Sanj K. Patel is the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, which is focused on developing and commercializing therapies for patients with devastating diseases and unmet medical need. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the Biopharmaceutical industry and has a combination of scientific, clinical and commercial skills. He took Kiniksa public on the NASDAQ Global Market in May 2018. Sanj previously created Synageva in 2008 to focus on rare diseases and designed and initiated its lead program (Kanuma^®) for Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency (LAL Deficiency) in July 2008. Kanuma was approved globally in 2015 as the first therapy for patients suffering from this devastating, often terminal disease. He took Synageva public on the NASDAQ Global Market in November 2011 and raised over $1 billion in capital in less than 5 years. In June 2015, Synageva was sold to Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $9.5B (including cash), which represented the highest premium ever paid for a biotech company valued over $5B. Prior to Synageva, Sanj was an executive at Genzyme Corporation (1999-2008) where he was head of U.S. Sales, Marketing and Commercial Operations for the Genzyme Therapeutics franchise, and led the U.S. launch of Myozyme^®, in addition to sales and marketing responsibility for Cerezyme^®, Fabrazyme^® and Aldurazyme^®. Previously, he held several cross-functional senior leadership roles at Genzyme, including Vice President, Clinical Research and Head of the Global Clinical Research Operations Council for all Genzyme divisions, including Therapeutics, Oncology and Transplant. He was responsible for clinical operations for all Genzyme products and was instrumental in the path to commercialization of several treatments. Notably, Sanj led the Fabrazyme^® clinical operations team and development program to FDA approval in April 2003. Prior to Genzyme, he held senior roles in clinical research and commercial operations at Burroughs Wellcome, Hoechst Marrion Roussel and Fujisawa/Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. Sanj obtained his BSc with Honors in Biotechnology from the University of the South Bank, London. He successfully completed his management and business studies at Ealing College, London and his Pharmacology research program at the Wellcome Foundation. He has dedicated much of his career and philanthropy to rare diseases, such as Sarcoma, Immunological diseases, and genetic inborn errors of metabolism, including diseases closely linked to Ashkenazi Jewish populations and other ethnic groups.

Sanj is the founder and director of the Sanj K. Patel and Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded in 2015 which supports various charities focused on patients with rare and devastating diseases, including the Sarcoma Foundation of America.

Ross is Kiniksa’s Group Vice President & General Manager of the Rilonacept Franchise. Ross joined the Kiniksa team in 2019 and brings over 18 years’ experience in biopharmaceuticals, having led sales, marketing and diagnostic functions within orphan and ultra-orphan disease fields. Prior to joining Kiniksa, Ross played a lead role towards the successful commercialization efforts for innovative Cell and Gene therapies at Novartis Gene Therapies and Spark Therapeutics. Additionally, Ross served as the metabolic franchise commercial lead at Alexion following the acquisition of Synageva where he was the General Manager, UK & Ireland. Ross holds a First Class BA (Honors) degree from Middlesex University Business School in London.

Melissa serves as the Chief Human Resources Officer at Kiniksa.  Melissa joined Kiniksa in 2017 and has held roles of increasing leadership responsibility since then.  She brings over 20 years of experience in human resources strategy and operations, primarily focused in the life sciences industry.  Before Kiniksa, Melissa served as Global HR Business Partner at Alexion where she was responsible for driving human resources strategy to support the Research and Development organization.  Prior to joining Alexion, Melissa served as the Director of Human Resources at Synageva where she was responsible for leading human resources operations. Previously, Melissa held roles of increasing responsibility at Alkermes and AMAG Pharmaceuticals and before that held various HR roles in public and private companies.  She currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Life Science Cares.  Melissa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Keene State College in New Hampshire.

Mark is our Chief Financial Officer. He joined Kiniksa prior to the company’s initial public offering in 2018. Mark is responsible for establishing and expanding Kiniksa’s relationships with its global investor base and industry analysts through communicating the company’s business principles, corporate strategy and financial performance. He also provides input on corporate communications, financial operations and other shareholder-related activities. Mark joined Kiniksa from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, where he was a member of the investor relations team. Prior to Ironwood, Mark was a Vice President in the equities division at Goldman Sachs where he built strategic relationships with key hedge fund and mutual fund companies and helped raise capital for private and public companies. Mark also held roles of increasing responsibility within the equities divisions of Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Securities. Mark has over 20 years of experience in the financial services and life sciences industries. He has a strong understanding of institutional investor needs as well as an extensive knowledge of finance and equity markets.

