Emile Nuwaysir serves as president, chief executive officer and member of the board of directors of Ensoma. He is the chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, an international advocacy organization comprised of 400+ member companies dedicated to advancing cell and gene medicines. He joins Ensoma from BlueRock Therapeutics, an independently operated subsidiary of Bayer Pharmaceuticals, where he was CEO and continues to serve as chairman of the company’s board of directors. As the CEO of BlueRock from inception, Emile helped build a platform company at the intersection of cellular and genetic medicine, develop a pipeline of first-in-class therapeutic programs and manage the company’s acquisition and operation with Bayer. Prior to BlueRock, he served as president and chief operating officer of Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), A Fujifilm Company. He played a leading role in growing CDI and its stem cell therapy efforts from its inception, including its early efforts as a pre-revenue startup, to its successful IPO on Nasdaq and ultimate acquisition by Fujifilm. He was also president of Opsis Therapeutics Inc., CDI’s retinal cell therapy subsidiary. Before CDI, Emile was the first employee of NimbleGen Systems, serving as a member of the senior management team that built a successful company and orchestrated a dual-track IPO process leading to the company’s acquisition by Roche Diagnostics. After the acquisition of NimbleGen, Emile served as chief technical officer of the Roche NimbleGen subsidiary. Emile is also currently vice chairman of Invenra Inc., a multi-specifics antibody platform company he co-founded in 2011.

Emile has held postdoctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a B.A. from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in molecular toxicology with a focus on oncology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Rob Peters brings to Ensoma more than 20 years of research and development experience, including working on recombinant clotting Factor VIII and Factor IX Fc fusion proteins from their inception in research through manufacturing, clinical development and supporting market launch as Eloctate/Elocta and Alprolix, the first extended half-life clotting factors for the treatment of hemophilia A and B, respectively. 

Prior to Ensoma, Rob was rare blood disorders head, research at Sanofi, where he helped establish the therapeutic area following the acquisition of Bioverativ, Ablynx and full control of fitusiran from Alnylam. There, he helped advance BIVV001, a further engineered FVIII fusion protein that began within his research group at Biogen, into Phase 3 clinical trials. Previously, Rob led the establishment of the research area in the Biogen spinoff Bioverativ as senior vice president, research, where he advanced a number of programs from research into clinical development and integrated a number of complement R&D programs brought in by the company’s acquisition of True North Therapeutics.

Rob began his career as the 11^th employee at the VC-backed startup Syntonix, where the promising preclinical data on the rFVIIIFc and rFIXFc fusion proteins led to the company’s acquisition by Biogen. There, he ultimately became vice president, hematology research, and oversaw the expansion of the portfolio beyond biologics to include small molecules, in vivo liver-directed lentiviral gene replacement, and ex vivo HSC gene editing programs in conjunction with academic and industry partners in hemophilia and sickle cell disease.

Rob holds a B.S. in biological engineering from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the laboratory of Tom Maniatis, Ph.D., at Harvard University.

Daniel Leblanc brings to Ensoma extensive experience in pharmaceutical development and operations with an emphasis on novel drug delivery systems. Prior to Ensoma, Daniel spent more than seven years at Flexion Therapeutics, where he was responsible for the technical operations and product development organizations leading the commercialization of Flexion’s first product, Zilretta®, and was instrumental in the identification, in-licensing and technical development of FX201, a novel gene therapy for the treatment of osteoarthritis. 

Previously, Daniel spent more than four years as the director of pharmaceutical development at Merck Serono in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was globally responsible for drug product and process development of all large molecule programs throughout the development life cycle. He also spent 11 years at Alkermes, Inc. in various positions, specializing in the characterization and development of manufacturing processes for PLGA-based drug delivery programs, as well as the startup and operation of Alkermes’ internal manufacturing processes for Nutropin Depot®, Vivitrol® and Risperdal Consta®. 

Daniel holds a B.S. from Syracuse University in chemical engineering and a joint M.S. from University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and the Wharton School in technology management.

