The Team
Senior Management
-
Victor Perlroth, M.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer -
John Borgeson
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer -
Jason Ehrlich, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer and Chief Development Officer -
Hong Liang, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Discovery Medicine -
Desiree Beutelspacher
Vice President, Clinical Operations -
Joel Naor, M.D.
Vice President, Clinical Science and Development Operations -
Almas Qudrat, MsC
Vice President, Quality Operations -
Stephen Raillard, Ph.D.
Vice President, Chemical Development and Manufacturing -
Pablo Velazquez-Martin, M.D.
Vice President, Clinical Research and Translational Medicine
Victor Perlroth, M.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Victor Perlroth co-founded Kodiak Sciences in 2009 and is the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Together with a talented core team, Dr. Perlroth has built Kodiak on a foundation of scientific excellence with a simple mission—to design and develop important new medicines for highly prevalent diseases. Under Dr. Perlroth’s leadership, Kodiak is building a pipeline of potentially life transforming ophthalmology drug candidates with the goal to build a dominant retinal franchise for the benefit of patients globally. Previously, Dr. Perlroth served as Venture Partner and then Entrepreneur in Residence at MPM Capital, a dedicated healthcare venture capital investment firm. In 2003, Dr. Perlroth co-founded Avidia Inc., a biopharmaceuticals drug discovery and development company where he served as General Manager and Vice President of Corporate Development. In this role, at various times he had broad management responsibility across both corporate and research and development activities. Dr. Perlroth was one of two principals involved in the acquisition of the company by Amgen for $450 million. Earlier, Dr. Perlroth worked at Guzik Technical Enterprises, the industry-leading provider of test equipment to the hard disk drive industry, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Perlroth earned his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University and an A.B. in Molecular Biology summa cum laude from Princeton University.
John Borgeson
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
John Borgeson is our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and has served in this position since January 2016. From January 2013 until December 2015, Mr. Borgeson led finance for a variety of private biotech companies, including Labrys Biologics, Inc., which was acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Mr. Borgeson was a Vice President of Finance at Pfizer Inc. and a member of Pfizer’s Global Finance and Business Operations Leadership Team. Mr. Borgeson’s roles at Pfizer included finance head for Pfizer’s biotherapeutics and bioinnovation group and corporate tax executive with responsibility for the United States and Europe. Under Mr. Borgeson’s leadership, Pfizer completed a transformational restructuring of the global tax group that was replicated by other Fortune 50 companies. Mr. Borgeson started his career as an auditor with Ernst & Young and is a certified public accountant (inactive). He has an M.B.A. from R.I.T. and an undergraduate degree from the School of Management at the University at Buffalo (S.U.N.Y.)
Jason Ehrlich, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer and Chief Development Officer
Dr. Ehrlich serves as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Development Officer at Kodiak. Dr Ehrlich is internationally recognized for his leadership and expertise in ophthalmic drug development. Prior to joining Kodiak, Dr. Ehrlich served in an executive capacity as Global Head, Clinical Ophthalmology at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. In roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech/Roche from 2008-2018, Dr. Ehrlich’s efforts as lead clinician for Lucentis in diabetic eye disease resulted in a unanimous FDA Advisory Committee vote and the first-ever FDA approval of an intraocular drug for diabetic macular edema. He then championed filing of a collaborative group study to further expand the Lucentis labeling into all forms of diabetic retinopathy, resulting in another first-ever FDA approval that provided a new option for patients: to be treated with anti-VEGF to achieve regression of their diabetic retinopathy disease. Dr. Ehrlich guided the integration of the ophthalmic drug delivery company ForSIGHT VISION4 into Genentech/Roche after its acquisition, including oversight of the successful Phase II study of the ranibizumab Port Delivery System. In his work, Dr. Ehrlich has participated in or overseen numerous sBLAs and both FDA and European health authority interactions. He led the global development of lampalizumab, including design and execution of the pivotal Phase III program that included over 1,800 patients, over 275 sites, and more than 20 countries. He also oversaw his team’s effort to secure FDA approvals for Lucentis in its Prefilled Syringe and for choroidal neovascularization due to pathologic myopia and guided the successful transition to global Phase III development of Faricimab, a novel bispecific antibody for retinal vascular disease. Dr. Ehrlich completed his Ophthalmology residency at Stanford University School of Medicine, earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford through the NIH-funded Medical Scientist Training Program, and received his A.B. in Molecular Biology summa cum laude from Princeton University.
