Our Team
Piraye Yurttas Beim, PhD
Founder & CEO
Member, Board of Directors
Dr. Beim has been innovating in women's health for over 20 years. During her PhD work at Cornell (Weill, NYC) and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the early 2000s, she was on the front lines of precision medicine in oncology and saw the transformational impact of genomics on drug target selection and biomarker-based patient stratification on the emergence of targeted therapies and the corresponding improvement in the standard of care. After completing her post-doc focused on mammalian reproduction at the University of Cambridge (UK), she was inspired to found Celmatix. The vision of the company since its founding has been to accelerate precision medicine innovations in women’s health. Under Dr. Beim's leadership, Celmatix pioneered breakthroughs in decoding the genomic drivers of ovarian function and health, and led the development of Celmatix’s ovarian health platform, an ambitious, decade-long, multi-omics initiative that has yielded unprecedented insight into the key molecular drivers of ovarian function and reproductive health conditions. Dr. Beim has also been a primary inventor of most of Celmatix’s innovations, including the AMHR2 agonist and follow-on AMHR2 antagonist programs, each a first-in-class approach to the modulation of ovarian folliculogenesis. In addition to leading the development of novel therapeutics, she has also developed diagnostics and digital health products in the women’s health field. Dr. Beim has also been widely recognized as a business leader. She is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, was named to Crain’s 40 Under 40 as well as its Notable Women in Tech, Goldman Sachs's Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, Top 15 founders disrupting their industries by Fortune, and Rock Health's Disruptive Founder of the Year.
Stephen Palmer, PhD
CSO
Dr. Palmer is a biopharmaceutical veteran with over 30 years of experience in drug discovery and development. This includes a rare combination of R&D expertise as a pharmaceutical executive at top global biopharmaceutical companies, scientific founder of a biotech that was acquired by a public pharmaceutical company, and as a thought leader at an academic institution pioneering new uses of DNA-encoded libraries in drug discovery. During Dr. Palmer’s tenure at Merck Group, he served as Global Head of Reproductive Health Research, overseeing research, development, regulatory, and post-approval research and marketing activities of key women’s health drug programs. Dr. Palmer then led the spinout of the first orally-available FSH programs from Merck, becoming scientific founder and CSO of TocopheRx, where he led a team to successfully develop two small molecule FSH receptor (FSHR) allosteric agonists. The foundation was laid for Dr. Palmer’s success at Merck and TocopheRx during his early research in endometrial and cervical biology at J&J. His work in contraceptive research at the J&J Pharmaceutical Research & Development Institute (J&JPRI) led to the discovery of non-steroidal progestins and progesterone receptor modulators with high selectivity against androgen, corticosteroid, and estrogen receptors. Most recently, Dr. Palmer served as Associate Professor and Director of Lead Discovery and Development at the Center for Drug Discovery at Baylor, where he led a team in applying DNA-encoded chemical library (DEC-Tec) technologies toward the discovery of novel regulators of reproductive, inflammatory, and oncology targets.
Adrienne Day, PhD
CBO
Dr. Day has more than 30 years of business development experience in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. She was most recently Senior Director of Business Development for Ferring Pharmaceuticals, where she launched technology access and research collaborations, identified and championed the acquisition of microbiome replacement therapy, and managed global academic collaborations with more than 60 academic institutions. Prior to her role at Ferring, Dr. Day ran a consulting practice providing transaction and strategic support to venture capital, biotechnology, and biopharmaceutical organizations. She has previously served as Vice President of Business Development at what is now the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Vice President of Business Development at Conforma Therapeutics, Senior Director of Business Development at Molecumetics Ltd., and Associate Director of Corporate Development at Ligand Pharmaceuticals.
