Board of Directors
Ben Auspitz
Director
Ben Auspitz
Director | Partner, F-Prime Capital
Ben Auspitz is a Partner at F-Prime Capital, and has worked in pharmaceuticals and life sciences for over twenty years, both in industry, as a consultant and as an investor. Most recently before joining F-Prime Capital, he served as Therapeutic Area Head for Immuno-Inflammatory products at CombinatoRx Inc. during its growth from an angel-backed start-up to a publicly-listed company. In this role, he oversaw the advancement of seven programs from assay stage into phase II clinical studies and was co-inventor on 15 product patents. Ben focuses on therapeutics, with a particular interest in Series A and company formation. He holds a BA from Harvard University.
Keith Flaherty, MD
Director
Keith Flaherty, MD
Director
Dr. Flaherty is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Physician of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Director of Clinical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Cancer Research. He co-founded and served on the Board of Directors of Loxo Oncology, Inc. until its acquisition by Eli Lilly and Company and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of Clovis Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLVS). Dr. Flaherty has a Bachelor of Science from Yale University and medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Flaherty trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and completed a medical oncology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
Alan Fuhrman
Director
Alan Fuhrman
Director
Mr. Fuhrman is an experienced financial operations leader with a focus on guiding the growth of innovative pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He is currently the CFO of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, a position he has held since December 2017. He also served on the Board of Directors, as Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation Committee for Loxo Oncology until its sale to Eli Lilly in February 2019. Prior to joining Amplyx, he served as CFO of Mirna Therapeutics, a publicly-traded, clinical-stage microRNA company that merged with Synlogic in August 2017. Prior to his role at Mirna, Mr. Fuhrman was CFO of Ambit Biosciences, where he helped lead the company through its initial public offering and oversaw financial, investor and administrative operations until its sale to Daiichi Sankyo in 2014. He has also served as the CFO at Naviscan, a privately held medical imaging company, and Sonus Pharmaceuticals, a publicly-traded oncology-focused biotechnology company. Earlier in his career, Mr. Fuhrman practiced as a certified public accountant with Coopers & Lybrand. Mr. Fuhrman received a BS in both Business Administration and Agricultural Economics from Montana State University.
Corey Goodman
Director
Corey Goodman
Director | Managing Partner, venBio
Corey is a scientist, entrepreneur, educator, CEO and corporate executive. He is currently a Managing Partner of venBio Partners, LLC. He was formerly President of Pfizer's Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center and a member of Pfizer's Executive Leadership Team, where he oversaw the discovery and development of biotherapeutics as well as innovative new technologies. Corey co-founded Exelixis, Renovis, Second Genome and Ossianix prior to co-founding venBio. He was CEO of Renovis as a private and public company, until its acquisition by Evotec A.G. He is former professor at Stanford University and University of California Berkeley, co-founder of Berkeley's Wills Neuroscience Institute, Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and currently is Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley. Corey is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. His honors include, amongst others, the Alan T. Waterman Award, Canada Gairdner Biomedical Award, March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology, Reeve-Irvine Research Medal and Dawson Prize in Genetics. Among his public policy roles, Corey is former Chair of the California Council on Science and Technology, advising the Governor and State Legislature and former Chair of the National Research Council's Board on Life Sciences, advising the Federal Government. Corey is currently Chair of the Board of ALX Oncology, Tollnine, and Second Genome. He is a member of the board of Checkmate and NFlection. Corey founded Labrys Biologics and was Chair of the Board up until its acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals.
Art Krieg, MD
Founder, Chief Scientific Officer,
and Director
Art Krieg, MD
Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, and Director
Art has worked in the oligonucleotide field since the 1980s. After discovering immune stimulatory CpG DNA in 1994, he co-founded Coley Pharmaceutical Group in 1997 to develop the technology, discovering and taking 4 novel CpG oligonucleotides into clinical development. In 2008 Pfizer acquired Coley and Art became Chief Scientific Officer of Pfizer’s Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Unit until they exited the field in 2011. Art subsequently co-founded RaNA Therapeutics, serving as its CEO through 2013, and served as CSO at Sarepta Therapeutics until July, 2014. He co-founded the first antisense journal, Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, and the Oligonucleotide Therapeutic Society, for which he recently served as President. Art received an MD from Washington University and trained in internal medicine at the University of Minnesota and in rheumatology at the NIH before joining the faculty at the University of Iowa, becoming professor of internal medicine. He has published more than 250 scientific papers and is an inventor on >50 issued US patents covering oligonucleotide technologies.
Barry Labinger
President, Chief Executive Officer,
and Director
Barry Labinger
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director
Barry brings to Checkmate nearly three decades of pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience, most recently serving as President, CEO, and Director of Biothera Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage cancer immunotherapy company focused on innate immune activation. Prior to Biothera, he was Executive Vice President and President, Biosciences Division, at Emergent BioSolutions Inc., where he led the development and commercialization of oncology, immunology and hematology products and product candidates. He previously held leadership roles at Human Genome Sciences, 3M Pharmaceuticals and Immunex. He received a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Mike Powell
Chairman
Mike Powell
Chairman | General Partner, Sofinnova Investments
Mike has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical development experience and has focused on clinical-stage product companies, particularly in the oncology and neurology areas. He joined Sofinnova Investments as a General Partner in 1997. Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Mike worked on 20 clinical products and authored almost 100 papers and books, including an 1,000–page treatise on vaccine design. Mike was the initial investor in: Actelion (SWX: ATLN), InterMune (Nasdaq: ITMN), Anesiva (Nasdaq: ANSV), Orexigen Therapeutics (Nasdaq: OREX), Seattle Genetics (Nasdaq: SGEN), Threshold Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: THLD) and Trius Therapeutics (Nasdaq: TSRX), as well as several private companies such as: Alvine, Ascenta and Intellikine (acquired by Millennium/Takeda). He most recently led Sofinnova’s investments in Mirna Therapeutics (Chairman) and invested in Labrys Biologics (acquired by Teva). Mike is on the Board of Trustees of Washington University in St. Louis, is past Board President of AVAC (AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition) in NYC, a past Advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a past Strategic Advisor to One World Health and a Founding Venture Advisory Board member of the IAVI (International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) Innovation Fund. He also serves on the University of Kansas board of IAMI (Institute for the Advancement of Medical Innovation). Mike had senior level operation roles at Genentech, Cytel, and Syntex Research and was the first scientist from the biotechnology industry to be elected a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He received his PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Toronto, and a postdoc at the University of California, where he was a faculty member before moving into biotech.