We are at the cusp of a revolution in medicine. Synthetic biology is an entirely new strategy in drug development, affording us the opportunity to design selective and potent living medicines to treat disease. With a team of experienced scientists and executives at the helm, Synlogic is forging new ground to advance this approach and design novel therapeutics to treat unmet medical needs.
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Dr. Aoife Brennan is an experienced physician scientist and drug developer responsible for the successful clinical development and registration of multiple transformative medicines. Aoife has served as Synlogic’s president and chief executive officer since May 2018. She joined Synlogic in September 2016 as chief medical officer. Prior to Synlogic, Aoife spent six years at Biogen, most recently as vice president and head of the Rare Disease Innovation Unit, developing programs from pre-clinical to commercial. She has led programs across multiple therapeutic areas including the successful late phase development & registration of SPINRAZA® (nusinersen) for spinal muscular atrophy and ALPROLIX® and ELOCTATE® for Hemophilia B and Hemophilia A, respectively.
Aoife serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Cerevance and Fibrogen, Inc, and previously served on the Board of Directors of Ra Pharmaceuticals until it’s acquisition by UCB. Earlier in her career, Aoife led clinical development at Tolerx, a start-up biotech company focusing on immunotherapy for Type 1 diabetes.
Aoife holds a medical degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and has completed post-graduate training in internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolism. She has completed post-doctoral training in clinical research and metabolism at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School Scholars in Clinical Science Program.
Noaman Akhtar joined Synlogic in August 2022 and is responsible for clinical operations leadership. Noaman has over 23 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry and has led several clinical operation teams across various stages of development. Previously, Noaman was vice president and head of clinical operations at Aavantibio where he managed clinical operations for early development gene therapy for Friedrich Ataxia. Prior to that, he served as a head of clinical operations, cell therapy at Editas Medicine responsible for clinical operations deliverables for the development of autologous CRISPR gene-edited hematopoietic stem cell therapy targeting sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Earlier in his career, Noaman also served in various management and associate roles within Intarcia Therapeutics, PPD and Eli Lilly and Company. Noaman received his BS (Honors) and MS in Biochemistry from University of Karachi, and certificate in Business Management from University of California, San Diego.
Antoine (Tony) Awad joined Synlogic in December 2018 as Head of Technical Operations and is responsible for process sciences and manufacturing functions for the Company. Tony has over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with substantial experience in the development and manufacturing of novel therapeutics from pre-IND studies through global commercialization. Prior to joining Synlogic, Tony was most recently at Abpro Therapeutics and served as Senior Vice President of CMC and Operations where he was responsible for the development of bi-specific antibodies for oncology and leading corporate operational functions. Prior to that he served as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations and Manufacturing at L.E.A.F. Pharmaceuticals focused on developing small molecules for oncology. Previously, Tony held positions of increasing responsibilities over a ten-year period at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. As Head of Process Sciences & Manufacturing, Tony led CMC development, manufacturing and approval of ONIVYDE® for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer and transitioned to Ipsen Bioscience to integrate and lead commercial manufacturing of ONIVYDE®. Tony has broad experience in partnerships, collaboration and M&A, most notably with Sanofi, Baxalta/Shire plc, Actavis Pharma/Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Ipsen Bioscience. He is a graduate of Boston University and holds degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, and conducted graduate research at Boston University School of Dental Medicine.
Mary Beth Dooley joined Synlogic in June 2018 and is responsible for leading the Company’s financial strategy, planning, corporate accounting and operations. Before joining Synlogic, Mary Beth worked at Idera Pharmaceuticals, where she served various roles of increasing responsibility within the finance and accounting organization. Prior to joining Idera, Mary Beth worked in the Health Industries Assurance Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers, primarily serving clients in the life science sector. Prior to joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, she served as an Assistant Vice President at Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, in the Investment Management & Trust Department. Mary Beth holds a B.S in Economics from Bates College, a M.S. in Accounting and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University. She has participated in the Bike MS Cape Cod Getaway to help raise money and awareness for multiple sclerosis for over ten years.
Molly Harper joined Synlogic in September 2021 as Chief Business Officer and is responsible for commercial, corporate development, and business development functions.