Richard Hofbauer
COO & CFO
Richard Hofbauer is CFO/COO at Celmatix, where he brings a unique blend of operational discipline and experience to raising capital, organizational development, and successful exits. Prior to Celmatix, he was a Partner at Control Group, a technology firm focused on the future of cities and big data. While at Control Group he helped attract Fortune 10 clients, increase revenue and profitability, and positioned the organization for a sale to Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet company, in 2015. At the resulting company, Intersection, he served as COO overseeing product, engineering, and operations. Mr. Hofbauer was also CIO (and first employee hired) at MortgageIT Holdings (MHL), which he helped grow to 2,500 employees before it went public in 2004 and sold to Deutsche Bank in 2006. He remained there until 2012 focused on NewCo creation for corporate clients in Latin America. Rich is a graduate of the University at Buffalo, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design.
Craig Bolton
General Counsel
Craig Bolton is General Counsel at Celmatix, where he brings over a decade of experience guiding both emerging and established biotech companies through complex commercial, intellectual property, and other business disputes. Prior to joining Celmatix, Mr. Bolton was a partner at two nationally recognized law firms and an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Mr. Bolton graduated from New York University School of Law and was a law clerk to the Honorable William J. Martini of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Scientific & Technical Advisors
Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
Clinical Trial Steering Committee (CTSC)
Linda C. Giudice, MD, PhD, is Distinguished Professor, Chair Emerita, and the Robert B. Jaffe MD Endowed Professor in the Reproductive Sciences in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is a biochemist and reproductive endocrinologist specializing in endometriosis and infertility. Her research focuses on human endometrial function and regeneration, genetics and epigenetics of endometriosis, placental-uterine interactions relevant to pregnancy outcomes, and evaluating the evidence of environmental impacts on reproductive health and human development. She is Past-President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, and the World Endometriosis Society. She is President of the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS), and Chair of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Reproductive and Developmental Environmental Health Working Group. Dr. Giudice is on the UCSF Steering Committee on Women’s Precision Medicine and is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, and the U.S. National Academy of Inventors.
SAB | CTSC
Dr. Roger Gosden is a preeminent pioneer and lifelong champion of ovarian biology. In addition to advising numerous private companies and organizations, he is an Honorary Lifetime Board Member of the International Society for Fertility Preservation, an Honorary fellow of the British Fertility Society, and has received a Festschrift from the Development and Function of Reproductive Organs International Conference. He was most recently Research Director of Reproductive Biology at Weill Cornell Medicine, where his work focused on ovarian aging and menopause through the lens of the development and senescence of ovarian follicles. He also spearheaded critical translational research on ovarian tissue cryopreservation and ovary transplantation. Prior to joining the faculty at Weill Cornell, he pioneered embryonic stem cell research as the Director of Scientific Research at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine at the East Virginia Medical School, where he was later named the Howard and Georgeanna Professor of Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Gosden was also Scientific Director of Reproductive Biology at McGill University Health Centre, Professor of Reproductive Sciences at Leeds School of Medicine, and taught at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, where he built his first research group. Dr. Gosden began his career at the University of Cambridge as a graduate student and fellow under the IVF pioneer Robert G. Edwards. He is currently affiliated with William and Mary College in Virginia.
SAB
Bart CJM Fauser MD, PhD, FRCOG (SAB Chair), a pioneer in ovarian physiology and function, has published over 500 peer reviewed articles, including one in which he and co-authors were the first to propose Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) as a regulator of ovarian reserve. He is a Professor Emeritus of Reproductive Medicine, Gynecologist, former Chair of the Department for Reproductive Medicine and Gynecology and Head of the Division of Woman & Baby at the University of Utrecht and the University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands. He is also a Fellow ad Eundum of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG), Honorary member of European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), Scientific Director of the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS), international member of the National Academy of Medicine (US), Editor-in-Chief of Reproductive Biomedicine Online (RBMO), Editor of Fertility & Sterility Science, and Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Dr. Fauser also previously acted as a member of the board of the Dutch Medical Research Counsel (ZonMW), Editor-in-Chief of Human Reproduction Update, chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) steering committee for infertility guidelines, Chair of the ESHRE SIG Reproductive Endocrinology, Fulbright postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Diego, Professor and Division Director at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam (The Netherlands); and acted as visiting professor at Stanford University School of Medicine (California, USA), Free University of Brussels (Belgium), University of Siena (Italy), University of Southampton (UK), and the University of Adelaide (Australia).
