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. Kiniksa became 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 the company 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 completed his management and business studies at Ealing College, London and his Pharmacology research program at the Wellcome Foundation. 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. In 2018, he created the Durham-Spencer Organization (encompassing the Orphanage Travel Inspires Program) which will provide opportunities for orphans in developing countries to travel the world and help enrich their minds and lives.

Qasim is our Senior Vice President of Operations & Chief Commercial Officer and comes to us from Genentech; where most recently he was Vice President and Franchise Head of Tecentriq with commercial responsibilities for Genentech’s’ Cancer Immunotherapy Portfolio.

Qasim’s prior roles include leading Roche’s Hematology Franchise as Vice President of Global Product Strategy and Lifecycle Leader for Hemlibra; the first and only bi-specific monoclonal antibody for the treatment of Hemophilia A. Qasim has a proven track record of building exceptional teams and delivering results. He has extensive launch experience; having launched Herceptin, Perjeta and Kadcyla for HER2-positive breast cancer as well as Venclexta for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Gazyva for Follicular Lymphoma. Under his leadership Rituxan Hycela received FDA approval; first ever sub-cutaneous treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Prior to joining Genentech, Qasim was at Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, where he served in numerous roles in sales, marketing, business development and new product planning.

Qasim’ background is in General Surgery, having completed his Residency in Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, ENT and Accident and Emergency Care. Qasim received his Medical Degree from the University of Dundee Medical School in Scotland. And also holds an MBA from Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Tom serves as Kiniksa’s Chief Legal Officer and is also responsible for the company’s corporate development and operations.  Tom has over 15 years of transactional, business and legal experience in the life science industry.  Most recently, Tom was the Chief Legal Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Synageva Biopharma Corp.  At Synageva, in addition to leading the legal department, he was responsible for business development activities and was instrumental to the success of the Alexion acquisition. Prior to joining Synageva in 2013, Tom was the General Legal Counsel for New England Biolabs, Inc., where he was responsible for all legal matters and a member of Biolabs’ global business development team. Prior to Biolabs, Tom was with Genzyme Corporation where he was the lead corporate attorney responsible for Genzyme’s Hematology/Oncology and Multiple Sclerosis products. Before Genzyme, Tom was a corporate and transactional attorney with the law firm of Palmer & Dodge, LLP in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his JD and MBA degrees from Boston College, and a BA from the University of Rochester.

Chris is the Chief Financial Officer of Kiniksa with responsibility for finance, treasury, tax and information technology.  He has over 20 years of experience in financial management and operations, primarily focused on the life sciences industry. Prior to joining Kiniksa, Chris spent over 6 years at Synageva BioPharma Corp. in roles of global financial and operational leadership, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Finance and Business Operations. He played a key role in Synageva becoming a public company on the NASDAQ Global Market in November 2011, supported fundraising efforts for over $1 billion in new capital and oversaw financial operations expanding to more than 15 countries to support the global development and launch preparations for Kanuma®.  He also lead strategic tax planning for the company including overseeing the transfer of tax and intellectual property assets to Europe. At Synageva, his most recent responsibilities included global financial operations, facilities, as well as program management. Prior to Synageva, he held senior financial management positions at Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc. and EPIX Pharmaceuticals Inc., both publicly traded biotechnology companies. Chris began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he worked with a variety of public and private audit clients. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Boston University and a bachelor of arts in economics from St. Lawrence University. Chris is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Melissa Manno serves as the Head of Human Resources at Kiniksa.  She brings over 15 years of experience in human resources strategy and operations, primarily focused in the life sciences industry.  Most recently, Melissa served as Global HR Business Partner at Alexion and 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 human resources and operations positions.  She has extensive experience in all aspects of global human resources, including talent acquisition, organizational development, compensation, benefits and leadership development.  Melissa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Keene State College in New Hampshire.

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.

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.

Annalisa has been Kiniksa’s Chief Scientific Officer since September 2019. She brings more than 25 years of experience in basic and translational research in immunology and inflammation as well as strategic and operational know how of drug discovery for small molecules and biologics. Most recently, she was Vice President and Global Head of Discovery for Immunology and Inflammation at Roche, where she was responsible for discovering and advancing multiple drug candidates to the clinic. Prior to Roche, Annalisa held roles of increasing responsibility at SRI International, including Executive Director and Section Head of Discovery Biology, where she was responsible for developing strategies to advance drugs through discovery and into development. Prior to that, she led the SRI International Center for Immunology, Inflammation, and Infectious Diseases, developing synergistic core expertise leveraging capabilities in vaccinology, autoimmunity, infectious diseases, and inflammation. Before she joined SRI, she worked at Chiron Vaccines in Siena, Italy, an American multinational biotechnology firm that was later acquired by Novartis and most recently by GSK. Annalisa received a Bachelor of Sciences, summa cum laude from the University of Siena in Italy. She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Florence while training at the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. Her postdoctoral fellowship training was at the DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto, California.

Dave is the Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at Kiniksa. He has over 30 years of extensive experience in all phases of process and analytical development, GMP manufacturing for drug substance and drug product, combination product development and manufacture, quality control, and supply chain logistics. Before joining Kiniksa, Mr. Nichols was the head of CMC for the Biologics division at Tesaro. In this role, he was responsible for leading development and manufacturing efforts across all Biologics programs. Prior to Tesaro, Dave held various positions of increasing responsibility over his 20-year tenure with the Shire, where he was able to bring three biologics from early phase development through commercialization. Mr. Nichols holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry from University of New Hampshire and a Master’s in Business Administration from Northeastern University.

Christine serves as Vice President of Program Management at Kiniksa and brings over 18 years of experience in the management of multi-million dollar R & D portfolio programs in the life sciences industry.  Most recently, Christine was Vice President of Business Operations at Synageva where she led the Company Sponsored Study to accelerate the widespread screening and identification of patients with LAL Deficiency in 100+ centers globally.  Prior to joining Commercial Operations, Christine served as Vice President of Program Management and Operations and led the Kanuma program for LAL Deficiency to successful IND/CTA filings, completion of a global Phase 1/2 trial and initiation of the Pivotal Phase 3 ARISE trial and was a key contributor to building the rare disease product portfolio. Prior to Synageva, Christine held roles of increasing responsibility in Project, Program & Alliance Management at Biogen Idec, Molecular Insight Pharma (Progenics), Globomax (ICON) and US Surgical Corporation (Medtronic). She also served as a Project Management Consultant for Integrated Project Management Corporation.  Christine holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Pace University in New York and a Master’s of Science in Project and Program Management from Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

Carsten is the Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs. He previously served as Chief Business Officer at Kiniksa.  He brings more than 25 years of financial operations and management experience in the life sciences industry with diversified experience across a broad field of areas both in the United States and internationally. He joined Synageva in May 2011 as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He played a key role in Synageva becoming a public company on the NASDAQ Global Market in November 2011 and supported fundraising efforts for multiple secondary offerings. Prior to joining Synageva, Carsten served in the roles of Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, International of Insulet Corporation, respectively (June 2006-2011) and has also served in the following capacities: Chief Financial Officer of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Executive Vice President of Finance for Serono, Inc. and Vice President Finance, International Operations, Novo Nordisk. Carsten has significant international experience having served as head of finance of companies in the United States, Denmark, China, Switzerland, and France.  He also headed the expansion of Insulet’s business internationally in the role of Vice President, International. Carsten earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Odense, Denmark.

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.