Board of Directors

John Orwin has over 30 years of diverse experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, having held senior positions at leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Affymax, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Genentech and, most recently, as CEO of Relypsa. During his tenure at Relypsa, the company launched and commercialized Veltassa®, and was acquired by Galenica (Vifor Pharma) in a transaction worth over $1.5 billion. Prior to Relypsa, John was CEO of Affymax. Previously, Mr. Orwin was Senior Vice President of the BioOncology Business Unit at Genentech, where he was responsible for all marketing, sales, business unit operations and pipeline brand management for Genentech’s oncology portfolio in the United States. John has also held senior marketing and sales positions at Johnson & Johnson, Alza Pharmaceuticals, Sangstat Medical Corporation, Rhône-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals and Schering-Plough Corporation.

Mr. Orwin earned an MBA from New York University and a BA from Rutgers University.

Abe Bassan, a Vice President at Samsara BioCapital, has significant experience operating and investing in cell therapy companies. Most recently, Abe was Director of Program Biology at Revolution Medicines, where he co-led early development of the 4EBP1/mTORC1 cancer program. Previously, at bluebird bio, he was the project manager for the manufacturing and development activities for the company’s β-Thalassemia, Sickle Cell Anemia and ALD programs—all based on ex vivo gene therapy with lentiviral vectors. Abe was an Associate at Third Rock Ventures, where he was involved in the firm’s investment in bluebird bio and concept creation for Blueprint Medicines, a precision medicine oncology company. Abe was also the founder of Aurora Medical, a molecular diagnostics testing services company.

Abe earned an MS in Developmental Biology from Stanford University. He obtained an AB in Molecular Biology from Princeton University. Abe also serves as a director of Graphite Bio, a Stanford-founded gene editing company, and Vedere II, an ophthalmology gene therapy company. Abe is also an observer on the boards of Autobahn Labs, MiroBio, Neurogene, Primmune and Palvella. Previously, he was an observer on the board of Nkarta Therapeutics, a NK-CAR cancer cell therapy company.

Gina Chapman is the President and CEO of CARGO Therapeutics. She brings over 30 years of biopharma executive, operational, and commercial experience with a track record of success shaping strategy, building strong teams, raising capital, and driving results.

Before joining CARGO, Gina served as SVP and Business Unit Head at Genentech, a member of Roche Group. During Gina’s 15 years at Genentech, she oversaw the development and execution of business unit and therapeutic area strategies including accountability for P&Ls across Oncology, Neurology, Immunology, Ophthalmology, Respiratory and Rare Diseases. She influenced global pipeline and development decisions and led or oversaw launch planning and execution in the U.S. for several novel, life-changing new medicines. Gina began her biopharma career with Syntex Laboratories, then joined Gilead Sciences during its rapid growth from clinical stage start-up to commercial enterprise where she led the launch of their first commercial medicine.

Dr. Dhingra is a medical oncologist and a physician-scientist bringing more than 25 years of strategic clinical development experience in oncology, including cell therapy, with a proven track record in drug development, patient care and academic research. He is currently Chairman of the Board for LAVA Therapeutics, a member of the Board of Directors/Supervisors for Servier, Black Diamond Therapeutics, Inc., Replimune, Inc., and Median Technologies. He previously served on the Board of Autolus Therapeutics plc, as well as Five Prime Therapeutics, Micromet, Inc., Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A., and YM Biosciences, before their respective acquisitions.

Dr. Dhingra is Founder and Managing Member of KAPital Consulting, LLC, a healthcare consulting firm providing strategic advisory services to biotechnology companies. Previously he served as Head of the Oncology Disease Biology Leadership Team and Head of Oncology Clinical Development at The Roche Group (Roche), during which he led numerous drug approvals. Prior to joining Roche, he worked in the oncology clinical development group at Eli Lilly and Company. He’s also served as a faculty member at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. 

Dr. Dhingra obtained his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, New York Medical College and completed his fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Huber is a Partner at Third Rock Ventures, one of the industry’s preeminent life sciences company creation firms based in Boston, MA and San Francisco, CA. At Third Rock, Dr. Huber is focused on building innovative biomedical therapeutics companies across areas of high unmet medical need.  In that role, Dr. Huber serves on the Board of Directors of MOMA Therapeutics, Tango Therapeutics, Asher Bio, Terremoto Biosciences,  and Rapport Therapeutics. Prior to Third Rock, Dr. Huber was at Incyte Corporation which he joined in 2002 as a member of the founding scientific team, and most recently served as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. During Dr. Huber’s 17 year tenure, Incyte’s research labs discovered and advanced >25 therapeutics into clinical development, including the janus kinase inhibitors ruxolitinib (Jakafi®; approved for the treatment of myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera and graft-versus-host disease) and baricitinib (Olumiant®; approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and alopecia areata), the FGFR inhibitor pemigatinib (Pemazyre®; approved for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma) and the c-MET inhibitor capmatinib (Tabrecta®; approved for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer). Before joining Incyte, Dr. Huber held scientific research positions at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb from 1997 to 2002.

Dr. Huber received his PhD in molecular genetics from the Washington University School of Medicine and held pre- and post-doctoral fellowships at the National Institutes of Health. 

David Lubner is an Independent Director to CARGO Therapeutics, bringing extensive relevant financial and operational leadership experience to our board.  David served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Ra Pharma Inc., acquired by UCB in April 2020. Before joining Ra Pharma, David served as a member of the senior management team of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and PharMetrics Inc., a leading patient-based pharmacy and medical claims data informatics company, which was acquired by IMS Health in 2005, and at ProScript, Inc., where Velcade® (bortezomib), a therapy widely used for the treatment of the blood cancer multiple myeloma, was discovered. David currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Arcellx Inc., Dyne Therapeutics, Point Biopharma and Vor Biopharma, and several other private companies. He previously served on the board of directors of Nightstar Therapeutics plc from 2017 until it was acquired by Biogen Inc. in June 2019 and Therapeutics Acquisition Corporation (d/b/a as Research Alliance Corp. I), a blank check company focused on the healthcare industry from May 2020 to June 2021. He has extensive experience raising capital in private and public markets and has played key leadership roles in capital markets transactions including IPOs and Follow-on financings, and a variety of corporate deal-related transactions including, SPAC, reverse-merger, and M&A transactions, and a variety of corporate partnerships/strategic alliances.  A Certified Public Accountant, David holds a BS from Northeastern and an MS in Taxation from Bentley University.

Dr. Viswanadhan is a biopharmaceutical executive with over 20 years of broad cross-functional experience in advancing new medicines for patients with serious and life-threatening diseases. Krishnan is currently President and COO at Be Biopharma, a leader in engineered B cells as a new category of medicines for patients with serious diseases.

Prior to Be Bio, Krishnan was Senior Vice President, Global Cell Therapy Franchise Lead at BMS where he was responsible for overseeing the integrated cell therapy franchise strategy across the enterprise including building core capabilities and key investments to support long term growth. He oversaw the teams responsible for the development, approval, and life cycle management of Breyanzi, a CD19 CAR T and Abecma, the first BCMA CAR T therapy. Prior to BMS, Krishnan was Vice President, Business Development and Global Alliances at Celgene Corporation responsible for managing the portfolio of partnerships and equity investments. Prior to Celgene, Krishnan had roles in large and small companies in regulatory strategy.

Dr. Viswanadhan is a registered Pharmacist and earned a Pharm.D from Rutgers University. He obtained an MBA from Cornell University. Krishnan currently serves as a non-executive director of JW Therapeutics, a leading cell therapy company in China.

Jane Henderson currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Apogee and previously served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Adagio Therapeutics, Inc. (now Invivyd, Inc.). She has also served as Chief Financial Officer of Turnstone Biologics Corp., Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development of Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., and as the Senior Vice President, Chief Financial and Business Officer of Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Jane served in various financial and business development executive roles at biopharmaceutical companies after spending almost 20 years in healthcare investment banking. Jane currently serves on the Board of Directors of Akero Therapeutics, Inc. and Ventus Therapeutics, Inc. She previously served on the Board of Directors of IVERIC (formerly Ophthotech) and Sesen Bio (formerly Eleven Bio). Jane received a B.S. in psychology from Duke University.