David
Meininger, PhD, MBA

Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

David Meininger is Chief Executive Officer of Link Immunotherapeutics. David co-founded Link in 2019 and subsequently licensed key assets and technology from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. David’s prior roles include Chief Business Officer at Trianni, Inc., where he executed more than 20 antibody discovery platform license agreements and Executive Director, BD&L at Merck & Co., Inc. where he had global search and evaluation responsibility for biologics technology and regional responsibility for immuno-oncology assets.

David made key contributions to several approved products including the Keytruda companion diagnostic in addition to multiple clinical-stage programs at Merck and Amgen. David’s introduction to antibody therapeutics came via a Post-Doctoral position in Protein Engineering at Genentech. He holds a MBA in Technology Management from the University of Washington, a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego and a BS in Chemistry from the University of Florida.

Chris
Mehlin, PhD

Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Chris Mehlin is Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of LINK Immunotherapeutics, a role to which he brings over twenty years of drug discovery experience. Chris is an author on over twenty five publications and is a named inventor on over twenty therapeutic antibody patents, including two (Repatha and Siliq) that have received FDA approval. Before joining LINK, Chris was engaged at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (the Hutch), where the foundational technology for LINK was developed and subsequently out-licensed. Prior to the Hutch, Chris led a large number of antibody programs at Amgen, integrating the latest in display and transgenic animal technology to develop next-generation therapeutic antibodies.

Ashok
Bandaranayake, PhD

Co-founder & Vice President, Immuno-Oncology

Dr. Ashok Bandaranayake is Vice President of Immuno-Oncology and co-founder of LINK and received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Washington, Seattle. Ashok was Research Faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York) where he developed a high-throughput protein production pipeline for the New York Structural Genomics Research Consortium prior to joining the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He specializes in immunology and automation. His team in the Olson lab at the Center was responsible for high throughput protein production, antibody screening and automated T cell killing and cytokine assays as well as in-vivo efficacy studies.

Colin
E. Correnti, PhD

Co-Founder & Vice President, Protein Therapeutics

Dr. Colin Correnti is a biochemist and structural immunologist who specializes in antibody discovery and characterization, protein design and protein biophysics. Colin received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Washington, where he trained in the laboratory of Roland Strong and studied immunology. He has over 12 years of experience developing and applying mammalian expression technologies. As a Senior Scientist in Jim Olson’s lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center he led a highly productive mammalian protein expression core that supported dozens of collaborative project across the University of Washington and the Center. More recently he has led multiple immunotherapy drug discovery efforts that involve antibody discovery and engineering for CAR-T cell and bispecific therapies. Colin is a founding member of LINK along with his Fred Hutch colleagues Chris Mehlin, Ashok Bandaranayake and Jim Olson. Colin joined the LINK team as Vice President of Protein Therapeutics in 2021 and leads bispecific discovery alongside his long time friend and colleague Ashok.

Jane
Carter

Director of Operations

Jane Carter is Director of Operations at LINK and brings over 20 years’ experience in antibody discovery research. Prior to joining LINK, Jane was Director of Research Operations for the Molecular Design and Therapeutics Core at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She was responsible for driving execution on drug discovery goals across a multi-disciplinary team and delivering on client focused programs. Before the Hutch, Jane was in Biologics Optimization at Amgen where she developed and managed the high-throughput expression pipeline for pre-clinical development of antibodies and bispecifics. Here she contributed to Siliq, Repatha and many pipeline programs.
Jane holds a BS in Applied Biology from the University of Hull, UK.

Diana
Hausman, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Diana Hausman is a board-certified oncologist with over 20 years of clinical development experience, including biologics, antibody-drug conjugates, and targeted small molecules. Dr. Hausman was most recently Chief Medical Officer at Lengo Therapeutics (acquired by Blueprint Medicines Corporation), where she was responsible for the clinical development strategy of LNG-451 (now BLU-451), a CNS-penetrant inhibitor of EGFR Exon 20 insertion mutations. Prior to joining Lengo, Dr. Hausman was Chief Medical Officer at Zymeworks Inc. where she oversaw the development and implementation of global clinical strategy for the company’s preclinical and clinical stage products, including the bispecific antibody zanidatamab, now in pivotal trials for treatment of HER2+ biliary tract cancers and HER2+ gastroesophageal cancers.

