About - Zenas BioPharma

Zenas BioPharma is a global biopharmaceutical company committed to becoming a leader in the development and commercialization of immunology based therapies for patients in need.

Zenas is rapidly advancing a deep pipeline of innovative therapeutics that continues to grow through our successful business development strategy. Our experienced leadership team and network of business partners drive operational excellence to deliver potentially transformative therapies to improve the lives of those facing autoimmune and rare diseases.

Vision & Values

At Zenas, we strive to be a truly innovative company. Our vision is to be a global leader in bringing innovative immunology based medicines to patients around the world. We are guided by our core value system: TRUE Innovation.

Transparency

We will communicate openly and honestly, even when having difficult conversations.

Relationships

We are unified in the high value we place on both our internal relationships with each other and our external relationships with our partners and collaborators.

Urgency

We are all fully engaged with a sense of urgency to realize our vision.

Excellence

We aspire to the highest levels of teamwork and results-oriented execution, and we will measure and communicate our results.

Innovation

We will be creative, open to change, adaptable to new ways of thinking and operating with a “why not?” attitude.

Leadership

Lonnie Moulder
Founder, CEO & Chairman

Mr. Moulder, Founder of Zenas BioPharma, is our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Prior to Zenas, he co-founded and served as CEO and Director at TESARO, until its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline in January 2019. Before founding TESARO, Mr. Moulder was President and CEO of Abraxis BioScience. He also previously served as Vice Chairman of Eisai Corporation of North America after Eisai’s acquisition of MGI PHARMA, where he was President and CEO. This followed him serving as a member of the founding management team of a venture-stage biotech company. Mr. Moulder began his career as a clinical pharmacist followed by a 17-year career at predecessor companies of Sanofi, beginning with Marion Laboratories.

Mr. Moulder is Managing Member of Tellus BioVentures and serves as a Board of Director for several Tellus portfolio companies. He also serves as a Director for Zai Lab (Nasdaq: ZLAB). Mr. Moulder is a Temple University Trustee; Chair of Temple University Japan; and a Council Member for both the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Mr. Moulder received a Pharmacy degree from Temple University and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Joe Farmer
President & Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Farmer is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Zenas BioPharma. He is an accomplished biopharma executive with over 25 years of transactional and operational experience working with emerging biotechnology companies at all stages of development, from discovery through commercialization. Prior to joining Zenas, he served as Chief Operating Officer at Xilio Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company, where he led the general and administrative, business development, and business operations functions. Prior to Xilio he was the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at TESARO, where he led the global legal, compliance and government affairs functions and was a key member of the leadership team through its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline in 2019. He previously served as Chief Corporate Counsel at Cubist Pharmaceuticals through its acquisition by Merck in 2015 and as General Counsel at two publicly traded companies, including AMAG Pharmaceuticals, where he was also the Chief Administrative Officer. He began his career as a corporate attorney at Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault.

Throughout his career, Mr. Farmer has been involved in numerous large and complex financing, business development, and M&A transactions, together approaching $20 billion in aggregate value. He received his J.D. from Boston College Law School and his B.A. in economics from Boston University.

Jennifer Fox
Chief Business Officer & Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Fox is the Chief Business Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Zenas BioPharma. She is an experienced finance and corporate development executive with more than 25 years of experience in corporate finance and healthcare investment banking, advising numerous private and public companies with respect to strategy, financings and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Zenas, Ms. Fox served as Chief Financial Officer at Nuvation Bio, a publicly traded biotechnology company, where she was part of the executive leadership team and had an integral role in establishing the strategic and financial direction of the company. She previously served as a Managing Director and Co-Head of North America Healthcare Corporate and Investment Banking Group at CitiGroup. Prior to CitiGroup, Ms. Fox held senior positions in investment banking at Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns, Bank of America and Prudential Securities. She holds B.S. degrees in finance and marketing from Manhattan College.

Tanya Fischer, M.D., Ph.D.
Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Tanya Fischer is the Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Zenas BioPharma. Dr. Fischer is a physician-scientist with 20 years of experience in academia and at pharmaceutical/ biotechnology companies leading early and late-stage research and development programs across multiple therapeutic areas including Neurology and Rare Diseases.