Naina Bhasin brings to Ensoma nearly 15 years of life sciences experience in corporate and business development, strategic planning and operations. Most recently, she was the chief of staff to the CEO at Intellia Therapeutics, a genome editing company utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 technology, where she led planning and execution of a wide variety of strategic initiatives across the business. Prior to that role, Naina was director of business development at Shire, where she was responsible for the identification, evaluation and execution of transactions that supported the company’s rare disease strategy. Previously, she developed and managed the business development and communications functions at SciFluor Life Sciences as vice president of business development.

Naina began her career at CellzDirect, where she established its Hepatic Research Registry at 15 liver transplant and oncology centers throughout the U.S. Subsequently, she joined The Hamner Institutes, a nonprofit research organization, most recently serving as vice president of business development and operations. 

Naina is a member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and has previously served as a Boston Chapter Board Member. She has also been involved with MassBio’s MassCONNECT program.

Naina holds a B.S. in cell and structural biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Patrick Au brings to Ensoma more than a decade of cell and gene therapy experience in both regulatory and industry functions. Prior to Ensoma, he was a senior director of regulatory, pharmacology and toxicology at Casebia Therapeutics, a gene editing company, where he was responsible for nonclinical strategy and nonclinical and clinical bioanalysis across therapeutic areas. Prior to Casebia, Patrick was a pharmacology and toxicology lead at gene therapy company Spark Therapeutics. He also served as director of regulatory affairs at Adverum Biotechnologies (formerly Avalanche Biotech). Patrick began his career at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a pharmacology and toxicology reviewer in CBER’s Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (formerly known as the Office of Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies). 

Patrick holds a Ph.D. in medical engineering from Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a certified diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology.

John DeSimone has deep financial and operational experience across multiple industries in both private and public companies. Most recently, he served as the interim head of finance at VOR Bio. John joined VOR in April 2019 to lead financial activities, build the financial infrastructure and manage the transition from incubator lab space to 70,000 square feet of lab, office and cGMP space.  

Previously, John held CFO and planning roles in various companies and industries, including The Walt Disney Studios. Over his career, John has been involved in over 25 M&A transactions and related operational integrations. He began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

John received a B.S. in finance and accounting from Boston College.

Tony Forget brings to Ensoma more than 20 years of DNA repair and genome engineering experience focused on the mechanistic understanding of how cells react to DNA insult, as well how exogenous DNA can be utilized for transgene expression through integrated and non-integrating technologies. He has fostered platform technology innovation in a broad range of areas, including diagnostics and therapeutic approaches, as well as has a track record of building, enabling and leading successful high-functioning teams.

Prior to Ensoma, Tony was senior director at Intellia Therapeutics, where he co-led innovation and development of the company’s genome editing platform technology, including DNA repair, vector engineering and functional genomic screening functions. During his four-year tenure, he advanced complex genome editing capabilities and target gene integration for in vivo and ex vivo applications, enabling T cell engineering and expansion of Intellia’s emerging in vivo pipeline to include insertion targets, notably maturing hemophilia A and B programs leading to a co-development partnership with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Intellia, Tony was an associate director at the MIT-Broad Institute Synthetic Biology Foundry, where he built the infrastructure to enable the implementation of novel, high-throughput methods for synthetic biology at unprecedented scale. Previously, Tony held roles of increasing responsibility at electronic genome mapping company Nabsys, Inc. Earlier in his career, he served as a project scientist at UC Davis and MIT following completion of his postdoctoral training at the University of California, Davis.

Tony earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Norwich University, doctorate in biochemistry and molecular pharmacology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Davis.

Joe Salas brings to Ensoma an extensive track record discovering and advancing drug candidates into clinical development. Most recently, he served as the head of hemophilia and musculoskeletal disorders in Sanofi’s Rare Disease Unit, where he managed a diverse portfolio of novel therapeutics to address bleeding disorders and muscular dystrophies.

