Our Team

Dr. Atkins is an internationally recognized leader in translational and clinical research for more than 30 years, working in melanoma, kidney cancer, and cancer immunotherapy. He began his career at Tufts Medical Center before moving to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he was appointed Professor at Harvard Medical School. There, he served as leader of the Biologic Therapy and Cutaneous Oncology Programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Co-PI of the Harvard Skin Cancer SPORE, leader of the Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center Kidney Cancer Program, and Director of the Kidney Cancer SPORE.

In 2012, Dr. Atkins was named the Deputy Director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and William M. Scholl Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Oncology. His research interests include immunotherapy, anti-angiogenic therapy, molecularly targeted therapy, and predictive biomarker development most notably in melanoma and kidney cancer. He leads the Lombardi Immunotherapy Initiative and co-leads the Melanoma Disease Group within the MedStar Georgetown Cancer Institute. He has published more than 450 original research and review articles, as well as three books, and has lectured extensively on these topics.

He is past president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and past member of the NCI Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee and the ASCO Nominating Committee. Dr. Atkins is Chair of the Medical Advisory Panel for the Melanoma Research Alliance, and co-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee and Board member for the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Charles S. Craik is a Professor at UCSF in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and co-director of the Experimental Therapeutics program in the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also the founder and co-director of the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Graduate Program. His research interests focus on defining the roles and the mechanisms of enzymes and other challenging proteins in complex biological processes and on developing technologies to facilitate these studies. Current research in the Craik lab is on the chemical biology of post translational modifying enzymes, receptors and membrane transporters. A particular emphasis of his work is on identifying the roles and regulating the activity of proteases and degradative enzyme complexes associated with infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. He is also developing novel methods to biophysically characterize challenging proteins as well as their complexes. These studies coupled with his global substrate profiling, antibody engineering and noninvasive imaging efforts are providing a better understanding of both the chemical make-up and the biological importance of these critical proteins to aid in the rapid detection, monitoring and control of disease. Craik a founder of Catalyst Biosciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the 2016 awardee of the Emil Kaiser Award by the Protein Society.

Dr. Vijay Kuchroo is the Samuel L. Wasserstrom Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Senior Scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Co-Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, Brigham Research Institutes, Boston, and Director of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Vijay Kuchroo is also an associate member of the Broad Institute and a participant in a Klarman Cell Observatory project that focuses on T cell differentiation. His major research interests include autoimmune diseases – particularly the role of co-stimulation – the genetic basis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis, and cell surface molecules and regulatory factors that regulate induction of T cell tolerance and dysfunction. His laboratory has made several transgenic mice that serve as animal models for human multiple sclerosis.  Dr. Kuchroo first described the inhibitory receptor TIM-3, which is being exploited as a target for cancer immunotherapy.  He was first to describe the development of highly pathogenic Th17 cells, which has been shown to induce multiple different autoimmune diseases in humans. He has published over 325 original research papers in the filed of Immunology and a paper describing development of Th17 authored by Dr. Kuchroo has been one of the highest cited papers in Immunology.

Dr. Kuchroo came to the United States in 1985 and was at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda as Fogarty International Fellow for a year before joining the department of pathology at Harvard Medical School as a research fellow. He later joined the Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a faculty member in 1992.

He obtained his degree in Veterinary Medicine from the College of veterinary medicine, Hisar, India. Subsequently, he specialized in pathology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane (Australia) where he obtained a Ph.D. in 1985. He received the Fred Z. Eager Research prize and medal for his Ph.D. research work at the University of Queensland. Based on his contributions, he was awarded the Javits Neuroscience Award by the National Institutes of Health in 2002 and the Ranbaxy prize in Medical Research from the Ranbaxy Science Foundation in 2011. He was named Distinguished Eberly lecturer in 2014 and obtained Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty lecture/prize in 2014.

Dr. Kuchroo has 25 patents and has founded 6 different biotech companies.  He also serves on the scientific advisory boards of a number of big pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi/Genzyme and Glaxo-Smith-Klein (GSK).

Dr. Dario A. Vignali is the Frank Dixon Chair in Cancer Immunology, Vice Chair and Professor of Immunology in the Immunology Department, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is also Leader of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program and co-Director of the Tumor Microenvironment Center in the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. His research focuses on molecular and cellular aspects of negative regulatory immune mechanisms including regulatory T cells, inhibitory receptors, and inhibitory cytokines. His lab was instrumental in uncovering the role of Lag3 in mouse models of cancer, tolerance, autoimmunity and immune regulation.

Dr. Vignali’s lab discovered the inhibitory cytokine IL35 and the Nrp1:Sema4a axis, which are key regulators of intratumoral Treg stability and function. His current research also uses extensive use of transcriptional analysis, especially using single cell RNAseq. The majority of his work focuses on analysis of these pathways in murine models of cancer and numerous human tumors.

Dario also studies regulatory mechanisms in autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes. He has published more than 170 papers with over 33 as senior or co-author in high impact journals, including Nature, Cell, Science, Nature Immunology, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Methods, Immunity, Science Immunology and EMBO.

Dr. K. Dane Wittrup is the C.P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering at MIT. Dr. Wittrup was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012, elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2011, and serves as a fellow of the American Institute of Biomedical Engineers. He is also co-founder and Scientific Advisory Board Chairman at Adimab.

Previously, Dr. Wittrup served as an Associate Director of MIT’s Koch Institute until 2017 and as the J. W. Westwater Professor of Chemical Engineering, Biophysics, and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to that, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in Amgen’s Yeast Molecular Biology Group. He earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico.

Luke Evnin, Ph.D., is a co-founder of our company, served as our President and Chief Executive Officer from December 2017 until August 2019, and has served on our board of directors since October 2017 and as chairman of the board of directors since August 2019. Dr. Evnin co-founded MPM Capital, an early-stage life sciences venture investing firm, in 1997, where he currently serves as Managing Director. Over the past eight years, as a component of his MPM activities, Dr. Evnin has been a co-founder and served as chairman of the board for several MPM portfolio companies. Dr. Evnin has also served on the board of directors of a number of public and private companies over his venture capital career and currently serves, on behalf of MPM Capital, as a director for multiple private companies. Prior to co-founding MPM Capital, Dr. Evnin spent seven years as a venture capitalist at Accel Partners. Dr. Evnin has served on the board of directors of Oncorus, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, since March 2016. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Turmeric Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded special purposes acquisition company formed by MPM Capital from August 2020 through April 2023. In 2015, Dr. Evnin co-founded Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly held immunotherapy company, and served as chairman of its board of directors until July 2020. Dr. Evnin served on the board of directors of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, from May 2012 until September 2018. Dr. Evnin also serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, a not-for-profit entity. Dr. Evnin holds an A.B. in molecular biology from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Meeta Chatterjee, Ph.D., has served on our board of directors since October 2021. Dr. Chatterjee has been the Chief Strategy Officer of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Since August 2023. Dr. Chatterjee previously served as the Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at Legend Biotech Corporation from March 2019 until November 2022. From November 2007 to May 2018, she served in roles of increasing seniority and responsibility at Merck Research Laboratories, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., a multinational pharmaceutical company, most recently as Head of Strategy, Transactions, and Operations within the Business Development and Licensing (BD&L) group. Dr. Chatterjee has served on the board of directors of Editas Medicine, a publicly traded clinical stage biotechnology company, since December 2020. Dr. Chatterjee received her undergraduate education at St. Xavier’s University in Ahmedabad, India, and Rutgers University (B.A., Hons Physics). Dr. Chatterjee received her Doctor of Philosophy in Physiology from Rutgers University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Physiology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Derek DiRocco, Ph.D., has served on our board of directors since December 2020. Dr. DiRocco has been a partner at RA Capital Management, L.P., since December 2020 and was previously a principal from December 2017 until December 2020, an analyst from June 2015 to December 2017, and an associate from July 2013 to June 2015. Dr. DiRocco has served on the board of directors of Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. since November 2021, Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited since March 2021, iTeos Therapeutics, Inc. since March 2020, Mineralys Therapeutics, LLC since June 2022, and 89bio, Inc. since April 2018, each of which is a publicly traded biotechnology company. Dr. DiRocco previously served on the board of directors of Achilles Therapeutics plc from September 2019 to May 2022 and Day One Bio from February 2021 to May 2021. Dr. DiRocco also serves on the board of directors of several privately held biotechnology companies. Dr. DiRocco holds a B.A. in biology from College of the Holy Cross and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Washington. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