Ms. Harper is an experienced biotech leader with a demonstrated track record of translating development assets into commercialized products. Ms. Harper joins Synlogic from Relmada Therapeutics, Inc. where she served as Executive Vice President of Operations. Prior to Relmada she served in positions of increasing responsibility with Akcea Therapeutics, including most recently as Senior Vice President and Global Franchise General Manager, with responsibility for a six-drug portfolio, including the commercialization of two rare disease drugs. Ms. Harper was also Head of US Endocrinology in the Rare Disease division of Sanofi Genzyme, having previously served at various positions in sales and marketing with Merck & Co, and equity research at UBS Warburg. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Catalyst Pharmaceuticals and PreciseDx.
Dr. David Hava serves as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research and Development. In this role he has responsibility for oversight of the company’s preclinical pipeline and clinical programs, including leadership of Synlogic’s collaborations with Roche and Ginkgo Bioworks. Since joining Synlogic in 2020, Dr. Hava has led the research department with responsibilities including the advancement of SYNB1353 into clinical development as a potential treatment of homocystinuria (HCU) and SYNB2081 into IND-enabling studies as a potential treatment for gout; the oversight of research collaborations with Ginkgo Bioworks and Roche; and leadership of Synlogic’s preclinical activities in immunology. He joined Synlogic with 16 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry leading platform and drug development programs.
Prior to joining Synlogic, Dr. Hava was the Chief Scientific Officer at Metera Pharmaceuticals, an early-stage company developing novel therapies for serious respiratory diseases. Prior to his role at Metera he was the Chief Scientific Officer at Pulmatrix Inc, where he led Research, Development and Clinical teams focused on the development of respiratory therapies in a novel dry powder delivery technology, called iSPERSE including the advancement of multiple clinical programs into Phase 2 clinical development.
Dr. Hava earned his PhD. in Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University and completed his post-doctoral training studying immunology and host-pathogen interactions at Harvard Medical School. As a post-doctoral fellow Dave was awarded a Damon Runyan Cancer Research Fellowship. He has co-authored numerous manuscripts and abstracts focused on rare diseases, immunology, chronic lung diseases and platform development.
Thomas Haws joined Synlogic in May 2022 as Vice President, Program Leader, with a primary focus on the phenylketonuria (PKU) program. Tom has 25 years of industry experience the in the fields of clinical leadership, clinical development, clinical pharmacology, clinical operations, molecular biology, cellular biology, and assay development in both the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. He is a passionate and inclusive team leader responsible for building and managing large, cross-functional matrix teams with full accountability to senior leaders for setting and implementing long-term strategy, transitioning preclinical assets into early phase clinical studies, and delivering on clinical development plans and regulatory strategy. Prior to joining Synlogic, Tom was an Executive Director at Passage Bio where he was responsible for the development of their GM1 Gangliosidosis and Krabbe Gene Therapy programs. Earlier in his career, Tom also served in various management and associate roles at GSK, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer/Aventis. He was also a Township Supervisor of Westtown Township in Pennsylvania, responsible for the general governance of the township and the execution of legislative, executive, and administrative powers in order to ensure sound fiscal management and to secure the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the township. Tom received his BS in biology from Ursinus College.
Michael Jensen serves as the Chief Financial Officer. He joined Synlogic in March 2022, overseeing finance, tax, accounting, treasury, and investor relations. He brings with him two decades of experience in finance and accounting leadership roles within the life science industry, ranging from venture-backed start-ups to global publicly traded pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
Prior to joining Synlogic, Michael was the CFO at Intrinsic Therapeutics, a commercial-stage medical device company focused on delivering treatments to improve surgical efficacy. Prior to Intrinsic, Michael held financial leadership roles at several biotech and healthcare companies including Taconic Biosciences, Straumann North America, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk Inc. He holds a Master of Economics and Business Administration degree from Copenhagen Business School in Copenhagen, Denmark, and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Towson University in Baltimore, MD. He also served as an Officer in the Royal Danish Army.
