At Catabasis Pharma we are dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative, effective and safe medicines to treat inflammatory and metabolic diseases. We have assembled a team of highly motivated and experienced scientists who are committed to improving the lives of patients.
Our approach focuses on lipid mediators that target the underlying etiology of complex human diseases. The Catabasis proprietary platform has produced a pipeline of products that incorporates the Catabasis SMART-linker technology.
Jill Milne co-founded Catabasis with Dr. Michael Jirousek and Dr. Steve Shoelson in June 2008, and currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Prior to Catabasis, she was part of the founding team at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline) and worked at Polaris Venture Partners on the formation of Sirtris. After the funding of Sirtris, Dr. Milne joined Discovery Biology, where she led the company’s SIRT1 Program, which produced several first-in-class NCEs that are currently in Phase 1 and 2 studies.
Prior to Sirtris, Dr. Milne was the Worldwide Head of the Drug Pfinder program at Pfizer Global Research and Development. The Drug Pfinder program sought novel targets with therapeutic potential through partnerships with biotechnology companies and academic research laboratories from around the world. As head of this global program, she was responsible for identifying and evaluating opportunities across all of Pfizer’s therapeutic areas of interest. Additionally, Dr. Milne was the head of the Enzyme Target Group at the Pfizer Discovery Technology Center in Cambridge, Mass., where she directed a portfolio of projects from idea stage to proof-of-concept and integration into therapeutic areas across global Pfizer. Prior to joining Pfizer, she was an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, where she studied enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of oxazole- and thiazole-containing antibiotics.
Dr. Milne received a Ph.D. from Harvard University and holds a B.A. in Biological Chemistry from Wellesley College.
Catabasis Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Mike Jirousek has 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development. Prior to joining Catabasis, he was a Corporate Officer and Senior Vice President of Research at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline), where he was head of research for the company. Dr. Jirousek’s team produced several first-in-class SIRT1 modulators that are in Phase 1 and 2 studies, with additional compounds in IND-enabling toxicology studies. He joined Sirtris from Pfizer La Jolla, part of Pfizer Global Research and Development, where he was Senior Director and Head of the Metabolic Therapeutic Area. Dr. Jirousek founded the La Jolla group, growing the effort over the course of five years into a highly productive team that produced six clinical candidates.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Dr. Jirousek was the Department Head at Abbott Laboratories for three years. In this role, he focused on discovering and developing new agents to overcome leptin and insulin resistance, of which several clinical candidates resulted from his groups’ programs. Dr. Jirousek spent eight productive years at Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, Ind. and Hamburg, Germany, focusing on diabetic complications and PKC inhibitors. He also worked in the field of small molecule approaches to improve islet function and mimics of GLP-1 action.
Throughout his career in drug discovery and development, Dr. Jirousek has been responsible for co-inventing and/or bringing 12 compounds from inception into clinical trials as potential new therapeutics to treat cancer, obesity, diabetes and diabetic complications. He has co-authored over 170 peer-reviewed papers, abstracts and patents.
Dr. Jirousek received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.
Jill Milne co-founded Catabasis with Dr. Michael Jirousek and Dr. Steve Shoelson in June 2008, and currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Prior to Catabasis, she was part of the founding team at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline) and worked at Polaris Venture Partners on the formation of Sirtris. After the funding of Sirtris, Dr. Milne joined Discovery Biology, where she led the company’s SIRT1 Program, which produced several first-in-class NCEs that are currently in Phase 1 and 2 studies.
Prior to Sirtris, Dr. Milne was the Worldwide Head of the Drug Pfinder program at Pfizer Global Research and Development. The Drug Pfinder program sought novel targets with therapeutic potential through partnerships with biotechnology companies and academic research laboratories from around the world. As head of this global program, she was responsible for identifying and evaluating opportunities across all of Pfizer’s therapeutic areas of interest. Additionally, Dr. Milne was the head of the Enzyme Target Group at the Pfizer Discovery Technology Center in Cambridge, Mass., where she directed a portfolio of projects from idea stage to proof-of-concept and integration into therapeutic areas across global Pfizer. Prior to joining Pfizer, she was an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, where she studied enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of oxazole- and thiazole-containing antibiotics.
Dr. Milne received a Ph.D. from Harvard University and holds a B.A. in Biological Chemistry from Wellesley College.