Mark holds a BA in Government and History from Bowdoin College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Martina serves as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Kiniksa. She brings over 25 years of global regulatory affairs experience (U.S, Europe, and Japan/Asia) across all stages of drug development with biologics and small molecules in a variety of therapeutic areas such as metabolism, cardiovascular, oncology and neuroscience. She has led the successful submission and approval processes of many regulatory filings, including multiple original New Drug Applications/Marketing Authorization Applications, numerous Investigational New Drug Applications and Clinical Trial Applications many of which resulted in life cycle management extensions for new indications and dosage forms (Lenvima®, Halaven®, Fycompa®, Banzel®, Exelon®, Comtan®, Stalevo®). Martina has broad experience in rare diseases and orphan drugs, including regulatory submissions that resulted in Breakthrough Therapy Designation and/or Fast Track Designation. Martina was most recently the head of Global Regulatory Affairs at Eisai Inc. where she was instrumental in building a global regulatory affairs group and leading regulatory filings, including priority and accelerated approvals in the US, EU and Japan. Martina previously held regulatory positions of increasing responsibility at Novartis AG in both Switzerland and the US. She started her regulatory career as a group leader at the Swiss Health Authority (Swissmedic). Martina has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland.

Maddy is our General Counsel. Maddy joined Kiniksa prior to the company’s first commercial drug launch and has over 18 years of legal experience in the life science industry. Before Kiniksa, Maddy was Vice President, Legal and Corporate Secretary at Verastem Oncology where she provided strategic advice and legal support for all domestic commercial operations and alliance management with international business partners. Prior to Verastem, Maddy was Vice President, Associate General Counsel at NxStage Medical where she was responsible for drafting and negotiating a broad range of contracts and reviewing product marketing materials. Before NxStage, Maddy started her career as a transactional attorney in the life sciences group of Ropes & Gray LLP in Boston, Massachusetts. Maddy received her JD degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a BS in Biology from Duke University.

John is Kiniksa’s Chief Medical Officer.  His over 25 years of experience spans from basic biological/medical science through all phases of clinical development and regulatory strategy for small molecules and biologics. Dr. Paolini was most recently Clinical Research Head of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases Research Unit at Pfizer Inc., where he was responsible for bringing forward programs in diabetes, heart failure, lipids, and metabolic liver disease from preclinical through early clinical development and proof of concept. Dr. Paolini previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Cerenis Therapeutics in France, a publicly traded company on the Euronext exchange.  He was responsible for designing and executing clinical trials and regulatory strategy for a portfolio of products relating to HDL and reverse lipid transport and also played an instrumental role in the company’s capital raising efforts including its initial public offering. Before moving to France, Dr. Paolini was Global Clinical Leader at Bayer HealthCare Pharma, where he was responsible for the Phase III program, NDA filing, and launch of Xarelto in atrial fibrillation as well as Xarelto Life Cycle Management. He started in the pharmaceutical industry at Merck & Co., Inc., in Cardiovascular Clinical Research and Clinical Pharmacology, leading programs in thrombosis and dyslipidemia that spanned the early and late stage portfolio, including Zocor and Aggrastat, the Vytorin, Zetia, and Tredaptive clinical development programs and NDAs, as well as in-licensing activities in cardiovascular disease. Dr. Paolini obtained an M.D., Ph.D. from Duke University, where his Ph.D. work focused on the protein chemistry of immune mediators.  He subsequently completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, including a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researching the role of inflammatory mediators in vascular disease and restenosis. He received Board certification in Internal Medicine and Cardiology and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.   He was a member of the clinical faculty at the University of Pennsylvania as a Clinical Associate and served as an attending physician for 10 years, precepting cardiology fellows in the HUP outpatient cardiology clinic.  He has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed journal articles and abstracts.  He received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude and a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude from Tulane University.

Eben serves as Kiniksa’s Chief Business Officer and has extensive experience in long-range strategic planning, forecasting, decision analysis, business development, licensing, valuation and new product strategy. Before Kiniksa, he was Senior Director and Head of Business Development at Synageva BioPharma. Prior to that he was Director, Business and Corporate Development for Civitas Therapeutics.  There he played a lead role in managing the company through a dual-path IPO process which led ultimately, to a successful acquisition by Acorda Therapeutics. Before joining Civitas, he worked in a variety roles with increasing responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Zalicus, and EPIX Pharmaceuticals. Eben holds a BS in Behavior Neuroscience from Northeastern, an MS in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and both a JD and MBA from Suffolk University.

Arian has served as Kiniksa’s Senior Vice President of Clinical Development since joining in November of 2019. Arian has an extensive background in research and development across a variety of pharma companies, with a focus on cardiovascular, metabolic rare diseases and lately inflammation and fibrosis. Previously he served as SVP of Clinical Development for Galapagos NV, while concurrently serving as the US Country Head and Global Head of Safety. He was previously Head of Clinical Development at Elpidera, a subsidiary of Moderna, where he was responsible for all aspects of clinical development for rare diseases. Before this, Arian held the position of VP, Head of Rare Disease therapeutic area at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Arian was also Global Clinical Development Lead, Clinical Research and Development, at Shire Human Genetic Therapies, Inc. and prior to that as Medical Director at Pfizer and Acusphere Inc. Earlier in his career, he worked on medical devices/microsphere technology for cardiovascular applications at Acusphere Inc. Arian holds an MD degree from University of Tirana, Albania and an MPH in Healthcare Management from Harvard’s School of Public Health, Boston MA.

