Our People

Kurt Gish has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. In June 2024, BioLoomics announced Kurt as their Chief Scientific Officer. Kurt is also currently serving as the CEO and Co-Founder of Trilo Therapeutics, a position they have held since 2021. Prior to this, they co-founded the company and served as the Chief Scientific Officer.

Before their time at Trilo Therapeutics, Gish worked at various organizations in leadership roles. Kurt spent five years at AbbVie as the Associate Director II of Discovery, leading the ADC Discovery group in developing antibody-drug conjugates for oncology. Prior to AbbVie, Gish worked at Abbott Biotherapeutics Corp. as an Associate Director of Discovery, managing a team and focusing on the development of ADCs for oncology.

Gish also held the position of Director of Research at Facet Biotech, where they managed a team and worked on the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics for oncology. Kurt served as Director of Research at PDL BioPharma, managing a larger team and focusing on the development of monoclonal antibody therapeutics for oncology and autoimmune disease.

Before their leadership roles, Gish worked as a Senior Scientist at Eos Biotechnology, conducting genome-wide gene regulation studies for cancer-specific molecules. Kurt also worked at Affymetrix as a Scientist, focusing on gene regulation studies for cancer-specific genes. Gish began their career as a Postdoctoral Fellow at DNAX Research Institute, where they conducted novel gene discovery and gene regulation studies.

Throughout their career, Gish has accumulated expertise in the development of first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates and monoclonal antibody therapeutics for oncology.

Kurt Gish has a strong educational background in the field of biology. Kurt received their Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from UC Irvine in 1987. Kurt then went on to pursue further education and obtained their Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University in 1994. Following their doctoral studies, Kurt Gish joined the DNAX Research Institute for a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Molecular Immunology, where they engaged in research and scholarly activities from 1994 to 1997.

Dr. Randi Isaacs is Chief Medical Officer at Werewolf Therapeutics. She was previously Executive Director and Clinical Site Head of Translational Clinical Oncology at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research where she oversaw multiple clinical oncology programs and served as the clinical liaison for the Novartis CAR-T collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, and was the clinical liaison for the business development and licensing team, where she was responsible for evaluation and due diligence of potential assets for license or acquisition. She was previously Director of Global Oncology at Schering Plough, Head of Oncology Biologics at Merck, and Associate Director of Clinical Research at Sandoz.

Before moving into industry, she held academic positions including Assistant Professor of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology division at the State University of New York Health Sciences Center, and Clinical Assistant Professor in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Her major research interests are in the area of novel therapeutic approaches in oncology, including biologic agents, molecularly targeted therapies, immunotherapy and CAR-T cells for the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, as well as translational approaches for patient selection strategies and biomarker development.

Dr. Isaacs received her B.A. in chemistry from Wellesley College and her M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School. She spent one year in the MS program in epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health. She was a resident and postdoctoral fellow at UCSF, and a medical Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Dr. Ravi Kiron is an experienced pharma/biotech/venture executive with decades of experience in discovery R&D, early to late stage clinical dev, IP, technology, BD, M&A, strategy, product commercialization, negotiating/executing key partnerships between academia, pharma & biotech, leveraging his extensive global networks in Cardiovascular, Oncology, Neuroscience, Wound Healing, AI, Microbiome, Drug Delivery, Diagnostics.

He was faculty, Cornell Univ Med College, University of Rhode Island, with operational, executive management roles at pharma: Pfizer – Cardiovascular R&D (Hypertension, CHF, Ischemia), Oncology clin dev (TarcevaÒ NSCLC), Strategic BD, M&A (WLA, PHA, biotech acquisitions); J&J/ALZA – Drug Delivery Innovation/Licensing; Merck KGaA/EMD Serono Silicon Valley Innovation Hub/Strategic Innovation investing in game changing technologies (AI, Microbiome, Organoids, Fertility, Electroceuticals, Longevity/Aging).

Dr. Kiron’s biotech tenure spans BD, IPO, pharma/university collaborations, fund raising (Aduro, KineMed, Amarantus, Arrien), consulting several dozen global biotech, pharma companies; cofounded 4 startups (C2N Dx, Navya, PKBio, iRetainRx); Corporate & Private Venture teams – SRI Ventures, Shang Pharma Innovation, Celtic Pharma, with biotech Board Advisory (Cytovia, Spanios, DataJoint, ARIZBio), University/Industry non-profit boards (UCSD, UCD, NCI, Pantheon, BIO, BTS).

​Dr. Kiron earned BS Chemistry, MS Microbiology from University of Mumbai, India; PhD Biochemistry from Indian Institute of Science, India; MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, USA.

Tarak Mody, PhD is a strategic advisor to several oncology-focused biotech companies, supporting their business development, licensing, and corporate development efforts. With 32+ years of professional experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, Dr. Mody has a proven track record of forging transformative strategic partnerships.

Dr. Mody currently serves on multiple Advisory Boards and is on the Board of Directors for InnovoTEX, a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel macrocyclic drug conjugates for cancer.

