Affinia Therapeutics CEO and leadership

Rick has helped bring transformative medicines to patients in more than 10 diseases across multiple successful biotech companies. Before joining Affinia Therapeutics, Rick was Chief Business Officer at AveXis where he played a significant role in the company's build and sale to Novartis for $8.7 billion and the launch of Zolgensma®, its flagship gene therapy product. Prior to AveXis, Rick was Chief Business Officer at Catabasis Pharmaceuticals and before that, a Senior Vice President in the commercial group at InterMune until its acquisition by Roche. Before this, Rick held roles of increasing responsibility at MedImmune (AstraZeneca) and at Centocor (J&J). Before joining the industry, Rick practiced as a clinical pharmacist in a hospital setting. He received his B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of Iowa and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School.

Rob has closed more than 50 strategic transactions across a broad range of R&D collaborations, licensing agreements, and mergers and acquisitions. Before Affinia Therapeutics, Rob was a Principal at the law firm Faber, Daeufer & Itrato PC, co-leading its R&D collaborations and licensing practice and working with prominent gene therapy clients. Prior to this, he was Vice President and Head of Business Strategy for GSK’s biotech partnering unit, and was Assistant General Counsel at GSK supporting Worldwide Business Development and R&D Operations. Earlier in his career, Rob held multiple roles including Biotech Patent Attorney at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld and Research Biochemist in Bioprocess R&D at Merck. Rob received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Albright College, M.S. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University and J.D. from Temple University.

Charlie was most recently Chief Scientific Officer at Editas Medicine where his research group advanced the pioneering CRISPR gene editing platform and medicines from program inception to Investigational New Drug (IND). He has led research activities at both biotech and big pharma companies across a range of therapeutic areas including neurology, neuromuscular, cardiovascular, ophthalmology, and oncology. Prior to that, he was Vice President, Genetically Defined Diseases and Genomics at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, where he was responsible for developing the group’s strategy and building a pipeline of novel therapeutics with a focus on central nervous system (CNS) and cardiovascular rare diseases. Prior to his career in industry, Charlie held academic positions at Vanderbilt University and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Charlie received a B.S. in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Laura has authored or co-authored over 50 INDs and three BLAs. She was most recently the Senior Vice President of R&D at Arcellx. Prior to that, she was the Executive Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Gene Therapy Program, where she led the preclinical development of more than 20 gene therapy programs across CNS, liver metabolic, ocular, and respiratory diseases. Before this, she was Vice President, of Translational Sciences at MedImmune. Laura is an author of more than 60 publications. She is a veterinary pathologist and molecular virologist by training, with a D.V.M. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Paula has led strategy and operations for more than 15 programs advancing them through meaningful milestones ranging from discovery to clinic and approvals to launches. She spent most of her career at Biogen in roles of increasing responsibility across new product planning, program management, and franchise management, culminating as Senior Vice President of the Rare Disease group. In this role, she managed a portfolio of clinical and commercial assets across hemophilia, spinal muscular atrophy, and other rare genetic diseases with annual revenues of over $750 million. More recently, Paula was the Chief Operating Officer of gene therapy company, Decibel Therapeutics, and a Board member of gene therapy company, Nightstar Therapeutics, until its acquisition by Biogen in 2019 for $800 million. Paula is a current Board member of Prothena. She received her B.A. from Amherst College and her M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Petra most recently served as Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development, Analytics and Translational Medicine at Novartis Gene Therapies where she played a key role in the global approvals of gene therapy, Zolgensma®, and multiple IND filings. Petra’s expertise in translational medicine and clinical development in neuroscience, rare disease, and gene therapy also comes from many years of clinical research and development positions in academia, and at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she held leadership roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Director of the Office of Rare Diseases Research. Petra earned her M.D. at the University of Bonn, and her M.S. in Biostatistics at Columbia University where she also trained in neurology and served as tenured faculty member, advancing research, and caring for patients.

Rob has closed more than 50 strategic transactions across a broad range of R&D collaborations, licensing agreements, and mergers and acquisitions. Before Affinia Therapeutics, Rob was a Principal at the law firm Faber, Daeufer & Itrato PC, co-leading its R&D collaborations and licensing practice and working with prominent gene therapy clients. Prior to this, he was Vice President and Head of Business Strategy for GSK’s biotech partnering unit, and was Assistant General Counsel at GSK supporting Worldwide Business Development and R&D Operations. Earlier in his career, Rob held multiple roles including Biotech Patent Attorney at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld and Research Biochemist in Bioprocess R&D at Merck. Rob received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Albright College, M.S. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University and J.D. from Temple University.