Reverb Therapeutics

Dr. de Graaf is a pioneer in the biotech industry with an impressive record of advancing programs into the clinic. Most recently, he was the CEO of Abcuro a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer through precise modulation of cytotoxic T and NK cells.

Prior to that, David was CEO of Comet Therapeutics (acquired by VectivBio) and Syntimmune, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing novel treatments for IgG-mediated autoimmune diseases which was acquired by Alexion.

His experience includes leadership roles at Apple Tree Partners, Selventa, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Pfizer and AstraZeneca. He holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Surjit Dixit is an experienced drug developer with an eye for creative application of structure guided rational molecular design technologies for multifunctional biologic drug optimization. Previously, he led the technical and scientific direction of the Zymeworks Inc for over 14 years where he served as CTO. He led the development of numerous technology platforms for Zymeworks including the AZYMETRIC™ bispecific platform which has been basis of multiple clinical candidates including Zanidatamab, the leading biparatopic antibody, which got its first FDA approval recently.

He is an inventor on over 26 patent families across areas of computational modeling, biologics design, and therapeutic drug candidates. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. ​

Dr. Hausman was most recently Chief Medical Officer at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals where she had previously been a member of the Board of Directors. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors at Immuneering Corporation.

Prior to Zentalis, Dr.  Hausman was Chief Medical Officer at Link Immunotherapeutics and at Lengo Therapeutics (acquired by Blueprint Medicines Corporation). Dr. Hausman also served as Chief Medical Officer at Zymeworks Inc. and Oncothyreon Inc. (acquired by Seagen/Pfizer). She has previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Zymogenetics, Berlex and Immunex.

Dr. Hausman received an A.B. In biology from Princeton University, M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and internal medicine and specialty training in hematology and medical oncology at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Ahmed is a scientist, biotech entrepreneur, and business development expert. Before joining Reverb, he was part of the BD team at Sanofi where he held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as head of search and evaluation for Asia-Pacific region. He led several strategic transactions focused on immune-oncology and conditionally active biologics.

Before Sanofi, Ahmed was the head of business development at Palleon Pharmaceuticals where he expanded the IP footprint while leading out-licensing activities.

Ahmed holds a Ph.D. from Penn State University College of Medicine and has completed his postdoc training at Harvard Medical School.

Jean is a CPA, CA and brings over fifteen years of finance and accounting experience working with both private and public companies in the life sciences sector, including five years with KPMG’s advisory and assurance practices.

A highly sought-after consultant with over $1 billion of deals experience, Jean recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of publicly-listed GeneTether Therapeutics Inc., where her leadership was instrumental in key milestones, including the successful completion of its IPO in 2022.

Jean was recognized as Accountancy Leader of the Year (Top 5 Nominee) by Women in Finance, Canada (2019). Jean holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University, as well as a Master in Professional Accounting from the University of Saskatchewan.

Mark Fogg has spent his career developing a deep understanding of the human immune response. From studying immunity to virus infections in academia to development of T cell therapies and antibodies to target cancer and autoimmunity.

After obtaining his PhD at the University of Reading in the UK, he spent 14 years in academia; initially at the NIAID/NIH followed by Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He then moved to industry with a focus on antibody therapeutics, leading a biomarker discovery team at Pfizer and as head of the immunology group at Abzena.

Mark then moved to Merus where he was responsible for multiple bispecific antibody discovery programs in immune oncology before joining Zymeworks and AbCellera as an immunology/antibody expert on the partnering team.

Dr. Burke is an entrepreneur, pioneer, and leader in the biotech and system pharmacology industries. He was the CEO and co-founder of Applied BioMath, which after 10 years became the world’s largest systems pharmacology tech backed service. Applied BioMath was acquired by Certara in Dec 2023, and John subsequently became VP of Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Consultancy.

Prior to Applied BioMath, John led the Systems Modeling group at Boehringer Ingelheim, supporting novel therapeutics in Discovery, Preclinical Development, and Clinical Development; most notably: Risankizumab (Anti-IL23), Idarucizumab (Praxbind), Anti-PD1, Anti-LAG3, Anti-IL36R and a fully antagonistic Anti-CD40 Mab.

John holds a PhD in Mathematics from Arizona State University and was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Biological Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then in the Systems Biology Department, Harvard Medical School.

Jean-François Pariseau is co-founder and Partner at Amplitude Ventures, which works with the most promising healthcare companies with a shared vision of bringing groundbreaking technologies to patients. Amplitude is focused on building world-class companies in precision medicine and next-generation medical devices.

Before co-founding Amplitude, Jean-Francois was Partner at the Healthcare Fund of BDC Capital and an investment manager with CDP Capital Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, where he was responsible for healthcare investments in Canada and the US.

While completing his graduate studies in biomedical sciences at the University of Montreal, Jean-Francois co-founded a consulting company specializing in regulatory affairs, and a pharmaceutical-product distribution company.

Dr. de Graaf is a pioneer in the biotech industry with an impressive record of advancing programs into the clinic. Most recently, he was the CEO of Abcuro a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer through precise modulation of cytotoxic T and NK cells.

Prior to that, David was CEO of Comet Therapeutics (acquired by VectivBio) and Syntimmune, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing novel treatments for IgG-mediated autoimmune diseases which was acquired by Alexion.

His experience includes leadership roles at Apple Tree Partners, Selventa, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Pfizer and AstraZeneca. He holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Stephan is currently a Board member at Aperiam Bio and Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Board at Anokion. He brings to Reverb deep operational and international business experience in early-stage companies as well as translational expertise in immunology and protein engineering.

Previously, Stephan was an EIR at Versant Ventures and Chief Scientific Officer of Anokion, a company he founded based on work from his doctoral thesis. At Anokion, he launched and scaled the company from inception through multiple transformative partnerships with world-leading pharmaceutical companies and defined and led R&D strategy to achieve successful clinical translation of a novel immune-based platform technology to treat autoimmune diseases.

Stephan holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Bharat Srinivasa is a Principal at Amplitude Ventures, where he has co-founded and/or been founding CEO for a number of novel platform biotechs. He has also led investments in several precision medicine companies.

Prior to Amplitude, he was on the investment team at the BDC Healthcare Fund, where he was involved in taking multiple companies public. Prior to VC, Bharat was a consultant in the Business Intelligence practice at Foster Rosenblatt, an international life science consulting firm.

Bharat has a PhD in Experimental Medicine and Masters of Science in Immunology from McGill University.

Dr. Maude Tessier is a longtime biopharma executive with over 18 years of company building experience with a multi-disciplinary background in business development, corporate strategy, fundraising and investor relations (IR), corporate communications (PR), and IP, portfolio and program management, in public and private biotechnology, pharmaceutical and academic organizations. She currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Hillstar Bio, a private preclinical-stage immunology biotech company, where she is responsible for BD & strategy, finance, legal, PR and operations.

Previously, she served as Chief Business Officer (CBO) at Seismic Therapeutic, where she led financing, partnering and corporate strategy, including driving a $146M Series B financing. As CBO of Ikena Oncology, she built and managed business development, legal, and corporate strategy functions, in particular, leading a $1B+ strategic partnership with BMS and contributing to over $260M in capital raises. Maude’s career also includes leadership roles at Merck & Co., Boston Children’s Hospital, and Xanthus Pharmaceuticals. Maude holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.