Mr. Sumit Aggarwal joined Eloxx as our President and Chief Executive Officer on April 1, 2021, and previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of Zikani since 2019. Mr. Aggarwal joined Zikani in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer, and led the transformation of Zikani from an early stage technology company to a rare disease and oncology-focused organization. Prior to joining Zikani, from 2015 to 2018, Mr. Aggarwal served as acting President and Chief Financial Officer of Progenity, Inc., a private genetic services company offering pre-natal genetic testing to OB/GYN practices. From 2016 to 2018, Mr. Aggarwal served as a member of the board of directors of NEOSEQ, a privately-held genetic sequencing based diagnostic company. Mr. Aggarwal has also held leadership roles in healthcare and biotechnology at Adage Capital and as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company in its healthcare practice.
Mr. Aggarwal has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology commercial operations, investment management, management consulting, and has been successful in transforming companies by reinvigorating innovation, growth and profitability, and raising capital for promising technology companies. Mr. Aggarwal holds an M.B.A. with distinction from the Johnson School, Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology with Honors in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Dr. Vijay Modur became our Head of Research and Development on April 1, 2021, and previously served as the Head of R&D, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer of Zikani Therapeutics, Inc. In his more than 20 years in pharmaceutical and diagnostic roles in R&D, Dr. Modur has successfully translated research discovery efforts into products that impacted medical practice. Prior to joining Zikani, Dr. Modur led the venglustat rare disease program at Sanofi across multiple rare disease indications into phase 2 and phase 3 clinical development as well as other early development programs. Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Modur held leadership roles at HTG Molecular, Novartis Oncology and Merck Research Labs. Dr. Modur obtained his M.B.B.S. from Karnatak University and his Ph.D. from University of Utah. Dr. Modur was a resident in Clinical Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine where he also completed his post-doctoral fellowship.
Mr. Daniel Geffken was appointed as Interim Chief Financial Officer on April 1, 2021. Mr. Geffken is a founder of Danforth Advisors and brings more than 30 years of financial experience to his work for Danforth clients, ranging from start-ups to publicly traded companies with over a billion dollars in market capitalization. He has served as chief financial officer and strategic consultant to numerous companies, including Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Cidara Therapeutics, GenePeeks, Homology Medicines, Stealth BioTherapeutics and Transkaryotic Therapies. Since 2013, Mr. Geffken has participated in eleven initial public offerings. Over the course of his career, he has helped life sciences companies raise more than two billion dollars in equity and debt securities. Mr. Geffken holds a B.S. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Ali Hariri, M.D., is Eloxx’s Chief Medical Officer, responsible for overseeing clinical development efforts for the company’s promising pipeline of therapies to treat rare diseases. Prior to joining Eloxx, Dr. Hariri served as Senior Global Project Head in Rare Disease Clinical Development at Sanofi-Genzyme where he oversaw key functions responsible for advancing a number of investigational therapies along with approval of supplemental indications for on-market therapies.
Prior to his role as Global Project Head at Sanofi-Genzyme, Dr. Hariri held several positions of increasing responsibility with expertise across a range of therapeutic areas including renal and immunology. Before joining Sanofi, Dr. Hariri held clinical development and medical affairs roles at Ionis and Takeda coordinating publication planning and health economics research. Dr. Hariri was also a practicing nephrologist.
Dr. Hariri earned his M.D. from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, and his Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from California State University. He completed his residency at Case Western Reserve and a fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. He served as faculty in the section of nephrology at Yale.