Prior to joining Zenas, she served as the Chief Development Officer and Head of Translational Medicine at Biohaven, a pharmaceutical company focused on neurological conditions. Prior to Biohaven, Dr. Fischer also held leadership roles at Alnylam and Sanofi. While at Alnylam, she was responsible for expanding the CNS pipeline and initiating a Phase 1 trial. At Sanofi, she was responsible for leading the flagship global project teams in clinical development (Phase 1 through Phase 3) for a rare genetic form of Parkinson’s Disease and related rare neurodegenerative diseases (such as Gaucher disease (type 3) and GM2 gangliosidosis, as well as genetic forms of ophthalmology.

Dr. Fischer is a neurologist, with clinical subspecialties in demyelinating diseases and chronic neuropathic pain. Dr. Fischer completed her Neurology residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. As an Associate Professor at Yale University in Neurology, her VA-supported academic research focused on genetic and acquired forms of pain (ion channels (especially in Nav 1.7) and diabetic neuropathy) with a variety of peer-reviewed paper. She also was awarded the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award in 2011. The PECASE Awards are intended to recognize some of the finest scientists and engineers who, while early in their research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century.

Gan Wei, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Global Technical Operations

Dr. Wei is Senior Vice President, Global Technical Operations at Zenas BioPharma. Prior to joining Zenas, he served as Vice President, Interim Head of Technical Operations at Voyager Therapeutics. Previously, Dr. Wei was the Senior Director of Biologics Process Development at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, followed by Executive Director of Biologics Drug Substance and Analytical Sciences at TESARO. Dr. Wei has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry spanning biologics process development and cGMP manufacturing support, including commercialization to life cycle management. He has led CMC for multiple programs from IND-enabling through successful registration. Dr. Wei received a Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and an M.S. and B.S. in Biochemical Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology.

Caroline Chevalier
Chief Human Resources Officer

Ms. Chevalier is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Zenas BioPharma. Ms. Chevalier leads the Human Resource Operations function for the U.S. and has more than 15 years of human resources experience within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Prior to joining Zenas, she served as Vice President, Human Resources at Deciphera Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Deciphera, Ms. Chevalier was Senior Director, Total Rewards & Human Resource Operations at TESARO where she was responsible for developing and implementing scalable policies and programs to attract and retain talent in a high growth, global organization. Ms. Chevalier also held several roles of increasing responsibility at Cubist Pharmaceuticals in her 12 year tenure during which she gained experience across all aspects of Human Resources, supporting the organization through commercialization, global expansion and multiple acquisitions. Ms. Chevalier received a B.A. in Economics from Boston College.

Board of Directors

Lonnie Moulder, Founder, CEO & Chairman

James Boylan, Chief Executive Officer, Enavate Sciences

James Boylan is Chief Executive Officer of Enavate Sciences and is an accomplished health care executive, entrepreneur, and innovator with nearly three decades of experience. Mr. Boylan most recently served as President and Head of Investment Banking of SVB Leerink, where he architected and led the firm’s transformation into an industry-leading health care investment bank that was acquired by SVB Financial in 2019. Across his 12 years at SVB Leerink and prior 12 years as a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Boylan has worked with hundreds of life sciences and biotechnology companies to develop strategy and complete transactions in capital markets and mergers & acquisitions.

Mr. Boylan earned an M.B.A in finance from the Columbia Business School and a B.S. in finance from Lehigh University.

Patrick Enright, Managing Director, Longitude Capital

Patrick Enright is a Managing Director and Founder of Longitude Capital. Prior to Longitude Capital, Mr. Enright was a Managing Director of Pequot Ventures, where he co-led the life sciences investment practice. Prior to Pequot, he was a Managing Member of the Delta Opportunity Fund at Diaz & Altschul Capital Management. Mr. Enright began his investment career at PaineWebber Development Corporation. Mr. Enright also has significant life sciences operations experience, including senior executive positions at Valentis, Boehringer Mannheim (acquired by Roche), and Sandoz. Mr. Enright currently serves on the boards of Aptinyx, CuraSen Therapeutics, Endeavor Biomedicines, Epirium Bio, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Orbus Therapeutics, Rivus Pharmaceuticals, Vera Therapeutics, as well as the National Venture Capital Association.

