Troy Wilson, PhD, JD
Board Chair and Co-Founder Chief Executive Officer and Director, Kura Oncology
Troy Wilson is a successful, serial entrepreneur with a passion to build exceptional companies that create significant value for patients, employees and shareholders. He co-founded Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ: RNA) and has served as chairman of our board of directors since our inception. Dr. Wilson currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ: KURA). Previously, he co-founded and served as President and CEO of Araxes Pharma LLC and Wellspring Biosciences, where he and his team pioneered the discovery and development of small molecules inhibitors of the KRAS oncoprotein. Earlier in his career, Dr. Wilson co-founded and served as President and CEO of Intellikine, a private biopharmaceutical company, acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in 2011, and he co-founded and served as chief business officer of Ambrx (NASDAQ: AMAM), acquired by Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines in 2024. Dr. Wilson holds a J.D. from New York University and graduated with a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry and a B.A. in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Carsten Boess
Board Member
Mr. Boess, who has nearly thirty years of industry experience as a finance executive and board member, brings a wealth of experience in financing, and leading and growing biotechnology companies to Avidity. Mr. Boess also serves on the Board of Directors and is Chair of the Audit Committee at Rocket Pharmaceuticals, a public biopharmaceutical company, and Achilles Therapeutics, a private, London-based biopharmaceutical company. Prior to serving in his board roles, Mr. Boess held executive level positions within the biopharmaceutical industry including Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Synageva Biopharma Corporation (until its acquisition by Alexion Pharmaceuticals) and Chief Financial Officer at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. In addition, Mr. Boess served as Chief Financial Officer, and later, as Vice President of International Operations at Insulet Corporation, Executive Vice President of Finance at Serono Inc., and in several financial executive roles at Novozymes of North America and Novo Nordisk in France, Switzerland and China. During his tenure at Novo Nordisk, he served on Novo Nordisk's Global Finance Board.
Noreen Henig, M.D.
Board Member
Noreen Roth Henig, M.D. brings over 15 years of clinical and development leadership experience in biotechnology companies, in addition to an extensive background in academic research and medicine. Dr. Henig previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Kezar Life Sciences. Prior to that, as Chief Medical Officer of Breath Therapeutics. Breath Therapeutics was acquired by Zambon SpA in July 2019 for up to 500 Million Euros and is now a Zambon Group Company. Dr. Henig also served as Chief Development Officer of ProQR Therapeutics, where she led preclinical and clinical development. ProQR had a successful IPO as a preclinical company in 2014. Earlier in her drug development career, she spent six years at Gilead Sciences, supporting programs in pulmonary and cardiovascular therapeutic areas. Dr. Henig has led multiple Phase 1-Phase 4 programs across therapeutic areas including rare disease, cardiopulmonary, autoimmune, transplant, and ophthalmology. She has experience across all phases of drug development including translational, early and late phase studies, regulatory strategy, medical affairs, and commercial activities. Prior to joining the world of biotechnology, Dr. Henig held several senior academic positions at California Pacific Medical Center and Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Henig completed her BA in History of Art at Yale University, completed her M.D. with distinction in immunology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed training in Internal Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, and Pulmonary and Critical Care and Immunology at the University of Washington.
Jean Kim
Board Member
Jean Kim is a recognized healthcare investment partner with more than twenty years of biotechnology experience and leadership on Wall Street. Ms. Kim served as a Partner at Deerfield Management Company LP from August 2006 to July 2020 where she provided extensive research and analysis on individual companies operating in the healthcare industry, with a particular focus on rare and orphan diseases. In addition, Ms. Kim incubated and founded a new gene therapy portfolio company at Deerfield Management with a novel incubator company structure focused on rare orphan monogenic diseases. Prior to joining Deerfield, she was a healthcare investment professional for six years with Merrill Lynch Ventures and a Financial Analyst in Merrill Lynch's investment banking department. Ms. Kim received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Stanford University. She also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through the Biomedical Enterprise Program and was a Fulbright Scholar. Ms. Kim serves on the Board of Directors of Amplo Biotechnology, a gene therapy company.
Edward Kaye, M.D.