Prior to Sanofi, Joe was executive director of protein therapeutics at Bioverativ, a Biogen spinoff, where he led efforts to advance the hematology research pipeline while supporting development and life cycle management activities. Prior to Bioverativ, he started his career in biotech at Biogen, where he worked for almost a decade with increasing levels of responsibility discovering therapeutics in hemophilia and non-malignant hematology spanning a broad range of modalities, with a focus protein engineering approaches.

Joe holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.    

Soumitra Roy brings to Ensoma more than 25 years of experience in vector development for gene therapy, both in academia and in industry. Prior to Ensoma, he worked on adenoviral and adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector development at the gene therapy program at the University of Pennsylvania and at Johnson & Johnson (Janssen Vaccines), greatly expanding the repertoire of available adenoviral vector serotypes, as well as designing capsid mutants. 

Earlier in his career, Soumitra worked at Genetic Therapy Inc., one of the earliest startup companies in the field of gene therapy, and then at the Gencell division of Aventis Pharma (now Sanofi).

Soumitra holds an M.D. from Calcutta Medical College in India, a Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam, and is a fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (London). He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco and Genentech.

Betsy Bogard is dedicated to developing transformative therapies, especially for rare diseases. Her younger brother Jud was born with a rare genetic disease, inspiring her to make a difference for patients and families facing debilitating conditions.

Betsy has worked in biotechnology for more than 20 years in areas that include portfolio and alliance management, program leadership, real-world evidence, registries, health economics and patient community engagement. Prior to Ensoma, she worked in gene therapy development at AVROBIO, where she was an early-stage program leader, and bluebird bio, where she was head of real-world evidence.

In addition to her role at Ensoma, Betsy holds volunteer leadership roles at the International FOP Association, a non-profit patient organization for the rare disease fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), and RARE-X, a non-profit collaborative platform for data sharing in rare diseases.

Betsy holds a master’s degree in health policy and management from the Harvard School of Public Health.

Prior to Ensoma, Dawn Houlihan served as senior director of QA operations at Flexion Therapeutics, where she led the QA operations team to achieve NDA approval and commercialization of ZILRETTA^®. Dawn also led quality operations for the FX201 gene therapy program, ensuring CDMO readiness, process and product control strategy, and phase-appropriate quality systems, leading to an on-time filing of the IND and first-in-human studies.

Previously, Dawn spent much of her career in a range of quality roles within Janssen Biologics, where she provided QA guidance and leadership to several monoclonal antibody programs.

Dawn holds a BSc. degree from University College Cork (Ireland), and post-graduate certifications in Upstream Biopharmaceutical Processing from Cork Institute of Technology and FDA Quality System Requirements and Industry Practice from the AAMI University.

Prior to Ensoma, Chapman Wright served as director of process development at Generation Bio, where he guided the development of the company’s novel drug substance production platform. There, his responsibilities included material generation for in vitro/in vivo preclinical studies, upstream and downstream process development, and management of CMO operations. 

Previously, Chapman led teams in cell culture development and gene therapy development at Biogen, where his responsibilities spanned cell line development through CMC program leadership. 

Chapman holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Delaware and completed postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University.

Hans-Peter Kiem is an oncologist and world-renowned pioneer in stem cell and gene therapy and in the development of new gene-editing technologies. His research has focused on the biology and transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and on the development of technologies to expand and/or genetically modify HSCs for the treatment of infectious diseases such as HIV, genetic diseases and cancer. In addition, his lab has focused on the development of improved treatment and curative approaches for patients with genetic and infectious diseases or cancer. For gene editing, his lab works on the design and selection of enzymes, which include CRISPR/Cas. By combining gene therapy’s ability to repair problem-causing genes and stem cells’ regenerative capabilities, he hopes to achieve cures of diseases as diverse as HIV, leukemia and brain cancer. With preclinical models of HIV, Hans-Peter and his colleagues have demonstrated that they can modify a key viral entry gene and prevent it from working in transplanted blood stem cells. He hopes to apply these technologies to cure genetic blood disorders such as Fanconi anemia and sickle cell disease. He is also pioneering in vivo gene therapy approaches to make gene therapy and gene editing more broadly available and accessible to patients and those living with HIV, especially in resource-limited settings.

