

Board of Directors
Aro's Board of Directors is comprised of pharma and biotech industry experts and leading biotech investors
Susan Dillon, PhD
Chairman of the Board, Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aro Biotherapeutics
Sue Dillon, PhD, brings 30 years of experience in executive leadership roles at pharmaceutical and biotech companies to Aro Biotherapeutics. During her more than 16 year career at Johnson & Johnson, Sue led global Immunology R&D, and achieved numerous regulatory approvals for innovative antibody products for autoimmune diseases including REMICADE®, SIMPONI®, STELARA® and TREMFYA®. She also built a robust Immunology development portfolio through internal discovery and external licensing, and championed research into the emerging areas of the microbiome and immune repertoire profiling. Multi-disciplinary teams under Sue’s leadership were twice recognized with the Prix Galien Award for PROMACTA® and STELARA®, each first-in-class medicines. Sue received her PhD in Immunology from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology at Duke University. She was named by FierceBiotech as one of the “Top Women in Biotech” in 2013.
Liz McKee Anderson
Independent Director
Liz McKee Anderson is the former Worldwide Vice President, Infectious Disease and Vaccines at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Liz brings more than 30 years of leadership in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines. She held senior leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson between 2003 and her retirement in 2014. Liz most recently served as Worldwide Vice President, Infectious Disease and Vaccines for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson company, where she directed the commercial development of an extensive portfolio of antivirals and vaccines with responsibility for global strategic marketing, market access, and global analytics for that division. She previously served in WWVP roles for Biotechnology, Immunology and Oncology. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, Liz served as the Vice President and General Manager of Wyeth Lederle Vaccines from 1997 to 2002, where she was responsible for a broad product portfolio and the commercialization and launch of the PREVNAR vaccine. She also previously worked in executive leadership roles at Rhone Poulenc Rorer and the American National Red Cross. Liz serves on the boards of directors of GSK Plc., BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., Insmed, Inc., Revolution Medicines Inc., and is a trustee of the Wistar Institute for Biomedical Research. She also previously served on the boards of directors of Bavarian Nordic A/S and the global marketing and communications company Huntsworth Plc. Liz holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Rutgers University and a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland.
Daniel Janse, PhD
Director, Northpond Ventures
Daniel Janse, PhD, is a Director at Northpond Ventures on the firm’s biotechnologies team. Previously, Daniel was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer at Arbor Biotechnologies, where he led scientific and general operations, business development, program and alliance management, and corporate development and strategy. Prior to Arbor, Daniel served in leadership positions in the U.S. and Europe at Juno Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Center, Inventages Venture Capital, and McKinsey & Company. Additionally, he was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Austria. Daniel holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he trained in the laboratory of Dr. George Church in the Department of Genetics. He earned a B.S. and B.A. with honors in biochemistry and economics from Brown University where he was an Oettinger National Scholar.
Jessica Lifton
Associate, BVF Partners, L.P.
Jessica Lifton is an Associate at BVF Partners L.P., where she focuses on public and private biotechnology investments. Ms. Lifton joined BVF in 2015. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Union College.
Christopher Mirabelli, PhD
Independent Director
Dr. Christopher Mirabelli has spent over 35 years in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as a research scientist, senior executive, and venture capital investor. Currently, he is a managing director of the venture capital firm HealthCare Ventures. Dr. Mirabelli is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Leap Therapeutics, where he was the Chief Executive Officer from its founding in 2015 until 2020. Previously, Dr. Mirabelli was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of LeukoSite from its founding in 1993 until its acquisition by Millennium Pharmaceuticals in 1999. Dr. Mirabelli was also a Co-Founder of Ionis Pharmaceuticals. He began his industry career in R&D at SmithKline & French Laboratories, and earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine and his B.S. in Biology from State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia.
Karyn O’Neil, PhD
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Aro Biotherapeutics
Karyn O’Neil, PhD, has more than 30 years of experience in peptide, antibody and protein engineering. As the Venture Leader for Centyrex, a Johnson & Johnson Venture, Karyn focused on designer protein platform technologies. She is co-inventor on the Centyrin patents and has led the team advancing the Centyrin platform since its inception. She joined Centocor/Johnson & Johnson in 2001 where, prior to working on Centyrins, she held positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately becoming a Director of Antibody Therapeutics. There she played a leadership role in the discovery and optimization of multiple clinical candidates. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, Karyn was in the Applied Biotechnologies group at DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Karyn received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania where she focused on protein engineering and protein biophysics. She has authored more than 55 publications and holds over 30 patents. Karyn also serves as an editor for Protein Engineering, Design and Selection.
Bruce Peacock
Independent Director
During his more than 40 year career in biotechnology, Bruce Peacock has held numerous senior leadership positions, including President and Chief Executive Officer of Adolor Corporation, Alba Therapeutics and Orthovita, Inc., and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Business Officer of Ophthotech. For over 10 years, he served as Venture Partner with SV Life Sciences Health Investors. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cephalon Inc. and prior to this, he was CFO at Centocor, Inc. He is a cofounder of Carisma Therapeutics, Interius Biotherapeutics and Vittoria Therapeutics, companies focused on novel cell therapies for cancer. Bruce holds a BA in Business Administration from Villanova University.
Kevin Raidy
Managing Partner, Cowen Healthcare Investments
Kevin Raidy is the Managing Partner of Cowen Healthcare Investments. Mr. Raidy is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Neuron23, Inc., Escient Pharmaceuticals, NodThera Ltd., and is currently a Board Observer for Evox Therapeutics. Mr. Raidy previously served as a Board Member or Observer of Oncorus, Semma Therapeutics, Repare Therapeutics, Pliant Therapeutics and Orchard Therapeutics. Prior to his role at Cowen Healthcare Investments, Mr. Raidy was Cowen’s Head of Investment Banking and prior to that he served as co-head of Cowen’s equity capital markets group, which is responsible for the origination and execution of all equity capital-raising transactions. Before that, Mr. Raidy was a managing director at Cowen Investment Management (formerly known as Ramius LLC), where he was portfolio manager for direct investments and convertible bonds. Mr. Raidy also was the founder of H4 Capital Management LLC.
Mr. Raidy's sell-side experience includes ten years at Shipley Raidy Capital Partners LP, a boutique investment banking firm that he co-founded, where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and structuring numerous debt and equity financings and performed M&A advisory services. Prior to founding Shipley Raidy, Mr. Raidy was an associate at Philadelphia First Group. He started his career at Cantor Fitzgerald before moving to Merrill Lynch as an analsyt in the municipal finance group.
Mr. Raidy holds a BS in Economics with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mårten Steen, MD, PhD
Managing Partner, HealthCap
Mårten Steen, PhD, is a managing partner of HealthCap. Previously, he has worked with business development at Merck Serono focusing on both product and technology licensing. Mårten is a Medical Doctor trained at Lund University. He has pursued research in the field of protein chemistry and coagulation at Lund University and Novo Nordisk, rendering him a PhD in Clinical Chemistry in 2003. He is the author of 16 scientific papers and published in peer-reviewed journals. He has also a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration from the Lund University School of Economics and Management.