Dr. Aggen has over 20 years of experience in medicinal chemistry. He most recently served as the Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Revolution Medicines and earlier in his career held various positions at Oligiasis, Achaogen, Chemocentryx, Gilead Sciences and Theravance, as well as Associate Professor of Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry at Northeastern University. Dr. Aggen has successfully led teams engaged in targeted drug discovery against multiple oncology targets including mTORC1 and KRAS, and has experience in the medicinal chemistry of larger molecules, including as an inventor of the aminoglycoside antibiotic plazomicin, now marketed as Zemdri. He also served in the US Marine Corps Reserves. Dr. Aggen was awarded a doctorate in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, where he studied under Prof. Richard Chamberlin.VP, Medicinal Chemistry.

Marites is on the purification/analytical chemistry team at Circle Pharma where she focuses on research and small molecule analysis. Previously, Marites led the Bioanalytics team at Amyris, optimizing LC/MS protocols for proteins and small molecules and successfully delivering a DARPA project with a team to analyze over 500 molecules in yeast. She was also a Senior Technologist at Sandia National Laboratories where she conducted ligand binding experiments, crosslinking structure elucidation, and novel protein digestion methodologies. Marites earned her B.A. in Molecular Cell Biology with an emphasis on Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Marites joined Circle Pharma in 2024.

Miguel Baldomero is a member of Circle’s chemistry team where he focuses on macrocycle synthesis. Miguel previously held positions at CS Bio and Bachem Americas. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

Linda Bergstedt joined Circle Pharma in 2022 and currently serves as our Executive Director, Head of People. In her role, Linda is responsible for managing Human Resources, including HR business partnering, compensation and benefits, talent acquisition, HR systems and operations, and employee engagement. Linda brings 25 years of HR experience to her Head of People role. Prior to Circle Pharma, Linda held roles with Denali Therapeutics, Vifor Pharma, Cantel Medical and roles of increasing responsibility with a host of other organizations. She is a graduate of Hamline University where she earned a degree in Communication Studies and Women’s Studies, and holds a graduate certificate from St. Catherine’s University in Organizational Leadership. Linda has also served as a spokesperson for the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) certification program and the SHRM Body of Competency and Knowledge.

Chinmay Bhatt received his B.S. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from UC Davis and a M.S. in Chemistry from Dartmouth College. During his graduate career, Chinmay worked to develop strategies for the construction of steroids and other complex triterpenoids. Previously, Chinmay worked as a Chemist at Capacitor Sciences and Volochem.

Andrew T. Bockus, Ph.D., is a chemist with over a decade of experience in the field of passively-permeable peptidic macrocycles. Prior to joining Circle Pharma, Andrew worked in the lab of Prof. Scott Lokey, a co-founder of Circle, where he synthesized natural product-like cyclic peptides and identified drivers of structure-permeability relationships in diverse peptidic scaffolds. He then developed applications for synthetic receptors and taught undergraduate courses in organic chemistry as a postdoc for Prof. Adam Urbach at Trinity University. Andrew holds a B.A. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Skidmore College and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Luzviminda joins Circle Pharma as a Lab Technician. Luz was most recently at Merck where she also worked as a Lab Technician. Luz has previous experience working at both Genentech and Boehringer Ingelheim as a Manufacturing Inspector. Additionally, Luz brings Quality Control and Production experience from her time at Genemed Biotechnologies.

Carlos joins Circle Pharma as our Senior Director of Research Operations. Previous to his time at Circle, Carlos headed US Laboratory Operations at Amador Bioscience where he led the construction and commissioning of GLP/GCLP bioanalytical laboratories in Pleasanton, CA, and Germantown, MD. He oversaw the establishment operations functions supporting sample management, EH&S, and facilities while also guiding the implementation of laboratory information management systems (LIMS), quality management systems (QMS), and applications for asset, inventory, and sample management. At AstraZeneca, he led laboratory compliance and operations for US GxP testing laboratories in South San Francisco, CA, and Gaithersburg, MD. His high-performing teams focused on operational excellence to improve compliance and efficiency through process harmonization, optimization of information management systems, and implementation lab automation across US sites. Earlier experience includes roles as a Bioanalytical PI for GLP and clinical programs supporting the development and FDA approval of Imfinzi (anti-PD-L1) and Lumoxiti (anti-CD22 immunotoxin). Carlos has a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis.