Hans-Peter has extensive experience training students and postdoctoral fellows and has mentored more than 45 trainees in his lab over the past 20 years. Many of his trainees now hold faculty positions in the U.S. and Germany. He has been the sponsor of four clinical stem cell gene therapy studies, including glioblastoma, Fanconi anemia and two studies for HIV/AIDS.

Hans-Peter served four years as a member of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) and one year as chair. He also served on the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) and American Society of Hematology (ASH) Stem Cell committees and for both societies as chair 2016-2017. He is also the president-elect of ASGCT and will be president in 2022.

Hans-Peter holds M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Ulm. After a two-year fellowship at Stanford, he completed a residency in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University in the physician scientist pathway. In 1992, he joined the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to complete a fellowship in oncology.

André Lieber is an academic researcher who has studied the biological and translational aspects of human adenoviruses for more than two decades. The Lieber lab has capitalized on mechanisms evolved by adenoviruses to establish infection and developed new approaches for the treatment of cancer using recombinant adenovirus proteins. Two of these approaches are currently being tested in cancer patients. 

Most recently, the Lieber lab developed a new technology that allows for in vivo genome engineering of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for therapeutic use in blood diseases. This technology is part of the foundation of Ensoma’s approach and has been licensed by Ensoma.

In addition to Ensoma, André is a co-founder of Compliment, Corp. He is also currently a member of the Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine and a core faculty member within the Washington National Primate Research Center. From 2013 to 2016, André was the secretary of the American Society of Stem Cell and Gene Therapy. He regularly serves on NIH study sections and is on the editorial board of four gene therapy-related journals. 

André is also dedicated to motivating students for a medical research career. Over the past decade, he has supervised more than 50 postdocs, graduates and undergraduates. 

André holds an M.D. from Second Medical Institute in Moscow and a Ph.D. from Humboldt University in Berlin.

Paula Soteropoulos brings to Ensoma more than 30 years of experience in the biopharma industry in areas of drug development, manufacturing, business development, global commercialization with P&L accountability, company building and organizational development. Her leadership throughout her career spans a broad range of therapeutic areas, including rare disease, cardiovascular and metabolism, infectious disease, renal, and transplant and oncology. In addition to Ensoma, Paula is a strategic advisor to 5AM Ventures and a member of the Board of Directors of uniQure and Rallybio. 

Previously, Paula served as the founding CEO and board member of rare disease therapeutic developer Akcea Therapeutics. There, she led the company through its IPO, as well as significant growth — employing over 270 staff in 13 countries and overseeing six drugs in its portfolio with two rare disease drug approvals and commercial launches. Prior, Paula served as senior vice president and general manager, cardiometabolic and rare disease businesses and strategic alliances at Moderna Therapeutics. She also spent more than 20 years at Genzyme Corporation, most recently as vice president and general manager, cardiovascular, rare diseases. 

Paula holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical and biochemical engineering from Tufts University and an executive management certificate from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. Paula serves on the advisory board for the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of Tufts University.

Albert Seymour has spent more than 20 years coupling the discipline of human genetics with pharmaceutical R&D, resulting in the delivery of multiple therapeutic programs into development. As chief scientific officer of Homology Medicines, Albert is responsible for translating the company’s dual in vivo gene therapy and gene editing platform into treatments for rare genetic disorders, including advancing the world’s first gene therapy clinical trial for phenylketonuria in just under three years.

Prior to Homology, Albert was the senior vice president and global head of research and nonclinical development at Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he led a team responsible for the delivery of a sustained flow of rare disease therapeutics. Prior to that role, Dr. Seymour served as the vice president and head of drug discovery and translational research at Shire, where he doubled the company’s rare disease discovery portfolio in three years. Subsequent to joining Shire, Albert spent 14 years at Pfizer leading a team in the application of human genetics and computational biology to discover and develop therapeutics and pharmacogenomics strategies in diabetes, inflammatory diseases and oncology. 