Mr. Enright holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

Tomas Kiselak, Managing Member, Fairmount Funds

Mr. Kiselak serves as Managing Member at Fairmount Funds Management LLC, a healthcare investment fund he co-founded in April 2016. Prior to Fairmount Funds, Mr. Kiselak served as a managing director at RA Capital Management LLC, based in Boston. In addition to his responsibilities at Fairmount Funds, Mr. Kiselak serves as a Director at Viridian Therapeutics, Inc., and a strategic advisor to Dianthus Therapeutics, Inc. He received his BA in Neuroscience and Economics from Amherst College.

Hongbo Lu, Ph.D, Partner, Vivo Capital

Hongbo Lu, Ph.D., is a Partner of Vivo Capital. Dr. Lu has close to 20 years of healthcare investment experience in both public securities and private companies. Prior to joining Vivo, she served as a Managing Partner at Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV). Prior to that, she served as a Managing Director at OrbiMed Advisors. She previously served on the boards of Turning Point Therapeutics, CrownBio, Avedro Inc., and Passage Bio and was extensively involved in the company incubations of ADARx Pharmaceuticals, Alpiscience, Geneception Therapeutics, Perfuse Therapeutics, Terns Pharmaceuticals, and Ronovo Pharmaceuticals since inception.

Dr. Lu earned a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, an MBA. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with honors from Tsinghua University.

Marietta Wu, MD, Ph.D., MBA, Managing Director, Quan Capital

Dr. Wu is Managing Director of Quan Capital, a life sciences venture fund with offices in China and the US. She is a founding member of Zai Lab (NASDAQ: ZLAB) and served as Chief Operating Officer and Director of the company prior to Quan Capital. Over the past decade, Dr. Wu has been active in cross-border ventures and value creation in the life sciences industry. Dr. Wu is also a frequent speaker and an author on China and Taiwan life sciences topics, and a founding member of the China Healthcare Investment Conference.

Dr. Wu received her medical degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (formerly Shanghai Second Medical University), a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from Medical College of Ohio, and an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Dr. Wu serves on the board of Citrine, Crescendo Biologics, Innoforce, Kira Pharmaceutical, MEDx Translational Medicine and Zidan Medical.

John Orloff, MD, Venture Partner, Agent Capital

Dr. Orloff is Venture Partner at Agent Capital, a healthcare venture capital firm based in Waltham, MA. Prior to Agent Capital, he served as EVP and Global Head of R&D for Alexion, where his leadership in expanding the development pipeline from three to 30 programs supported the recent $39 billion acquisition of Alexion by AstraZeneca. Prior to Alexion, Dr. Orloff was Global Head of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Baxalta, and has also held executive leadership roles with Novelion, Baxter International, Merck Serono, Novartis and Merck Research Laboratories.

Before entering the biopharmaceutical industry, he was a faculty member at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Orloff received an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Dartmouth College, earned his medical degree from the University of Vermont, College of Medicine and completed a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at Yale University School of Medicine.

Patricia Allen, Former Chief Financial Officer at Vividion Therapeutics

Ms. Allen is an experienced finance executive who most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer at Vividion Therapeutics, where she recently retired. While at Vividion she co-led led fundraising and the company’s acquisition by Bayer AG, as the company grew and advanced multiple programs towards the clinic. She currently serves on the board of directors and as chair of the audit committee of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, SwanBio Therapeutics and Anokion, in addition to holding past board member and audit committee chair roles at Inversago Pharma and Yumanity Therapeutics.

Prior to Vividion, Ms. Allen was the Chief Financial Officer at Zafgen, Inc. (now Larimer Therapeutics). Earlier, she was Vice President of Finance and Treasurer, Principal Financial Officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Director of Finance at Alkermes, Inc.; and Auditor at Deloitte & Touche, LLP. She received a B.S. in Business Administration from Bryant College.