Eric Connor joined Circle Pharma as a Senior Director of CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls). Prior to joining Circle Pharma, Dr. Connor served as Senior Director, CMC at Boundless Bio, where he spearheaded CMC development for two innovative programs. Before Boundless Bio, Dr. Connor functioned as Director of CMC Small Molecule at Arcus Biosciences, where he incorporated key innovations into CMC development and manufacturing. At MyoKardia, he served as an Associate Director Chemical Development, playing a role in the transformative Camzyos™ (mavacamten) project. Prior to MyoKardia, Dr. Connor contributed to Relypsa’s success, leading chemistry on a project from a research stage to NDA acceptance (Veltassa®, NDA Application 2014, approved 2016). He is listed on 27 U.S.-issued patents. Dr. Connor earned his B.S. and Ph.D. in chemistry from University College Dublin, Ireland and further enriched his academics with a chemistry postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Dr. Connor’s commitment to execution of complex CMC projects, led him to earn a Project Management Professional certification in 2016 from the Project Management Institute.

Michael Craig Cox, PharmD, MHSc, BCOP joined Circle Pharma in July 2023 as our Senior Vice President, Head of Early Development. During a nearly 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, he has led the clinical development, product launches, and life cycle management of numerous oncology products including tovorafenib, selpercatinib (Retevmo®), larotrectinib (VITRAKVI®), radium-223 (Xofigo®), regorafenib (Stivarga®), sorafenib (Nexavar®), cetuximab (ERBITUX®), denosumab (XGEVA®), and darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp®). Dr. Cox has co-authored papers published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and other prestigious medical journals. Prior to joining Circle Pharma, he was Vice President, Clinical Development at Day One Biopharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for the clinical strategy and execution of the FIREFLY-1 and LOGGIC/FIREFLY-2 pediatric low-grade glioma registrational programs as well as building the clinical science, clinical development and medical affairs groups. Prior to joining Day One, Dr. Cox held global and regional clinical development and medical affairs positions of increasing responsibility at Loxo Oncology, Inc (acquired by Eli Lilly and Company), South San Francisco, California; Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Basel, Switzerland; Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany; and Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, California.

Michael holds a PharmD from Ohio Northern University’s Raabe College of Pharmacy and an MHSc in Clinical Research from Duke University’s School of Medicine, and is a board-certified oncology pharmacist. Dr. Cox completed post-graduate training at Mission Hospitals, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Peadar Cremin has over 20 years of experience working in Drug Metabolism/Pharmacokinetics/ADME and GLP Bioanalytical in small successful Bay Area biotechs. He most recently worked at Cytokinetics, Inc., in South San Francisco, where he led the DMPK effort, which led to the discovery of Aficamten, a novel best-in-class Cardiac Myosin Inhibitor for the treatment of Hypertrophic Cardiac Myopathy. Prior to Cytokinetics, he worked at Xenoport, Santa Clara, where he provided ADME/transporter/CMC support for novel prodrug programs leading to the successful discovery of XP13512 (Horizant), a novel prodrug of Gabapentin, commercialized for the treatment of restless legs syndrome and postherpetic neuralgia. In addition, Dr Cremin has worked in similar roles in Relypsa, Santa Clara, and at PTRL West, Hercules. Dr Cremin received his PhD in Organic Chemistry at University College Dublin and his BS from University College Cork, Ireland. He studied Natural Product metabolite elucidation at the Institute of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. He completed a post-doc in Bioanalytical methods for the quantitation of anti-oxidant Natural Products and their metabolites in human plasma under the direction of Prof. A. Waterhouse at UC Davis.

Megan DeMart earned her B.S in Chemistry from the University of North Florida where she graduated Cum Laude. Megan previously worked under Dr. Bryan Knuckley at the University of North Florida, synthesizing and characterizing inhibitors for the protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) family of proteins. She previously held internship positions during her undergraduate studies at both Bacardi and ADPEN laboratories. Megan also enjoyed teaching students and held positions as a Supplemental Instructor (SI) and a peer chemistry tutor.

