Meet our experienced team
Our Leadership Team, Board of Directors and Scientific Advisors collectively bring over two hundred years of drug development and execution experience to Attovia. We harness this power to bring treatments to patients where none exist and to create best-in-class options where current solutions fall short. Together, we envision a world where no patient is left behind.
Meet Our Experienced Team
Our Leadership Team, Board of Directors and Scientific Advisors collectively bring over two hundred years of drug development and execution experience to Attovia. We harness this power to bring treatments to patients where none exist and to create best-in-class options where current solutions fall short. Together, we envision a world where no patient is left behind.
Leadership Team
Leadership Team
Tao Fu, MBA, M.S.
Chief Executive Officer
Tao Fu is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Attovia, where he brings over 25 years of Business Development, General Management, Operations, Strategy, and Commercial leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He also holds a Venture Partner position with Frazier Life Sciences.
Prior to founding Attovia, Mr. Fu served as President & Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Strategy Officer for Zai Lab, where he held a broad set of responsibilities including Strategy, Operations, Business Development, CMC, Quality, and other corporate functions. Prior to Zai Lab, he was EVP, Chief Commercial and Business Officer of Portola Pharmaceuticals, where he led Commercial Operations, Sales, and Business Development. Prior to his role at Portola, Mr. Fu held a number of leadership positions in Business and Corporate Development, including leading the Business Development and M&A functions at Bristol Myers-Squibb and Johnson & Johnson. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Tao received an M.S. in Biology from the University of Rochester, and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Vanderbilt University. He completed his undergraduate studies in Biology at Tsinghua University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Hubert Chen, M.D., M.P.H.Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Hubert Chen is Chief Medical Officer at Attovia. He is an accomplished physician-scientist with 25 years of clinical and industry experience spanning all phases of drug development from first-in-human to launch.
Prior to joining Attovia, Hubert served as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Krystal Biotech, where he played an instrumental role in the FDA approval of the first topical gene therapy, beremagene geperpavec, for the treatment of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, while also expanding the pipeline beyond dermatology by initiating first-in-human studies in multiple new therapeutic areas. Before Krystal, Hubert was Principal Medical Director at Genentech, where he served for over a decade. During his tenure there, he led the FDA approval for omalizumab in chronic spontaneous urticaria and was responsible for the advancement of numerous early-stage programs in the respiratory and immunology portfolio, including novel bispecific antibodies, small molecules, and drug-device combination products.
Dr. Chen began his career as an Assistant Professor in the pulmonary division at UCSF and has published over 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles in the fields of allergy/immunology, respiratory medicine, and dermatology. He is board-certified in Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Internal Medicine. He received his MD from Stanford, where he also completed his internship and residency. He received his MPH from Harvard and completed his pulmonary fellowship at UCSF.
Chief Business Officer
Dr. Zaneta Odrowaz is the Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder at Attovia, leading Business Development and Operations for the company. She also holds a seat on the Frazier Life Sciences team as a Vice President of Company Creation.
Prior to Attovia, Zaneta served full time at Frazier, focusing on company creation activities and advising on private and public investment opportunities. Before joining Frazier, Zaneta served on the Corporate Development team at Amunix Pharmaceuticals, where she played a key role in the $1Bn+ acquisition of the company by Sanofi and helped raise over $100M in capital. Prior to her role at Amunix, Dr. Odrowaz was the Chief of Staff to the General Manager at Philips Neuro, where she also led the Business Development and Strategy functions. Earlier in her career, she served biopharma and PE clients as a management consultant at McKinsey.
Dr. Odrowaz earned a Ph.D. in Gene Expression from the University of Manchester, UK, where she held a Wellcome Trust Fellowship. She also received a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Jagiellonian University in Poland, and has completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Neuroepigenomics as a Walter V. and Idun Berry fellow at Stanford University.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Petter Veiby is the Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder at Attovia, responsible for the company’s R&D strategy. He has >25 years industry experience primarily in drug discovery and early development, and BD search and evaluation.
Prior to joining Attovia, Petter was the Head of Alliances and BD Search and Evaluation at Zai Lab and built a team to manage 15 alliances and collaborations across discovery through commercialization. Before Zai Lab, he spent over 20 years in various leadership roles in the Oncology Drug Discovery Unit at Millennium/Takeda. Petter has always had a passion for biotherapeutics. In his role as Global Head of Biotherapeutics at Takeda, he led the biotherapeutics strategy growing Takeda’s capabilities and pipeline of biologics through internal infrastructure build and numerous strategic partnerships leading to a deep pipeline of ADCs, bispecific immune cell engagers, and cell therapies. While at Millennium, he led the biological validation of novel targets, and oversaw numerous projects delivering IND-ready development candidates resulting in drugs like Ninlaro and Pevonedistat, with his efforts contributing to the acquisition of Millenium by Takeda.
