a Palmer Scholar. He graduated summa cum laude and received his bachelor’s degrees with distinction in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and chemistry from Duke University.
Kimberly Blackwell
M.D. Chief Executive Officer, Zentalis PharmaceuticalsKimberly is the Chief Executive Officer at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Zentalis, she served as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President, Oncology Clinical Development, at Tempus Labs. In this role, she oversaw precision medicine initiatives to improve cancer care and guide therapeutic drug development and discovery. Prior to joining Tempus, Kim was VP of Early Phase Oncology and Immunology-oncology at Eli Lilly and Company, where she worked on early stage cancer therapeutics. During her time at Lilly, she was named as one of “Twenty extraordinary women in biopharma R&D who worked their way to the top” by Endpoints News. For 18 years, Kim was a faculty member at the Duke University Cancer Institute. While at Duke, she served as the principal or co-principal investigator for over 50 cancer clinical trials, co-founded the radiotherapeutics company Cereius, and co-directed the Woman’s Cancer Program and Precision Medicine Initiative. As one of the nation’s leading breast cancer researchers, she played a role in developing therapies that represent revolutionary non-chemotherapy-based approaches for treating cancer. This work led to Kim’s inclusion in TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2013, recognizing her accomplishments contributing to the development of lapatinib and T-DM1 for the treatment of HER2+ breast cancer. She holds a BA degree in Bioethics from Duke University and a MD degree from Mayo Clinic Medical School.
Chandra P. Leo
M.D. Investment Advisor, HBM PartnersChandra joined the private equity team at HBM Partners in 2007. He has been responsible for investments in over 20 private biotech, medical device, and diagnostics companies in the United States and Europe, in most cases as a board member/board observer. These companies have so far generated seven NASDAQ IPOs, five M&A transactions, and five FDA-approved marketed products.
He currently serves as a director on the boards of Fore Biotherapeutics Inc., River 2 Renal Corp., River 3 Renal Corp., and Gynesonics. Prior to joining HBM, Chandra worked as a postdoctoral scientist at Stanford University, as a physician at the University Hospital Leipzig, and as a principal at Wellington Partners Venture Capital. He holds a M.D. from the Freie Universität Berlin (Charité), an MAS in Medicines Development from the University of Basel, and an MBA with distinction from INSEAD.
Christine Siu
M.B.A. Chief Operating Officer in Residence, BridgeBioChristine is the Chief Operating Officer in Residence of BridgeBio. She formerly served as the Chief Financial Officer of Eidos Therapeutics, a BridgeBio company, and previously as Chief Operating Officer of Eidos Therapeutics. Prior to that, Christine served as the Chief Business Officer of the Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia; she was a Venture Principal at Third Rock Ventures, where she helped start Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) and was the first employee.Previously, she held roles of increasing responsibility at private equity and venture capital firms, Warburg Pincus and Thomas, McNerney & Partners, where she invested in life sciences companies. Christine holds her MBA from Harvard Business School and her B.S. with distinction in cellular molecular biology and economics from the University of Michigan.
Markus Warmuth
M.D. Chief Executive Officer, Monte Rosa Therapeutics & Venture Partner, Versant VenturesMarkus brings over 20 years of experience in data-driven drug discovery and precision medicine to Monte Rosa Therapeutics. He joined Monte Rosa Therapeutics from Third Rock Ventures, where he worked as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and played an integral role in the venture capital firm’s formation of new biotech companies. Prior to his role at Third Rock Ventures, Markus spent seven years as the Chief Executive Officer of H3 Biomedicine, a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in the discovery and development of genomics-based precision oncology treatments. Markus has also previously served in multiple roles at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), including as the Director of Kinase Biology, Head of Oncology Pharmacology. While at Novartis, he and his teams were involved in the development of Ceritinib and Ribociclib, as well as the discovery of allosteric inhibitors of SHP2 and Abl, amongst others. He also currently serves as a Venture Partner at Versant Ventures. He earned his M.D. from Ludwig Maximilian University, in Munich, Germany, and currently resides in Boston, MA.
Follow Markus on Twitter: @markus_warmuth
Jan Skvarka
Ph.D., M.B.A. Executive Chairman, DEM BiopharmaJan is an Executive Chairman at DEM Biopharma, and a member of the Board of Directors at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ZNTL). Previously, he was the CEO of Trillium Therapeutics (Nasdaq:TRIL), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, where he led a highly successful, 360-degree turn-around that produced a leading CD47 drug candidate, while taking the company from a $16M valuation to a $2.3B buy-out by Pfizer in two years. Prior to that, Jan was the CEO of Tal Medical, a private, clinical stage neuroscience company; a partner in the life sciences practice at Bain & Company, Boston; and a manager at Price Waterhouse Corporate Finance in London, UK and Vienna, Austria. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Economics in Slovakia, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Tony Manning
Ph.D. Principal at Manning Bio Worldwide LLCAnthony M. Manning, Ph.D., is a seasoned biochemist with a 30-year career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. He has led the discovery and development of multiple therapeutics, contributing to the approval of two drugs for autoimmune diseases. As the former Chief Scientific Officer at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, he built a pipeline of first-in-class therapeutics, leading to the company’s acquisition by Johnson & Johnson for $6.5bn in 2020. Earlier, he spearheaded research and drug discovery at Roche Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacia Corp., and Biogen Idec. Currently, Manning is the Principal at Manning Bio Worldwide, LLC, assisting in the development of transformative medicines. He also serves as a Board Director for Palatin Technologies, Chairman of the Institute for Biomedical Entrepreneurship, and a Scientific Advisor for several organizations. His contributions extend to over 120 scientific publications and patents in autoimmune diseases, novel therapeutics, and drug discovery.
We are excited to partner with Roche, a company that shares our vision and drive, to develop transformative treatments for patients across several indications. Our collaboration will enable and accelerate the expansion of our QuEEN discovery engine into neuroscience and additional areas of oncology.