David Diaz joins Circle Pharma as Senior Manager, Procurement leading the procurement functions for the company. Before Circle Pharma, David held various roles in the biotech industry for the past 20 years, including leading and managing procurement and supply chain functions in manufacturing, research,e and development. David brings expertise in strategic sourcing, supplier quality management, and regulatory compliance. Most recently at Lonza, his responsibilities were managing vendor relationships and leading procurement operations for the Hayward, CA site. David received his B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management from San Francisco State University.

Nathan Dupper, Ph.D., earned his doctorate at UCLA studying Synthetic Organic Chemistry under Professor Ohyun Kwon. After completing his graduate studies, he worked as a postdoc in the laboratory of Professor Charles McKenna at USC. Here, he helped develop antifungal agents targeting the bromodomain containing protein Bdf1. Before joining the Circle Pharma team, he worked as a Synthetic Chemist at AIM Biosciences (WuXi). His work is currently directed toward chemical synthesis and design.

Jinshu Fang joins Circle Pharma as a DMPK scientist with over eight years of experience working in DMPK. Before joining Circle Pharma, Jinshu was a Senior Research Associate at Cytokinetics, Inc., in South San Francisco focusing on preclinical DMPK. Before joining Cytokinetics, Jinshu was a research scientist and team lead at BRI Biopharmaceutical Research in Vancouver. Jinshu Fang earned her M.Sc at the University of California, San Diego, where she studied secondary metabolites from Cystic Fibrosis related pathogens using high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Gabriel is a Scientist with experience in solid-phase synthesis of peptides as well as solution-phase synthesis of small molecules. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley, and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry under Dr. Lam from UC Davis, where he worked on the combinatorial library syntheses of Actinomycin D analogs bearing triazoles. Prior to graduate school, he lectured sophomore Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at San Francisco State University.

Pablo D. Garcia, Ph.D., is a cellular and molecular biologist with extensive experience in oncology drug discovery and preclinical development. With over 17 years of experience at Chiron Corporation and the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Emeryville, he made significant contributions to the areas of target identification and validation, the implementation of diverse discovery platforms and the management of a cancer biology discovery group. Pablo has led several drug discovery projects, including the PIM kinase inhibitor project at Chiron/Novartis. As the project leader, he oversaw all stages of preclinical development, from the initial validation of relevance to human disease to delivery of a drug candidate to clinical development. Pablo has a B.A. in Biology, a Masters in Genetics from Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (Chile) and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

A former academic hematologist-oncologist, Edward Garmey has served as Chief Medical Officer for leading private and public biopharmaceutical companies during his 17 years in industry. Prior to a transition into consulting in 2015, Dr. Garmey served as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at Cerulean Pharma where he oversaw the initiation of multi-national clinical trials for multiple drug programs and helped lead the company’s successful $67 MM IPO. Prior to industry, Dr. Garmey served as a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). He is an alumnus of Harvard and New York Universities and completed his medical training at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center, the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and MSKCC. Dr. Garmey completed additional research fellowships at the National Institutes of Health and the Botswana-Harvard Partnership for H.I.V. Research in Gaborone, Botswana and he is the recipient of the young investigators awards from the American Society of Hematology and the American Heart Association. Dr. Garmey resides in the Boston area where he serves as an adjunct instructor at Harvard Medical School’s Graduate Program in Therapeutic Science and as a member of the Board of Overseers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Catherine Gleason, Ph.D., received her B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Washington and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania under the mentorship of Prof. Morris Birnbaum. She trained as a postdoctoral research fellow with Prof. Philip Cohen at the Medical Research Council’s Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the University of Dundee, UK, where she studied the interplay of protein phosphorylation and ubiquitylation in Toll-like receptor signaling and the innate immune response. Before joining Circle Pharma, she was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of California San Francisco, investigating the mTOR signaling pathway in regulation of renal metabolism and ion transport.

Nathan is a passionate scientist with a broad background bridging the gaps between Chemistry, Biology, and Biochemistry. Nathan received his B.S. in Chemistry and Biology from Willamette University in Oregon where he started his research career in plant physiology under Gary Tallman. Nathan earned his Ph.D. in the University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF)Chemistry and Chemical Biology program under Jack Taunton, working on design and use of covalent protein kinase inhibitors. Nathan continued at UCSF as a postdoc, exploring kinases as drug targets in the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. After a brief stint in assay design and development, Nathan joined Unity Biotechnology in 2015, where he focused on new target identification and development to selectively kill senescent cells in diseases of aging.