Dr. Veiby did his Ph.D. and postdoc studies in hematopoietic stem cell biology at University of Oslo in Norway and at Hipple Cancer Research Center/OSU. He has authored/co-authored >50 papers in peer reviewed journals.
Hangjun Zhan, Ph.D.Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Hangjun Zhan is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at Attovia, where he brings nearly 30 years of drug discovery experience in the biotech industry. He is a highly regarded protein biochemist/ biophysicist/inventor and holds over 75 published patents.
Prior to Attovia, Dr. Zhan was the Chief Scientific Officer at Alamar Biosciences, where he initiated therapeutics effort using Attobody as discovery platform. Before Alamar, Hangjun was the CSO at KindredBio/Elanco. In this role, he built the R&D function and produced a top tier biotherapeutic pipeline, contributing to the acquisition by Elanco in 2021. Prior to his role at KindredBio, he served as an Executive Member at Aragen and established and headed the Protein Biochemistry team at Exelixis. In the latter role, he contributed to the discovery of four drugs that later obtained market approvals and more than 20 oncology drug candidates. Earlier in his career, Hangjun led the Protein Chemistry group at Celera.
Dr. Zhan earned his Ph.D. from the University of Washington and completed his post-doctoral training in Dr. John Collier’s lab at Harvard Medical School.
David Bellovin, Ph.D.Vice President of Discovery and Translational Biology
Dr. David Bellovin is Vice President and Co-Founder of Attovia, serving as the Head of Discovery and Translational Biology.
Prior to Attovia, Dr. Bellovin served as Senior Director at Zai Lab US, overseeing Discovery Biology and In Vivo Pharmacology. He directed various functions involved in target discovery and validation, as well as preclinical development for oncology and inflammatory disease, including leading a program in immuno-oncology. Before joining Zai Lab, David was a Director of Pharmacology at Five Prime Therapeutics, managing the in vivo efforts in oncology and immuno-oncology and leading multiple clinical- and non-clinical-stage programs.
Dr. Bellovin earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from Harvard Medical School and completed his postdoctoral work at Stanford University. He received undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona.
Veit Schmelmer, Ph.D.Vice President of Project Management and Portfolio Strategy
Dr. Veit Schmelmer is Vice President of Attovia, leading Project Management and Portfolio Strategy for the company. Veit has over 25 years of experience directing the development of novel therapies for cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases at leading biopharmaceutical companies. Before joining Attovia, he was a Senior Vice President of Project and Alliance Management at Vor Bio where he oversaw the management of clinical research programs to advance the company’s engineered hematopoietic stem cell platform. Previously, he was a Vice President at Magenta Therapeutics where he directed the development of a novel biologic designed to mobilize stem cells. Prior, Veit held the position of Vice President of Portfolio Strategy at Mersana Therapeutics with responsibility for project leadership, alliance management, and portfolio strategy. Veit also served as Global Project Leader for Takeda with responsibility for global asset strategies for new pipeline projects, overseeing programs in oncology and immunology from late-stage discovery through approval. Notably, Veit directed the global development of Entyvio® through clinical development, MAA/BLA review, global approvals, and launch. Veit began his career at Boehringer Ingelheim where he held positions of increasing seniority in Germany, the U.S., and Japan.
Veit earned his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmaceutics from Heidelberg University. He is a board-certified pharmacist in Germany with a specialist degree in Pharmaceutical Technology.
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Jamie Topper, M.D., Ph.D.
Chairman
Dr. Jamie Topper is a Managing General Partner of Frazier’s Life Sciences team. He joined Frazier in 2003 and opened Frazier’s Menlo Park office in the same year. Throughout his 18 years as a General Partner, Dr. Topper has invested across 21 companies encompassing a broad spectrum of Life Science and Biopharmaceutical companies.
Jamie has led and served as a Board member for many of Frazier’s successful life sciences investments, including Calistoga Pharmaceuticals (sold to Gilead), Rempex, Incline (both sold to The Medicines Company), Alnara (sold to Lilly), Portola (IPO 2013), Ammunix (sold to Sanofi), and Threshold (IPO 2005).
Dr. Topper received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biophysics from Stanford and holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan. He completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and was board certified in both disciplines.
