About

Michelle Arkin, Ph.D., is Professor and Department Chair of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco and an adjunct professor at the Buck Institute of Research on Aging. Her lab focuses on developing first-in-class compounds for novel targets in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, with a particular interest in protein-protein interactions and protein-degradation networks. Michelle is a leader in academic drug discovery, with leadership roles at the UCSF Small Molecule Discovery Center, the international Academic Drug Discovery Consortium, the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS), the National Cancer Institute’s Chemical Biology Consortium and the Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine (ATOM) consortium. Prior to her role at UCSF, Michelle was a founding scientist at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, where she helped discover potent inhibitors of IL-2 and the anti-inflammatory drug Lifitegrast (Novartis), and to develop the anti-cancer experimental therapeutic vosaroxin. Michelle earned her Ph.D. with Jackie Barton at Caltech and held a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation postdoctoral fellowship with Jim Wells at Genentech.

Ivan holds an MBA degree from INSEAD, a PhD in Genetics and has 10 years of fundamental and applied research experience. Prior to joining Inkef, Ivan worked in strategy & business development roles at Sanofi and advised startups in the biotechnology and digital-health space.

Scott Clarke brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. He most recently served as CEO of Trishula Therapeutics. He was responsible for launching Trishula as a stand-alone company focused on developing Tizona Therapeutics’ lead program following its acquisition by Gilead Sciences. Previously, Scott served as Tizona’s Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, Tizona’s two lead programs advanced into the clinic and the company built out its preclinical portfolio. He continues to serve on the Board of Directors of Trishula. Prior to Tizona, Scott served as Global Head of Oncology Partnering and Head of Asia and Emerging Markets Partnering at Roche. In this role he was responsible for licensing, clinical collaborations, and acquisitions in oncology, and for sourcing opportunities across all indications from Asia. Scott has also held multiple positions at BioMarin, including serving as the Senior Vice President of Product Development, responsible for advancing its portfolio of clinical and late preclinical product candidates through approval. Prior to this role, Scott was Vice President of Business Development and Scientific Licensing overseeing all preclinical and early clinical licensing and M&A. Scott earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, a MSc in Biotechnology at Northwestern University, and an MBA from London Business School.

Peter Dudek, Ph.D., has more than 15 years of experience in the life sciences industry spanning research, company building, as well as corporate and traditional venture capital, across a broad range of therapeutic areas and modalities. He currently serves as President and Managing Partner of Merck’s MRL Ventures Fund and is responsible for its investments in Carisma, HotSpot, Kymera, Imago (sold to Merck), InduPro, Photys, Xilio and Caraway Therapeutics. Prior to MRLV, he was a Principal with Wellington Partners, a Munich and London based European venture fund, and was involved in investments across a broad range of life science companies including Middle Peak Medical, Atopix, Optinose, Prosonix, iOmx, Imevax, Oxagen and Vasopharm. He has also held roles at Entrepreneurs Fund and at the corporate venture arm of Novartis. Peter holds a BS with Honors from the University of British Columbia, obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Geneva and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford.

Melissa McCracken, Ph.D., joined Nextech Invest Ltd. in 2019. Melissa is a scientist by training with a passion for emerging technologies in cancer therapies. Melissa is a board member of TYRA Biosciences (NASDAQ: TYRA) and Ambagon Therapeutics, board observer of IconOVir Bio and a previous board member of ImaginAb and board observer of Silverback Therapeutics. Melissa is a graduate of the Kauffman Fellowship Class of 2022.

Prior to Nextech, Melissa was a senior associate at Third Rock Ventures focusing on scientific due diligence, partnership development and new company formation in oncology and immunology. Melissa helped build and launch Celsius Therapeutics, a company focused on discovering precision therapeutics for oncology and autoimmune. Melissa has also worked within larger biotech organizations completing multiple internships in research and development at Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN).

Melissa holds a B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from University of California, Davis, a Ph.D. in molecular and medical pharmacology from University of California, Los Angeles with her research focused on engineered immunity for cancer. Melissa also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University where her research focused on immuno-oncology.

Outside of Nextech, Melissa enjoys volunteering with youth organizations including Big Brother, Big Sister.

Janwillem Naesens is Managing Partner of Doia Ventures, an investor specializing in early-stage oncology and genetic disease drug development companies.  Janwillem currently serves on the board of Frontier Medicines, Ambagon Therapeutics, Ananke Therapeutics, Highlight Therapeutics, and Alesta Therapeutics. Janwillem holds a MSc in engineering from the University of Leuven and an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau.

Adam Rosenberg is the Chief Executive Officer of Aliada Therapeutics. Adam has over 20 years of industry experience in building companies, most recently leading and co-launching four companies as a Venture Partner with RA Capital. Previously, he was President, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Rodin Therapeutics until its 2019 acquisition. He also served as CEO and Co-Founder of Link Medicine, a company focused on developing disease-modifying neurodegenerative therapies and as CEO and Co-Founder of Teleos Therapeutics, an innovative neuroscience drug discovery platform company. Adam is Chair of the Board of Directors at Ambagon Therapeutics and also currently serves on the Board of Directors at Aliada Therapeutics, Eliem Therapeutics (ELYM) and Sionna Therapeutics. Adam received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from Whittier College.

Christian Schubert, PhD, has over 10 years’ experience in the life sciences industry spanning corporate development, strategy and external innovation, company building, and venture capital. Christian is currently Vice President and Head of AbbVie Ventures, where he directs AbbVie’s strategic venture capital investments in core therapeutic areas of interest. Prior to joining AbbVie Ventures, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Atlas Venture where he helped conceive, launch, and operate next generation biotechnology companies. Prior to his role at Atlas, Christian was the Global Head of R&D External Innovation at Servier and Managing Director of Servier BioInnovation, and earlier in his career held roles in Corporate Development and Strategy at Biogen and Worldwide R&D at Pfizer. Christian holds BSc and MSc degrees from the Technical University of Munich, received his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Prior to RA Capital, Nandita was at Novartis Venture Fund (NVF), a life science investment firm affiliated with Novartis. Nandita led the NVF US team and focused on early stage and company creation investment opportunities. Prior to NVF, she held various positions at Novartis in Business Development and Licensing and as a key member of the Kymriah Global Program Team, helping to bring this novel cell therapy to market. Nandita also held strategic and group head roles in the Novartis Preclinical Investigative Toxicology organization. She received a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Toronto, Canada.