Frances Hamkins-Indik is a research associate at Circle Pharma working with the Biology and Chemistry teams. As an undergraduate researcher, Frances previously worked in Prof. Phil Crews’ group at the University of California Santa Cruz, where they received their B.S. in Chemistry.

Daphne He received her B.S. in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of California San Diego. During her undergraduate studies, Daphne previously worked at Pfizer in La Jolla, CA, first helping with compound management within Sample Logistics and later running enzyme-based assays and working with LC/MS within Biochemistry and Primary Screening.

Luis Hernandez is a member of Circle’s chemistry team. Luis has applied his continuous improvement and management experience from his previous role in a manufacturing facility to streamline macrocycle production and information workflows for Circle. Luis previously held positions at Ingredion, Inc. and Formulation Technology, Inc. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Biology from the University of California Berkeley.

Ming-Hsun Ho, Ph.D., has ten years of professional experience in computational drug discovery in pharmaceuticals. Before joining Circle Pharma, he was a Computational Chemist at GSK, supporting multiple drug discovery programs, mostly in CNS targets. While at GSK, Ming-Hsun built machine learning models to predict and mitigate hepatotoxicity liability. Before joining the GSK team, he worked for Shanghai Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, where he applied SBDD, including enhanced sampling MD, to study the ligand/protein interaction on oncology and hypertension targets. Ming-Hsun was a postdoctoral researcher at Pacific Northwest National Lab where he worked on theoretical analysis of reaction mechanisms to improve the efficiency of bio-inspired metallocatalyst. Ming-Hsun received his Ph.D. in Chemistry at University of Pennsylvania under the mentorship of Prof. Michael Klein.

Dalena Hoang received her B.S. in Psychology with an emphasis in Biology from University of California, Davis. Previous to joining the chemistry team at Circle Pharma, she worked at Eurofins TestAmerica where she analyzed various sample matrices to determine the accurate concentration of perfluoroalkyl substances, perchlorate salts, and 6PPD-quinone utilizing the LC-MS/MS. During her time at Eurofins TestAmerica, she held several positions such as Lead and Supervisor of the preparation and extractions department and assisted in various method development projects.

Eran started his career in public accounting with KPMG LLP in New York. During the several years he spent at the Big 4, Eran obtained his Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification. He then spent over 10 years with a number of private industry and public companies. He recently worked as an Accounting Manager at CytomX Therapeutics. Growing up in Israel, Eran spent three years serving in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). Achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant, he managed a team of 15 personnel. After his military service, Eran moved to New York and obtained his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance, as well as his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Dr. Lisa Kopp joins Circle Pharma as our Sr. Medical Director of Early Clinical Development. Lisa has over 16 years of experience leading oncology clinical trials, including over five years of industry experience spanning early and late-phase study leadership. She has extensive experience in protocol development, study implementation, and site/investigator engagement for the successful execution of both adult and pediatric oncology clinical trial programs. Prior to joining Circle Pharma, Dr. Kopp held previous clinical development Medical Lead positions of increasing responsibility leading global early-phase clinical trials at Day One Biopharmaceuticals and Arcus Biosciences.

Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Kopp served as a pediatric hematologist-oncologist and held the position of Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona for over eight years. She led oncology clinical trials and provided specialized care for pediatric and young adult oncology patients, focusing on sarcomas. She continues to provide care for pediatric and young adult patients with solid tumors at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Constantine Kreatsoulas, Ph.D., joined Circle from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where he was the Head of US Molecular Design and Interim Head of Computational Toxicology. His responsibilities at GSK included leading structure-based drug design (SBDD) teams as well as the development of informatics tools for quantitative experimental data analytics and drug hazard identification. Previous to his time at GSK, Dr. Kreatsoulas was a Research Fellow at Merck & Co., Inc., where he focused on SBDD, molecular modeling, machine learning, and small molecule safety assessment. While a Postdoctoral Fellow at Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Dr. Kreatsoulas focused on machine learning in predictive toxicology. Dr. Kreatsoulas was awarded a doctorate in Chemistry from Princeton University, holds a Master’s degree in Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance from Temple University, and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Chemistry from New York University.