In 2011 Dr. Topper was named to the Midas List of leading venture capitalists, and in 2013 was recognized by Forbes as one of the top 10 healthcare investors.
Tao Fu, MBA, M.S.
Director
Tao Fu is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Attovia, where he brings over 25 years of Business Development, General Management, Operations, Strategy, and Commercial leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He also holds a Venture Partner position with Frazier Life Sciences.
Prior to founding Attovia, Mr. Fu served as President & Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Strategy Officer for Zai Lab, where he held a broad set of responsibilities including Strategy, Operations, Business Development, CMC, Quality, and other corporate functions. Prior to Zai Lab, he was EVP, Chief Commercial and Business Officer of Portola Pharmaceuticals, where he led Commercial Operations, Sales, and Business Development. Prior to his role at Portola, Mr. Fu held a number of leadership positions in Business and Corporate Development, including leading the Business Development and M&A functions at Bristol Myers-Squibb and Johnson & Johnson. Earlier in his career, he was a consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Tao received an M.S. in Biology from the University of Rochester, and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Vanderbilt University. He completed his undergraduate studies in Biology at Tsinghua University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Director
Dr. Yuling Luo is a co-Founder and a Board member of Attovia. He is an innovator and serial entrepreneur and has spent his entire career building life science startup companies. He serves as a Venture Partner at Illumina Ventures.
Yuling is currently the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Alamar Biosciences, a company reinventing immunoassays to enable ultra-sensitive and highly multiplexed liquid biopsy analysis for the early detection of diseases. He is the inventor of RNAscope, a breakthrough molecular detection technology that has pioneered spatial biology and become the gold standard in RNA tissue imaging. Previously, he founded and led Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) from concept to successful product launch and commercialization resulting in acquired by Bio-Techne for $325M in 2016. Before ACD, Dr. Luo co-founded Panomics (acquired by Affymetrix in 2008) and he served as one of the earliest senior scientists at Exelixis. Yuling also co-founded and served as Chairman of the Board of Avida Biomed, an NGS-based liquid biopsy technology company that was acquired by Agilent in 2022.
Dr. Luo has published numerous research papers in top peer-reviewed journals and his inventions are the subject of over 30 issued patents. He received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Science & Technology of China and earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University.
Director
Dr. Aaron Royston is a Managing Partner at venBio. He has more than 15 years of experience in Life Sciences investing, Company Formation and Operations, Strategic and Product Planning in the biotechnology industry, and Clinical Research. He has been involved in launching and investing in a number of venBio companies including Apellis Pharmaceuticals (IPO 2017), Akero Therapeutics (IPO 2019), Harmony Biosciences (IPO 2020), Ventyx BioSciences (IPO 2021) and RayzeBio (IPO 2023). These companies’ efforts have led to five FDA drug approvals.
Prior to joining venBio, Aaron was a member of the investment team at Vivo Capital, a life science venture capital firm. Previously, he worked at Bain & Company, where he advised biotechnology companies on a range of strategic and operational issues. Earlier in his career, he coordinated clinical research at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where his research has been published and presented in multiple medical journals and conferences. In 2010, he was recognized by the United States White House as a Champion of Change for his work in Technology and Innovation.
Dr. Royston received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Duke University, and his M.D. and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Director
Colin is a Managing Director and Senior Investor on the Life Sciences Investing team within Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Prior to joining the firm, Colin was a Partner at Qiming Venture Partners USA. He has more than ten years of experience working as an investor and operator in early-stage life sciences companies. Colin earned dual BS degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a PhD from the UC Berkeley-UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering.
Clinical and Scientific Advisors
Clinical and Scientific Advisors
Richard Heyman, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Board
Oric Pharmaceuticals and RayzeBio
Dr. Richard Heyman, a renowned biotech leader, founded and led multiple groundbreaking pharmaceutical companies. He is currently the founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Metacrine, Inc. Prior to Metacrine, as the founder and CEO of Seragon Pharmaceuticals, he steered the company towards its acquisition by Genentech/Roche in 2014. Before Seragon, Dr. Heyman co-founded and served as the CEO of Aragon Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2013. Previously, he co-founded and served as CSO at X-Ceptor Therapeutics, which was later acquired by Exelixis in 2004. Earlier in his career, Dr. Heyman held various roles at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, where he spearheaded the development of Panretin® and Targretin®, retinoids approved by the FDA for the treatment of cancer.
Dr. Heyman is the author or inventor on more than 120 publications and patents. He serves on multiple Boards, including the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Organovo, and BIOCOM. He received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Connecticut. He was also a postdoctoral fellow and staff scientist at the Salk Institute.