Mei is the Vice President of Technical Operations at Kiniksa. She has extensive experience in all phases of process development, GMP manufacturing and overall CMC strategy. She oversees the process development and GMP manufacturing of drug substance and drug product, analytical development, quality control and supply chain logistics. Mei joined Kiniksa in 2018 and was promoted to Vice President of CMC in 2020. Before joining Kiniksa, Mei was the head of Biologics Downstream Process Development and Manufacturing and CMC program lead at Tesaro (now part of GSK). Prior to Tesaro, Mei held positions of increasing responsibilities and CMC lead role for multiple programs at Shire (now part of Takeda). Mei holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biochemistry from the Ohio State University.

Mike is our Vice President of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer with responsibility for finance, treasury and tax. He has over 20 years of experience in financial management and operations, primarily focused on the life sciences industry. Prior to joining Kiniksa, Mike spent over 6 years at LFB USA Inc., formerly rEVO Biologics, Inc., in roles of financial and operational leadership, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Finance and Accounting. He played a key role in the financial carve out of rEVO Biologics to create a focused commercial entity to finance a follow-on indication of the company’s previously approved biologic product, ATryn^®. At LFB USA, his most recent responsibilities included financial operations, human resources, information technology, as well as program management. Prior to LFB USA, he held senior financial management positions at BioSphere Medical, Inc., a publicly traded medical device company. Mike began his career in public accounting at firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers where he worked with a variety of public and private audit clients. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Siena College. Mike is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Lora is Kiniksa’s Executive Director and Head of Global Patient Advocacy & Engagement. She brings over 15 years of experience working in biotech and social services. Most recently, Lora was the Senior Director, Marketing at Sobi where she was responsible for leading the cross-functional brand strategy and U.S. launch of Gamifant®. Before joining Sobi, Lora served as the Director and Interim Head, Global Patient Advocacy at Alnylam overseeing a global team responsible for advocacy relations and patient engagement across multiple clinical and commercial-stage RNAi therapeutics. Prior to Alnylam, Lora held several roles of increasing leadership responsibility in the areas of rare disease marketing, commercial operations, and patient services at Genzyme. Lora started her career as a Social Worker with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the MassBioEd Foundation. Lora received her BA in Psychology from the University of Rochester and completed the Strategic Marketing Management Executive Education Program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Dana is the Senior Vice President of Global Medical Affairs and Patient Advocacy at Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals. He has over 20 years of experience in the industry with several roles of increasing leadership responsibility in the areas of clinical pharmacy, medical affairs and patient advocacy at Genzyme Corporation, Synageva BioPharma, Sarepta Therapeutics and Kiniksa. Dana has contributed to the clinical development and/or product launch of multiple rare disease therapeutics including first-to-market treatments for Fabry Disease, Pompe Disease, Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He has served on the Board of Directors for non-profit organizations including the Massachusetts Pharmacists Association and the patient advocacy organization, LAL Solace. Dana is adjunct faculty and preceptor for Doctor of Pharmacy students from the University of New England and the University of North Carolina. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Pharmacy and a Doctor of Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy-Boston.

Dina serves as Vice President of Quality here at Kiniksa. She brings over 25 years of global quality experience in the areas of biologics, RNAi therapeutics, small molecules, medical devices, and combination products. She has significant breadth of experience across all stages of the product lifecycle including treatments for rare diseases and orphan drugs. Prior to joining us at Kiniksa, Dina held quality leadership roles at Eli Lilly, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Instrumentation Laboratory, Pfizer, Parker Hannifin, and Avid Technology. Throughout her career, she has led inspection readiness activities, been a champion for capability-building across all quality assurance programs and systems and has been instrumental in multiple FDA and EMA approvals. Dina holds a Master of Science degree in Business Management from Merrimack College, and is a certified Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt and a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen has driven strategy across Kiniksa since the inception of the company in 2015. He brings to Kiniksa 20 years of life-science business leadership experience. At Synageva, he led the transformation of the technical operations organization and site setup since the IPO in 2011. He also drove corporate strategic analysis and cross-functional breakthrough initiatives. Previous to Synageva, from 2008 to 2011 he led the successful turnaround of the global commercial organization of the GN Group, a global leader in audiology. From 1996 to 2008, Rasmus worked for Novo Nordisk in Denmark, USA, Brazil and Mexico, where he held increasing positions within General Management (30+ countries), Finance, Investor Relations and R&D Portfolio Management. Rasmus received an MSc in Economics from the University of Copenhagen and has completed executive training at Harvard Business School, Stanford University and INSEAD.

Chad is our Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer, and also serves as our Data Protection Officer. Before Kiniksa, Chad was Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer for bluebird bio, Inc. where he was responsible for establishing the global Compliance & Ethics and Privacy programs. Prior to joining bluebird bio, Chad was the Head of Compliance at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was responsible for all aspects of compliance through their acquisition by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. Before ARIAD, Chad was with Cubist Pharmaceuticals where he served in several roles of increasing leadership responsibility until their acquisition by Merck & Co., Inc. Chad started his life science career at Boston Scientific Corporation in Compliance Operations. He is a graduate of The Citadel, Babson College’s F. W. Olin School of Business, and a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He also serves on the editorial board for Policy & Medicine Compliance Update.