Dr. Hausman previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Oncothyreon Inc., where her responsibilities included oversight of the Phase 1b and early Phase 2 clinical development of tucatinib, a CNS-active, HER2-targeted small molecule (acquired by SeaGen Inc.). Earlier in her career, she held positions of increasing responsibility at ZymoGenetics Inc., Berlex Inc., and Immunex Corporation. Dr. Hausman currently serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Immuneering Inc. She received her internal medicine and specialty training in hematology and medical oncology at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, her M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

Eric
Gruff, PhD, MBA

Chief Development Officer

Dr. Eric Gruff has 30 years of experience in drug, biologic and medical device development, including Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC), Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, and Project and Portfolio Management. Eric was most recently Senior Vice President, CMC at Lengo Therapeutics (acquired by Blueprint Medicines) where he led the early CMC development of LNG-451 (now BLU-451), a small molecule inhibitor of EGFR with Exon 20 insertion mutations. Prior to joining Lengo, Eric served as a consultant to numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients in a variety of therapeutic areas and modalities with responsibility for multiple aspects of product development, including authoring and managing IND/IMPD, NDA/BLA and IDE/510(k)/PMA submissions for new drug and biologic candidates, and medical devices.

Eric’s career history includes 11 years with Pfizer’s La Jolla Laboratories (formerly Agouron Pharmaceuticals) in a variety of leadership roles in Pharmaceutical Development and Project Management/Project Leadership. Prior to joining Pfizer, he held management positions at Molecular Biosystems, Inc., a San Diego biotechnology firm specializing in ultrasound, CT, and MRI contrast media. Eric has contributed to the development of 18 now-approved drugs and biologics as well as dozens of clinical-stage programs, and has led CMC activities for veterinary drug and biologics programs for companion animals.

Linda
Santiago, PharmD

Executive Director, Translational Development

Linda Santiago is the Executive Director of Translational Development and brings over 15 years of experience in Clinical Pharmacology, Biomarkers, Companion Diagnostics, and Sample Management. She has worked on numerous INDs and BLAs including moxetumomab pasudotox (Lumoxiti®) and anifrolumab (Saphnelo®). Prior to joining LINK, Linda was Senior Director of Clinical Pharmacology at Harpoon Therapeutics where she lead the Clinical Translational Medicine team and played an important role in advancing the TriTAC® T cell engager pipeline through 4 clinical trials, driving dose selection and identifying pharmacodynamic and predictive biomarkers. Before Harpoon, Linda was at Nektar Therapeutics and served as the Clinical Pharmacology Lead on Phase 2 and 3 trials for the combination of bempegaldesleukin in combination with nivolumab (Opdivo®). Linda has also held positions of increasing responsibility at Exelixis, MedImmune, Roche, and Johnson & Johnson.

Linda received her Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of California, San Francisco, where she is a member of Rho Chi. She also received her Bachelor of Science, Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Roger
Ulrich, PhD

Chairman

Dr. Roger Ulrich is an entrepreneur and biotech executive with more than 35 years of operational and administrative experience within the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to his board membership with Link Immunotherapeutics he is currently a Senior Advisor at Frazier Life Sciences and a Senior Advisor to Biogeneration Ventures. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Lengo Therapeutics, as a Board member of Kartos Therapeutics, and as Founder and Chief Scientific Officer for Phathom Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Ulrich previously served on the Board of Directors and as the Chief Scientific Officer for Acerta Pharma where he helped guide the development of acalabrutinib (Calquence®) until the company was acquired by AstraZeneca for $7B.

Prior to Acerta, he was Founder and Chief Development Officer at Calistoga Pharmaceuticals Inc. where he led the development of idelalisib (Zydelig®) until the company’s acquisition by Gilead Sciences, staying on with Gilead to help guide the transition. Before starting Calistoga, Dr. Ulrich served in various scientific and administrative positions within large pharma companies and contributed to the discovery, development, regulatory review and approval for many approved therapeutics. These positions included Senior Scientific Director with Merck Research Laboratories/Rosetta Inpharmatics, Director of Regulatory Toxicology, Safety Pharmacology, Genetic Toxicology, Cellular and Molecular Toxicology, Microscopy and Microanalysis at Abbott Laboratories, and Senior Scientist with The Upjohn Company and Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc.

