Board of Directors

Patrick Mahaffy has served as one of our directors and as Chairman of our Board since 2009. Mr. Mahaffy has served as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of Clovis Oncology, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, since 2009. He served on the board of Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, from 2008 until 2018. Previously, Mr. Mahaffy served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors at Pharmion Corporation, a pharmaceutical company that he founded in 2000 and sold to Celgene Corporation in 2008. Mr. Mahaffy is also a trustee of Lewis and Clark College. Mr. Mahaffy earned a B.A. in international affairs from Lewis and Clark College and an M.A. in international affairs from Columbia University.

Michael Clayman, M.D. is a co-founder of Flexion Therapeutics and has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and as one of our directors since our inception in 2007. Dr. Clayman also serves as the Chairman of the board of directors of both Anokion SA and Ribometrix Inc., both private biopharmaceutical companies. Previously, Dr. Clayman had a lengthy career at Eli Lilly and Company, where he was most recently Vice President, Lilly Research Laboratories, and General Manager of Chorus, Lilly’s early-phase development accelerator. During his career at Lilly, Dr. Clayman also led its Global Regulatory Affairs division, the Cardiovascular Discovery Research and Clinical Investigation, Research and Development at Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, a medical device subsidiary of Lilly, the Internal Medicine Division, the Lilly Clinic, Lilly’s dedicated Phase 1 unit, and served as Chair of Lilly’s Bioethics Committee. Prior to his tenure at Lilly, Dr. Clayman was an Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where his research centered on the immunopathogenesis of renal disease. Dr. Clayman is the recipient of the Physician Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health.  Dr. Clayman earned a B.A., cum laude, from Yale University and an M.D. from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Following an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco Moffitt Hospitals, Dr. Clayman completed clinical and research fellowships in Nephrology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Scott Canute has served as one of our directors since 2015. Mr. Canute served as President of Global Manufacturing and Corporate Operations at Genzyme Corporation from 2010 to 2011. Prior to joining Genzyme, Mr. Canute spent 25 years at Eli Lilly and Company and served as President, Global Manufacturing Operations from 2004 to 2007. Mr. Canute previously served as Executive Director of Immunomedics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on antibody drug conjugates, and as a member of the board of directors of Proteon Therapeutics, Inc.; Akebia Therapeutics, Inc.; AlloCure, Inc.; Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.; Oncobiologics, Inc.; the National Association of Manufacturers; and the Indiana Manufacturers Association. Mr. Canute earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Samuel Colella has served as one of our directors since 2008. Mr. Colella is a Managing Director of Versant Ventures, a healthcare venture capital firm he co-founded in 1999, and has been a general partner of Institutional Venture Partners since 1984. Mr. Colella has served on the board of directors of Fluidigm Corporation, a biotechnology tools company, from 2000 to 2020; Genomic Health, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company, from 2001 to 2014, Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, from 2002 to 2012, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2003 to 2012 and Veracyte, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company, from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Colella earned a B.S. in business and engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Utpal Koppikar joined our board of directors in 2021. Mr. Koppikar is the Chief Financial Officer of Atara Biotherapeutics, a position he has held since joining the company in June 2018. In this role, he oversees Finance, Information Technology, and Investor Relations. Prior to his tenure with Atara, Mr. Koppikar held several senior financial leadership positions at Gilead Sciences, including Vice President of Corporate and Operations Finance. During his time there, he led the three-year financial planning process and financial integration of Kite Pharma and played a key role as Gilead’s Vice President of Finance Europe, Middle East and Australia partnering with commercial for multiple HIV and HCV product launches. Prior to joining Gilead, he served in multiple finance roles of increasing responsibility at Amgen. Mr. Koppikar earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland and received an M.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Stanford University. He also holds an M.B.A. in finance and marketing from The Anderson School at UCLA.

Elizabeth Kwo, M.D. joined our board of directors in 2020. She has more than 15 years of experience specializing in healthcare technology product development and commercialization, marketing and sales, strategic partnerships, and post-merger integration. She currently serves as Deputy Chief Clinical Officer at Anthem. Prior to Anthem, Dr. Kwo served as CEO and co-founder of InfiniteMD, a telemedicine company connecting patients with physicians for second opinions. She previously worked in remote patient monitoring for Medtronic, American Well as the Vice President of Provider Networks. She founded multiple venture-backed companies in educational technology (sold to CVC private equity firm in 2014), digital healthcare, and healthcare supplies. Dr. Kwo serves on the board of directors for Asensus Surgical, Inc. (NYSE American: ASXC), a medical device company. Dr. Kwo earned a B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University, M.D. from Harvard Medical School, M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and an M.P.H. from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. She is Board Certified in Preventive Care and Occupational Medicine.

