About – Tallac Therapeutics, Inc

Hong I. Wan, Ph.D.

President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder

Hong I. Wan, Ph.D. is president, chief executive officer and director of Tallac Therapeutics. She co-founded Tallac with Drs. Corey Goodman, Jaume Pons and Curt Bradshaw in 2018. Dr. Wan is a life science leader with over 20 years of drug development experience and expertise in multiple therapeutics areas in biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Previously as chief scientific officer and a member of the founding management at ALX Oncology, she led the team to advance ALX148, a best-in-class myeloid checkpoint inhibitor, for multiple tumor indications. Prior to ALX Oncology, Dr. Wan held various leadership positions at Pfizer and Wyeth Research, where she was responsible for the early development and translational medicine strategy and execution across various therapeutic areas. Dr. Wan started her career at Renovis where she led discovery programs in neuroinflammation. Dr. Wan received her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from University of California, Berkeley and A.B. degree in biochemical sciences from Harvard University.

Curtis C. Hecht

Chief Business Officer

Curtis Hecht is Chief Business Officer of Tallac Therapeutics. He brings 25 years of broad pharmaceutical experience including business development, strategic planning and commercialization. Previously, as CBO of Calithera Biosciences, he led the Business Development and Product Strategy Group and was responsible for closing a number of licensing and clinical collaboration agreements, built the portfolio management and lifecycle functions and led commercial planning. Prior to Calithera, Mr. Hecht was Vice President of Business Development for inVentiv Heath, was as a Partner of the consulting firm, DNA Ink and spent 9 years at Roche/ Genentech in commercialization and business development roles where he was involved in a number of transactions, including the $47 billion acquisition of Genentech. Mr. Hecht has a B.S. in Chemistry from California State University, Sacramento, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Laura QM Chow, M.D., FRCPC

Interim Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Laura Chow is a leader in clinical development in immunotherapeutics with prior roles as Senior Vice President/Vice President at Summit Therapeutics and Fate Therapeutics. She brings nearly two decades of clinical and clinical trial experience as a practicing medical oncologist specialized in lung, head and neck cancer and other solid malignancies, and as an internationally recognized clinical researcher and expert in immunotherapy and early phase clinical trial design. She was previously a tenured professor while serving as the Associate Chair of Oncology Education, Director of the Head & Neck and Lung Cancer Program at Dell Medical School and University of Texas at Austin, and the Associate Cancer Center Director for Clinical Research at the Livestrong Cancer Institutes. Prior to joining the University of Texas, Dr. Chow was a professor, Associate Director of Phase I Clinical Trials, clinician and clinical researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and an Associate member of the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center. As a clinical investigator, Dr. Chow has helped develop the immune-checkpoint inhibitors to regulatory approval and has consulted in numerous advisory boards for multiple novel immunotherapies.

Pavel Strop, Ph.D.

Vice President, Research

Dr. Strop has over 20 years of experience in multiple therapeutic areas focusing on improving disease understanding at the molecular level and translating this knowledge into novel therapies. He authored more than 70 publications and is an inventor on 19 patents. Dr. Strop joined Tallac in 2021 and works with the Research team toadvance a pipeline of novel Toll-like receptor agonist antibody conjugates towards clinical development. Previously, as Executive Director, BMS, Dr. Strop lead Redwood city Discovery Biotherapeutics group. His team formed close cross-functional partnerships to design, execute and advance projects focusing on next generation immuno-oncology and tumor microenvironment therapies. Prior to BMS, Dr. Strop was a Director of Biochemistry at Rinat/Pfizer where he developed and applied novel technologies for oncology including site-specific antibody drug conjugates and bispecifics. Dr. Strop received his Ph.D. from Caltech where he elucidated structural mechanism of mechanosensitive ion channels and completed his postdoc training at Stanford where he studied proteins involved in synaptic neurotransmission.

Mark Karbarz

Executive Director, Biologics Development

Dr. Mark J. Karbarz is the Executive Director of Biologics Development, Head of CMC. He has over 16 years of industry experience, with an extensive breadth of early and late-stage process development, scale-up and technology transfer, and CMC product development. Most recently, he served as the Director of Process Development at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, a co-Site Lead for Alexion-South San Francisco and a member of the Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Advisory Board. Prior to Alexion, Mark was at Portola Pharmaceuticals and the CMC strategy lead for Andexanet Alfa. While at Portola, he developed and advanced the commercial Andexxa/Ondexxya manufacturing process from pre-IND through three global regulatory approvals. Prior to Portola, he held positions with increasing responsibilities in the Pain and Related Disorders group at Johnson and Johnson, and the Endocrinology and Metabolic Disorders group at Neurocrine Biosciences. Mark received a B.S. from the University of Illinois, Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry from Duke University and completed his post-doctoral research at the University of California, San Diego.