Chief Executive Officer and Director, Stoke Therapeutics
Edward Kaye, M.D., has served as CEO and a director of Stoke Therapeutics since October 2017. Dr. Kaye previously served as CEO and a director of Sarepta Therapeutics, where he led the successful push to win FDA approval of Exondys 51, a pioneering drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Before taking on the CEO role at Sarepta, he served as the company’s Chief Medical Officer for six years, leading the development of Exondys 51. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kaye spent 10 years at Genzyme Corporation, most recently as Group Vice President of Clinical Development, where he supervised clinical research in programs focused on lysosomal storage disease and genetic neurological disorders. Dr. Kaye currently serves as a member of the boards of directors at Cytokinetics, Inc. and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. Prior to entering the biotech industry, Dr. Kaye trained in pediatrics, pediatric neurology and biochemical genetics. He was on the research staff at Massachusetts General Hospital and Tufts University Medical Center and was the chief of biochemical genetics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He remains on the pediatric neurology staff at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Kaye earned his B.S. in biology/chemistry from Loyola University and earned his M.D. at the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine.
Simona Skerjanec
Board Member
Simona Skerjanec holds nearly three decades of broad international experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has led multiple research and development efforts that have resulted in regulatory approvals and launches of commercial therapies in therapeutic areas including neurology and cardiology in the U.S. and other countries. Ms. Skerjanec was the Senior Vice President and Global Neuroscience Head at Roche in Switzerland and led the business and global strategy for Roche’s portfolio of neurological and rare diseases, including Ocrevus® for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and a novel monoclonal antibody for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. During her nine-year tenure at Roche, she also served as a General Manager of Roche in Portugal. Prior to joining Roche, Simona was Senior Vice President and Cardiovascular franchise head at The Medicines Company where she held various roles of increasing responsibilities in development and commercialization. She also held positions at Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. Ms. Skerjanec holds a Master’s degree in Pharmacy from University of Ljubljana and an MBA from Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
Tamar Thompson
VP, Govt. Affairs and Policy, Alexion Pharmaceuticals
Tamar Thompson is a distinguished health policy strategist, government affairs leader and market access executive with a diverse background across multiple healthcare sectors and therapeutic categories including rare disease, immunology, oncology and cardiovascular disease. She has more than twenty years of leadership experience in health care, including a focus on developing strategic and tactical recommendations to ensure optimal reimbursement and market access for rare disease products. Ms. Thompson currently serves as the Vice President, US Government Affairs and Policy for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and as the Chair of the Board of Alexion's Charitable Foundation. Prior to joining Alexion, Ms. Thompson served as head, federal executive branch strategy and state government affairs for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. She also served as a strategic policy advisor and consultant for premiere Washington, DC based firms, including ADVI, Kimbell and Associates and Avalere Health. Ms. Thompson holds an M.S. in Health Sciences with a concentration in Public Health from Trident University in Cypress California.
Sarah Boyce
President & Chief Executive Officer, Avidity Biosciences
Sarah Boyce joined Avidity as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors in October 2019. She has more than 25 years of global leadership experience in both pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. Sarah’s tenure at Avidity has been marked by transformative leadership, starting with the company’s successful Series C funding round and IPO. She continues to drive the company’s evolution from a research and development entity to a biopharmaceutical company through the advancement of three therapies into clinical development and the expansion of the broad utility of the company’s proprietary RNA technology. Prior to joining Avidity, Sarah held the position of president and a member of the board of directors of Akcea Therapeutics. She previously held executive roles in business development and global operations for leading life sciences companies including Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Oncology and Roche. Sarah was named a Healthcare Technology Report Top 25 Biotech CEO in 2022 and has been named one of Fiercest Women in Life Sciences. Sarah currently serves as a member of the board of directors at OmniAb, Inc., Contineum Therapeutics, Inc., and Abcuro, Inc. Sarah holds a BSc (Hons) degree in microbiology from the University of Manchester, England.
Arthur A. Levin, PhD
Distinguished Scientist and Strategic Leader, Avidity Biosciences
Arthur Levin, a founding member of Avidity, serves as Distinguished Scientist and Strategic Leader at Avidity Biosciences and is a member of the Board of Directors. He previously held the position of Chief Scientific Officer at Avidity. Dr. Levin is a key opinion leader in the RNA therapeutics field who has led teams responsible for the development of many oligonucleotides. Prior to joining Avidity, Dr. Levin was the Executive Vice President of Research and Development at miRagen Therapeutics and held senior drug development roles at Ionis (formerly Isis) Pharmaceuticals and Santaris Pharma.
Dr. Levin has played key roles in the development of numerous oligonucleotides including the first approved antisense drugs and the first microRNA-targeted therapeutic in clinical trials. He has a combined three decades of experience in all aspects of drug development from discovery through drug registration, both in large pharma and biotech companies. Dr. Levin has published more than 100 scientific articles and several of the most cited reviews in the field. He is on the scientific advisory boards of multiple institutions. Art received a doctorate in toxicology from the University of Rochester, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Muhlenberg College.