Christian Cortis joined Advanced Technology Ventures in 2006 and focuses on healthcare investments, specifically in the biotechnology, life science and diagnostic sectors. His background spans life sciences, biopharmaceuticals, venture capital, business development and consulting services. Prior to ATV, Christian was Senior Director of Business Development for Gemin X Biotechnologies, where he was responsible for partnerships, licensing and M&A. Prior to joining Gemin X, Christian worked for International Real Returns, a diversified investment fund, as the member of the VC team focused on healthcare sector investments. Christian is actively involved with Hydra Biosciences.
Christian was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from Columbia and a B.Sc. from McGill University.
Maggie Flanagan LeFlore joined MedImmune Ventures as a Managing Director in 2007. She transitioned into the role from her position as Head of R&D Ventures at AstraZeneca. As Head of R&D Ventures, she was on assignment to Advent International where she worked with the Healthcare and Life Sciences venture capital investment team. Previously, Dr. LeFlore was the Global Alliance Director for Global Sciences and Information, where she led an international group responsible for evaluation, negotiation and management of global technology platform collaborations.
Dr. LeFlore is currently a Director of Inotek Pharmaceuticals and NKT Therapeutics, and a Board Observer at BrainCells, Inc. and Rib-X Pharmaceuticals.
Originally trained as a biophysical chemist, with a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Indiana University, she trained in Molecular and Cellular Biology as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health.
Jeffrey Leiden is a Managing Director at Clarus Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm with more than $1.2 B under management. He has more than 20 years of experience in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors. Dr. Leiden was President and COO of Abbott Laboratories, Pharmaceuticals Products Group, and a member of the Abbott Board of Directors and the TAP Board of Directors from 2000 to 2006. Previously, Dr. Leiden held several academic appointments, including the Rawson Professor and Chief of Cardiology and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of Chicago, the Elkan R. Blout Professor of Biological Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. During his academic career, Dr. Leiden was involved in starting several biotechnology companies including Vical and Cardiogene. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Leiden is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TyRx Pharma, Lycera Inc., and Variation Biotechnologies Inc., and a director of Biolex Therapeutics. Dr. Leiden is also a member of the Board of Directors of Vertex (NASDAQ: VRTX), and a non-executive director and Vice Chairman of the Board of Shire plc (LHE: SHP). He is a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Dr. Leiden received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and an honorary M.A. from Harvard University.
Dr. Michael Ross joined SV Life Sciences as a Venture Partner in 2001 and became a Managing Partner in 2002. Most recently, Dr. Ross was a Managing Partner in Didyma, LLC, a biotechnology management consulting firm. Prior to Didyma, Dr. Ross was the tenth employee at Genentech, where he worked for 13 years. He served as Genentech team leader for Humulin (human insulin-Lilly), Roferon (Interferon alpha -Roche), Protropin (hGH), Vice President of Development during the development of Activase, Nutropin and Pulmozyme. He then started Genentech's protein engineering (Antibody engineering) and small molecule discovery effort as Vice President of Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry.
Dr. Ross was the Founding CEO of Arris Pharmaceutical, (now part of Celera), MetaXen, (now part of Exelixis), ExSAR and CyThera (now part of Novocell). He currently serves on the Boards of Adimab, Archemix, Ikano, Itero Biopharmaceuticals, Juvaris, Link Medicine, Mpex, NKT Therapeutics, Sutro Biopharmaceuticals and the Thayer School of Engineering (Dartmouth College).
Dr. Ross received his A.B. from Dartmouth College, his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Caltech, and completed a Post Doctorate in Molecular Biology at Harvard.
Steve Shoelson co-founded Catabasis with Dr. Jill Milne and Dr. Michael Jirousek in June 2008, and currently serves as the Chairman of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. In addition, he currently heads the Section of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Joslin Diabetes Center and is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shoelson has pioneered the role of inflammation in chronic disease states such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, translating his findings in the laboratory to clinical outcomes in studies including the TINSAL-T2D clinical trial.
Dr. Shoelson is the author of more than 150 research articles and reviews in peer-reviewed journals. He has received numerous awards and honors, including a Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Scholar Award in Experimental Therapeutics, the Excellence in Diabetes Research Award of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Boehringer Mannheim Corporation, and a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health. He also holds the Helen and Morton Adler Chair at the Joslin Diabetes Center.
Dr. Shoelson received his Ph.D. in Chemistry and M.D. degrees from the University of Chicago.