Emma Abellana

Senior Director, Finance

Emma Abellana is our Senior Director of Finance. She most recently served as Senior Director of Finance and Controller of ALX Oncology Holdings Inc, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company until June 2020. Prior to joining ALX in 2015, Ms Abellana worked for Labrys Biologics (acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals), KAI Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen) and Exelixis Inc. Prior to working for the biotech companies, she worked for the Superior Court of San Mateo County as a Management Analyst. Ms. Abellana holds a B.S. Accounting from Far Eastern University.

Sangeetha Bollini

Director, Preclinical Operations

Sangeetha Bollini is Director of Preclinical Operations. She has over 20 years of experience in various aspects of drug development, including protein engineering, assay development, regulatory operations, portfolio management, quality and CMC. Prior to joining Tallac, she was Director of Program Management at ALX Oncology, where she led Bioanalytical PK, ADA, and biomarker assays for preclinical and clinical studies, supported CMC analytical and cell-based assays, quality, and Regulatory Operations for multidisciplinary teams. Before ALX, Sangeetha was Assay Development Head at Pfizer overseeing preclinical and clinical assays across multiple platforms, in oncology, cardiovascular, CNS, ocular, and other therapeutic areas, spanning discovery research to late phase trials. Her role also included overseeing quality and regulatory submissions for preclinical studies.

Mike Carusi

Mike is a General Partner and Team Leader of Lightstone Ventures (LSV) and focuses on investments in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors. He is based in the firm’s Menlo Park, CA office, where he also serves as a General Partner at Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV). His representative investments include Altura Medical (acquired by Lombard), Ardian (acquired by Medtronic), Cala Health, EndoGastric Solutions, Gynesonics, MediSix Therapeutics, MicroVention (acquired by Terumo), Nuvaira, Plexxikon (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo), PowerVision (acquired by Alcon), Second Genome, Tallac Therapeutics, and Willow.

Featured on the Forbes Midas List of top technology and life science investors, Mike is a recognized thought leader in the industry and a frequent speaker at healthcare conferences. He serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. In addition, Mike has been heavily involved with several programs at Stanford University including the Stanford Biodesign Program and, more recently, the Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education (Spectrum). Lastly, Mike served as a Director on the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Board of Directors and remains active in helping to shape policy affecting both innovation and healthcare.
Earlier in his career, Mike served as a Director of Business Development for Inhale Therapeutic Systems (now Nektar Therapeutics, NASDAQ: NKTR), a venture-backed pulmonary drug delivery company that went public in 1994. At Inhale, Mike led partnering activities with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Mike also was a Principal at The Wilkerson Group, a leading management consulting firm focused exclusively on healthcare. At The Wilkerson Group, Mike helped establish the firm’s offices in London and San Francisco.

Isaac Cheng, M.D.

Dr. Cheng joined Morningside in 2006 and focuses on biopharmaceutical and healthcare investments. He has served on numerous public and private company boards, including NuCana (NASDAQ: NCNA), Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AVIR), Advanced Cell Diagnostics (sold to Bio-Techne), Liquidia Technologies, Incarda Therapeutics, Meissa Vaccines, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Cognoa, Artugen Therapeutics, Cognito Therapeutics, Big Health, and Tallac Therapeutics. Prior to joining Morningside, Dr. Cheng was Director of Research and Development at Serica Technologies, a Morningside portfolio company which was sold to Allergan. In addition, Dr. Cheng was previously an Associate Director at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Clinical Development and Medical Affairs. Dr. Cheng received his M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine.

Peter Dudek

Peter Dudek, PhD, serves as President and Managing Partner of Merck’s MRL Ventures Fund, a $500M fund devoted to supporting early-stage private biotech companies developing transformational new medicines. He has 15 years’ experience in the life sciences industry spanning R&D, company creation, corporate and traditional venture capital, across a broad range of therapeutic areas and modalities. Currently Dr. Dudek is responsible for MRLV’s investments in Caraway, Carisma, Hotspot, LifeMine, Mozart, Photys and Tallac. He also managed MRLV’s investments in Kymera (NASDAQ: KYMR), Imago (NASDAQ:IMGO) and Xilio (NASDAQ:XLO). Prior to MRLV, he was a Principal with Wellington Partners, a Munich and London based European venture fund with more than $1B under management, and before that, held roles at Entrepreneurs Fund and the corporate venture arm of Novartis. In those roles he was involved in investments and operational support across a broad range of life science companies including Atopix (sold to Chiesi), Bicycle (NASDAQ: BCYC), Imevax, iOmx, F-star (NASDAQ:FSTX), Middle Peak (sold to Symetis/Boston Scientific), Optinose (NASDAQ:OPTN), Oxagen, Prosonix (sold to Circassia) and Vasopharm. Dr. Dudek holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors from the University of British Columbia, obtained his PhD from the University of Geneva, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford.

