Andrea Wilson is a leading advocate for patients with sarcoidosis. She co-founded the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) in 2000 following her diagnosis with sarcoidosis with the goal to raise funds, facilitate research collaborations toward research and promote awareness to help sarcoidosis patients and their families and caregivers. During her more than 20 years with the organization she served as President and member of the Board of Directors, including Chairwoman. She has also served as a member of the American Thoracic Society’s Public Advisory Roundtable. She received the World Sarcoidosis Person of the Year Award in 2014.
Wayne A.I. Frederick, M.D.
Wayne A.I. Frederick, M.D., is the President Emeritus of Howard University, having previously served as the 17th President from July 2014 – September 2023. He is also the distinguished Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at the Howard University College of Medicine and a practicing cancer surgeon at Howard University Hospital. Dr. Frederick earned a B.S., M.D., and completed his surgical residency training at Howard University Hospital. Following his postdoctoral research and surgical oncology fellowships at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Frederick was Associate Director of the Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut. Upon his return to Howard University, his academic positions included Associate Dean in the College of Medicine, Division Chief in the Department of Surgery, Director of the Cancer Center and Deputy Provost for Health Sciences. He also earned an M.B.A. degree from Howard University’s School of Business. Dr. Frederick is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, abstracts, and editorials and is a widely recognized expert on disparities in healthcare and medical education. His medical research focuses on narrowing racial, ethnic and gender disparities in cancer-care outcomes. Dr. Frederick is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and belongs to numerous surgical and medical organizations, including the ACS’ Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, the American Surgical Association and the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Frederick also serves on the Board of Directors of Humana, Inc., Agostini Limited, Insulet Corporation, Workday, Inc., Mutual of America Life Insurance Co., and the American Cancer Society, in addition to a few other privately held companies and charitable organizations.
Lisa Carey
Lisa Carey has served as our Vice President, Clinical Operations since May 2023. Ms. Carey has
over 30 years of clinical operations experience. From June 2015 to December 2023, she served as
our Sr. Director, Clinical Operations, overseeing the company’s clinical programs, including
efzofitimod. Prior to joining aTyr, from 2006 to 2015, Ms. Carey worked at Vertex Pharmaceuticals as
a Clinical Operations Consultant in the Global Trial Activation Group, where she facilitated global
Phase 3 trials for Kalydeco® for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, Incivek® for hepatitis C and
lumacaftor for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. From 1997 to 2003, Ms. Carey was as an Associate
Director, Global Study Management, Experimental Medicine in the areas of oncology and infectious
disease at the Genetics Institute/Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and from 1995 to 1997, she served as a
Project Manager in asthma at Muro Pharmaceutical, Inc. Prior to entering into clinical operations
research, Ms. Carey was a critical care nurse. Ms. Carey has a B.S. in Nursing from Saint Joseph’s
College.
Danielle Campbell
Danielle Campbell has served as our Vice President, Human Resources since December 2021. Prior to joining aTyr, Ms. Campbell worked at Poseida Therapeutics, Inc., from 2016-2018 in roles related to human resources and facilities management. From 2019-2021, she was Senior Director, Facilities Operations, where she directed all facility operations including site development, maintenance, planning and environmental health and safety. From 2016-2018, she held roles in human resources at Poseida, including Director, Human Resources from 2018-2019 and Senior Manager, Human Resources from 2016-2018, where she managed daily human resources functions to support rapid growth, development and retention of team members. Prior to joining Poseida, Ms. Campbell was Human Resources Manager for aTyr Pharma, Inc., from 2015-2016, where she managed and supported daily human resources functions. Ms. Campbell began her career in human resources with earlier positions including Manager, Human Resources for Celladon Corporation from 2014-2015 and Manager, Human Resources & Equity Plans for Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. Ms. Campbell received a B.A. in Criminology, Law and Society from the University of California, Irvine School of Social Ecology.
Robert W. Ashworth, Ph.D.
Robert W. Ashworth, Ph.D. has served as our Vice President, Regulatory Affairs since October 2021. Prior to joining aTyr, from July 2018 to September 2021, Dr. Ashworth was Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality and CMC at OncoSec Medical, Inc., where he developed and executed the regulatory strategy for novel immunotherapy products for cancer. From 2015 to 2018, he was Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality and Compliance for Advaxis, Inc., where he developed and executed the global regulatory strategy for the company’s immunotherapy platform. Prior to that, he was Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs at NPS Pharmaceuticals. There he was instrumental in negotiating the approval of NATPARA (PTH) for hypoparathyroidism. When he was Vice President, Regulatory Affairs at Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development, Inc., he executed the regulatory strategy for ABILIFY®, the company’s flagship product. He has also held positions with Biovail Corporation, Forest Laboratories, Inc., and Knoll Pharmaceuticals Company, among other companies. Dr. Ashworth earned a B.S. in Chemistry from St. John’s University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sara L. Zaknoen, M.D.