Prior to his pharmaceutical industry career he held positions at West Virginia University, Michigan State University, and at Argonne National Laboratories. Dr. Ulrich holds many patents and has authored more than 125 scientific publications. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology/Chemistry and a Masters of Arts in Biomedical Sciences from Western Michigan University. He received a Doctorate in Cellular and Molecular Biology from West Virginia University, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences.

Edward
van Wezel

BioGeneration Ventures

Edward van Wezel is founder and Managing Partner at BioGeneration Ventures (BGV), Naarden, The Netherlands. He has extensive international expertise in pharma and biotech companies and currently serves on the supervisory boards of Synaffix, Staten Biotechnology, Scenic Biotechnology,Confo Therapeutics and TigaTx. Edward was founding investor and board member of Acerta Pharma, a company focussing on the development of a treatment for leukemia that in 2016 was acquired by AstraZeneca. Edward started his industrial career at Chiron Inc. He was a project manager at Johnson & Johnson responsible for product development projects in the oncology franchise and was involved in corporate licensing activities. Since 2000 he gained experience as Chief Executive Officer of several early startup companies. Edward holds a MSc in chemistry from the University of Utrecht and a MSc in biochemical engineering from the Delft University of Technology.

Daniel
O’Connell, MD, PhD

Independent

Daniel is a Partner at Novo Ventures, a life-sciences dedicated investment firm. Prior to Novo, Daniel headed up the Equity and Venture Capital strategy group at BMS from 2020. He was an Investment Director at Arix Bioscience where he led biotech investments across a variety of companies developing novel therapeutics. Daniel joined Arix Bioscience from OrbiMed, where he supported investments in companies developing therapeutics and medical devices, covering private as well as public companies. He has focused on novel technologies in earlier stages of development in oncology, orphan diseases, renal, and metabolic disorders.

David
Meininger, PhD, MBA

Link Immunotherapeutics, Inc.

David Meininger is President and Chief Executive Officer of Link Immunotherapeutics. David co-founded Link in 2019 and subsequently licensed key assets and technology from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. David’s prior roles include Chief Business Officer at Trianni, Inc., where he executed more than 20 antibody discovery platform license agreements and Executive Director, BD&L at Merck & Co., Inc. where he had global search and evaluation responsibility for biologics technology and regional responsibility for immuno-oncology assets. David made key contributions to several approved products including the Keytruda companion diagnostic in addition to multiple clinical-stage programs at Merck and Amgen. David’s introduction to antibody therapeutics came via a Post-Doctoral position in Protein Engineering at Genentech. He holds a MBA in Technology Management from the University of Washington, a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego and a BS in Chemistry from the University of Florida.

Neil
White

Emerson Collective

Neil has over 10 years of experience in the life sciences sector, spanning investment banking and leadership roles. Previously he worked in Capital Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and in Healthcare Mergers & Acquisitions advisory at Torreya Partners and Perella Weinberg Partners. He is now an investment manager in the Health Team of Emerson Collective, focused on investing in and supporting the clinical translation of novel treatments in oncology and improving the lives of cancer patients. Neil received his MSc (Res) from the University of Oxford and BSc (Hons) from the University of Toronto.

Rowan
Chapman, PhD

Independent

Rowan brings more than twenty years’ experience as an executive business leader. Over her career she has sat on over a dozen boards and led the execution of numerous partnerships and investments across healthcare verticals spanning life sciences tools, therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, vaccines and digital health. She is a co-founder of Initiate Studios, a life sciences incubator founded in 2020. Previously Rowan served as Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation (NYSE: JNJ) for Western North America, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to that, she led teams at General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), including as Head of Healthcare Investing at GE Ventures and Head of Precision Diagnostics at GE Healthcare.

Before GE, she held operational roles in early and growth-stage startups and was a Partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures for over 11 years, gaining extensive experience as an investor and board member for a wide variety of life science technology- and data-enabled companies. She was an early employee at Rosetta Inpharmatics (IPO, then acquired by Merck & Co.) and Incyte Genomics. Rowan holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and carried out post-doctoral research at UCSF.