Benjamin Cravatt is a Professor at the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute and co-founder of ActivX Biosciences, Inc. A nationally recognized leader in the fields of bioorganic chemistry and enzymology, his research group has a broad range of experimental expertise, ranging from synthetic chemistry to molecular biology to mammalian physiology. His group has obtained fundamental insights into the chemical, biochemical, and physiological workings of several important mammalian serine hydrolases, including enzymes involved in the neurobiology of pain and in proteases associated with tumor progression.
Dr. Cravatt received his B.S. in Biological Sciences and B.A. in History from Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute.
C. Ronald Kahn is the preeminent investigator of insulin signal transduction and mechanisms of altered signaling in disease. Dr. Kahn is currently a Senior Investigator and Head of the Section on Obesity and Hormone Action at Joslin Diabetes Center, the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chairman of the Joslin Board.
Educated at University of Louisville, Dr. Kahn trained at Washington University and served as the Section Head of Cellular and Molecular Physiology of the Diabetes Branch of NIH. His laboratory has produced multiple seminal observations regarding the insulin receptor kinase, its substrates, the molecular components of the insulin signaling network, and their alterations in disease that have revolutionized the field. From 2000 to 2007, he served as President and Director of the Joslin Diabetes Center, of which Joslin research grew more than twenty-fold and its clinical and outreach efforts more than tripled under his leadership.
Dr. Kahn has received numerous honors and awards, including the highest scientific awards of the American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, European Association for the Study of Diabetes, British Diabetes and British Endocrine Societies, International Diabetes Federation, and Endocrine Society, as well as the Hamdan Award for Medical Research, the Rolf Luft Award of the Karolinska University, the Lawson Wilkins Award of the Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Beering Award of Indiana University, and the Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine. Dr. Kahn has served on many national commissions, including as Chair of the Diabetes Research Working Group and President of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. In 1999, Dr. Kahn was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine for his distinguished achievements in original research.
Dr. Kahn holds honorary degrees from the University of Paris, University of Louisville, University of Geneva and Peking University School of Medicine.
Diane Mathis is currently Professor of Pathology and Director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Center on Immunological Tolerance in Type-1 Diabetes at Harvard Medical School, a Principal Faculty Member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and an Associate Faculty Member of The Broad Institute. Her laboratory works in the fields of T-cell differentiation and autoimmunity, with a special emphasis on exploiting the most advanced transgenic and gene-targeting technologies to engineer new mouse models.
Through 2008, Dr. Mathis was a Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and an Associate Research Director and Head of the Section on Immunology and Immunogenetics at Joslin Diabetes Center, where she held the William T. Young Chair in Diabetes Research. In early 2009, the lab moved to the Pathology Department at Harvard Medical School, where she is currently Professor of Pathology.
Dr. Mathis was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and to the German Academy in 2007. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester.
Ruslan Medzhitov is an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the David W. Wallace Professor of Immunobiology at Yale University, and founder of VaxInnate. In 1997, he identified a human homologue of Drosophila Toll (now known as TLR4), and has since contributed to the characterization of the mammalian TLR family.
Dr. Medzhitov’s scientific contributions have been recognized with several awards, including the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute, A Master of Arts Privatum at Yale University, The Emil von Behring Award, AAI –BD Biosciences Investigator Award, A Doctor Honoris Causae at the University of Munich, and the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists from the New York Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2000, he was selected as a Searle Scholar.
Dr. Medzhitov obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Moscow State University.
Jerrold Olefsky is a Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and the Associate Dean of Scientific Affairs for the UCSD School of Medicine. In addition, Dr. Olefsky is the founder of Metabolex, Inc. and a member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. One of his seminal contributions to the field of medicine has been the identification of the role of insulin resistance as a primary cause of type 2 (non-insulin dependent, adult-onset) diabetes, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and other human diseases. His work has also helped develop insulin sensitizing drugs that are now standard therapies for type 2 diabetes.
For over 30 years, Dr. Olefsky's research has focused on basic research studies examining the molecular mechanisms of insulin and growth factor action in a variety of cell types, with particular emphasis on the insulin signaling pathway leading to stimulation of glucose transport. He has conducted numerous studies to help define the basic genetic and cellular mechanisms underlying decreased insulin action in human pathophysiologic states.
Dr. Olefsky received his M.D. from the University of Illinois.
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