Board of Directors

Ran Nussbaum, Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Pontifax Group (Board Chair)

Mr. Nussbaum is a managing partner and co-founder of Pontifax Venture Capital. Pontifax is an investment firm focused on innovative biotech and life science companies with approximately $1.2 billion assets under management. The fund operates more than 65 portfolio companies worldwide.
Mr. Nussbaum served as a board director of Kite Pharma (sold to Gilead), cCAM Therapeutics (sold to Merck), ArQule (sold to Merck), Emergence and Prevail (sold to Lilly). He also served as the chairman of the board for Keros Therapeutics and Kamari.

Mr. Nussbaum currently serves as the chairman of the boards of Graviton and Lutris Pharma.

Yaron Daniely, PhD, MBA, General Partner & Head of aMoon Alpha

Dr. Yaron Daniely is a General Partner at aMoon, a global fund headquartered in Israel with over $1.3B AUM. Dr. Daniely co-leads Velocity, an early-stage investment fund pursuing disruptive, cutting-edge technologies with the potential to transform healthcare.

Prior to aMoon, Dr. Daniely was the President and CEO of Yissum, the Hebrew University’s acclaimed Technology Transfer Company. He was also the Co-Chairperson of the Israel Technology Transfer Network (ITTN), where he converted academic research into practical projects and technologies. Before leading Yissum, Dr. Daniely spent 14 years as a senior executive, of which 10 years as CEO, of private and NASDAQ-traded Biopharma and Biotech companies, including Gamida Cell, NanoCyte, and Alcobra.

Dr. Daniely earned his Ph.D. from the Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at the NYU School of Medicine. Following his doctoral program, he served as a Visiting Fellow at the NIH, and as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Dr. Daniely holds an MBA from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Dr. Daniely currently serves on the boards of Nectin Therapeutics, caVos Biotherapeutics, Coltac Therapeutics , Lyfegen and Lutris Pharma.

Shiran Tehila Mashiah, M.Sc., MBA, Principal, Pharma/Biotech, Peregrine Ventures

Ms. Mashiah is a Principal at Peregrine Ventures, where she focuses on early- and growth-stage healthcare companies. In her role, Ms. Mashiah leads NewCo evaluation and portfolio strategy, and serves as a board observer for multiple companies.

Prior to joining Peregrine, Ms. Mashiah was specialized in non-dilutive funding at FreeMind, where she developed and managed grant portfolios for biotech companies and led clinical trial–focused applications to agencies such as the NIH, DoD, NSF, and FDA.

Ms. Mashiah earned a B.Sc. in Biotechnology from Bar-Ilan University, an M.Sc. in Molecular Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science and an MBA in Biomedical Management from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Ms. Mashiah currently serves on the board of Lutris Pharma.

Adar Makovski-Silverstein, PhD, Principal, Arkin Bio Ventures

Dr. Makovski-Silverstein is a Principal at Arkin Bio Ventures where she is part of the ABV3 management team, an early-stage fund focused on Seed and Series A opportunities, , integrating deep scientific expertise with strategic support.

Previously, Dr. Makovski-Silverstein served as Senior Director and Head of Corporate Development at Onconova Therapeutics, Inc., where she played a key role in shaping company strategy and initiating strategic partnerships Prior to that, Dr. Makovski-Silverstein was a Senior Licensing Associate at Amgen and a Research Program Management Team member at Regeneron.

Dr. Makovski-Silverstein earned her PhD in Biotechnology from Bar-Ilan University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the City of Hope Cancer Center She also holds a Postdoctoral Professional Master’s in Bioscience Management from the Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, California.

Dr. Makovski-Silverstein currently serves on the board of Lutris Pharma.

Marisol Quintero, PhD, Partner, Columbus Venture Partners

Dr. Quintero is a Partner at Columbus Venture Partners with extensive experience in innovation, technology transfer, and biotech leadership.
Previously, Dr. Quintero served as Director of Innovation at the Spanish National Cancer Center (CNIO), where she managed strategies to bridge basic research with clinical applications and has extensive experience in advancing science to marketed products at the Technology Transfer group at Botín Foundation.

Dr. Quintero was instrumental in the creation of three technology-based companies: Axontherapix, DreamGenics, and Life Length. In addition, she has taken on various roles in the creation, management, and leadership of biotech companies.

Dr. Quintero served as CEO and now serves as COO of Highlight Therapeutics, where she led scientific and clinical development and led multiple funding rounds.

Dr. Quintero earned a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Valencia, a PhD in Pharmacology from University College London, and an Executive MBA from the IE (Instituto de Empresa) Business School.

Dr. Quintero currently serves on the boards of Highlight Therapeutics and Lutris Pharma.

Sumant Ramachandra, MD, PhD, MBA. Chief Executive Officer and Board Director

Dr. Ramachandra was appointed CEO and Board Director of Lutris Pharma in April 2025, bringing more than two decades of leadership experience across biopharma, biotech, and healthcare organizations.

Most recently Dr. Ramachandra served as CEO and Board Director of ImmPACT Bio, guiding the company through strategic growth and acquisition by Lyell Immunopharma (NASDAQ: LYEL). Dr. Ramachandra’s extensive experience includes senior leadership roles at Baxter International, Pfizer, and Hospira, spanning global R&D, Commercial, Strategy, and Medical/Regulatory.

Dr. Ramachandra was trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He earned his MD and PhD in immunology from Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, a BA in biochemistry from Rutgers University, and an MBA from The Wharton School Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Ramachandra also serves as a board director at Lyell Immunopharma, a clinical-stage CAR T cell company, and serves as Chief Scientific Advisor for CancerVax, a cancer LNP-mRNA immunotherapy company.

Antoni Ribas MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Surgery, and Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, UCLA (Founder)

Dr. Ribas is a physician-scientist who has dedicated his career to developing novel therapies for patients with cancer. He directs the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) Center at UCLA. Dr. Ribas earned his medical degree from the University of Barcelona, his PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and held a hematology-oncology fellowship position at UCLA.

Dr. Ribas led the clinical development of several new treatments for melanoma, including chairing the steering committee of the first anti-PD-1, pembrolizumab (Keytruda ®). He was the first oncologist at Kite Pharma, serving as a board observer from the initiation of the company to its acquisition by Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD).

Dr. Ribas is the recipient of multiple awards, including the William B. Coley Award from the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), the AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology, two NCI Outstanding Investigator Awards and the AACR Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research. In 2017, Ribas was ranked #12 of the Highly Cited Researchers of any field by Clarivate Web of Science, was named one of the five Visionaries in Medicine by the New York Times (May 27, 2018), and a 2018 Great Immigrant by the Carnegie Foundation. He is a past president of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), an elected Fellow of the AACR Academy, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the US National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Ribas co-founded PACT Pharma, Immpact Bio,Tango Therapeutics, and Lutris Pharma. He currently serves as a board member of Arcus Biosciences and Lutris Pharma. He also serves on the scientific advisory board of Lutris Pharma.