SAB | CTSC
Björn Hock, PhD, has extensive experience leading global and international teams involved in bringing biotherapeutics from the concept to the optimized lead stages, as well as driving academic and biotech collaboration. His seasoned background in the field of antibody-based therapeutics includes next-generation biotherapeutics such as bispecific antibodies and ADCs. Most recently, he served as interim CEO at Aerium Therapeutics (formerly SwissThera SA), where he was responsible for driving the preclinical development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody assets from the discovery stage to first-in-human studies in less than 8 months. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of Biologics, Technologies and Development at Ferring Pharmaceuticals. For more than a decade Dr. Hock also held various senior positions at Merck KGaA including as Senior Director and Global Head of ADC and Targeted Therapeutics, where he oversaw the development of a variety of protein therapeutics from concept to lead stage. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Chemotherapeutisches Forschungsinstitut Georg Speyer-Haus in Frankfurt.
SAB
Harald Dinter, MD, PhD, has broad experience in the research and development of pharmaceutical agents, including his work in biotech and large pharma companies in Germany and the US. Throughout his career, he has led various research groups and departments, including more than a decade overseeing the research and development of biologics at Bayer. Prior to Bayer was head of Immunology and Cancer Research with Berlex Biosciences. For the last five years, he has served as an advisor to companies and research institutes during acquisitions and licensing of technologies, development of strategies, and their successful implementation as well as evaluation of projects. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from the German Institute for Biotechnological Research (GBF) and the Technische Universität zuBraunschweig.
SAB
Richard Anderson, PhD, trained in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Edinburgh and was then appointed to the MRC Human Reproductive Sciences Unit in 1998 with a Consultant post in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Subsequently, he was appointed to Chair of Clinical Reproductive Science at the University in 2005: over subsequent years he has established a group investigating female reproductive lifespan, with laboratory and clinical aspects particularly related to the adverse effects of cancer treatment on fertility. His current research activity is predominantly in both clinical and laboratory studies in ovarian development and function after cancer, and in male contraception, continuing his links to WHO and to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the US. Over the last decade, he has also been involved in the physiology and the development of clinical applications of the novel neuropeptides kisspeptin and neurokinin B. More recent work using a neurokinin B antagonist has revealed physiological roles in both men and women, as well as potential therapeutic application in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and for menopausal hot flashes. More recently, he was a member of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) Guideline Group on Premature Ovarian Insufficiency and is the founder coordinator of the new ESHRE Special Interest Group (SIG) in Fertility Preservation and has previously been a deputy coordinator for the SIG in Reproductive Endocrinology.
SAB | CTSC
Joan-Carles Arce, MD, PhD, has more than 30 years of drug development experience from working in the pharmaceutical industry, including Novo Nordisk and Ferring Pharmaceuticals. His last two positions at Ferring Pharmaceuticals were SVP Global Head of Reproductive Medicine and Maternal Health based in Denmark and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Ferring USA based in New Jersey, USA. As part of his mandate, Joan-Carles was accountable for defining the therapeutic area strategy and overseeing implementation of initiatives and clinical programs to drive the growth agenda in Reproductive Medicine and Maternal Health.
Joan-Carles graduated from Medical School at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, earned his doctorate at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy at the Free University Brussels, Belgium and had a postdoctoral fellowship in Reproductive Physiology at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, USA. He has a robust track record of publications in reproductive medicine and women’s health, and has authored several patents about infertility treatments, dosing regimens for ovarian stimulation, ovarian hyperstimulation, uterine embryo implantation during IVF as well as gonadotrophins, endometriosis and lactation drugs.
Joan-Carles has extensive experience in conducting clinical trials and overseeing clinical development programs in all regions (USA, EU, Japan, China) covering indications related to ovarian stimulation, female and male infertility, uterine contractility and implantation, prevention of OHSS, in-vitro maturation of oocytes, preterm labour, endometriosis, menopause and prevention of osteoporosis.
