Anil Singhal, Ph.D., MBA
President and CEO
About Us
Trishula is a clinical stage company dedicated to the development of TTX-030, a first-in-class, anti-CD39 antibody being studied in advanced cancers in multiple indications.
Leadership
Dr. Singhal is the President and CEO of Trishula Therapeutics, bringing with him more than three decades of research and development leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Trishula and TriSalus Inc.
He joins Trishula from Adicet Bio where, as the President and CEO, he led the company to its first oncology IND and merger with a public company. Previously, Dr. Singhal held the positions of Executive in Residence at Canaan Partners and CSO at OncoResponse Inc. Dr. Singhal also served as Vice President of Early Oncology Development at AbbVie and Head of the AbbVie Redwood City site. In that role, he led the global approval of Empliciti in multiple myeloma and daclizumab in MS. As a member of the R&D leadership team, he helped to build an impressive portfolio and key translational science capabilities in oncology, immunology and other diseases.
Prior to his industry tenure, Dr. Singhal was Assistant Research Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and concurrent with the industry role, Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Washington.
Thomas Jahn, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Jahn joined Trishula in June 2021 as Chief Medical Officer. Prior to joining Trishula, Dr. Jahn served as the VP, Clinical Development at Apexigen, as the VP, Clinical Development at RAPT Therapeutics, and earlier as VP, Clinical Science at KARTOS overseeing the early clinical development of APX005M, FLX475 and KRT-232, respectively. Prior to joining biotech, Dr. Jahn led the effort of evaluating venetoclax (VENCLEXTA®) for the treatment of MDS at AbbVie and coordinated the development effort with Genentech/Roche. At Abbvie he was also instrumental in developing navitoclax for the treatment of myelofibrosis. Before his stay at Abbvie, Dr. Jahn was the clinical lead of two pivotal Phase 3 studies evaluating idelalisib combination therapy in CLL leading to the approval of idelalisib (ZYDELIG®).
Dr. Jahn received his MD degree from the University of Göttingen and a doctorate from the Hannover Medical School in Germany. He did his residency at the University of Ulm Medical School and the Technical University of Munich in Germany. Prior to transitioning to clinical drug development, Dr. Jahn pursued a US academic career in the field of signal transduction by intracellular and receptor tyrosine kinases in malignancies and immunological disorders with appointments as Assistant Professor at USC Keck School of Medicine and Instructor at Stanford University Medical School.
Achim Moesta, PhD
Vice President and Head of Immunology and Translational Sciences
Achim Moesta is a Vice President and Head of Immunology and Translational Sciences at Trishula Therapeutics. Achim’s responsibilities are currently focused on the advancement of TTX-030 in clinical development.
Prior to joining Trishula, Achim was the Head of Immunology Discovery and Translational Sciences at Tizona Therapeutics where he spearheaded several novel immune modulatory biologic programs and oversaw both TTX-030 and TTX-080, a first-in-class HLA-G antagonist, from inception to Phase 1 clinical trials.
Achim previously held roles of increasing responsibility at Amgen in the Therapeutic Innovation Unit and Oncology Discovery Research. Additionally, Achim was a postdoctoral fellow at the Pfizer-Rinat Biotherapeutics innovation hub.
Achim earned his Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University under Dr. Peter Parham, a world leader in Immunogenetics and the functional interactions of Natural Killer Cells.
Alan Luk
Vice President, CMC
Alan Luk is Vice President, CMC for Trishula Therapeutics and is responsible for leading the planning and execution of the TTX-030 program CMC strategy. He brings with him over 20 years of biotech experience working on research programs from early stage to commercial.
Prior to joining Trishula, Alan served as the Director of CMC at Tizona Therapeutics overseeing the TTX-030 program. In this role, he assisted in establishing the overall strategy for process development and manufacturing to support Tizona’s preclinical and clinical programs. Previously, Alan held various positions of increasing responsibility in process development, clinical manufacturing, technology transfer, and external manufacturing at companies including FibroGen and BioMarin Pharmaceuticals.
Alan holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis and a MBA from San Francisco State University.
Anh Tran
Head of Clinical Operations
Anh Tran is the Head of Clinical Operations at Trishula Therapeutics and is responsible for overseeing departmental infrastructure, as well as strategic clinical program planning and execution for TTX-030. She brings with her over 15 years of experience in early- to late-phase clinical development.
Prior to joining Trishula at its inception, she served as a Director of Clinical Operations at Tizona Therapeutics overseeing the TTX-030 program. Previously, Anh held positions with increasing responsibilities at Adverum Biotechnologies, Iovance Biotherapeutics and Pharmcyclics (an AbbVie company). While at Pharmcyclics, she contributed to the development and execution of the IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) pivotal studies and New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with global regulatory filings for several hematology indications.
Earlier in her career, Anh held various positions in clinical operations at small-mid size biotech companies. Anh holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from the University of California Davis.
Board of Directors
Luke Evnin, PhD
Chair, Trishula Therapeutics
Managing Director, MPM Capital
Prior to co-founding MPM in 1997, Luke Evnin was employed by the venture capital firm Accel Partners. He received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California – San Francisco. He has devoted significant efforts since 2000 to working with the Scleroderma Research Foundation, serving as Chairman since 2002. Dr. Evnin also devotes energy to the External Advisory Board at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Quantitative Genomics at Princeton, the External Advisory Boards for QB3, the Mission Bay Capital Fund at UCSF, and the Boston University Scleroderma CORT.