Albert holds an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Delaware and M.S. degree in molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University, where he focused on the molecular genetics of cancer. He holds a Ph.D. and completed postdoctoral training in human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Kush Parmar currently serves as CEO and member of the board of directors of Ensoma. As managing partner at 5AM Ventures, he currently serves on the board of directors of Akouos, Entrada Therapeutics, Homology Medicines, Rallybio and Vor Biopharma. Previously, Kush served as board member or observer for Achaogen, Arvinas, Audentes Therapeutics (acquired by Astellas), Envoy Therapeutics (acquired by Takeda) and scPharmaceuticals, as well as acting vice president of strategy and corporate development at Novira (acquired by Johnson & Johnson).

Kush currently serves on the advisory boards of Harvard Medical School, Penn Medicine, Princeton University’s Department of Molecular Biology and the Grace Science Foundation. He is a fellow of the Society of Kauffman Fellows. 

Prior to 5AM, Kush was an NIH-sponsored M.D./Ph.D. physician scientist fellow at Harvard Medical School in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. He completed clinical clerkships at the Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals. 

Kush holds an A.B. in molecular biology and medieval studies from Princeton University, a Ph.D. in experimental pathology from Harvard University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Stephen is president and managing partner at F-Prime Capital. He has worked in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for over 25 years and invests broadly across healthcare. Steve serves on the board of directors of Atalanta Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, Geneception, Genomics plc, Innovent Biologics, Iora Health, Pulmocide and Sana Biotechnology. Steve previously served on the boards of several private and public health care companies, including Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ: BPMC), Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD), NextWave Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), Proteostasis Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTI), Respivert, Ltd (acquired by J&J) and Semma Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex).

Prior to joining F-Prime Capital, Steve held various senior management roles in private and public biotechnology and consulting companies. He also was a researcher at AT&T Bell Laboratories, the National Institutes of Health and Yale University. He holds an M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine, an MBA from the Yale School of Organization and Management and a B.S. in biology from Columbia University, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Emile Nuwaysir serves as president, chief executive officer and member of the board of directors of Ensoma. He is the chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, an international advocacy organization comprised of 400+ member companies dedicated to advancing cell and gene medicines. He joins Ensoma from BlueRock Therapeutics, an independently operated subsidiary of Bayer Pharmaceuticals, where he was CEO and continues to serve as chairman of the company’s board of directors. As the CEO of BlueRock from inception, Emile helped build a platform company at the intersection of cellular and genetic medicine, develop a pipeline of first-in-class therapeutic programs and manage the company’s acquisition and operation with Bayer. Prior to BlueRock, he served as president and chief operating officer of Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), A Fujifilm Company. He played a leading role in growing CDI and its stem cell therapy efforts from its inception, including its early efforts as a pre-revenue startup, to its successful IPO on Nasdaq and ultimate acquisition by Fujifilm. He was also president of Opsis Therapeutics Inc., CDI’s retinal cell therapy subsidiary. Before CDI, Emile was the first employee of NimbleGen Systems, serving as a member of the senior management team that built a successful company and orchestrated a dual-track IPO process leading to the company’s acquisition by Roche Diagnostics. After the acquisition of NimbleGen, Emile served as chief technical officer of the Roche NimbleGen subsidiary. Emile is also currently vice chairman of Invenra Inc., a multi-specifics antibody platform company he co-founded in 2011.

Emile has held postdoctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a B.A. from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in molecular toxicology with a focus on oncology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Stephanus Family Endowed Chair for Cell and Gene Therapy; Director, Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Program; Professor, Clinical Research and Infectious Disease Divisions, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Professor of Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington

President-Elect, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy

Chair of Virology and Mircobiology, Universität Witten/Herdecke

Lodish Family Chair in Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children’s Hospital

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Robertson Investigator, New York Stem Cell Foundation

Principal Faculty, Harvard Stem Cell InstituteDana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders

CenterAssociate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Professor of Pediatrics, UCSF School of Medicine

Jordan Family Director, Blood and Marrow Transplant Program

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland