Richard Aldrich
Founder, RA Capital

Richard Aldrich is Chairman of RA Capital Management, LLC, a biotech public-equity investment fund. Prior to forming RA Capital in 2001, Rich helped create and build several successful biopharmaceutical companies. He joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals at the time of its founding in 1989. As Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer over 11 years, Rich built and managed Vertex's finance, business development and operations functions. Prior to joining Vertex, Rich held various management positions at Integrated Genetics, Biogen, and the Boston Consulting Group. Rich is a founder and board member of Altus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALTU) and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. He also serves on the Board of Combinatorx (NASDAQ:CRXX). Rich is a director of the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary and the Greater Boston YMCA. Rich received an MBA from the Amos Tuck School (Dartmouth College) and a BS degree from Boston College.

David E. Fisher, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor & Director, Melanoma Program,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Fisher is an expert the biology of melanocytes and their involvement in malignant melanoma and the development of therapeutic approaches. Dr. Fisher has received numerous awards, earned his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University and his MD from Cornell University. Dr. Fisher completed his residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, clinical fellowships in both adult and pediatric oncology at DFCI, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Brian M. Gallagher, Ph.D.
Director
President & CEO, Magen BioSciences

Dr. Gallagher comes to Magen with broad industry experience, most recently as Chairman and CEO of CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded dermatology, specialty pharmaceutical company. Prior to that, he was with Bristol-Myers Squibb where he held a number of executive positions, including President of Squibb Diagnostics. He also served with E.I. DuPont deNemours where he held several research, development, marketing, and management positions. Dr. Gallagher received his B.S. from St. Louis University and his Ph.D. from St. John’s University.

Steven Gillis, Ph.D.
Venture partner, Arch Venture Partners

Dr. Gillis is a founder and director of Corixa Corp. (aquired by GSK in 2005) and served as the company's CEO since inception and as its Chairman since January of 1999. He is also Founder and director of Immunex Corp. Dr. Gillis served as Director of Research and Development, CSO, and CEO of Immunex's Research and Development subsidiary. Immunex was acquired by Amgen Inc. in 2002. He was previously Professor at the University of Washington. Dr. Gillis is an Immunologist by training with over 300 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of molecular and tumor immunology. He is a pioneer in the field of cytokines and cytokine receptors, directing the development of multiple marketed products including Leukine, (GM-CSF), Prokine (IL-2) and Enbrel (soluble TNF receptor-Fc fusion protein) as well as the regulatory approval of Bexxar (radiolabeled anti-CD20). Dr. Gillis received his B.A. from Williams College in 1975 and his Ph.D. from Dartmouth College in 1978.

Robert Higgins
Managing General Partner and Co-founder,
Highland Capital Partners

Bob Higgins is managing general partner and a co-founder of Highland Capital Partners. Bob has more than twenty years of experience in venture capital and has served as a director of many public and private companies. He is a former director of the National Venture Capital Association and President of the New England Venture Capital Association. In addition, Bob has been recognized by the prestigious Forbes Midas List as one of the top venture capitalists in the industry.

Bob's medical technology investments include AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Codon Devices, Conor Medsystems (NASDAQ: CONR), Helicos BioSciences, Magen BioSciences, Mitotix (Neuer Market: GPC Biotech AG), Origin Medsystems (acquired), PerSeptive Biosystems (IPO/acquired), Pervasis Therapeutics and PRAECIS PHARMACEUTICALS (NASDAQ: PRCS). In addition, Bob has also served on the boards of SmartBargains, Staples.com and Word Wave (acquired by Merrill Corporation).

He has an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Jens W. Eckstein, Ph.D.
Partner, TVM Capital

Dr. Jens Eckstein is a partner in TVM Capital’s Boston office. In addition to Magen Biosciences, he is actively involved in TVM Capital’s investments in Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals and SelectX Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining TVM Capital, he was Director, Lead Discovery and Research IT at Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he directed the company's lead discovery and knowledge management programs for novel therapeutics in hepatitis, asthma, psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders. Prior to joining Enanta, he managed research groups in biochemistry, structural biology, and computational chemistry at Mitotix, Inc. (now GPC-Biotech). At Mitotix he led the $48 million research collaboration with the BASF Bioresearch Corporation (BBC) on Cdc25 anticancer therapeutics. Dr. Eckstein earned his doctorate, summa cum laude, in biological chemistry at the University of Konstanz and Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF).

Phillip Sharp, Ph.D.
Institute Professor in the Center for Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Sharp served as Director of the Center for Cancer Research, Head of the Department of Biology and Founding Director of the McGovern Institute. Dr. Sharp discovered RNA splicing in 1977. For this work he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He has authored more than 300 scientific papers and is co-founder of Biogen Idec, Inc. and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY).

David E. Shaw
Managing Partner, Black Point Group

David is a limited partner and consultant with Venrock Associates and New Mountain Capital, New York City. He is also the founder and retired CEO of IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., (NASDAQ: IDXX; annual revenues over $600 million and 2500 employees worldwide). David was the founding investor and/or director of Cytyc Corporation, Exact Sciences, Skinetics Biosciences, Cambria, Wild File, Quantrix, Microbia, Ikaria and others. He has served on the faculty of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and the advisory board of the school's Center for Public Leadership. Previously David served as Chair of The Jackson Laboratory, a member of the Executive Committee of the US-Israel Science and Technology Commission, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a trustee of Maine Medical Center, Hurricane Island Outward Bound and other non-profits.

Christopher Walsh, Ph.D.
Hamilton Kuhn Professor at Harvard Medical School

Dr. Walsh is the former President of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Chairman of the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. He is an expert in enzyme stereochemistry, reaction mechanisms and the mechanisms of action of anti-infective and immunosuppressive agents. Dr. Walsh also was a co-founder of Genzyme and Vicuron.

Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman
CEO and Vice Chairman, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals

Prior to co-founding Sirtris, Christoph co-founded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY), Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA), and Acceleron Pharma as CEO and Vice Chairman. Christoph also acted as a co-founder of Nanosys and led venture capital investments in Advion, Athenix, GI Dynamics, Hydra and Saegis. Christoph received his M.D., Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School and spent two years at McKinsey and Company.