Board of Directors

Mr. 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, and also serves on the board of directors of Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. 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. From 1992 through 1998, Mr. Mahaffy was President and Chief Executive Officer of NeXagen, Inc. and its successor, NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Prior to that, Mr. Mahaffy was a Vice President at the private equity firm E.M. Warburg Pincus and Co. He is also a trustee of Lewis and Clark College. Mr. Mahaffy earned a BA in international affairs from Lewis and Clark College and an MA in international affairs from Columbia University.

Dr. Clayman 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 for two private biopharmaceutical companies. In November of 2015, he joined the Board of Directors for Anokion SA, and in January 2017, Dr. Clayman joined the Board of Kanyos Bio, Inc. Previously, Dr. Clayman had a lengthy career at Eli Lilly and Company, a global pharmaceutical 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 BA, cum laude, from Yale University and an MD 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.

Mr. 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 currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Immunomedics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on antibody drug conjugates; Proteon Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on renal and vascular disease; and Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company focused on renal disease. Mr. Canute previously served as a member of the board of directors of AlloCure, Inc., Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., Oncobiologics, Inc., the National Association of Manufacturers and the Indiana Manufacturers Association. Mr. Canute earned a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. 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 currently serves as Chairman of the board of directors of Fluidigm Corporation, a biotechnology tools company, and is a member of the board of directors of several private companies. Mr. Colella served on the board of directors of 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 BS in business and engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Stanford University.

Heath Lukatch, Ph.D. has served as one of our directors since 2012.  He is a Partner at TPG and in addition to Flexion, he currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Adynxx, Engage Therapeutics (Chairman), Halo Neuroscience, Inogen (Nasdaq INGN) (Chairman), Satsuma Pharma (Chairman), SutroVax and ViewPoint Therapeutics. Prior to joining TPG in 2015, Dr. Lukatch was a Partner at Novo Ventures (US), where he helped establish Novo Ventures’ San Francisco office. During his 9 years at Novo, Dr. Lukatch served as Chairman of Cianna Medical, Inogen (Nasdaq: INGN), NTP and Spinifex Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis in 2015), and he served as a board member at Amira Pharmaceuticals (acquired by BMS in 2011), AnaptysBio (Nasdaq: ANAB), Elevation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Sunovion in 2012), Flexion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FLXN), FoldRx Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer in 2010), InSound Medical (acquired by Sonova in 2010), Nora Therapeutics and Synosia Therapeutics (acquired by BioTie in 2011), he was also a board observer at Alios BioPharma (acquired by J&J in 2014). Prior to joining Novo Ventures (US), Dr. Lukatch was a Managing Director responsible for biotechnology venture investments at Piper Jaffray Ventures and SightLine Partners, where his investments included Dynavax (Nasdaq: DVAX) and Fluidigm (Nasdaq: FLDM). Before Piper Jaffray Ventures, Dr. Lukatch worked as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in McKinsey’s biotechnology practice. Dr. Lukatch also served as co‐founder and CEO of AutoMate Scientific, a biotechnology instrumentation company, and he has held scientific positions with Chiron, Roche Bioscience 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 DOD USAF Fellow and his B.A. with high honors in Biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. 

Mr. Mahatme has served as one of our directors since 2014. Mr. Mahatme is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer at Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Mahatme joined Sarepta in 2012 and leads the company’s finance, business development, technical operations, facilities, IT and investor and public relations functions. From January 2006 to November 2012, Mr. Mahatme worked at Celgene Corporation, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, where he served in various roles, including Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Senior Vice President of Finance, Corporate Treasurer and Head of Tax. While at Celgene, Mr. Mahatme built the treasury and tax functions before establishing the Corporate Development Department, focused on strategic, targeted initiatives including commercial development in emerging markets, acquisitions, licensing and global manufacturing expansion. From 1997 to 2005 Mr. Mahatme worked for Pfizer Inc., a pharmaceutical company, where he served in senior roles in business development and corporate tax. Mr. Mahatme started his career at Ernst & Young LLP where he advised multinational corporations on a broad range of transactions. Mr. Mahatme also serves on the board of directors of Aeglea Biotherapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on treatments for cancer and certain genetic diseases. Mr. Mahatme earned LLMs from Cornell Law School and NYU School of Law and is a member of the New York State Bar Association.

Ms. Merrifield has served as one of our directors since 2014. 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. She currently serves as a director of InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. and Juniper Pharmaceuticals, Inc., both publicly traded biotechnology companies, and as a trustee of MassMutual Premier, Select and MML Series Investment Funds. Ms. Merrifield earned a BA in Zoology and a MEd from the University of Maine, and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Mr. 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. He currently serves on the board of directors of CAS Medical Systems, Inc. (CASMED), a publicly traded medical technology company. Mr. Milinazzo formerly served on the board of directors of LDR Holding Corporation, a publicly traded medical device company 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. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College.

Mark Stejbach joined our board of directors in 2016. Mr. Stejbach has 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. He most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Alkermes plc, a publicly traded global biopharmaceutical company. Prior to that, Mr. Stejbach served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Tengion, Inc. from 2008 to 2012 and previously held senior positions at Merck and Biogen. Mark received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in mathematics from Virginia Tech.