Jennifer C. Cheng, Ph.D., J.D. (CEO/Co-Founder): With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Cheng is a biotech industry veteran and has experience in a variety of roles in drug development. Most recently, Dr. Cheng has been the vice president of legal affairs and general counsel at Adverum Biotechnologies from 2015 to 2019. Previously, Dr. Cheng was patent counsel with Allergan, where she was responsible for developing and implementing patent strategy. She also served as the senior patent counsel for MAP Pharmaceuticals until it was acquired by Allergan in 2013. Previously, Dr. Cheng was the manager of intellectual property for Solazyme, Inc. and patent counsel at Raven Biotechnologies. Dr. Cheng began her career at Genentech as a research associate. She received a B.A. in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley. She earned a Ph.D. in tumor cell biology and molecular medicine from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law.
Tony W. Liang (VP of Research/Co-Founder): Mr. Tony W. Liang has had broad academic and industry research experience spanning over 30 years. These research areas have covered developmental biology, epithelial biology, immunology, antibody characterization, antibody development, assay development, protein purification and drug development. Prior to founding PTM Therapeutics, Mr. Liang had contributed to pre-clinical and clinical efforts at Genentech, Inc, Raven biotechnologies, inc., Macrogenics, Inc., CytomX Therapeutics, Inc., and Unity Biotechnology, Inc. Mr. Liang is an author on 16 peer-reviewed journal articles and an inventor on four issued US patents.
Charles A. Parkos, M.D., Ph.D. (Scientific Co-Founder): Carl V. Weller Professor and Chair of Pathology at the U. of Michigan Medical School where he investigates the biology of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a continuation of 30 years of research. Dr. Parkos did his residency and fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (1988) after his MD/PhD from the University of California at San Diego and Scripps Research Institute (1987). Dr. Parkos has served in leadership roles in The American Society of Investigative Pathology (ASIP) and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation (CCF). Dr. Parkos has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers on the biology of neutrophils and the underlying mechanisms of IBD.
Jennifer C. Brazil, Ph.D. (Scientific Co-Founder): Dr. Brazil is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School and has been a staff member since 2014. Dr. Brazil was awarded a CCFA Research Fellowship in 2012 and a CCFA Career Development Award in 2014. Dr Brazil has a PhD in Medicine and Molecular Science from the Conway Institute of Biomolecular Medicine in University College Dublin, Ireland where she studied the dynamic neutrophilic response to inflammatory stimuli. Dr. Brazil is an author of numerous peer-reviewed papers