Richard A. Heyman, PhD, has 20 years of drug discovery experience in the biotech sector and, most recently, cofounded Aragon Pharmaceuticals in 2009. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer at Kalypsys, Inc., where he conducted drug discovery in therapeutic areas such as metabolic diseases, pain, and inflammation. In 1999, he cofounded and served as Chief Scientific Officer of X-Ceptor Therapeutics, a company that developed compounds targeting nuclear receptors for the treatment of metabolic diseases. X-Ceptor was acquired by Exelixis in 2004. Before X-Ceptor, he was Vice President of Research at Ligand Pharmaceuticals and was project leader for multiple discovery programs, including the successful identification and development of Panretin® and Targretin®, retinoids approved by the FDA for the treatment of cancer. He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow and staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He received a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Minnesota and a BS in chemistry from the University of Connecticut.

Isan Chen, M.D. is a board certified hematologist-oncologist with more than 12 years of oncology experience and has extensive experience working with regulatory agencies in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. Previously he was Vice-President, Genitourinary Tumor Strategy Leader for Pfizer Oncology. In this role, he was responsible for the implementation of strategic plans to ensure Pfizer’s leadership in the treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and for the development of improved therapies for prostate and bladder cancer. He was the clinical lead for genitourinary indications and was part of the team responsible for the successful NDA submission of SUTENT in advanced renal cell carcinoma leading to its approval in January of 2006. He additionally was involved in design and implementation of Phase 3 registration trials of axitinib in treatment-naïve and previously-treated RCC and was the clinical lead for crizotinib at the time of the investigational new drug application. He completed his hematology-oncology fellowship at University of California, San Diego, and served as a faculty member in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Angie You, PhD, has served as CBO for a number of venture-backed biotech companies, including Synosia Therapeutics and REN Pharmaceuticals. She was also a Vice President at Venrock Associates, a venture capital firm, where she worked primarily on building start-ups and on corporate development activities for portfolio companies. During her tenure at Venrock, she served as the interim Vice President of Business Development for Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a Venrock portfolio company, where she completed a worldwide licensing transaction with Schering Plough, resulting in an upfront payment of $40 million, milestone payments up to $575 million, and double-digit royalties on sales for Anacor's phase 2 product, AN2690. Before Venrock, she worked in business development at Exelixis, Inc., a cancer drug discovery company where she completed significant out-licensing transactions with Genentech and Helsinn Healthcare. She also served as a management consultant in the San Francisco office of McKinsey & Co., working primarily with biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. She received an AB in Chemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry from Harvard University.

Nicholas D. Smith, PhD, has more than 12 years of drug discovery experience in the pharmaceutical industry, in both biotech and big pharma. Most recently, he was Head of the Chemistry Group at Kalypsys, Inc., where he oversaw a number of medicinal chemistry projects that involved the integration of outsourced chemistry resources as well as leading teams that delivered clinical candidates in the therapeutic areas of oncology and pain. Prior, he was a Research Fellow at Merck & Co., where he led chemistry groups that contributed to clinical candidates in the areas of obesity and inflammation. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and received a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Southampton, UK.

Jeffrey Hager, PhD, has 15 years of experience in tumor biology, cancer pharmacology, and oncology drug discovery in both the academic and industrial sectors. Previously, he was Associate Director of Biology at Apoptos, Inc., a San Diego company focused on the discovery and development of small molecules that target apoptotic pathways as cancer therapeutics. At Apoptos, he oversaw in vitro and in vivo compound profiling. Before that, he was responsible for Cancer Pharmacology at Kalypsys, Inc., in addition to leading a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor program. He received a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in molecular and cell biology and was a postdoctoral fellow and staff scientist at the University of California at San Francisco. He is an author of publications in Science, Nature Genetics, Cancer Cell, and Cancer Research.

Peter J. Rix is a Diplomat of the American Board of Toxicology. He has held the positions of Associate Director of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics at Kalypsys, Inc., Principal Scientist of Drug Safety and Disposition at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, and Research Scientist in Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism at Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. During his 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry, he has supported research and development programs in the areas of oncology, ophthalmology, dermatology, metabolic disease, pain and inflammation, and hormone replacement. He has contributed directly to the development of Tazorac® (tazarotene) gel and cream for psoriasis, Lumigan® (bimatoprost) ophthalmic for glaucoma, Acular® (ketorolac tromethamine) ophthalmic for ocular inflammation, Targretin® (bexarotene) capsules and gel for cutaneous T cell lymphoma, and Ontak® (denileukin diftitox) for cutaneous T cell lymphoma.