Sara L. Zaknoen, M.D., has served as a director since May 2021. Since June 2014, through her company, Zed Strategic Consulting, Dr. Zaknoen has worked as a clinical drug development consultant with large pharma and biotech companies across multiple disease indications. Previously, Dr. Zaknoen held Chief Medical Officer positions at several biotechnology companies, including Ignyta, Inc., Polynoma LLC, Tragara Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Prior to that, Dr. Zaknoen served as Executive Director of Phase 2/3 Clinical Oncology Research at Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation, where she provided oversight for a number of important marketed therapies, such as Gleevec®, Tasigna® and Exiade®. This included supervising the execution of clinical studies, including registrational trials, and involvement with new drug applications and label expansion activities. As Director of Clinical Oncology Research at Schering-Plough (now Merck) she was the lead physician on the Temodar® program, supporting its approval and launch. Additional professional experience includes: Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center; Director of Experimental Therapeutics at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Western Pennsylvania Cancer Institute; and Medical Staff Fellow at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Zaknoen completed her residency, internship and fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Minnesota. She received her M.D. from Indiana University School of Medicine and her B.S. in chemistry and biology from Valparaiso University.
Leslie Nangle, Ph.D.
Leslie Nangle, Ph.D., has served as our Vice President, Research since January 2021. Dr. Nangle has served in scientific research roles at aTyr since joining the company in 2007, including most recently as Sr. Director and Head of Research. Dr. Nangle has over 20 years of experience in research dedicated to extracellular tRNA synthetases. Throughout her tenure at aTyr, she has co-developed and implemented the company’s discovery platform to generate an intellectual property estate of over 300 potential therapeutically relevant proteins and has overseen research leading to the discovery of a splice variant of histidyl-tRNA synthetase that has been shown to modulate the immune system, providing the basis of aTyr’s lead program, ATYR1923. Prior to joining aTyr, Dr. Nangle received a Ph.D. in Macromolecular Cellular Structure and Chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA, studying the emerging linkage between mutations in tRNA synthetases and inherited neuropathies under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Schimmel, who co-founded aTyr in 2005. Dr. Nangle received a bachelor of science in biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is co-author or co-inventor of over 75 publications and issued or pending U.S. patents.
Peter Villiger
Peter Villiger has served as our Vice President, Corporate Development since January 2020. From May 2016 to December 2019, he served as our Sr. Director, Corporate Development. Prior to joining aTyr, Mr. Villiger worked at The Medicines Company from 2008 to 2016, in business development and program management. Mr. Villiger completed a range of deals while at The Medicines Company, including the divestment of six marketed products, regional outlicensing deals in China and Japan, and two company acquisitions. During his time as a program manager, he oversaw programs across all stages of development, including the regulatory filings and FDA and EMA approvals for oritavancin, an anti-infective for complicated skin infections. Mr. Villiger has degrees in Finance from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and Biomedical Engineering from the University of Sydney in Australia.
Sanjay S. Shukla, M.D., M.S.
Sanjay S. Shukla, M.D., M.S. has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director since November 2017. Dr. Shukla served as our Chief Medical Officer from March 2016 to November 2017. From April 2015 to March 2016, Dr. Shukla worked in an advisory capacity for a number of companies, including as a consultant to aTyr from January 2016 to March 2016. Prior to that, from October 2012 to April 2015, Dr. Shukla served as Vice President and Global Head of Integrated Medical Services for Novartis, a biopharmaceutical company, where he led global medical affairs operations, with oversight for all pharma general medicines therapies, both inline and in development. Dr. Shukla served as Chief Executive Officer of RXMD, a clinical development consultancy that assisted in advancing proof of concept for early stage drug candidates, from April 2009 to September 2012. Prior to that, Dr. Shukla served in a variety of clinical development, data analytics and drug safety roles at Vifor Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company, and Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Vifor Pharma). Dr. Shukla received his M.D. from Howard University College of Medicine and his Bachelors of Science in microbiology and Master of Science in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Maryland.
Paul Schimmel, Ph.D.
Paul Schimmel, Ph.D. has served as a director since September 2005. Dr. Schimmel is currently a director of several private companies. He was a cofounder of Repligen Corporation, Alkermes, Inc., Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Sitris Pharmaceuticals, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and a founding Director of Momenta, Inc. Dr. Schimmel is an Ernest and Jean Hahn Professor of Molecular Medicine and of Chemistry at Scripps Research. He was formerly the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Schimmel holds a B.A. in biochemistry and biophysics from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.