CTSC
CTSC
Richard Legro, MD, is the Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine. He is internationally recognized for his research in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrinopathy in women. His studies have focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and genetic/environmental causes of PCOS, as well as on improving infertility diagnosis and treatment. He has been the principal investigator on many National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded grants, including a lead investigator of the Reproductive Medicine Network for 20 years, and has been continuously funded by the NIH for 25 years. He has worked with multiple clinical trial/research groups to develop novel and important investigator-initiated, multi-center trials to answer clinical questions about the role of lifestyle modification, medical agents, and surgery to improve human reproductive function and treat infertility. In addition to clinical practice and research, Dr. Legro trains medical students, residents, and fellows in obstetrics and gynecology as a member of Penn State's graduate faculty. He is a member of the Investment Subcommittee of the Endocrine Society and an editorial editor for Fertility and Sterility. He received the Presidential Achievement Award of the Society for Gynecologic investigation and was elected an honorary member Ad Eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the United Kingdom.
Strategic Advisory Board
Susan Herbert, PhD, is the former Executive Vice President, Global Business Development and Strategy for Merck Serono and a member of the Pharmaceutical Executive Committee. In this capacity, she was responsible for architecting Merck Serono’s strategy, assessing the portfolio of internal projects and external opportunities, and accessing innovation externally while fostering it internally. This includes responsibility for scouting, licensing, business development and alliance management of global and regional external opportunities; portfolio management for all internal pipeline projects from pre-clinical phase through life-cycle management; and exploring and implementing innovative R&D financing and partnership models, including the Merck Serono Venture Fund. Previously, Dr. Herbert was also Head of Portfolio Development which included global product units (GPUs), global project management, global business intelligence, business development and pricing and health economics. Prior to that, she was Head of Product Leadership after Heading GPU Neurodegenerative Diseases and Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases. Susan Herbert joined Serono in 1988 and held various senior positions in both the Diagnostics and Pharmaceutical Divisions, specializing in Regulatory Affairs, Manufacturing and Development. During her career in the pharma industry she has been instrumental in the approval of many key Merck Serono drugs including Gonal-f, Saizen, Ovidrel, and Rebif. She holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry and a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manchester.
Mark Wolters, PhD, has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. Previously he was Vice President of Business Development & Licensing and Head of Early Licensing, and Vice President of the Bayer Life Science Center at Bayer, where he led a team of early-stage licensing and transaction professionals across an innovation ecosystem including biotech startups, academia, and the life sciences venture capital community. Mark has negotiated and closed hundreds of transaction of different types at Bayer and in his previous role as the Executive Director and Head of the Office of Technology at Schering AG, including the development of Bayer's joint ventures Casebia Therapeutics (with CRISPR Therapeutics), BlueRock Therapeutics (with Versant Ventures), and Joyn Bio (with Gingko Bioworks). He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI in Leipzig, Germany.
Mark received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Freie Universität Berlin and did his post-doctoral training in structural biology in the laboratory of Professor Alexander Rich at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kevin Lynch, PhD, has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, with the majority being in the business development and strategy space. Kevin is currently Vice President of Business Development at Vir Biotechnology. Previously, he was Chief Business Officer at Recursion Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, Kevin was VP and Head of the Global Search and Evaluation group at Abbvie. He also worked in additional business development roles at Abbott/Abbvie and led many successful transactions to grow the companies’ therapeutics portfolio. Prior to this, Kevin was one of the founding members of Abbott’s R&D portfolio analysis and strategic decision support group. He has also served on the Board of Directors for two state biotechnology associations.
Before joining Abbott as a research molecular biologist, Kevin worked in the Gene Medicine Department at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals.