Mr. Tomer Kariv, JD is Chairman of our Board and has served as a member of the board of directors of Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. since October 2016. For the past 14 years Mr. Kariv has been the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of The Pontifax Group, which established six funds with over $700 million under management and invested in over 65 portfolio companies....see more Mr. Kariv also serves on the board of directors of many of The Pontifax Group’s portfolio companies including: V-Wave Ltd., EyeYon Medical Ltd., Cathworks Ltd., Raziel Therapeutics Ltd., VBI Vaccines Inc., LogicBio, and 89Bio Ltd. He previously served as a Director of Medical Compression Systems Ltd., Insuline Medical Ltd., Headsense Medical Ltd., Macrocure Ltd., Avraham Pharmaceuticals, Arno Therapeutics, Stimatix Ltd., Applied Immune Technologies, Allium Ltd., Tucos, Inc., Therapix Biosciences Ltd., Otic Pharma Ltd., Observer in Entera Ltd., Nutrinia Ltd., Check-Cap Ltd., and CollPlant Holdings Ltd. Mr. Kariv has 14 years of experience as a seasoned venture capital industry executive and has played a key role in investing, managing and nurturing technology driven companies and startups and has held senior management positions at top Israeli financial institutions. Mr. Kariv received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. ...see less
Mr. Sumit Aggarwal joined Eloxx as our President and Chief Executive Officer on April 1, 2021, and previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of Zikani since 2019. Mr. Aggarwal joined Zikani in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer, and led the transformation of Zikani from an early stage technology company to a rare disease and oncology-focused organization....see more Prior to joining Zikani, from 2015 to 2018, Mr. Aggarwal served as acting President and Chief Financial Officer of Progenity, Inc., a private genetic services company offering pre-natal genetic testing to OB/GYN practices. From 2016 to 2018, Mr. Aggarwal served as a member of the board of directors of NEOSEQ, a privately-held genetic sequencing based diagnostic company. Mr. Aggarwal has also held leadership roles in healthcare and biotechnology at Adage Capital and as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company in its healthcare practice.Mr. Aggarwal has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology commercial operations, investment management, management consulting, and has been successful in transforming companies by reinvigorating innovation, growth and profitability, and raising capital for promising technology companies. Mr. Aggarwal holds an M.B.A. with distinction from the Johnson School, Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology with Honors in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. ...see less
Ms. Androski, joined our board in July 2022. She is founder, president and CEO of Roivant Social Ventures, a social impact organization that makes early-stage investments and incubates biotech companies focused on improving healthcare access and outcomes for underserved groups. She was responsible for the in-license or acquisition of more than 30 pharmaceutical drug candidates, was instrumental in the launch of 16 biotech companies, participated in three IPOs and several private financings, resulting in five approved drugs. Prior to joining Roivant Sciences, Ms. Androski spent a decade as a trial lawyer, including serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Eastern District of Virginia. Ms. Androski holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), JD and MBA degrees from The University of Chicago, is a registered Patent Lawyer and a CFA charterholder. She serves as a Trustee of MIT, and sits on the Visiting Committees for the Department of Biology, the Department of Humanities, and Sponsored Research. ...see less
Mr. Steven Rubin has served as a member of our Board since December 2017, and previously served as a member of the Sevion Therapeutics, Inc. Board of Directors since May 2014. Mr. Rubin is the Executive Vice President, Administration, and a Director of OPKO Health, Inc. Mr. Rubin currently serves as a Director of VBI Vaccines, Inc., Red Violet, Inc.; Kidville, Inc.; Non-Invasive Monitoring Systems, Inc.; Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.; Castle Brands, Inc.; Neovasc, Inc.; and ChromaDex Corp....see more Mr. Rubin previously served as a Director of Cogint, Inc. prior to the spinoff of Red Violet from Cogint in March 2018; Dreams, Inc.; Safestitch Medical, Inc. prior to its merger with TransEnterix, Inc.; SciVac Therapeutics, Inc. prior to its merger with VBI Vaccines, Inc.; Tiger X Medical, Inc. prior to its merger with BioCardia, Inc.; and PROLOR Biotech, Inc. prior to its acquisition by OPKO Health, Inc. Mr. Rubin received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Tulane University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida. ...see less