Daniel J. Hicklin, Ph.D., has served on our board of directors since October 2017. Dr. Hicklin has also served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since August 2019. Dr. Hicklin founded Werewolf Therapeutics in October 2017 and served as a consultant until his appointment as our President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Hicklin also served as an Executive Partner at MPM Capital from 2014 to December 2019 and an advisor from January 2020 to December 2022. Previously, Dr. Hicklin was a founder of Potenza Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from April 2014 until its acquisition by Astellas Pharma Inc. in December 2018. From August 2013 until February 2014, Dr. Hicklin was President and Chief Scientific Officer of CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company that was acquired by Novartis in February 2014. Prior to joining CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Hicklin held several positions at Merck Research Laboratories (formerly the Schering-Plough Research Institute prior to its acquisition by Merck), including leading its Biologics Strategy for Oncology and the Immuno-Modulation Discovery team. Dr. Hicklin also previously held several positions at Imclone Systems Incorporated, including Vice President, Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. Hicklin has served as a member of the board of directors of several private biotechnology companies. Dr. Hicklin also currently serves on the Industry Advisory Committee for The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Dr. Hicklin holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from New York Medical College, where he trained with Dr. Soldano Ferrone, and a B.S. from the University of Iowa.

Alon Lazarus, Ph.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2019. Dr. Lazarus has held the position of Biotech Investment Manager of the Pharma Division of Arkin Holdings, Ltd., an investment firm, focused in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, since August 2013. Prior to joining Arkin Holdings, Ltd., Dr. Lazarus worked for the Healthcare Business Development Department of Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from January 2012 until August 2013, and as an Analyst for Integra Holdings, Ltd., an Israel-based healthcare investment company. Dr. Lazarus served as a member of the board of directors of Keros Therapeutics, Inc. from April 2016 to December 2020 and Oncorus, Inc. from July 2016 to August 2019, both of which are publicly traded biotechnology companies. Dr. Lazarus also serves as a member of the board of directors of several private life science companies. Dr. Lazarus holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Hadassah Medical School of Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, an M.B.A. from the School of Business Administration of Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and a B.Sc. in Biology from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

Briggs Morrison, M.D., has served on our board of directors since November 2019. Dr. Morrison has served as Executive Partner at MPM Capital, Inc. since June 2015 and has served as the Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors of Crossbow Therapeutics, Inc., a private biotechnology company, since February 2022. He was previously President and Head of Research and Development, of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from February 2022 through April 2023. Prior to that, Dr. Morrison was the Chief Executive Officer of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from June 2015 to February 2022. Before that, Dr. Morrison was the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Medicines Development at AstraZeneca plc from 2012 to 2015. Before joining AstraZeneca, he held several positions at Pfizer Inc., including Head, Medical Affairs, Safety and Regulatory Affairs for Pfizer’s human health business. Dr. Morrison also previously held several positions at Merck Research Laboratories, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., including Vice President, Clinical Sciences, Oncology. Dr. Morrison has also served as a member of the board of directors of Arvinas Holding Company, LLC since September 2018, Carisma Therapeutics Inc. since July 2020, Repare Therapeutics Inc. since July 2017, and Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., since June 2015, all of which are publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies. He also served as a member of the board of directors of NextCure Inc. from March 2019 to April 2021, Codiak BioSciences, Inc. from February 2018 to April 2021, and Oncorus Inc. from April 2016 to April 2021, all of which are publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Morrison also serves on the board of directors of several privately held biotechnology companies. He was a member of the executive committee of the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative sponsored by the FDA and is on the board of the Alliance for Clinical Research Excellence and Safety. Dr. Morrison also serves on the board of directors for multiple private pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Morrison has a B.S. in biology from Georgetown University and an M.D. from the University of Connecticut Medical School. He completed residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Michael Sherman, M.B.A., has served on our board of directors since May 2021. Mr. Sherman has served since August 2023 as Chair of the board of directors of Chimerix, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. He previously served from April 2019 to July 2023 as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Chimerix. Prior to that, Mr. Sherman served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and member of the board of directors of Endocyte, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from June 2016 until December 2018, when it was acquired by Novartis. Mr. Sherman joined Endocyte in 2006 and served as its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer prior to becoming Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Endocyte, Mr. Sherman served in various executive roles, including as vice president of finance and strategic planning for Guidant Corporation, which was acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation. He has also served on the board of directors of Biospecifics Technologies, Inc. from April 2020 until its acquisition by Endo Pharmaceuticals in December 2020, on the board of directors of Mead Johnson Nutrition Company from March 2015 until the company’s acquisition by Reckitt Benckiser in June 2017, and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis from January 2012 until December 2022 where he served as Chair. Mr. Sherman holds a BA in economics from DePauw University and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, graduating as a Tuck Scholar.