Bryan Lent works with the chemistry team at Circle Pharma and manages lab operations. Bryan holds a B.S. in Biochemistry from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo and undertook post-graduate studies in Biological Chemistry at Ohio State University with Prof. Jen Ottesen.

Siegfried Leung, Ph.D., specializes in computational drug design and has over a decade of experience in macrocycle design and modeling. He joined Circle after undertaking postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Circle founder Matt Jacobson at UC San Francisco. His work there focused on the development of physics-based predictive models for passive membrane permeability and the application of these methods in designing cell permeable cyclic peptides. He was a key member of the Pfizer / Jacobson laboratory collaboration investigating the engineering of permeability into macrocyclic peptides, developing computational protocols for target-based design of permeable macrocycles. Siegfried received a B.S. (cum laude) from University of San Francisco and his Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale University under the mentorship of Prof. William Jorgensen.

Bernard Levin is a pharmacologist and cell biologist with over 15 years of experience in research and drug development. Prior to joining Circle, he led pharmacology efforts for multiple CAR-T cell therapy programs targeting both solid tumors and hematological malignancies at Kite Pharma, a Gilead company, in Emeryville, CA. His previous roles have included developing TCR-based cell therapies for HIV treatment while managing the CFAR Humanized Mouse Core at the UCLA AIDS Institute under the mentorship of Prof. Scott Kitchen, and developing Myeloid Progenitor Cell therapies to treat neutropenia at Cellerant Therapeutics in San Carlos, CA. Bernard received his B.S. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Eleonor is a seasoned Executive Assistant and Office Manager with over 20 years of experience and a track record of strong performance in fast-paced, high-pressure environments. Having held positions in semiconductor, biotech, and fintech start-ups, Eleonor is able to tailor her approach to meet the needs of any organization. From managing executive calendars and providing general staff support, to handling matters related to HR and facilities, Eleonor handles challenges with ease. Prior to Circle, Eleonor worked as an Executive Business Partner at Credit Karma supporting Tax, Savings, and Product Design executives and directors.

Laura Liu joins Circle Pharma in Strategy and Corporate Development. Prior to her role at Circle Pharma, she worked across CMC operations, manufacturing, and R&D at Genentech and Amgen. More recently, she held investing roles with Boxer Capital, Emerson Collective, and Apollo Health Ventures.

Li-Fen received her B.S. in Clinical Nutrition from Chun-Shan Medical School in Taiwan and earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Human Nutrition from Ohio State University. As a postdoctoral research fellow at the endocrinology division of the School of Medicine at Stanford University, Li-Fen investigated the role of adaptive immunity in insulin resistance and inflammation in humans. Li-Fen previously worked as a senior scientific researcher at OBD/Genentech, where she supported biomarker discovery and evaluation for anti-PDL1 programs, focusing on Reverse Translation projects and academic collaborations to further the understanding of resistance mechanisms to anti-PD-L1 in Renal Cell Carcinoma. Prior to joining Circle, Li-Fen held a position as a Senior Data Analytics Manager on the Translational Medicine team supervised by Evelyn Wang at Exelixis. She is incredibly excited to leverage her understanding of tumor metabolism and programming skills to develop potential drug targets that address unmet needs in the oncology space.

Harry Loucks joins Circle Pharma as our Associate Director, Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A). In his role, Harry is responsible for leading the organization’s FP&A function which includes responsibility for all corporate budgeting, planning, and management reporting, as well as driving strategic insights for the business. Before his time at Circle Pharma, Harry was at Astellas Gene Therapies where he was the Associate Director of FP&A for Research and Capital Finance. His responsibilities at Astellas included acting as the Finance business partner to the Gene Therapy Research organization which included leading the annual budget and quarterly forecast process, as well as providing monthly insights into actual performance. He was also responsible for capital expenditure planning and analysis. Prior to Astellas, Harry was an FP&A consultant at RGP, where he trained teams on FP&A best practices for forecasting, budgeting, planning, variance analysis and financial model building. Earlier in his career, Harry held various roles at Genentech/Roche where he provided FP&A, accounting, business intelligence and analytics leadership. Harry received his M.B.A. degree from Carnegie Mellon University and his B.S. in Pharmacy from The Ohio State University.