Dr. Caroline Kurtz joined Synlogic in October 2016 and is responsible for program leadership and portfolio planning and progression. Caroline has 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has led several programs across various stages of development. Previously, Caroline was vice president and GC-C platform lead at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, where she drove the development of linaclotide (LINZESS®) from pre-IND through NDA approval and life-cycle management. In this role, she managed the linaclotide development collaborations with U.S. partner Forest (now Allergan), European partner Almirall and Japanese partner Astellas. She also served as the portfolio lead for the discovery and development of new GC-C agonists, including identification of two additional clinical candidates. Prior to her role at Ironwood, Caroline served as director of infectious diseases at GelTex/Genzyme, where she led discovery of novel polymeric compounds as anti-infectives for intestinal and pulmonary infections. Caroline has over 41 publications and has received several industry and academic honors for her work including being named by PharmaVoice as one of 2016’s 100 most inspiring people. Caroline received her Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard University in the laboratory of Dr. John Weis, and carried out post-doctoral training in viral immunology and central nervous system demylelinating diseases in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Fujinami at the University of Utah. She received a B.S. in biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire.
Ajay Munshi joined Synlogic in 2022 as Vice President, Corporate Development, with a primary focus on Business Development activities. Ajay has more than 20 years of industry experience spanning business development, product development and commercialization, and business and portfolio strategy. Ajay joined Synlogic from Verastem Oncology where he was Head, Corporate Development. At Verastem, Ajay led business development activities across the entire value chain – from search and evaluation to due diligence to transactions to post-deal alliance management – and successfully executed a number of deals. He also was responsible for leading investor relations activities.
Prior to Verastem, Ajay was at Takeda (Shire), where he led a diverse set of external partnerships spanning research to commercial stage which included both biotech companies as well as large global pharmaceutical companies. While at Shire, he was also a Product Strategy Lead for the company’s flagship neuroscience product, Vyvanse, where he led the cross-functional R&D team to develop new lifecycle programs for the marketed ADHD indication and helped to bring to market indications in new disease areas.
Prior to joining Shire, Ajay was the Strategy Team Lead in Worldwide Commercial Development at Pfizer Oncology, and a key member of Daiichi Sankyo’s R&D organization where he led cross-functional teams to shape product development strategy for numerous oncology assets.
Previously, Ajay also worked in management consulting as a VP at a boutique life sciences strategy consulting firm, Bogart Delafield Ferrier, and as a Manager in the pharmaceutical and medical device practice at Deloitte Consulting. Ajay holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BS from the Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Mylene Perreault, VP, Nonclinical Development and Biology, joined Synlogic in November 2017 and is responsible for leading the nonclinical strategy and operations from program inception to clinical proof-of-mechanism (end of Phase 1) for metabolic and immunology-related disorders. Mylene is a PhD scientist with over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with extensive nonclinical pharmacology experience in addition to leading platform and drug discovery efforts resulting in multiple IND approvals. Prior to joining Synlogic, Mylene served as an Associated Research Fellow and Laboratory Head in the Internal Medicine department at Pfizer (previously Wyeth Pharmaceuticals), where she led pre-clinical projects and pharmacology operations for several indications, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, non-alcoholic liver disease and cancer cachexia. Mylene started her career in pre-clinical development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals where she supported pharmacology efforts for metabolic disease programs. She earned a Ph.D. in physiology-endocrinology from Laval University in Québec city, Canada, and a B.S. in Biology also from Laval University. Mylene has co-authored numerous manuscripts and abstracts focused on metabolic-related disorders.
Brendan joined Synlogic in 2021 as Vice President, Head of Legal. Prior to joining Synlogic, he was Vice President, Legal, and member of the leadership team at Ohana Biosciences and was senior counsel at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Brendan was previously an associate and partner at the law firm of Donnelly, Conroy & Gelhaar, LLP, in Boston where he focused on commercial controversies and government enforcement. Earlier in his legal career, Brendan served as a clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut and was an associate at the law firm of Goodwin Procter. He received his B.A. in History from Cornell University, J.D. from Harvard Law School, and his M.P.P from the Harvard Kennedy School. Brendan has served on several practice-related bar committees and on the executive committee of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education corporation.
Adam Thomas joined Synlogic in July 2017 and is responsible for all human resource functions leading office operations and serving as Corporate Secretary. Adam has spent more than 20 years in human resources helping leading companies recruit and retain top talent. Prior to joining Synlogic, he served as Vice President and Head of Human Resources for Research and Development at Shire during a period when the company underwent major expansion, doubling the size of its research and development workforce in Massachusetts. Before joining Shire, Adam served as Head of Human Resources for Research, Development, and Engineering for S.C. Johnson and Company. Earlier in his career he served as director in various human resources functions at Pfizer. Adam holds an M.B.A. from Boston University, a Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B.) from the University of Edinburgh and an M.A. in human resource management from the University of the West of England.
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