Heath Lukatch Ph.D. has served as one of our directors since 2012. Dr. Lukatch is Founder and Managing Partner of Red Tree Venture Capital, a life sciences venture capital firm.  From 2015 to 2020, Dr. Lukatch worked at TPG where he was Partner, Managing Director and Life Sciences Investment Team Leader in TPG’s Biotech, Growth and RISE platforms.  In 2006, Dr. Lukatch co-founded Novo Ventures’ San Francisco office, where he was a Partner through 2015.  Prior to joining Novo Ventures, Dr. Lukatch was a Managing Director responsible for biotechnology venture investments at Piper Jaffray Ventures and SightLine Partners. Dr. Lukatch currently serves as Chairman of Inogen (INGN) and Satsuma Pharmaceuticals (STSA), and is a board member at Excellergy, Flexion Therapeutics (FLXN), Magnus Medical, and Vaxcyte (PCVX).. Previously Dr. Lukatch was Chairman of Cianna Medical (acquired by Merit Medical) Engage Therapeutics (acquired by UCB), and Spinifex (acquired by Novartis), and served on multiple life sciences company boards, including: Amira (acquired by BMS), AnaptysBio (ANAB), Elevation Pharma (acquired by Sunovion), FoldRx (acquired by Pfizer), InSound Medical (acquired by Sonova) and Synosia Therapeutics (acquired by BioTie).  Dr. Lukatch was also a board observer at Alios BioPharma (acquired by J&J), Dynavax (DVAX), Fluidigm (FLDM) and SI-Bone (SIBN). Prior to becoming an investor, Dr. Lukatch worked as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company and was co‐founder and CEO of AutoMate Scientific, a biotechnology instrumentation company. In addition, he was a bench scientist at Chiron, Roche Bioscience Plc, and Cetus, doing molecular biology, electrophysiology and protein chemistry, respectively. Dr. Lukatch received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Stanford University where he was a Department of Defense U.S. Air Force Fellow, and his B.A. with high honors in Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.

Ann Merrifield has served as one of our directors since 2014. She currently also serves as the Chair of the board of directors of InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. and as Lead Director of Lyra Therapeutics, Inc., both publicly traded companies, since 2014 and 2019, respectively. Ms. Merrifield also serves as trustee of MassMutual Premier, Select, and MML Series Investment Funds. Previously, Ms. Merrifield served as a director of Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company that was acquired by Catalent, Inc. in 2018. From December 2012 to July 2014, Ms. Merrifield served as President and Chief Executive Officer of PathoGenetix, Inc., a privately held health genomics company, which voluntarily filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2014. Prior to joining PathoGenetix, Inc., Ms. Merrifield served an 18-year tenure at Genzyme Corporation (now owned by Sanofi S.A.), a diversified, global biotechnology company. At Genzyme, Ms. Merrifield served in a number of leadership roles, including as President of Genzyme Biosurgery, where she led global business strategy across a portfolio of biologics, therapeutic devices and combination products, and as President of Genzyme Genetics, where she played an instrumental role in developing and shaping this diagnostic business. Prior to joining Genzyme, Ms. Merrifield was a Partner at Bain and Company, a global strategy consulting firm, and an Investment Officer at Aetna Life & Casualty. Ms. Merrifield earned a B.A. in Zoology and a Master of Education from The University of Maine, and an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Alan Milinazzo has served as one of our directors since 2011. Mr. Milinazzo is a partner in the Global Healthcare and Life Sciences Practice at Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., a global executive search and leadership consulting firm, a position he has held since January 2016. From 2013 to 2016, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of InspireMD, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company. From 2006 to 2011, Mr. Milinazzo served as president and chief executive officer of Orthofix International, N.V., a publicly traded global orthopedic company, a position he was promoted to in 2006 after initially being hired as the company’s chief operating officer in 2005. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Milinazzo served as the General Manager of Medtronic, Inc.’s coronary and peripheral vascular businesses. In 2019, Mr. Milinazzo was appointed executive chairman of the board of directors of Opsens Inc. Mr. Milinazzo also formerly served on the board of directors of CAS Medical Systems, Inc. from 2013 until its acquisition by Edwards Life Sciences Corporation in 2019; LDR Holding Corporation, from 2015 until its acquisition by Zimmer Biomet Holdings in June 2016; and on the board of directors of Orthofix International, N.V. from December 2006 until June 2012. Mr. Milinazzo received his undergraduate degree from Boston College.

Mark Stejbach joined our board of directors in 2016. Mr. Stejbach is an independent consultant advising public and private biopharma clients on commercialization strategy, with over 30 years of experience in biotech and pharmaceuticals, including senior roles in a broad range of commercial functions including marketing, sales, economic affairs, managed care, and finance. Mr. Stejbach most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Alkermes, plc, a publicly traded global biopharmaceutical company. Prior to his role at Alkermes, Mr. Stejbach served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Tengion, Inc. from 2008 to 2012, and he previously held senior positions at Merck and Biogen. Mr. Stejbach currently serves as a non-executive on the board of directors of Indivior PLC. He currently serves as a non-executive on the board of Indivior PLC. He previously served as Senior Commercial Advisor to EIP Pharma, Inc., a private company advancing CNS-focused therapeutics to benefit patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Mr. Stejbach holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in mathematics from Virginia Tech.