Joshua joins Circle Pharma as a Research Associate II, Chemistry. Joshua earned his B.S. in Bioengineering from Santa Clara University. Having previously worked at CS Bio, Joshua synthesized peptides for the R&D department. Later, he moved on to designing and building peptide synthesizers in the Instrumentation department.

Stacey Mendoza joins the Circle Pharma team as an Administrative Assistant supporting our Executive Director, Head of People. Having previously held positions in retail, accounting, and non-profit industries, she has developed strong administrative skills and grown accustomed to fast-paced environments. Stacey graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a degree in Sociology and has previous work experience in Human Resources.

Maria Mendoza joins Circle Pharma as a Compound Management Administrator. With previous experience as a Lab Technician at Merck, Maria brings high attention to detail and multi-tasking skills to our laboratory. Prior to finding her true calling working within the biotech industry, Maria was an Administrative Assistant at a local church. Maria is currently pursuing her BS in Biochemistry through Arizona State University online.

Nik Mendoza joins Circle Pharma as a Sr. Research Associate on our Biology team. Nik worked at the Gladstone Institutes while finishing his undergraduate degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from San Francisco State University. During his time in Todd McDevitt’s lab at Gladstone, he developed automated imaging pipelines for extracting and visualizing morphometry data from stromal cell populations, while assisting on projects utilizing cardiac microtissues and 3D organoids. He then went on to receive his Master’s degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from SFSU in conjunction with the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Here, he was part of the Cell Design Institute, which involved working under Wendell Lim and Hana El-Samad. While at UCSF, he explored genetic regulatory networks in T-cells using an ERT2 and Degron-LOCKR system to further modulate dose responses.

Sammy Metobo, PhD, joins Circle Pharma as a Director of Medicinal Chemistry. Prior to joining the team at Circle, Sammy was a Senior Research Scientist II at Gilead Sciences in Foster City for over 18 years. He has worked mostly in anti-viral projects, including HIV, HCV, and HBV, and multiple oncology targets, including BET domain and PD-1/PD-L1 small molecules. Dr. Metobo holds a doctorate in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. He was also a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, where he worked with Professor Robert M. Williams.

Meisam Nosrati, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary scientist with a track record of accomplishments in the fields of biochemistry, structural biology, and organic synthesis. Meisam is passionate about contributing to public health via translational research. His postdoc at Emory University was on bacterial aminoglycoside resistance through ribosome methylation under the supervision of Prof. Graeme L. Conn. His Ph.D work at Michigan State University was focused on protein engineering to make novel proteins and protein probes under the supervision of Prof. James H. Geiger. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry and Organic Chemistry from the University of Tehran.

Ranya Odeh received her B.S. in Bioengineering from Stanford. During her studies, Ranya worked as an undergraduate researcher in the Cochran lab, generating decoy receptors that inhibit over-expressed cytokines in lung cancer. Ranya previously interned with the Protein Sciences team at Abbvie.

Juan joins Circle Pharma as an RA II on the Chemistry team. In his previous role, Juan worked at CSBio in peptide synthesis for the production of personalized neoantigen peptide vaccines. Juan holds a BS in Biomedical Engineering from San Jose State University.

Paul Park joined Circle Pharma in July 2022 as our Chief Business Officer. Throughout his life science career, Paul has set out to propel a reimagined biotech at the intersection of innovation, sustainability, and patient-centricity. Paul has primarily achieved these objectives through building and executing innovative strategies and highly accretive deals, as shown by the Ionis-AstraZeneca co-commercialization deal, Amgen’s acquisitions of Immunex and Tularik, as well as real-world evidence partnerships between Aetion and IBM, Optum, and McKesson that pioneered a new channel in the small and mid-sized biopharma segment. In each of these settings, Paul has invested in developing cohesive, diverse, high-performing teams while simultaneously helping organizations repurpose their mission to capitalize on new growth and impact. Prior to his time at Circle Pharma, Paul led both Business Development and Alliance Management at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for all buy-side and sell-side strategic transactions, as well as the management of partnerships that included eight of the top 10 global biopharmaceutical companies. Earlier in his career, Paul held Strategy, Corporate Development, and International Licensing roles at Amgen. He also spent 12 years as the Executive Director of the grantmaking foundation, First Fruit, which resources leaders and organizations working among the poorest segments of the Majority World, and he continues to serve on the nonprofit boards of some of those portfolio organizations. Paul was educated at Brown University and the Wharton School of Business.