Hong Liang, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Discovery Medicine
Hong Liang is our Vice President of Discovery Medicine and has served in this position since December of 2015. Dr. Liang leads Kodiak’s discovery efforts with the goal to design important medicines that prevent and/or slow the progression of retinal disease in high risk patients. Most recently, Dr. Liang was Senior Director at the Rinat Laboratory of Pfizer Inc. where she led the Genomics and Computational Biology group focusing on target discovery and translational biomarker work. Previously, she was responsible for many preclinical projects in metabolic and neurological diseases at Rinat/Pfizer. In particular, Dr. Liang was the project initiator and inventor and a driving force behind Rinat/Pfizer’s Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin Kexin type 9 inhibitor (PCSK9i) bococizumab development program. Bococizumab antagonizes PCSK9-mediated degradation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, increases LDL-C clearance, and lowers blood LDL-C levels. Bococizumab’s phase 3 global clinical development program involves approximately 32,000 high-risk primary and secondary prevention patients and is being studied for its potential to lower the known cardiac risk factor LDL-C and improve cardiovascular outcomes. Earlier, Dr. Liang lead the expression profiling and knockout construct generation efforts at Deltagen Inc. Dr. Liang trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, earned a Ph.D. degree at Northwestern University, and completed requirements in Biology at the University of Science and Technology of China.
Desiree Beutelspacher
Vice President, Clinical Operations
Desiree Beutelspacher is our Vice President of Clinical Operations. Ms. Beutelspacher brings with her 20 years of clinical drug development experience. Fifteen of those years have been spent in ophthalmology, with an emphasis on retinal diseases such as wet and dry age-related macular degeneration. During the prior ten years, she was Executive Director of Clinical Development at Ophthotech Corporation. While there, she led the clinical operations for the Fovista™ franchise from Phase 1 through Phase 3, as well as Zimura™. Previously, she was an independent clinical consultant working with small biotech companies to develop early-stage clinical programs. She also worked on the Macugen® franchise at Eyetech Pharmaceuticals. Ms. Beutelspacher holds a B.S. in biology from UCLA and has a PMP certification.
Joel Naor, M.D.
Vice President, Clinical Science and Development Operations
Joel Naor serves as Vice President of Clinical Science and Development Operations. Dr. Naor has contributed to retinal medicines development since the inception of the retinal pharmaceuticals market with the launch of Visudyne®. As such he brings to Kodiak a uniquely deep and broad retinal development perspective that includes commercialization. Dr. Naor has contributed to a range of products and molecule types including Ozurdex®, Trivaris TM, Opsiria TM, and HuCNS-SC®, as well as a range of indications spanning Wet and Dry AMD, Diabetic Retinopathy, Retinal Vein Occlusion and Posterior Uveitis. Prior to joining Kodiak, Dr. Naor held leadership positions with increasing responsibility at QLT Inc., Allergan Inc., Macusight Inc., Santen Inc. and Stem Cells Inc. Dr. Naor earned his M.D. from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Upon completion of a residency in ophthalmology and obtaining an ophthalmic surgeon certification, he completed a clinical fellowship at the University of Toronto where he also obtained an M.Sc. in epidemiology with an emphasis on clinical trials. Dr. Naor holds an M.B.A. from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
Almas Qudrat, MsC
Vice President, Quality Operations
Almas Qudrat is our Vice President of Quality Operations. In this role, Ms. Qudrat is responsible for leading all quality functions at Kodiak. Ms. Qudrat joined the company in 2018 and has more than 25 years of experience in managing and directing all aspects of quality activities for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Her experience spans all stages of drug development from first in human to commercial products. She has been responsible for small molecules, biologics, tablets, capsules, pre-filled syringes, vials, and combination products via intravenous, subcutaneous, intravitreal, inhalable, as well as transdermal routes of administration. Ms. Qudrat’s experience spans good manufacturing practice (GMP), good clinical practice (GCP) and good laboratory practice (GLP). She has managed in-house quality functions as well as overseeing and managing external contract manufacturing and research organizations. Ms. Qudrat led the pre-approval inspections that brought Botox (Allergan), Myoblock (Elan), and Exubera (Nektar-Pfizer) to the market and supported, prepared, and contributed to multiple pre-approval activities for other products including the Lucentis pre-filled syringe (Roche/Genentech). Before joining Kodiak, Ms. Qudrat held positions of increasing responsibility at Abbott, Baxter, Elan, Allergan, Nektar, Avidia, Amgen, Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Roche/Genentech. Ms. Qudrat earned masters degrees in both microbiology and biology from Brock University in Ontario, Canada.
Stephen Raillard, Ph.D.
Vice President, Chemical Development and Manufacturing
Stephen Raillard serves as Vice President, Chemical Development and Manufacturing. In this role, Dr. Raillard is responsible for chemical research and development in support of new product candidates and product platforms as well as leading chemical development and manufacturing activities for Kodiak’s drug substance portfolio. Dr. Raillard brings to Kodiak over twenty years of experience in building and leading global internal/external teams tasked with pharmaceutical research and development, process scale-up and commercial manufacturing. Most recently, Dr. Raillard was Executive Director of Chemical Development at XenoPort, Inc. In this role, he was responsible for developing the commercial manufacturing process for Gabapentin enacarbil (Tradename HORIZANT) and for supervising commercial manufacturing campaigns of over twenty metric tons with a per batch size of 800 kilograms. Horizant is approved by the FDA for use in patients with Restless Legs Syndrome and Post-Herpetic Neuralgia. In addition, he was responsible for the development and manufacturing of seven additional APIs in XenoPort’s portfolio, four of which entered clinical trials. Dr. Raillard was a core Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) team member in due diligence discussions that led to licensing agreements with GSK and Astellas for Gabapentin enacarbil, Indivior for Arbaclofen Placarbil, and Dr. Reddy’s for XP23829. Dr. Raillard has contributed to CMC filings and interactions with global regulatory authorities across the spectrum of drug discovery, development, and commercialization and including pre-Investigational New Drug Applications, New Drug Applications, and post-approval commitments. Prior to joining Kodiak, Dr. Raillard held technical positions at Affmax Research Institute where, among other duties, he invented and reduced to practice methods enabling fast scale-up using solid-phase chemistry on custom high-load polymer resins. Dr. Raillard received his Ph.D. from the ETH Zürich in Switzerland followed by a post-doc at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.
Pablo Velazquez-Martin, M.D.
Vice President, Clinical Research and Translational Medicine
Dr. Velazquez-Martin serves as our Vice President of Clinical Research and Translational Medicine and is an ophthalmologist and retinal specialist. Previously, Dr Velazquez-Martin was head of ophthalmology global medical affairs for Bayer in Europe, Canada, and Latin America with a focus on Bayer’s ex-U.S. Eylea franchise. His emphasis was on scientific differentiation of Eylea with phase 3 and phase 4 clinical studies design, interpretation and communication. Dr. Velazquez-Martin contributed to the dramatic growth of Eylea revenue and market share on a local, regional, and global basis. In his role at Kodiak, Dr. Velazquez-Martin is responsible for generating scientific and clinical data to help differentiate and profile our therapeutic candidates and ABC Platform versus the approved agents Eylea and Lucentis as well as versus other retinal medicines in development. Dr. Velazquez-Martin earned his M.D. from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Upon completion of a residency in ophthalmology and obtaining an ophthalmology surgeon certification, he completed a two-year fellowship in retina surgery, followed by an ocular oncology fellowship at the University of Toronto. During his tenure at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, he led the ophthalmic evaluation of patients in phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials of novel cancer agents.
Board of Directors
-
Victor Perlroth, M.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer -
Robert A. Profusek, J.D.
Partner and Global Chair M&A, Jones Day -
Felix J. Baker, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Baker Brothers Investments -
Bassil I. Dahiyat, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Xencor Inc. -
Richard S. Levy, M.D.
Formerly Chief Drug Development Officer and Chief Medical Officer, Incyte Corporation
Victor Perlroth, M.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Victor Perlroth co-founded Kodiak Sciences in 2009 and is the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Together with a talented core team, Dr. Perlroth has built Kodiak on a foundation of scientific excellence with a simple mission—to design and develop important new medicines for highly prevalent diseases. Under Dr. Perlroth’s leadership, Kodiak is building a pipeline of potentially life transforming ophthalmology drug candidates with the goal to build a dominant retinal franchise for the benefit of patients globally. Previously, Dr. Perlroth served as Venture Partner and then Entrepreneur in Residence at MPM Capital, a dedicated healthcare venture capital investment firm. In 2003, Dr. Perlroth co-founded Avidia Inc., a biopharmaceuticals drug discovery and development company where he served as General Manager and Vice President of Corporate Development. In this role, at various times he had broad management responsibility across both corporate and research and development activities. Dr. Perlroth was one of two principals involved in the acquisition of the company by Amgen for $450 million. Earlier, Dr. Perlroth worked at Guzik Technical Enterprises, the industry-leading provider of test equipment to the hard disk drive industry, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Perlroth earned his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University and an A.B. in Molecular Biology summa cum laude from Princeton University.
Robert A. Profusek, J.D.
Partner and Global Chair M&A, Jones Day
Robert A. Profusek has served as one of our directors since June 2018, as our lead independent director since August 2018 and as chair of our nominating and corporate governance committee and a member of our compensation committee since September 2018. Mr. Profusek is a partner of the Jones Day law firm where he is the global chair of the firm’s mergers and acquisitions practice. His law practice focuses on mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, restructurings and corporate governance matters. Mr. Profusek is also the lead independent director of Valero Energy Corporation, a publicly traded international manufacturer and marketer of transportation fuels and other petrochemical products, and CTS Corporation, a publicly traded designer and manufacturer of sensors, actuators and electronic components. He served as a director of the managing general partner of Valero L.P. (now known as NuStar Energy L.P.) from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Profusek holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a J.D. from New York University.
Felix J. Baker, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Baker Brothers Investments
Felix J. Baker, Ph.D. has served as one of our directors since September 2015 and as chair of our compensation committee and a member of our nominating and corporate governance committee since September 2018. Dr. Baker is Co-Managing Member of Baker Bros. Advisors LP. Dr. Baker and his brother, Julian Baker, started their fund management careers in 1994 when they co-founded a biotechnology investing partnership with the Tisch Family. In 2000, they founded Baker Bros. Advisors LP. Dr. Baker currently also serves on the boards of directors of three public companies: Seattle Genetics, Inc., Genomic Health, Inc. and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From October 2000 to June 2015, Dr. Baker additionally served on the board of directors of Synageva BioPharma Corp. Dr. Baker holds a B.S. and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University, where he also completed two years of medical school.
Bassil I. Dahiyat, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Xencor Inc.
Bassil I. Dahiyat, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2018 and as chair of our audit committee and a member of our compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee since September 2018. Dr. Dahiyat has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Xencor, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since February 2005. Dr. Dahiyat co-founded Xencor in 1997, served as its Chief Executive Officer from 1997 to 2003 and served as its Chief Scientific Officer from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, Dr. Dahiyat was recognized as a technology pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Additionally, Dr. Dahiyat was named one of 2003’s Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT’s Technology Review magazine for his work on protein design and its development for therapeutic applications and has received awards from the American Chemical Society, the Controlled Release Society and the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Dahiyat currently serves on Xencor’s board of directors. Dr. Dahiyat holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and B.S. and M.S.E. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Richard S. Levy, M.D.
Formerly Chief Drug Development Officer and Chief Medical Officer, Incyte Corporation
Richard S. Levy, M.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2018 and a member of our audit committee and nominating and corporate governance committee since September 2018. Since December 2016, Dr. Levy has served as a senior advisor of Baker Bros. Advisors LP, a registered investment advisor focused on long-term investments in life sciences companies on behalf of major university endowments and foundations. From January 2009 to April 2016, Dr. Levy served as Executive Vice President and Chief Drug Development Officer of Incyte Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, where he previously served as Senior Vice President of Drug Development from August 2003 to January 2009. Prior to joining Incyte, Dr. Levy served as Vice President, Biologic Therapies, at Celgene Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, from 2002 to 2003. From 1997 to 2002, Dr. Levy served in various executive positions with DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company, first as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Pharmacovigilance, and thereafter as Vice President, Medical and Commercial Strategy. Dr. Levy served at Sandoz, a predecessor company of Novartis, from 1991 to 1997 in positions of increasing responsibility in clinical research and regulatory affairs. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Levy served as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Levy currently serves on the board of directors of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc. and of Aquinox Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Levy is board certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology and received his A.B. in Biology from Brown University, his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and completed his training in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UCLA.
Scientific Advisors
-
Diana V. Do, M.D.
-
David Boyer, M.D.
