Michael Ehlers, M.D., Ph.D., Board Chair
Michael Ehlers is general partner and chief scientific officer at ATP, applying expertise gained through a successful career leading research and development at major biopharmaceutical companies. As executive vice president for research and development at Biogen, he led discovery sciences, translational medicine, clinical development and regulatory sciences, with a focus on neurological, immunological and rare diseases. He significantly expanded and diversified Biogen’s clinical portfolio, transformed its research and development productivity, advanced more than 20 novel clinical candidates, including overseeing the approval of Spinraza® (nusinersen), the first drug approved for spinal muscular atrophy, and Vumerity® (diroximel fumarate), the second oral fumarate approved for multiple sclerosis, as well as advancing development programs for currently approved Leqembi® (lecanemab), the first fully approved drug for slowing cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease, and Qalsody® (tofersen) the first genetic medicine for ALS. Prior to Biogen, Dr. Ehlers was biotherapeutics group senior vice president and neuroscience chief scientific officer at Pfizer, where he created and advanced the neuroscience and rare disease portfolios; directed global development activities in biologics design, synthesis and manufacturing; steered academic collaborations focused on immunology and oncology; and successfully brought 22 compounds into the clinic. Before entering industry in 2010, Dr. Ehlers was a professor and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Center, where he pioneered studies on neuronal organelles and the trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors. He has authored more than 100 scientific papers and served on multiple editorial boards as well as advisory boards for the National Institutes of Health, private foundations and other organizations spanning industry, academia and government.
Dr. Ehlers received a B.S. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Anna Batarina
Anna Batarina is a partner at ATP and a leader in international business, capital markets, corporate finance and strategy. Anna joined ATP in 2016 from Braeburn, an ATP portfolio company, where she served as vice president of strategic development. Before Braeburn, she was a member of the strategy team at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Prior to that, Anna was senior vice president and head of capital markets and investor relations at Uralkali, a leading global agrochemical business, where she led one of the most successful IPOs on the London Stock Exchange.
Anna received an M.A. in Global Affairs (Global Health track) and a graduate certificate in Global Health, Public Health from Yale University. She holds an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Lomonosov Moscow State University, a B.S. in Finance from Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, and a CFA charter.
Raj Chopra, FRCP, FRCPath, FRSB, Ph.D.
Raj Chopra is head of oncology and a venture partner at ATP. At The Institute of Cancer Research in London, as director of the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit, he led one of the largest academic drug discovery groups in the world and focused on targeted protein degradation and complex 3D cell culture models. Dr. Chopra also worked at Celgene as corporate vice president of translational and early drug development, leading an international team of more than 100 scientists. Before joining Celgene, he held leadership positions in AstraZeneca’s oncology therapeutics group in the U.K. and U.S. Dr. Chopra began his academic career as the director of hematological oncology at Christie Hospital and was group leader at the Paterson Institute of Cancer Research, both located in Manchester, U.K. He was a non-executive director of Artios Pharma, established to develop a next-generation DNA damage response target pipeline of cancer therapeutics, and co-founder of Monté Rosa Therapeutics, a biotech focused on targeted protein degradation.
Dr. Chopra trained in medicine at University College London, where he received a Ph.D. in medicine, cell and molecular biology. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of Pathologists and the Royal Society of Biology.
Seth Harrison, M.D.
Seth Harrison is founder and managing partner at ATP. He began investing in life sciences in 1991 as a venture partner at Sevin Rosen Funds and went on to be a general partner at Oak Investment Partners before starting ATP in 1999. Some of his earlier investments include Aileron Therapeutics, Akero Therapeutics, ArQule, Coelacanth, Corvidia Therapeutics, Cyrano Sciences, Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, HeartWare International, Informed Access, SGX Pharmaceuticals, Stoke Therapeutics, Syntimmune, Tendyne, Ultracision and ViroPharma. Dr. Harrison currently serves on the boards of Akero Therapeutics and Stoke Therapeutics as well as the 15 portfolio companies created within ATP V, ATP’s current fund, to date. From 2002 to 2010, he was a member of the board of the International Partnership for Microbicides, a nonprofit product development partnership focused on women’s health and HIV prevention.
Dr. Harrison received an A.B. from Princeton University and holds an M.D. and MBA from Columbia University. He completed a surgery internship at the Presbyterian Hospital in the City of New York.