Dr. Alan Walts joined our Board on April 1, 2021, and previously served as Executive Chairman of Zikani since May 2020. Dr. Walts is a U.S.-based Venture Partner with Advent Life Sciences, a position he has held since January 2014. Dr. Walts has served as Executive Chairman and Director of PIC Therapeutics since 2016 and Artax Biopharma since 2017. Dr. Walts is also a founder, director and treasurer of The Termeer Foundation, a public 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2019....see more He serves as an independent Director of Neuroelectrics Corp, and a business advisor and board observer of several private companies including Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Arrakis Therapeutics, Alpha Anomeric and Amphista Therapeutics. Dr. Walts’ previous board experience includes X4 Pharmaceuticals, Aura Biosciences, and Arrakis Therapeutics. Dr. Walts has over 25 years of industry experience at Genzyme in business development, business strategy, research and development, general management, and venture capital. Prior to leaving Genzyme in 2013, Dr. Walts most recently managed Genzyme’s corporate venture fund, Genzyme Ventures (now Sanofi Ventures). Dr. Walts received a Ph.D. in chemistry from MIT in 1985, carried out post-doctoral research in biochemistry at MIT with Professor Christopher Walsh, and completed the executive Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. ...see less
Mr. Tomer Kariv, JD is Chairman of our Board and has served as a member of the board of directors of Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. since October 2016. For the past 14 years Mr. Kariv has been the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of The Pontifax Group, which established six funds with over $700 million under management and invested in over 65 portfolio companies. Mr. Kariv also serves on the board of directors of many of The Pontifax Group’s portfolio companies including: V-Wave Ltd., EyeYon Medical Ltd., Cathworks Ltd., Raziel Therapeutics Ltd., VBI Vaccines Inc., LogicBio, and 89Bio Ltd. He previously served as a Director of Medical Compression Systems Ltd., Insuline Medical Ltd., Headsense Medical Ltd., Macrocure Ltd., Avraham Pharmaceuticals, Arno Therapeutics, Stimatix Ltd., Applied Immune Technologies, Allium Ltd., Tucos, Inc., Therapix Biosciences Ltd., Otic Pharma Ltd., Observer in Entera Ltd., Nutrinia Ltd., Check-Cap Ltd., and CollPlant Holdings Ltd. Mr. Kariv has 14 years of experience as a seasoned venture capital industry executive and has played a key role in investing, managing and nurturing technology driven companies and startups and has held senior management positions at top Israeli financial institutions. Mr. Kariv received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.
Mr. Steven Rubin has served as a member of our Board since December 2017, and previously served as a member of the Sevion Therapeutics, Inc. Board of Directors since May 2014. Mr. Rubin is the Executive Vice President, Administration, and a Director of OPKO Health, Inc. Mr. Rubin currently serves as a Director of VBI Vaccines, Inc., Red Violet, Inc.; Kidville, Inc.; Non-Invasive Monitoring Systems, Inc.; Cocrystal Pharma, Inc.; Castle Brands, Inc.; Neovasc, Inc.; and ChromaDex Corp. Mr. Rubin previously served as a Director of Cogint, Inc. prior to the spinoff of Red Violet from Cogint in March 2018; Dreams, Inc.; Safestitch Medical, Inc. prior to its merger with TransEnterix, Inc.; SciVac Therapeutics, Inc. prior to its merger with VBI Vaccines, Inc.; Tiger X Medical, Inc. prior to its merger with BioCardia, Inc.; and PROLOR Biotech, Inc. prior to its acquisition by OPKO Health, Inc. Mr. Rubin received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Tulane University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida.
Dr. Alan Walts joined our Board on April 1, 2021, and previously served as Executive Chairman of Zikani since May 2020. Dr. Walts is a U.S.-based Venture Partner with Advent Life Sciences, a position he has held since January 2014. Dr. Walts has served as Executive Chairman and Director of PIC Therapeutics since 2016 and Artax Biopharma since 2017. Dr. Walts is also a founder, director and treasurer of The Termeer Foundation, a public 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2019. He serves as an independent Director of Neuroelectrics Corp, and a business advisor and board observer of several private companies including Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Arrakis Therapeutics, Alpha Anomeric and Amphista Therapeutics. Dr. Walts’ previous board experience includes X4 Pharmaceuticals, Aura Biosciences, and Arrakis Therapeutics. Dr. Walts has over 25 years of industry experience at Genzyme in business development, business strategy, research and development, general management, and venture capital. Prior to leaving Genzyme in 2013, Dr. Walts most recently managed Genzyme’s corporate venture fund, Genzyme Ventures (now Sanofi Ventures). Dr. Walts received a Ph.D. in chemistry from MIT in 1985, carried out post-doctoral research in biochemistry at MIT with Professor Christopher Walsh, and completed the executive Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.