David King, Ph.D.
CSO and Co-Founder
Lassen Therapeutics
Dr. David King is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lassen. He is a globally recognized expert in the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics and a seasoned biotech executive. Before Lassen, Dr. King served as the Chief Scientific Officer of aTyr Pharma, developing novel therapeutics based on tRNA synthetase biology, and as CSO of AnaptysBio, developing antibody-based therapeutics in autoimmune diseases and oncology. Dr. King also worked at Medarex (acquired by BMS), designing and developing antibody therapeutics for oncology and autoimmune diseases. In this role, he was instrumental to the development of multiple innovative therapies including OPDIVO®. Earlier in his career, Dr. King worked at Celltech (acquired by UCB pharma) where he contributed to the development of a number of fundamental antibody technologies and the design and development of the now-approved antibodies CIMZIA® and MYLOTARG®.
Dr. King received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Surrey and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Warwick.
Luisa Salter-Cid, Ph.D.
CSO
Pioneering Medicines
Dr. Luisa Salter-Cid is the Chief Scientific Officer of Pioneering Medicines, spearheading a portfolio of groundbreaking medicines sourced from Flagship’s diverse scientific platforms.
Dr. Salter-Cid is a highly respected scientist and drug discovery and development leader with more than 20 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries and a strong track record of bringing programs to the clinic. Prior to her role at Pioneering Medicines, Luisa was Chief Scientific Officer at Gossamer Bio, shaping their immunology and immuno-oncology endeavors. Previously, she spent 13 years at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) where she was most recently Vice President and Head of Immunology, Small Molecule Immuno-Oncology, and Genomics Discovery. In this role, she oversaw several biology groups focused on target validation and development of innovative biologic and small-molecule therapeutics to address significant unmet needs in autoimmune diseases and cancer. During her time at BMS, she led teams that advanced more than 20 compounds into clinical development, including Deucravacitinib. Luisa was Chair of the Immunoscience Target Science Team and a core member of Early Development, Strategy and Licensing teams for both Immunology and Immuno-Oncology. Additionally, she was the scientific lead on several of BMS’ acquisitions and licensing deals and sat on multiple Joint Research Committees and Scientific Advisory Boards. Prior to joining BMS, Luisa was a Senior Project Leader at La Jolla Pharmaceuticals and held positions at Genset Corp and Johnson & Johnson.
Dr. Salter-Cid is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Anaptys, Ambrx and Ventyx Bio and was previously on the SAB of Prometheus and the Board of Directors of Jounce Therapeutics. She has authored over 80 publications and patents and holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Miami.
Jonathan Silverberg, M.D., PhD.
Director of Clinical Research
The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
Dr. Jonathan Silverberg is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC, and serves as the Director of Clinical Research and Contact Dermatitis.
Dr. Silverberg’s area of clinical subspecialty is inflammatory skin disease, particularly atopic and contact dermatitis. He has extensive experience in the advanced management of atopic dermatitis, hand eczema, chronic itch, psoriasis, hidradenitis and many other chronic inflammatory skin disorders.
His research interests include drug development, clinical trial design, biomarkers, dermato-epidemiology, health services research, patient-reported outcomes, comorbidities and burden of itch and inflammatory skin disease and evidence-based dermatology. His publications include more than 600 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts and book chapters. He is also the author of the Clinical Management of Atopic Dermatitis handbook (2018).
Dr. Silverberg has also been a local, national and/or international principal investigator for numerous clinical trials for novel treatments in atopic dermatitis and other inflammatory disorders. He has been recognized with several honors, including the Young Leadership Award from the American Dermatological Association in 2017, Teacher of the Year Award in the department of dermatology in 2015, Outstanding Teacher’s Award from the Feinberg School of Medicine in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and the inaugural Rajka Award from the International Society for Atopic Dermatitis in 2014. He is an associate editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, British Journal of Dermatology and Current Dermatology Reports. Dr. Silverberg is a member of the International Eczema Council, North American Contact Dermatitis Group the American Society of Contact Dermatitis. Dr. Silverberg is also the chair of the annual Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis global multidisciplinary conference.
Dr. Silverberg completed his undergraduate and medical school training as a part of the dual B.A./M.D. program at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, where he also earned his doctorate in Neuroimmunology and Master of Public Health degree in biostatistics, as well as completed his internship in internal medicine. He completed his residency training in dermatology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center and Beth Israel Medical Centers in New York, NY and served as Chief Resident during his final year.