Board of Directors
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 governance committee since September 2018. Dr. Baker is a Managing Member of Baker Bros. Advisors LP a biotechnology-focused investment adviser to fund partnerships whose investors are primarily endowments and foundations, which Dr. Baker founded, together with his brother Julian Baker, in 2000. Dr. Baker holds a B.S. and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University, where he also completed two years of medical school. He also serves on the boards of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., IGM Biosciences, Inc., Kymera Therapeutics, Inc., and Bicycle Therapeutics plc. Previously he served on the board of Seagen, Inc. from July 2003 through December 2023, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from June 2015 through February 2021.
Charles A. Bancroft has served as a member of our board of directors and as chair of our audit committee and a member of our nominating and governance committee since April 2020 and as a member of our compensation committee since April 2021. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Bancroft held a number of leadership roles in commercial, strategy and finance at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, a global pharmaceutical company, from 1984 until his retirement in March 2020, including serving as the Chief Financial Officer from January 2010 to November 2019. Since May 2020, Mr. Bancroft has been serving as an independent director of GSK, a public pharmaceutical company. Since October 2020, Mr. Bancroft has been serving as an independent director of Biovector, Inc., a privately held healthcare company. In March 2024, Mr. Bancroft began serving as Executive Chairman of Patent Protection Research, a privately held investment company. Mr. Bancroft served as a member of the board of directors of Colgate-Palmolive Company, a public consumer products company, from January 2017 to March 2020. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Drexel University and a M.B.A. from Temple University.
Bassil I. Dahiyat, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2018 and as a member of our audit 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 has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2018 and a member of our nominating and corporate governance committee since September 2018. From December 2016 to May 2019, Dr. Levy 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 boards of directors of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc., and ProTara Therapeutics Inc. From April 2020 to June 2021, Dr. Levy served on the board of directors of Constellation Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company which was acquired by MorphoSys AG. 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 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a fellowship in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UCLA.
Victor Perlroth, M.D. is the co-founder of Kodiak Sciences 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 and operational 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 leading retinal franchise for the benefit of patients globally. Prior to co-founding Kodiak, Dr. Perlroth co-founded Avidia Inc, a biopharmaceuticals drug discovery and development company where he served in senior corporate and research and development roles until Amgen acquired the company for $450 million. After Avidia, Dr. Perlroth worked in life sciences venture capital as venture partner then entrepreneur in residence. Earlier, Dr. Perlroth served as the chief operating officer at Guzik Technical Enterprises, the industry leading provider of test equipment to the hard disk drive industry. 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. has served as one of our directors since June 2018, as chair of our nominating and corporate governance committee and a member of our compensation committee since September 2018 and as our lead independent director since August 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. Mr. Profusek holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a J.D. from New York University.
Taiyin Yang, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors and a member of our audit committee since December 2019. Dr. Yang is the former Executive Vice President of Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing at Gilead Sciences, Inc., a role she held from 2015 to 2022. She directed operations of chemical and biologics process development, device and formulation development, manufacturing, packaging, analytical operations, laboratory information systems, data science, quality assurance, CMC regulatory affairs, program management, supply chain management and site operations for all the company’s small molecules, biologics and antibody-drug conjugates of investigational compounds and marketed products. Under her leadership, Gilead developed the world’s first HIV single tablet regimen and advanced more than 25 compounds from early-stage development to market, reaching millions of people around the world. Prior to joining Gilead in 1993, Dr. Yang worked at Syntex Corporation from 1980 where she contributed to the development and commercialization of more than 10 medicines. Dr. Yang serves on the board of directors of Kronos Bio, Inc. since 2021 and Brii Biosciences since 2022. Dr. Yang was a member of the Expert Scientific Advisory Committee of Medicines for Malaria Venture from 2020 to 2023, and is a member of the scientific advisory board of Sionna Therapeutics since 2022. Dr. Yang received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from National Taiwan University and her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Southern California. Dr. Yang was inducted as a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2021 and elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2022.