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Board of Directors
Calithera’s diverse Board of Directors provides the governance and expertise to guide our discovery and development efforts for our investigational precision oncology therapies.
Sunil Agarwal, M.D.
close xSunil Agarwal, M.D.
Dr. Agarwal is Chief Development Officer and Head Portfolio Strategy at Sana Biotechnology. Previously, Dr. Agarwal was President of Research and Development at Juno Therapeutics, where he was responsible for the company’s drug development pipeline and the integration of translational insights into ongoing programs. Prior to his role at Juno Therapeutics, Dr. Agarwal was Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at Ultragenyx where he was responsible for the company’s clinical development. Dr. Agarwal also served in various leadership capacities at Genentech for 11 years, he held the position of Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development for OMNI (Ophthalmology, Metabolism, Neuroscience, Immunology and Infectious Diseases). He was responsible for the development of programs in these areas from proof of concept through Phase IV. Dr. Agarwal received his bachelor of science in Neuro-Biology at Cornell University and earned his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, D.C., and subsequently joined the faculty at George Washington University School of Medicine.
Jonathan Drachman, M.D.
close xJonathan Drachman, M.D.
Jonathan G. Drachman, M.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2013. Dr. Drachman is currently Chief Executive Officer, President, and a member of the board of directors at Neolukin Therapeutics. He also serves as a member of the board of directors at Harpoon Therapeutics. Previously, Dr. Drachman has served in a number of roles at Seattle Genetics, including Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development, where he played a key role in clinical development and advancing the pipeline of antibody-drug conjugates and immuno-oncology drug candidates. From 1998 to 2004, Dr. Drachman served as a faculty member in the Hematology Division, Department of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, and as a Senior Investigator in the Division of Research and Education at the Puget Sound Blood Center. Dr. Drachman received a B.A. in Biochemistry from Harvard University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Medical Oncology at the University of Washington.
Scott Garland
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Mr. Garland is Chief Executive Officer of PACT Pharma. Prior to joining PACT, Mr. Garland was President and CEO of Portola Pharmaceuticals prior to its acquisition by Alexion in July 2020. Prior to joining Portola, Mr. Garland was President of Relypsa, which was acquired by Vifor Pharma in 2016. Prior to Relypsa, Mr. Garland was Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Exelixis, where he led the commercial operations and launched cabozantinib. Previously, Mr. Garland spent close to a decade at Genentech, leading full-scale commercial franchises for two top-selling oncology therapies Avastin® and Rituxan®. He started his career at Merck as a sales representative and then went on to serve at Amgen in various sales and marketing roles. Mr. Garland currently serves as a member of the board of directors at Day One Biopharmaceuticals. Mr. Garland has a B.S. in biological sciences from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Suzy Jones
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Suzy Jones is currently Founder and Managing Partner of DNA Ink, a boutique life sciences advisory firm. Prior to founding DNA Ink, Ms. Jones spent 20 years at Genentech in various roles in immunology research, product development managing cross functional teams for RITUXAN® and AVASTIN®, and business development where she was Head of Non-Oncology Licensing and later Interim Head of Partnering and Head of Business Development. Ms. Jones serves as a member of the board of directors of Patrys, an ASX listed Australian biotechnology company. She received a B.A. in Biology from University of California, Santa Cruz.
Susan M. Molineaux, Ph.D.
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Susan M. Molineaux, Ph.D.
Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Molineaux has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer, and as a member of our board of directors since she co-founded Calithera in 2010. Prior to that, Dr. Molineaux co-founded Proteolix, a biopharmaceutical oncology company, where she served in various roles, including Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Scientific Officer until Proteolix’s acquisition by Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Proteolix, Dr. Molineaux served as Vice President of Biology at Rigel Pharmaceuticals and she began her biotech career at Praecis Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Molineaux began her career in drug discovery and development in the Immunology group at Merck. Dr. Molineaux currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Geron Corporation, Theravance Biopharma, Cyteir Therapeutics and Smith College. Dr. Molineaux holds a B.S. in Biology from Smith College and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University, and she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University.