Denise joins Circle Pharma as Head of Clinical Data Management. With 30 years of experience as a seasoned Data Management professional, she brings a wealth of expertise to the role. Denise has a proven track record in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, specializing in data management activities across all phases of drug development. She is well-versed in ICH GCP, Good Clinical Data Management Practices, and Quality Assurance. Additionally, she possesses hands-on experience in study data management execution activities. Her proficiency extends to the development of company SOPs and processes, covering the spectrum from sponsor-led activities to oversight of vendor management responsibilities. Before joining Circle Pharma, Denise held leadership roles at Day One BioPharmaceuticals, Nektar Therapeutics, Amgen, and a host of other organizations.

Emily Rivas joins the Circle Pharma team as an Administrative Assistant supporting our EA. With over 10 years of experience working in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and tech industries supporting executive level staff, she has developed strong administrative abilities as well as project management and team building skills.

Roberta Sala, PhD, obtained her B.S. and M.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Padua, Italy. She moved to Imperial College London, U.K. for her PhD in Clinical Oncology in Prof. Eric Aboagye group where she was studying the detection of cancer proliferation with PET imaging. Before joining Circle Pharma, she was first a postdoctoral scholar working on centrosome biology in Prof. Tim Stearns’ lab in the Biology Department and then an Instructor in Prof. Vittorio Sebastiano’s lab in the OB/GYN Department at Stanford University where she was working on the differentiation of stem cells into germ cells.

Justin A. Shapiro, Ph.D., is an organic chemist at Circle Pharma. Justin began his research career synthesizing cannabinoid derivatives under Prof. Mark L. Trudell, after which he worked under Prof. Loretta Jackson Hayes engineering Protein Kinase C mutants of the fungus Aspergillus nidulans. He went on to study iron acquisition systems of human-pathogenic bacteria using organic and biological chemistry under Prof Timothy A. Wencewicz. Prior to joining Circle, Justin worked on the diverted total synthesis of highly functionalized peptide natural products under Prof. William M. Wuest. Justin graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry from Rhodes College and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.

Benedict Tsai received his B.S. in Biology from The University of Melbourne in Australia. Benedict previously worked in the Reiter Lab at UCSF Mission Bay as a research associate and lab manager. During his time there, he supported projects to further the understanding of ciliated cells using a variety of cell and molecular biological techniques.

Ben Tsao, PharmD, joins Circle Pharma as Director, Clinical Scientist. Prior to joining Circle Pharma, Ben held the position of Director, Clinical Scientist at Day One Bio, where he made substantial contributions to a pivotal global Phase 3 study in pediatric neuro-oncology. As a lead clinical scientist, he was instrumental in the development and implementation of study protocols, closely collaborating with cross-functional teams to initiate and manage trial activities. Ben possesses extensive expertise in protocol development, as well as the initiation and maintenance of clinical trials. Ben embarked on his career in the biopharmaceutical industry as a Clinical Scientist Fellow at Allergan (later acquired by AbbVie), where he contributed to various late-phase neurology and psychiatric development programs. During his tenure at AbbVie, he spearheaded the development of pediatric studies for cariprazine, aimed at addressing pediatric neuropsychiatric disorders. In 2021, Ben transitioned to Day One Biopharmaceutical, where he played a pivotal role in the global Phase 3 tovorafenib, pediatric low-grade glioma program (LOGGIC/FIREFLY-2), advancing treatment options for children facing unmet medical needs. Ben Tsao holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and earned his Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of North Carolina, Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

June joins Circle Pharma as senior manager of sample management. June has held various roles in the biotech industry over the last 20 years, including five years in clinical quality assurance, one year as a global product manager, and over six years of managing clinical trial biospecimens. June has expertise in oncology biomarker development, end-to-end clinical operations, and vendor management. June brings her attention to detail and solution–based approach to oversee the intricate process of biospecimen management here at Circle Pharma. June holds a BS in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz.