Nina Kjellson
General Partner, Canaan Partners
Nina Kjellson joined Cannan’s healthcare team from InterWest Partners where she has been investing in healthcare start-ups since 2002. She focuses primarily on investments in biopharmaceuticals and digital health. Nina is co-founder and co-chair of ConsumerMed.org, a forum to address the convergence of health care and consumer innovation and serves as a mentor to Blueprint Health, a digital health incubator and Springboard Life Sciences, an accelerator for healthcare companies driven by women entrepreneurs. Investment themes include innovative therapeutics for serious and underserved conditions, IT-enabled transformation of healthcare delivery and patient/consumer engagement.
Current investments include Cidara (CDTX), Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, Lycera, Ocera (OCRX), Paratek (PRTK), and WellTok.
Previous investments include Labrys Biologics (acquired by Teva), Alt12 (acquired by Honest Company), Trius Therapeutics (TSRX; acquired by Cubist), CNS Therapeutics (acquired by Covidien), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck), and Aspreva (ASPV; acquired by Galenica)
Prior to InterWest, Nina was an investment manager at Bay City Capital, a life sciences merchant bank, and a research associate at Oracle Partners, a health care-focused hedge fund. Nina began her career conducting health policy and survey research with the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Nina received a B.A. in human biology from Stanford University (1997).
She serves on the California Leadership Council for the Nature Conservancy and has been nominated to join the board of the California Family Health Council.
Kurt von Emster
Managing Partner, Abingworth
Kurt joined Abingworth in January 2015 bringing over 25 years of experience in life science investment. He began his career as a biotechnology and healthcare analyst in 1990, and then was promoted to Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton. Kurt then became a General Partner at MPM Capital in 2000. In 2009, he co-founded venBio, a US healthcare investment firm and most recently was a Partner in the San Francisco office. He holds board positions at CymaBay, Jasper Therapeutics, Orbus Therapeutics, SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Tizona Therapeutics, Trishula Therapeutics, Vaxcyte and Vera Therapeutics. He was formerly on boards at Aurinia, CRISPR Therapeutics, Cytos, Kesios, Facet and Somaxon. Kurt holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
John A. Hohneker, MD
Board Director
Dr. Hohneker joined the board in September 2020 and brings 30 years of drug development and leadership experience within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. He most recently served as President and CEO of Anokion.
Prior to Anokion, he was President of Research and Development at FORMA Therapeutics Inc., where he guided the company’s transition from a discovery-stage biotech to one with multiple programs in clinical trials. Prior to FORMA, he held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis AG, most recently as senior vice president and global head of development for immunology and dermatology, where he led the development and registration of Cosentyx® and Ilaris®. During his tenure at Novartis, Dr. Hohneker also played a key role in the development, approval, and commercialization of several products including Gleevec®, Tasigna®, Zometa®, Afinitor® and Exjade®. Prior to joining Novartis, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Glaxo Wellcome and its legacy company, Burroughs Wellcome.
He received a BA from Gettysburg College and a MD from Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (formerly the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School). He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in medical oncology, all at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Scott Clarke
Board Director
Scott Clarke brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.
Scott most recently served as CEO of Trishula Therapeutics. He was responsible for launching Trishula - out of Tizona Therapeutic’s transaction with Gilead Sciences - as a stand-alone, thriving company.
Previously, Scott served as Tizona’s Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, Tizona’s two lead programs advanced into the clinic, the company built out its preclinical portfolio, and entered into a transformational alliance with Gilead. He continues to serve on the Board of Directors of both Trishula and Tizona.
Prior to Tizona, Scott served as Global Head of Oncology Partnering and Head of Asia and Emerging Markets Partnering at Roche. In this role he was responsible for licensing, clinical collaborations, and acquisitions in oncology, and for sourcing opportunities across all indications from Asia.
From 2005 to 2017, Scott held positions of increasing responsibility at BioMarin, including serving as the Senior Vice President of Product Development, responsible for advancing BioMarin’s portfolio of clinical and late preclinical product candidates through approval. Prior to this role, Scott was Vice President of Business Development and Scientific Licensing overseeing all preclinical and early clinical licensing and M&A.
Scott earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Science in Biotechnology at Northwestern University and an MBA from London Business School.
Anil Singhal, PhD, MBA
President and CEO, Trishula Therapeutics
Dr. Singhal is the President and CEO of Trishula Therapeutics, bringing with him more than three decades of research and development leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Trishula and TriSalus Inc.
He joins Trishula from Adicet Bio where, as the President and CEO, he led the company to its first oncology IND and merger with a public company. Previously, Dr. Singhal held the positions of Executive in Residence at Canaan Partners and CSO at OncoResponse Inc. Dr. Singhal also served as Vice President of Early Oncology Development at AbbVie and Head of the AbbVie Redwood City site. In that role, he led the global approval of Empliciti in multiple myeloma and daclizumab in MS. As a member of the R&D leadership team, he helped to build an impressive portfolio and key translational science capabilities in oncology, immunology and other diseases.
Prior to his industry tenure, Dr. Singhal was Assistant Research Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and concurrent with the industry role, Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Washington.
