Josep Bassaganya-Riera, Ph.D.

Chairman, President and CEO

Dr. Josep Bassaganya-Riera is a captain of industry, innovator, thought leader, and serial entrepreneur, with more than 20 years in the industry. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and books on the acceleration of biopharmaceutical development and computational immunology, and he has contributed 30 patents in immunology and autoimmune disease treatment. He has founded 3 award-winning Companies, raising over $200 million in non-dilutive and equity financing rounds. He served as the Founding Director of the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory and the NIH-funded Center for Modeling Immunity to Enteric Pathogens. His distinctions include recognition as Innovator of the Year and recipient of the Research Excellence Award at Virginia Tech. Dr. Bassaganya-Riera has applied agile and lean management systems in combination with an efficient use of capital to catalyze value accrual and capture. Through its corporate culture, encapsulated in 3 pillars: be bold and decisive, never give up and do the impossible, Landos empowers employees to think outside the box to achieve creative and innovative solutions that promote technological innovation.

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Chris Garabedian

Xontogeny, Perceptive Advisors

Chris Garabedian is founder and CEO of Xontogeny, a biotech aggregator that supports life science technologies from early development through clinical proof of concept. He also established the firm’s venture fund strategy in a partnership with Perceptive Advisors. Prior to joining Xontogeny, he served as the President and CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics, overseeing the development of the company’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy program. His previous positions also include VP of Corporate Strategy at Celgene and various global leadership roles at Gilead. Currently, Garabedian serves on the Board of Directors of MassBio, the Keck Graduate Institute, and is a Senior Advisor for the Boston Consulting Group.

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Konstantin Poukalov

Perceptive Advisors

Konstantin Poukalov is a Managing Director in Strategy at Perceptive Advisors. Previously, Mr. Poukalov worked at Kadmon Holdings, a biopharmaceutical company focused on therapeutics for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. During his tenure, he served as Chief Financial Officer following his role as Vice President of Strategic Operations. Prior to joining Kadmon, Mr. Poukalov worked in the Jefferies healthcare investment banking group. Mr. Poukalov began his career at UBS in investment banking.

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Rod Wong, M.D., MBA

RTW Investments

Dr. Rod Wong is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of RTW, where he manages the firm’s investments focused on innovative drug development. Prior to founding RTW, Dr. Wong was a Managing Director and sole Portfolio Manager for the Davidson Kempner Healthcare Funds. Over the years, he has held various healthcare investment and research roles at Sigma Capital Partners and Cowen & Company. He also holds an affiliation at the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Dr. Wong simultaneously received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in Economics from Duke University.

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Maria T. Abreu, M.D.

Maria Abreu, M.D., brings over 15 years of experience conducting preclinical models and clinical studies of IBD, with a research focus in intestinal inflammation and colon cancer. Currently, Dr. Abreu is Chief of Gastroenterology and Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami. Her additional roles include Chair of the Immunology, Microbiology and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Section of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Council and member of the AGA Public Affairs and Advisory Committee, among others. Dr. Abreu has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, books, chapters, and reviews.

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Jean-Frederic Colombel, M.D.

Jean-Frederic Colombel, M.D., holds over 20 years of experience researching ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Dr. Colombel is the Director at The Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Mount Sinai Hospital as well as the Helmsley IBD Center. Additionally, he serves as Chair of the International Organization of IBD, whose mission is to promote the health of IBD patients across the world.  He has authored over 500 peer-reviewed papers and 30 book chapters in IBD.

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Fabio Cominelli, M.D., Ph.D.

Fabio Cominelli, M.D., Ph.D., has more than 20 years of experience conducting clinical research for inflammatory bowel disease therapeutics and gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Cominelli is the chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease and Director of the Digestive Health Institute at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians.

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Asher Kornbluth, M.D.

Asher Kornbluth, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, New York. He received his medical degree from Downstate Medical Center in New York and completed his postgraduate training in internal medicine as both resident and Chief Resident at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. Dr Kornbluth has authored more than 100 articles, abstracts, and book chapters. He is the principal author of all three editions of the Ulcerative Colitis Practice Guidelines in Adults, published by the American College of Gastroenterology. He has also twice been the principal author on the chapter on Crohn’s disease in Sleisenger and Fordtran’s Textbook of Gastroenterology. He has served as an associate editor for the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Dr Kornbluth is an investigator on a number of clinical trials examining new therapeutic agents in inflammatory bowel disease, and most recently has been analyzing the role of biosimilar drugs in the management of inflammatory bowel disease.

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William J. Sandborn, M.D.

William Sandborn, M.D., brings over 25 years of expertise in the management of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Currently, he serves as the Director of IBD Center at UC San Diego Health, supervising a multi-investigator team of physicians, research fellows, nurses, and study coordinators. In addition, he is chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, vice chair of clinical operations for the Department of Medicine, and a member of the Clinical Practice Oversight Board for UC San Diego Health. One of Dr. Sandborn’s notable achievements includes managing a Phase 3 clinical study for the Pfizer IBD therapeutic candidates. He has published nearly 600 articles in journals such as The Lancet, JAMA, and Gastroenterology.

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Francisco Sylvester, M.D.

Francisco Sylvester, M.D., has more than 30 years of expertise as a translational scientist. His lab focuses on the effects of chronic intestinal inflammation on growth, bone, and muscle in children with inflammatory bowel diseases. Dr. Sylvester also serves as chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, a collaborative gastrointestinal research center at UNC Chapel Hill, for which he actively recruits, supports, and retains other pediatric gastroenterologists. Additionally, Dr. Sylvester serves as the Director of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America PRO-KIIDS organization, a network critical to supporting pediatric research studies in IBD.

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