Corey Goodman, Ph.D.

Chairman and Co-founder

Corey Goodman, Ph.D. is co-founder of Tallac Therapeutics™. He also serves as chair of the board of directors. Dr. Goodman is a Managing Partner of venBio Partners.

Dr. Goodman is a scientist, educator, and entrepreneur. He spent 25 years as Professor of Biology at Stanford University and Evan Rauch Chair of Neurobiology at U.C. Berkeley (Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology), where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Head of the Neurobiology Division, and co-founder and Director of the Wills Neuroscience Institute. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience in the Wills Neuroscience Institute at U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Goodman is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and American Philosophical Society, and recipient of many honors including the Alan T. Waterman Award, Canada Gairdner Biomedical Award, March-of-Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, Reeve-Irvine Research Medal, Dawson Prize in Genetics from Trinity College Dublin, and the Gruber Neuroscience Prize.

Dr. Goodman co-founded seven biotechnology companies (the first being Exelixis), and led one of them (Renovis) as President and CEO from a private to public company until its acquisition. He was recruited to be President and founder of Pfizer’s Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center and a member of Pfizer’s executive leadership team.

Dr. Goodman is Chair of the Board of ALX Oncology, Tallac, and Second Genome. He is a member of the Board of NFlection and Attralus. He chaired Labrys Biologics until its acquisition by Teva. Amongst his many public policy roles, Dr. Goodman is a member of the University of California Innovation Council, a member of the board of the Pacific Institute, and former Chair of both the California Council on Science and Technology (advising the California governor and state legislature) and the National Research Council’s (NAS) Board on Life Sciences (advising the federal government).

Jaume Pons, Ph.D.

Co-founder

Jaume Pons, Ph.D., is co-founder of Tallac Therapeutics™. Dr. Pons has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of board of directors at ALX Oncology since April 2015. He has also served as a Scientific Advisor at Lightstone Ventures, a venture capital fund, since January 2019 and as a Venture Partner at venBio Partners, a venture capital firm, since January 2017. Prior to joining us, Dr. Pons was with Pfizer, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, where he served as Senior Vice President and a member of the Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development Leadership Team and Chief Technology Officer for Pfizer Biotherapeutics from September 2009 to February 2015. From October 2007 to February 2015, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at Rinat Neuroscience Corporation, a subsidiary of Pfizer. Dr. Pons holds a B.S. in Biochemistry from Autonomous University of Barcelona and an M.S. in Biotechnology and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the Institute on Fundamental Biology, Barcelona (Autonomous University of Barcelona).

Hong I. Wan, Ph.D.

President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder

Hong I. Wan, Ph.D. is president, chief executive officer and director of Tallac Therapeutics. She co-founded Tallac with Drs. Corey Goodman, Jaume Pons and Curt Bradshaw in 2018. Dr. Wan is a life science leader with over 20 years of drug development experience and expertise in multiple therapeutics areas in biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Previously as chief scientific officer and a member of the founding management at ALX Oncology, she led the team to advance ALX148, a best-in-class myeloid checkpoint inhibitor, for multiple tumor indications. Prior to ALX Oncology, Dr. Wan held various leadership positions at Pfizer and Wyeth Research, where she was responsible for the early development and translational medicine strategy and execution across various therapeutic areas. Dr. Wan started her career at Renovis where she led discovery programs in neuroinflammation. Dr. Wan received her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from University of California, Berkeley and A.B. degree in biochemical sciences from Harvard University.

Tallac team

Ons Harrabi

Maja Bonacorsi

Amy Chen

Emma Sangalang

Danielle Fontaine

Verwina Roble

board of directors

Investors

Hong I. Wan, Ph.D.

President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder

Curtis C. Hecht

Chief Business Officer

Laura QM Chow, M.D., FRCPC

Interim Chief Medical Officer

Pavel Strop, Ph.D.

Vice President, Research

Mark Karbarz

Executive Director, Biologics Development

Emma Abellana

Senior Director, Finance

Sangeetha Bollini

Director, Preclinical Operations

Mike Carusi

Isaac Cheng, M.D.

Peter Dudek

Corey Goodman, Ph.D.

Chairman and Co-founder

Jaume Pons, Ph.D.

Co-founder

Hong I. Wan, Ph.D.

President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder