William Lis has 30 years of biopharmaceutical experience. He is the Chairman after serving as CEO of Jasper Therapeutics, Inc. where he led the company’s Series A financing, initial public offering and pipeline development from 2019 until 2022. Previously, Mr. Lis served as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2009 until 2018 after serving as Chief Operating Officer. Under his leadership, Portola successfully grew from a discovery-stage company to a fully integrated R&D and commercial organization, and independently discovered and developed Andexxa®, Bevyxxa® and cerdulatinib. He led the initial public offering in 2013 and grew Portola into a multi-billion dollar valuation company during his tenure. Portola was acquired by Alexion in 2020. Mr. Lis held executive positions at Scios, Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson company) where he last served as Sr. Vice President of New Product Development and Business Development, having led in-licensing efforts, development, and the commercial operations for Xarelto®; He also held positions of increasing responsibility at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (previously COR Therapeutics, Inc.) and Rhone Poulenc Rorer in sales, marketing, medical affairs, and business development. he was involved in the commercial launch of Integrilin®, Lovenox®, Velcade® and Rilutek®. Mr. Lis served as a member of the Bio Board of Directors for Emerging Companies and as an independent Director of Eidos Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:EIDX), acquired by Bridge Bio, and is currently and independent Director of Zai Laboratories, Inc (NASDAQ: ZLAB). Mr. Lis holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Shizuru is a Professor of Medicine (Blood and Marrow Transplantation) and Pediatrics (Stem Cell Transplantation) at Stanford. She is a member of the Stanford Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT) faculty, the Stanford Immunology Program, and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. She has attended on the BMT clinical service since 1997. Currently, she oversees a research laboratory focused on understanding the cellular and molecular basis of resistance to engraftment of transplanted allogeneic bone marrow cells and the way in which bone marrow grafts modify immune responses.

Kurt joined Abingworth in January 2015 bringing over 25 years of experience in life science investment. He began his career as a biotechnology and healthcare analyst in 1990, and then was promoted to Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton. Kurt then became a General Partner at MPM Capital in 2000. In 2009, he co-founded venBio, a US healthcare investment firm and most recently was a Partner in the San Francisco office. He holds board positions at CymaBay, Jasper Therapeutics, Orbus Therapeutics, SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Tizona Therapeutics, Trishula Therapeutics, Vaxcyte and Vera Therapeutics. He was formerly on boards at Aurinia, CRISPR Therapeutics, Cytos, Kesios, Facet and Somaxon. Kurt holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Dr. French is a Partner at Qiming Venture Partners USA, where she invests in biotech and digital health companies, focusing on advanced therapeutics including cell and gene therapy. Her active investments include Jasper Therapeutics, WindMIL Therapeutics, Talaris Therapeutics, Cadent Therapeutics, LetsGetChecked and Platelet Biogenesis, for which she serves as a board observer. Previously, Dr. French was a Management Consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where she advised leading biopharma companies on their strategy and operations, with an emphasis on cell and gene therapy. She also led a global industry/academic consortium focused on cell therapy commercialization. Dr. French earned a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, UK, where her research focused on the hematopoietic differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells. She has over 20 publications in the field of stem cell research.

Lawrence is currently a Partner with Versant Ventures. Prior to joining Versant, he was COO and CBO at CRISPR Therapeutics, where he held various roles of increasing responsibility and helped to grow the company from an early stage. Before joining CRISPR, he was an associate partner at McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in the biotech practice and served several biotech companies on a wide range of topics, from strategy to operations. He also serves on the board of Dyne Therapeutics, a company focused on muscle disease. He received his B.S. in biochemistry and physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his Ph.D. in biophysics from Stanford University.

Mr. Nolet has extensive experience as a long-time audit partner and business advisor in the life sciences industry. He currently serves on the board of directors at three public life science companies, Ambrx Biopharma, Revance Therapeutics and PolarityTE. He is also a board member at a large industry association – California Life Sciences. He was on the board at Viela Bio until its acquisition in the spring of 2021, and is a former member of the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board at BIO. Chris is the former West Region Life Sciences Industry Leader and Partner at Ernst & Young (EY), having retired in June 2019 after more than 38 years in the profession. In addition to serving clients, his responsibilities included leading the West Region EY Life Sciences Industry Group and serving as a member of the Global EY Life Sciences Executive Leadership Group. Prior to joining EY, Mr. Nolet was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he led the life sciences practice in the western U.S. He holds a B.S. in accounting from San Diego State University and is a certified public accountant in California (retired).

Vishal Kapoor has been a Partner of Avego Management, LLC, an affiliate of Velan Capital, since January 2021, leading their life sciences venture investing strategy. He was also President of Amplitude Healthcare Acquisition Corporation, a life sciences focused special purpose acquisition company, until its merger with Jasper Therapeutics in September 2021. Prior to that, Mr. Kapoor was Chief Business Officer of Iveric bio (formerly known as Ophthotech). At Iveric, he was responsible for acquiring an industry-leading portfolio of gene therapy and therapeutic assets in ophthalmology. Prior to Iveric, Mr. Kapoor was Director of Corporate Development at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which Shire acquired in 2015 for $5.2 billion. Before NPS, Mr. Kapoor spent nine years at Genentech in various positions, including leading strategy for ophthalmology and central nervous system pipeline assets, Lucentis marketing, commercial assessments for business development, and medical affairs. In addition, Mr. Kapoor has previously worked at Pfizer. Mr. Kapoor holds an MBA in Finance and Management from Columbia Business School and a BA in Biology from Columbia University.

Ronald Martell is a veteran biopharmaceutical executive and serial entrepreneur, having founded five companies and served on the boards of directors of several others. In February 2022, Ronald became the CEO of Jasper Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on hematopoietic cell transplant therapies.

Prior to joining Jasper, Ronald served as the President and CEO of MorphImmune, Inc., a private platform company advancing a highly specific targeting technology that uses a ligand-linked payload to reprogram the immune system. Previously, he was President and CEO of Nuvelution Pharma. He was also Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Indapta, Orca Bio and Co-Founder and CEO of Achieve Life Sciences, where he led the merger of the company with Oncogenex. Ronald has served as the CEO of three public biopharmaceutical companies, including Sevion and NeurogesX, and has overseen billions of dollars in industry transactions.

Earlier in his career, Ronald served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at ImClone Systems, where he was instrumental in deals with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck KGaA and built ImClone Systems’ worldwide operations to market and commercialize Erbitux®. He also served in various leadership positions with Genentech where, as Group Manager, Oncology, he was responsible for building the company’s oncology franchise, including the launch of Herceptin® and Rituxan®.

Ronald is passionate about leading public biopharmaceutical companies in all phases of development and maximizing their potential across the healthcare industry.