Keith Orford, M.D., Ph.D.
close xKeith Orford, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Orford currently serves as Chief Medical Officer and EVP of Clinical and Translational Science at FogPharma. Prior to joining the Board of Directors in November 2021, Dr. Orford served as Chief Medical Officer at Calithera since 2015, where he oversaw clinical development activities, including Clinical Operations and Medical Affairs. Prior to joining Calithera, Dr. Orford was the Clinical Development Lead in the Immuno-Oncology and Combinations Development Performance Unit at GlaxoSmithKline, where he oversaw the clinical activities on multiple early stage clinical trials with targeted agents and novel immune-based therapies. Prior to GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Orford was at Merck, where he worked on early clinical development programs across oncology and other therapeutic areas. Previously, Dr. Orford was a Research Fellow and Instructor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he completed clinical training in Internal Medicine, as well as postdoctoral work studying the epigenetic regulation of hematopoietic and embryonic stem cell differentiation. Dr. Orford received his undergraduate, M.D., and Ph.D. degrees from Georgetown University.
Deepa R Pakianathan, Ph. D.
close xDeepa R Pakianathan, Ph. D.
Dr. Pakianathan currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of a stealth mode company developing drugs for autoimmune diseases and as a Managing Member at Delphi Ventures, a venture capital firm focusing on healthcare investments. Prior to joining Delphi, Dr. Pakianathan served as a Vice President in the healthcare group at JP Morgan Chase & Company from 1998-2001. Before joining JP Morgan, Dr. Pakianathan served as a research analyst at Genesis Merchant Group and prior to that as a postdoctoral scientist in the Immunology Department at Genentech. Dr. Pakianathan currently serves on the board of directors of Theravance Biopharma, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Mereo BioPharma PLC, Palleon Pharmaceuticals and FS Development Corp II, a publicly traded SPAC. Dr. Pakianathan holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Wake Forest University, a B.Sc. from the University of Bombay, India and an M.Sc. from The Cancer Research Institute at the University of Bombay, India.
Blake Wise
close xBlake Wise
Mr. Wise is Chief Executive Officer at Novome Biotechnologies. Previously, Mr. Wise served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Achaogen, and previously as President and Chief Operating Officer, where he oversaw the development and FDA approval of ZEMDRI (plazomicin) for adults with complicated urinary tract infections. Prior to joining Achaogen, Mr. Wise spent 13 years at Genentech, in multiple leadership positions of increasing responsibility, including Vice President in Genentech’s BioOncology business unit. Prior to joining Genentech, Mr. Wise worked in consumer marketing, e-commerce and online marketing in leadership positions at Gap, Inc. and Webvan. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics from University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Masters of Business Administration degree from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.
H. Ward Wolff
close xH. Ward Wolff
Mr. H. Ward Wolff has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2014. Mr. Wolff served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sangamo Therapeutics from December 2007 until his retirement in March 2017. Prior to Sangamo, Mr. Wolff was with Nuvelo, where he served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer until its restructuring in August 2007. Prior to that he was Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Finance, of Abgenix until April 2006 when Abgenix merged with Amgen. Prior to joining Abgenix, Mr. Wolff held financial management positions in both public and private emerging growth companies, including serving as Senior Vice President and CFO of DoubleTwist. He began his career with Price Waterhouse, where he held a number of positions as a certified public accountant, including senior audit manager. Mr. Wolff was a member of the board of directors of Sunesis Pharmaceuticals until its merger with Viracta in February 2021 and Portola Pharmaceuticals until its merger with Alexion Pharmaceuticals in July 2020. From June 2006 until his appointment to Sangamo’s management team he was a member of Sangamo’s Board of Directors, serving as Chairman of the audit committee. Mr. Wolff received a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School.
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