Jnana Therapeutics Appoints Donald Nicholson, Ph.D., as Chair of its Board of Directors

April 5, 2019 Off By BusinessWire

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jnana
Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Donald Nicholson,
Ph.D., an accomplished scientist and executive, as chair of its Board of
Directors. Don most recently served as chief executive officer of Nimbus
Therapeutics.

“I am thrilled to welcome Don as chair of our Board of Directors. Don’s
experience and strategic input will be immensely valuable to Jnana as we
build the organization and advance a pipeline of programs modulating SLC
transporters to correct metabolite pathway dysregulation in disease,”
said Joanne Kotz, Ph.D., co-founder, chief executive officer and
president at Jnana.

Prior to Nimbus, Dr. Nicholson spent 25 years at Merck, where he held
various strategic, leadership and operational roles across diverse
therapeutic areas including inflammation, immunology and neuroscience,
amongst others. He began his career at Merck Frosst in Montreal as a
senior research biologist and advanced through various positions of
increasing responsibility, including vice president and site head of the
Merck Neurosciences Research site in San Diego, vice president of
immunology and infectious diseases and then vice president and worldwide
discovery head for the Bone, Respiratory, Immunology and Endocrine
franchise based in New Jersey. Don has co-authored more than 150
publications in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals and is
internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of
apoptotic cell death. Don received his doctorate in biochemistry from
the University of Western Ontario and trained as a Medical Research
Council postdoctoral fellow at the University of Munich in Germany. He
is the recipient of multiple academic and professional honors. Don is
also a member of the Board of Directors of Kymera Therapeutics and
Generation Bio.

“Jnana has built an impressive drug discovery platform aimed at
developing therapies for patients with serious unmet need,” said Dr.
Nicholson. “I am excited by the opportunity to serve as chair of the
Board as the company advances its innovative pipeline of therapies.”

About Jnana Therapeutics

Jnana Therapeutics is a biotechnology company creating the first drug
discovery platform to unlock the solute carrier (SLC) family of
metabolite transporters as a therapeutic target class. Jnana is
systematically targeting SLCs, the cell’s metabolite gates, to advance
first-in-class therapies for diseases where patients have limited or no
treatment options. Headquartered in Boston, Jnana launched in 2017 with
$50 million in Series A financing from investors including Polaris
Partners, Avalon Ventures, Versant Ventures, AbbVie Ventures and Pfizer
R&D Innovate. For more information, please visit www.jnanatx.com,
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