Kevin received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and held an NIH post-doctoral fellowship at the Pennsylvania State University, as well as an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
Cory Ondrejka is Vice President of Product Management and Technical Advisor to the CEO at Google. Previously, he led the mobile transition at Facebook as Vice President of Engineering where he also led Facebook’s multi-billion dollar acquisition and integration of Oculus VR. Before Facebook, Cory was the co-founder of Walletin, a startup focused on high-performance javascript and web rendering acquired by Facebook in 2010. He was the Chief Technology Officer of Linden Lab, where he co-created the award-winning virtual world Second Life. He holds a bachelor's of science degree in Weapons and Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and was an officer in the US Navy. Ondrejka also advises several early-state technology companies.
Board of Directors
Steve Winick is a Managing Director of Topspin Fund. He came to Topspin in 2004 from Honeywell, Intl., where he most recently served as CIO of its $2B Security Group. He had been with Honeywell (and the Ademco division of Pittway Corp., before its acquisition by Honeywell in 2000) for over 21 years as CTO and CIO of the security business, as well as founder and president of its wireless communications services business. He has served as a Director of Thermolift, Inc., Celmatix, Inc., Setpoint Medical, Inc., Mirimus, Inc., Codagenix Inc, Depymed, Inc. Peloton Therapeutics and Certerra, Inc. Some of his recent portfolio company exits include: ORIC Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ORIC), Alector Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALEC), Constellation Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CNST), Peloton Therapeutics (acquired by Merck & Co). Steve received a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1972, also from Penn. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and is both a member of the Bar of the State of New York, and a registered Patent Attorney.
David Sable, MD, directs healthcare and life science investing for the Special Situations Funds and is portfolio manager of the Special Situations Life Sciences Fund and Life Sciences Innovation Venture Capital funds. After graduating from the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he trained in obstetrics and gynecology at New York Hospital - Cornell Medical Center, and in reproductive endocrinology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He co-founded and served as director of the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey, was founder of Assisted Reproductive Medical Technologies, which was acquired by Saint Barnabas in 1999, and co-founder of Reprogenetics, acquired by Cooper Surgical in 2015. After leaving clinical medicine, Dr. Sable managed a proprietary healthcare portfolio at Deutsche Bank before joining the Special Situations Funds. Dr. Sable is an adjunct in the department of biology at Columbia University, and teaches “Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology” at Columbia’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He serves on the board of directors for Hamilton Thorne Ltd, MedAnswers Inc, and Celmatix Inc and is a clinical advisory board member and board observer for TMRW Life Sciences.
Richard Scott, MD, HCLD/ALD, is a Reproductive Endocrinologist and Embryologist. He was a founding partner at RMANJ, RMANY, RMACT, RMAMI, FLC Toronto, and many other clinics. He was a founding partner of IVIRMA Global where he was the CEO for several years building the largest group of infertility clinics in the world including 92 clinics in 11 countries. IVIRMA Global’s growth culminated in a multi-billion-dollar equity transaction with KKR. Dr Scott has led extensive research regarding ovarian reserve, follicular stimulation, embryonic aneuploidy, genomic instability, embryonic endometrial dyssynchrony, and the impact of mitophagy on reproductive aging. His research has been recognized by his peers, winning prize abstracts at major national and international meetings on 43 occasions. He has more than 350 publications. Dr. Scott has served as an Associate Editor of Fertility and Sterility and continues to be active in research and teaching. He is an adjunct Professor at Yale University and at the University of South Carolina – Greenville School of Medicine. He is also the scientific director at the Foundation for Embryonic Competence, a not-for-profit dedicated to studying embryonic reproductive potential and enhancing clinical outcomes.
Our team includes an impressive bench of scientific, operational, and business expertise across the life & data sciences
Research & Discovery
Caterina Clementi, PhD
Vice President, Biological Sciences
Lei Tan, PhD
Scientific Program Manager
Charlotte Frank Sage, PhD
Vice President, Clinical Research Operations
Operations & Technology
Pierre Davidoff
Director of Infrastructure and Systems
Herman Lau
R&D Platform Engineer
Robert O'Connell
Financial Controller