Aron Knickerbocker
Aron Knickerbocker is president and chief executive officer of Aulos and is a member of the board of directors. Prior to Aulos, he was chairman, chief executive officer and co-founder of RayzeBio, a targeted radiopharmaceutical company. Previously, Mr. Knickerbocker held a variety of executive positions during 10 years at Five Prime Therapeutics, most recently as president and chief executive officer. In this role, he was responsible for licensing bemarituzumab into Five Prime, prioritizing it in the portfolio and driving its advancement into late-stage development as a first-line treatment for advanced gastric cancer, leading to Five Prime’s acquisition by Amgen. Mr. Knickerbocker also significantly expanded the clinical pipeline, established multiple transformational strategic alliances and was instrumental in taking the company public. Before Five Prime, he worked at Genentech for more than eight years as head of oncology business development. While there, he orchestrated many key collaborations, including those that led to the marketed products Venclexta®, Cotellic® and Erivedge®. Prior to Genentech, Mr. Knickerbocker worked in commercial development at ALZA (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), corporate development at Amgen and research at Bristol Myers Squibb. He serves as chairman of the board of KAHR Medical Ltd. and is also a member of the board of Phenomic AI.
Mr. Knickerbocker received an A.B. with honors in Biology from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA with distinction from the University of Michigan.
Yanay Ofran, Ph.D.
Yanay Ofran, the chief executive officer and founder of Biolojic Design, is co-founder and chief scientific officer of Aulos. A computational biophysicist and biotech entrepreneur, his scientific work focuses on the application of artificial intelligence and computational biology to the study of proteins, genomes and drugs. As founder of Biolojic Design, Dr. Ofran led the development of the company’s proprietary artificial intelligence discovery platform for the design of antibodies. Yanay is also co-founder and chairman of Ukko, a biotech company that designs and develops mRNA vaccines for the treatment of food allergies.
Dr. Ofran received a Ph.D. with distinction in Molecular Biophysics and Biomedical Informatics from Columbia University and was a professor of bioinformatics and molecular research at Bar-Ilan University. He is the author of over 100 papers and patents.
Mace Rothenberg, M.D.
Mace Rothenberg, M.D., is president and executive director of the Museum of Medicine and Biomedical Discovery. His nearly 40-year career has spanned government, academia, industry and the not-for-profit sector. Prior to his current role, Dr. Rothenberg was chief medical officer of Pfizer from 2019 to 2021, during which time the company developed and received Emergency Use Authorization for Comirnity®, its COVID-19 vaccine. Prior to that role, Dr. Rothenberg was chief development officer/head of clinical development and medical affairs for Pfizer Oncology. Over the course of 10 years in that role, his organization developed and obtained regulatory approval for 11 new cancer medicines, including first-in-class medicines Ibrance® (palbociclib) for patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer and Xalkori® (crizotinib) for patients with ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer. Prior to joining Pfizer, Dr. Rothenberg was professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University (1998-2008) and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (1991-1998). Dr. Rothenberg began his career as special assistant to the director, division of cancer treatment at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland (1988-1991).
Dr. Rothenberg received a B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.D. from New York University, followed by post-graduate training in internal medicine at Vanderbilt University and medical oncology training at the National Cancer Institute. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
BOARD ADVISOR
Michael Hayden, C.M., O.B.C., MB, ChB, FRCP(C), FRSC, Ph.D.
Michael Hayden is an accomplished scientist and physician, and co-founder of biotechnology companies Prilenia, NeuroVir Therapeutics, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Aspreva Pharmaceuticals and 89bio. As president of global research and development and chief scientific officer at Teva, he led development and approval of approximately 35 new products in major markets. Dr. Hayden has been named one of the 50 Canadians born in the 20th century who have changed the world, for his research identifying 10 disease-causing genes, including the major gene underlying high-density lipoprotein. Dr. Hayden also identified the first mutations underlying lipoprotein lipase deficiency and developed gene therapy approaches to treat this condition, resulting in the first approved gene therapy product (Glybera®) in a major market. For his outstanding contributions and leadership in medicine and medical science, Dr. Hayden has been inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame and awarded the Diamond Jubilee Medal by HRH Queen Elizabeth II, the Order of Canada, the Prix Galien, the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award and the Margolese National Brain Disorders Prize. He has authored approximately 900 peer-reviewed publications and invited submissions, and currently serves on the boards of multiple biotechnology companies, including Ionis and AbCellera. Additionally, he chairs the scientific advisory board of Camp4 Therapeutics.
Dr. Hayden received Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He also holds honorary doctorates of science from the University of Alberta, University of Gottingen and University of Cape Town. He is a Killam professor at the University of British Columbia.