-
David Brown, M.D
-
Pravin Dugel, M.D.
-
Michael Ip, M.D.
-
Sunil Patel, M.D., PH.D.
-
Carl Regillo, M.D.
-
Charles Wykoff, M.D., PH.D.
Diana V. Do, M.D.
Professor of Ophthalmology Byers Eye Institute Stanford University School of Medicine
Diana V. Do, MD, is a Professor of Ophthalmology at the Byers Eye Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine. She is an internationally recognized physician who specializes in the surgical and medical treatment of retinal disorders. Dr. Do is a board-certified ophthalmologist and is an expert in the management of age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, retinal detachment, macular hole, retinal infections, and epiretinal membrane. At Stanford, Dr. Do has an active clinical and surgical practice while continuing to investigate novel treatments for retinal disease. Dr. Do is a leading clinician-scientist who has authored over 150 publications in the medical literature and has contributed to over 25 book chapters. She has been the principal investigator and co-investigator on more than 45 clinical trials investigating novel treatments for retinal diseases and ocular inflammation. She has been an invited lecturer throughout the North and South America, Europe, and Asia Before joining Stanford, Dr. Do was Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the Wilmer Eye Institute, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. At Hopkins, she was Head of the Retina Fellowship Training Program. After her tenure at Johns Hopkins, she was recruited to serve as Vice Chair of Education and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. In addition, she was Program Director of the ophthalmology residency training program and Director of the Retinal Fellowship Training Program at Nebraska. Dr. Do was educated at the University of California at Berkeley where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She received her medical degree (Alpha Omega Alpha) and was a Regents Scholar at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. After completing her medicine internship at Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School, she pursued both her ophthalmology training and retina fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her academic achievements have been recognized with numerous national awards including the Heed Ophthalmic Foundation Clinician-Scientist Award, the Ronald Michels Fellowship Foundation Award, the Honor Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists, and the Achievement Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.Company Founders
-
Stephen A. Charles, Ph.D.
Founder -
Victor Perlroth, M.D.
Founder
Stephen A. Charles, Ph.D.
Founder
Stephen Charles leads business development efforts on the pharmaceuticals team at BioEnterprise Corporation, including biopharmaceuticals, biomaterials, and diagnostics. Dr. Charles is a successful entrepreneur with both business and technical skills gained over 35 years in the biotechnology and healthcare (biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics) sectors. His most recent role was as cofounder of Kodiak Sciences Inc. (formerly known as Oligasis LLC), a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class treatments for retinal diseases, where he fulfilled key operational roles as Chief Technology Officer. During his career, Dr. Charles conceived of and/or played key development roles in multiple successful, technology-rich, long-lived, marketed product platforms: J&J Ortho’s Vitros central laboratory diagnostic system (formally Amersham’s Amerlite system); GE Healthcare’s Biacore biosensor (technology developed at Amersham); CooperVision’s Proclear range of contact lenses (technology developed at Biocompatibles); Medtronic’s Endeavor drug-eluting coronary stent (technology developed at Biocompatibles); and several PEGylated biopharmaceutical products (technology developed at Shearwater/Nektar). Dr. Charles earned his B.Sc., with honors, and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry from the University of London.
Victor Perlroth, M.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Victor Perlroth co-founded Kodiak Sciences in 2009 and is the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Together with a talented core team, Dr. Perlroth has built Kodiak on a foundation of scientific excellence with a simple mission—to design and develop important new medicines for highly prevalent diseases. Under Dr. Perlroth’s leadership, Kodiak is building a pipeline of potentially life transforming ophthalmology drug candidates with the goal to build a dominant retinal franchise for the benefit of patients globally. Previously, Dr. Perlroth served as Venture Partner and then Entrepreneur in Residence at MPM Capital, a dedicated healthcare venture capital investment firm. In 2003, Dr. Perlroth co-founded Avidia Inc., a biopharmaceuticals drug discovery and development company where he served as General Manager and Vice President of Corporate Development. In this role, at various times he had broad management responsibility across both corporate and research and development activities. Dr. Perlroth was one of two principals involved in the acquisition of the company by Amgen for $450 million. Earlier, Dr. Perlroth worked at Guzik Technical Enterprises, the industry-leading provider of test equipment to the hard disk drive industry, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Perlroth earned his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Stanford University and an A.B. in Molecular Biology summa cum laude from Princeton University.