Most recently, he held the position of Chief Business Officer at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) thru August 31, 2025. During his four-year tenure, he led business development, technology licensing, and alliance management, forming numerous mission-focused strategic alliances with pharma, biotech, and not-for-profit organizations to accelerate breakthrough immuno-oncology therapies for patients.

Prior to PICI, he served as Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management at Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. (now Amgen, Inc.), a biotech company focused on developing immuno-oncology and targeted therapies for patients with cancer (2013-2021). He led the global partnering process on the breakthrough gastric cancer product bemarituzumab, culminating in the $1.9 billion acquisition of Five Prime by Amgen Inc. in 2021. During his tenure, he also forged several key strategic oncology partnerships, including those with Bristol Myers Squibb ($1.7+ billion transformative deal), Seattle Genetics (now Pfizer), and Zai Lab.

Before Five Prime, Dr. Mody spent 20 years (1993-2013) at Pharmacyclics, Inc. (now AbbVie, Inc.), transitioning from a founding member of the R&D Team to the head of business development and intellectual property (2006-2013). He orchestrated the $1+ billion transformative global 50:50 alliance with Johnson & Johnson on the breakthrough product ibrutinib (IMBRUVICA®), a first-in-class, blockbuster bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor, currently approved for several blood cancers. During his tenure, Dr. Mody was also instrumental in rebuilding the company’s pipeline by acquiring a multi-asset portfolio from Celera Genomics in 2006, which included ibrutinib and fostered several partnerships with large pharma. He is a co-inventor on over 100 issued US and international patents.

Dr. Mody received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin under Professor Jonathan L. Sessler (Member of National Academy of Sciences). His doctoral work on the novel class of compounds, texaphyrins, was the original scientific basis for the formation of Pharmacyclics, Inc. He also holds a B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics from Villanova University and is a recipient of several prestigious doctoral fellowships and awards.

Dr. Parkinson has considerable scientific, medical, development, regulatory, business and management experience in the biopharmaceutical and healthcare industry. He has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ESSA Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: EPIX) since January 2016, and as Director of the company since June 2015. Prior to joining ESSA, he had been a Venture Partner at New Enterprise Associates, Inc.

From 2007 until 2012, Dr. Parkinson served as President and CEO of Nodality, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the biological characterization of signaling pathways in patients with malignancy.

Until October 2007, he was SVP, Oncology Research and Development at Biogen Idec, where he oversaw all oncology discovery research efforts and the development of the oncology pipeline. Previously he had served as VP, Oncology Development, at Amgen and VP, Global Clinical Oncology Development, at Novartis. In those roles, he oversaw the successful clinical development of a series of cancer therapeutics, including Gleevec, Zometa, Femara, and Vectibix.

Dr. Parkinson worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1990 to 1997, serving as Chief of the Investigational Drug Branch and then as Acting Associate Director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP).

He is a past Chairman of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Biologics Advisory Committee, a past member of the FDA Science Board, and is a recipient of the FDA’s Cody Medal.

He is a past editor of the Journal of Immunotherapy and past president of the Society of Biological Therapy (now the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer, SITC). He has served on the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine and is a past co-chair of the Cancer Steering Committee of the NIH Foundation Biomarkers Consortium.

A past Board Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), he currently serves as a Board Director for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and chairs their Translational Research Committee. He served as Chairperson of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Finance and Audit Committee for 15 years, is a previous elected Board Director of AACR, and currently chairs the Project GENIE Oversight Committee for AACR.

Dr. Parkinson was a Director of Facet Biotech, Inc., until the acquisition by Abbott Pharmaceuticals, and was a Director of Ambit Biosciences until the acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo. He has also previously served as a Director at Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Cerulean Pharmaceuticals (now DARE, Inc), and Tocagen, Inc (now Forte, Inc).

In addition to the ESSA board he currently serves as Director on the boards of 3SBio Inc (1530.HK) and CTI Biopharma, Inc (CTIC, NASDAQ). He also serves on the board of the private company Angiocrine Biosciences, and is a Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Refuge Biotechnologies, Inc., also a private company.

He has held academic positions both at Tufts and at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Rakesh Verma is a biotech innovator and translational scientist with over two decades of leadership in oncology, immunotherapy, and biologics development. He has led strategy and R&D for multiple novel therapeutics—including cytokines, engineered antibodies, and adoptive cell therapies—across all phases from discovery through first-in-human studies and beyond.

Dr. Verma’s scientific journey began with a deep focus on translational research and cell therapy for multiple myeloma—a disease area that continues to drive his passion and commitment. He is a multiple-time founder, having launched biotech companies focused on immuno-oncology and cell therapy. He has held senior leadership roles across the biotech and pharmaceutical landscape, including at ARMO BioSciences, where he played a key role as Site-Head, in advancing immunotherapy programs through to its $1.6B acquisition by Eli Lilly, where he continued as a Vice President driving cytokine-based drug development. He also serves as a scientific advisor to early-stage ventures through UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator, supporting innovation and company formation at the earliest stages.

His research has been published in top journals including Nature Medicine, The Lancet Oncology, Journal of Experimental Medicine, and Blood, covering oncology, immunology, and hematologic malignancies. He holds a PhD in Medical Oncology, with additional degrees in operations management, toxicology, life sciences, and computer science.