Leadership

Roopa Rai, Ph.D.

Founder and CEO

  • Roopa Rai is the Founder and CEO of Isosterix. With over 25 years of experience, Roopa has held leadership positions in Discovery Research in various therapeutic areas including oncology. She has a successful track record of driving programs from discovery to IND ready compounds including six clinical candidates. Past positions included SVP, Discovery Research at Myoforte Therapeutics and Senior Director of Chemistry at Medivation and Assembly BioSciences. She is a co-author/inventor on 70+ patents and publications. She has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has done postdoctoral research at Cornell University and Stanford University.

Leslie Holsinger, Ph.D.

Head of R&D

  • Leslie Holsinger is the Head of Research and Development at Isosterix.  She has 25 years of experience in drug discovery and development   from project initiation through Phase 3 clinical development.  She has led all aspects of nonclinical drug development and translational   medicine.  Previous experiences include Executive VP of R&D at Cortexyme, VP of Biology at Virobay, and positions of increasing   responsibility at Celera and SUGEN.  She has authored >20 peer-reviewed papers.  Leslie has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular and   Cellular Biology from Northwestern University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Our Team

Robert Lum, Ph.D.

Head, CMC

  • Robert Lum brings over 30 years of industrial experience in both large and small pharmaceutical companies. Robert has led groups in medicinal, computational and process chemistry, formulation development, CMC, pharmaceutical operations, DMPK and bioanalytics, and program management. He has worked at a variety of small and large companies, including Concentric Analgesics, Pfizer (formerly Medivation), Geron, and SmithKline Beecham. Robert received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jianhong Wang, Ph.D.

Head, DMPK / Clin. Pharm.

  • Jianhong Wang has contributed as a DMPK representative to the discovery of multiple clinical candidates across her 22+ years of experience. This includes leading the nonclinical team in completing nonclinical IND and NDA package for Biktarvy®, which is the # 1 best-selling medicine to treat HIV. She has also led cross-functional discovery teams and served as a clinical pharmacology SME on clinical development teams. In addition, Jianhong has worked as a DMPK specialist across numerous companies, including Cortexyme Inc., Ideaya Biosciences, Gilead Sciences, Inc., and Array BioPharma, Inc.  

Advisors

Alison L. Hannah, MD.

Advisor, Clinical Oncology

  • Dr. Alison Hannah has 3 decades of clinical experience in pharmaceutical development, with key expertise in hematology and oncology. She is on the Board of Directors of Rigel Pharmaceuticals and is former CMO at CytomX Therapeutics. Alison had significant roles in the approval of multiple anticancer therapeutics including Talazoparib, enzalutamide, defibrotide, carfilzomib, as well as tyrosine kinase inhibitors sunitinib and toceranib. Her previous experiences include stints at numerous companies including Onyx, Kosan, and SUGEN.

Ken Brameld, Ph.D.

Advisor, Research

  • Ken Brameld is Head of Research at Alumis Inc.  He was co-founder and Head of Research at Principia where his team discovered and progressed four molecules into clinical development, before acquisition by Sanofi for $3.7B.  Previously, he had positions of increasing responsibility at Roche, Scios, Array Biopharma, and Celera.

Anjali Pandey, Ph.D.

Advisor, Research

  • An accomplished executive R&D leader, scientist, and inventor with a proven track record in the biopharmaceutical industry and more than 25 years of experience in all stages of drug discovery and development.  She is SVP of Medicinal Chemistry at Sudo Biosciences.  Previously she was SVP, NonClinical R&D and Chemistry at Aria Pharmaceuticals and head of medicinal chemistry at Lengo Therapeutics.  She has previously held positions at BridgeBio companies and Portola. Bevyxxa™ and Cerdulatinib represent highlights of her contributions. 

Collaborators

Sai Life Sciences is one of India’s fastest growing Contract Research, Development & Manufacturing Organizations. A pure-play, full-service CRO-CDMO, it works with global innovator pharma and biotech companies to accelerate the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecules. Over the past 24+ years, Sai Life Sciences has served a diverse set of NCE development programs, consistently delivering value based on its quality and responsiveness. Today, it works with over 300 innovator pharma and biotech companies across the world, spanning start-ups, small & mid-sized pharma, and large pharma companies and has over 3000 employees across its facilities in India, UK and USA.