Board of Directors
Mr. Martin is Chairman of Wren Therapeutics and has served in this position since 2018. Mr. Martin is currently Chief Executive Officer of Radius Health (Nasdaq: RDUS), a publicly quoted biopharmaceutical company committed to developing and commercializing innovative endocrine therapeutics. From 2003 to 2013, Mr. Martin was CEO of Elan Corporation plc, a pharmaceutical company focused on neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Headquartered in Ireland, Elan operated globally and maintained several strategic partnerships including Biogen Idec and Johnson & Johnson. The company was sold to Perrigo Company plc in 2013 for more than $8.6 billion in stock and cash. Mr. Martin’s professional career started in finance having spent 22 years at Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., leading several global divisions including Debt markets, International Equities, Systems & Technology, and the International Private Banking Group. While at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Martin lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, and London.
Bart Henderson is President and Chief Executive Officer of Wren. Mr. Henderson brings extensive experience in company-building and developing innovative medicines. Previously, he was operating partner at Flagship Pioneering, where he led the build-out of Harbinger Health, developing a multi-cancer early-detection platform with leading-edge artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies. Prior to Flagship, he was CEO and co-founder of Torque (now Repertoire Immune Medicines) where, under his leadership, the company significantly advanced its cellular immunotherapy pipeline, initiating the company’s first clinical trial, receiving Fast Track designation from the FDA, and building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for Torque’s T cell immunotherapies. Bart was founder and president of Rhythm and its subsidiary, Motus, where he acquired and completed successful Phase II clinical trials for two metabolic disease therapeutics: Imcivree™, which was granted Breakthrough Designation and is the first drug approved in the U.S. for genetic obesity; and relamorelin, which was acquired by Allergan (with Motus). He was a founding employee and chief business officer of Radius, where he built the pipeline, acquiring Tymlos™, now approved for the treatment of osteoporosis, and acquiring Orserdu™, now approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Previously, he was an entrepreneur-in-residence at MPM Capital. He led business development at Microbia (now Ironwood Pharmaceuticals) and was head of sales and marketing at Vertex, which launched its first product and significantly expanded its pipeline during his tenure. Mr. Henderson previously held marketing management positions at Amgen and Merck. He received an M.B.A. from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and a B.A. from Amherst College.
Mr. Owen Hughes is the Chief Executive Officer of Cullinan Oncology and an Executive Partner at MPM Capital. Prior to joining Cullinan and MPM, Mr. Hughes served as the Chief Business Officer and Head of Corporate Development at Intarcia Therapeutics, where he was responsible for financing, M&A, business development and operations. He led several licensing and M&A transactions, including a long term partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and raised approximately $1.8 billion in private capital. Prior to Intarcia, Mr. Hughes served as a Director of Brookside Capital, a hedge fund under the Bain Capital umbrella, managing public and private healthcare investments. Prior to his tenure at Brookside, he was Senior Portfolio Manager at Pyramis Global Advisors, a Fidelity Investments Company. Owen has more than 16 years of Wall Street experience, on both the buy and sell-side. Mr. Hughes received his B.A. from Dartmouth College. Mr. Hughes currently serves on the Board of Directors of Radius Health (NASDAQ: RDUS) and Translate Bio (NASDAQ: TBIO).
Professor Knowles is a Founder and Head of Kinetics for Wren. He is a Professor of Physical Chemistry and Biophysics in the Department of Chemistry and at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Professor Knowles is co-director of the Cambridge Centre for Protein Misfolding Diseases at the University of Cambridge. Professor Knowles has received several distinguished awards for his work including the Harrison Meldola Memorial Prize (2012) and the Corday-Morgan Prize (2017) awarded by The Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler International Prize in Biophysics (2017). Professor Knowles research focuses on applying physical approaches to study the self-assembly of protein molecules in the context of both biological function and malfunction. His groundbreaking work on the chemical kinetics of protein misfolding and self-assembly, in particular, has transformed our understanding of the pathways that generate the aberrant forms of misfolded proteins believed to be the primary cause of disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Professor Knowles studied Biology at the University of Geneva, and Physics at ETH Zurich. He moved to Cambridge in 2004 to work towards his PhD in the Cavendish Laboratory and the Nanoscience Centre. In 2008 Professor Knowles was elected to a Research Fellowship at St John’s College, Cambridge, and was then appointed successively to a University Lectureship, Readership and Professorship. Since 2016, he holds Professorships in both the Department of Chemistry and the Cavendish Laboratory (Department of Physics). Professor Knowles has co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles.
Dr. von Eschenbach was appointed acting Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005, was later confirmed by the Senate as Commissioner in 2006, and then held the role until his resignation in 2009. Prior to that, Dr. von Eschenbach served as director of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health from 2002 to 2006. Dr. von Eschenbach also previously served as a physician, surgeon, oncologist and executive, from Chairman of the Department of Urologic Oncology to Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center from 1976 until 2002, and since 2009, he has continued to serve as an adjunct professor there. Dr. von Eschenbach also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Bausch Health plc, as president of Samaritan Health Initiative, senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Centre, and as a senior fellow at the Milken Institute. In 2006, Dr. von Eschenbach was named to the “Time 100,” the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people to shape the world. Additionally, Dr. von Eschenbach was selected in both 2007 and 2008 as one of the Modern Healthcare/Modern Physician’s “50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare.” Dr. von Eschenbach is the author of more than 300 scientific articles and studies.
Fiona has served as Company Secretary of Malin plc (ISE:MLC), a publicly listed company investing in highly innovative life sciences companies, since September 2018, prior to which she was Head of Tax from 2015. Before joining Malin, Fiona worked at Elan Corporation plc and with Deloitte’s international tax group in Dublin and New York. Fiona is an associate of the Irish Taxation Institute and of Chartered Accountants Ireland.