Paul Vindiola is a seasoned Warehouse and Material Handling professional with over 30 years of experience and a track record of strong performance in fast-paced environments. Having held positions in pharmacy, retail, printing and biotech organizations, Paul is excited to bring his expertise to the Circle Pharma team.

Breena Walton earned a B.S. in Molecular Synthesis at the University of California, San Diego. After studying total synthesis at the University of Pennsylvania under Prof. Madeleine Joullie and earning an M.S., she went on to work at E.I Dupont de Nemours in the Crop Protection division where she was a co-inventor on several patent applications for bicyclic azoles and helped move a product towards market. She subsequently worked in medicinal chemistry at Theravance Biopharma. She now focuses on advanced chemical synthesis and design on Circle Pharma’s chemistry team.

Nu Wang, Ph.D., joins Circle Pharma as a Sr. Scientist, Analytical Chemistry with over 12 years of professional experience in Analytical Chemistry, specializing in Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. Before joining Circle Pharma, Nu was an Analytical Chemist at Amyris and Zymergen, where she supported multiple molecule engineering programs in yeast and E.coli. While at Amyris and Zymergen, Nu Wang developed various sample preparation assays and analytical assays to separate, purify, quantify, and identify molecules by utilizing LC-MS/MS, LC-UV/DAD, LC-CAD, SFC-PDA, GC-MS, GC-FID, and Ion Chromatography. Previous to this, Nu was a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab where she worked on building an automated high-throughput metabolomics analysis pipeline in yeast. Nu received her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, under the mentorship of Prof. John Ward and Prof. Paul Boswell. Her work there focused on cell membrane transporters and metabolite identification, which was achieved by constructing a retention time database that could be shared, utilizing simulations of chromatographic behaviors to predict the retention times of more than 1000 metabolites.

Eric Weber earned his B.S. in Chemistry and Latin from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While there, he worked in the Schomaker lab under Dr. Jennifer Schomaker, studying the hydroformylation of substituted allenes. Upon graduating, he started his career in DMPK using LC-MS/MS to understand the pharmacokinetics and ADME properties of small molecules at AbbVie and Charles River Laboratories. Now Eric joins Circle Pharma from UCSF’s Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, having returned to his roots in chemistry, where he had worked in their drug discovery program for prion-related diseases.

Steven joins Circle Pharma with over 13 years of experience working on early-stage formulation development. Prior to joining Circle Pharma, Steven spent over seven years developing and supporting pre-clinical PK/efficacy formulations for all oncology discovery programs at Abbvie/Legacy Pharmacyclics. Steven contributed heavily to the formulation and tech transfer for pediatric oral Imbruvica. Steven holds a B.S. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kai Yang obtained his B.S. in Pharmacy at Nankai University in 2017. He achieved a M.S. in Medicinal Chemistry at Rutgers University in 2020. He focused on the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of small-molecule uric acid and dihydroxyadenine inhibitors for the treatment of nephrolithiasis. Kai then joined Chempacific Corporation and developed and drafted clear synthetic strategies for complex molecules using state-of-the-art methodologies. He is eager to apply his knowledge in the basic and clinical sciences to discover and develop novel pharmaceuticals to treat and cure challenging human diseases.

Sandrine is a LLM graduate with seven years of combined experience in procurement as well as vendor and contracts management, working in the technology, biotech, and pharmaceutical industries. Before joining Circle Pharma, she was with Geron as a Paralegal, where she handled a broad range of legal work, including contracts related to commercial contracting and clinical agreements. In addition, she provided legal operations support, such as building processes and procedures for vendor debarment screening, contract management systems, and data mapping. Prior to Geron, Sandrine was at Avellino, where she did similar work, owning and leading the contracts management team and processes, managing outside counsels, and providing corporate governance and legal support as needed.

Dr. Jie Zheng is an analytical chemist with 12 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development. He led the API analytical function for Venetoclax and several early/late-stage programs at Abbott Laboratories/AbbVie, in North Chicago, IL. His previous roles have included leading chemical profiling and stability for electronic nicotine delivery systems at JUUL Labs (San Francisco, CA), and characterizing plant-based ingredients for specification setting and supplier development at Impossible Foods (Redwood City, CA). Jie received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Georgia State University.