About Us | MBX Biosciences

Our Mission

We aim to improve the standard of care in the treatment of endocrine disorders through the discovery, development and commercialization of transformative peptide therapeutics.

Leadership

MBX was founded by pioneers in the endocrine drug development field and is led by a team of seasoned industry veterans with a common goal to transform the treatment of endocrine disorders and improve people’s lives. Members of our leadership team have collaborated successfully over several decades on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class endocrine therapeutics including Forteo®, Humalog®, and Byetta®.

Leadership Team Board of Directors

Kent Hawryluk, MS, MBA

February 8, 2022/in Leadership/by Emily Hennes

Kent Hawryluk has nearly 20 years’ experience as a life sciences entrepreneur, leader and investor. Mr. Hawryluk is President & CEO and one of our co-founders.

Mr. Hawryluk was a Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Avidity Biosciences, a genetic medicines company, from January 2013 to December 2019. Under his leadership, Avidity raised $130 million in equity financings and initiated a significant strategic partnership with Eli Lilly. Previously, he served as Co-founder and CEO of MB2, a clinical-stage company focused on diabetes and obesity, from May 2014 to March 2016. MB2 was acquired by Novo Nordisk in October 2015. Prior to MB2 and Avidity, Mr. Hawryluk co-founded Marcadia Biotech and served as its Chief Business Officer and Vice President, Business Development from January 2006 to April 2011. Marcadia, a pioneer in peptide multi-agonists of incretin receptors, was acquired by Roche in December 2010. Mr. Hawryluk served as a director of Gemphire Therapeutics, a public clinical-stage cardiovascular drug company, from February 2015 to February 2019. He has served as partner of Twilight Venture Partners, a private seed- and early-stage life science venture capital fund, since January 2003. Mr. Hawryluk holds a BA from Princeton University, an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and an MS, Biology from Purdue University.

Mary Jane Geiger, MD, PhD

February 8, 2022/in Leadership/by Emily Hennes

Mary Jane Geiger, MD, PhD has 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience and has led all phases of clinical development. She serves as our Chief Medical Officer.

Dr. Geiger previously served as vice president, drug development services – cardiovascular, at ICON, a global clinical research organization. She provided cardio-metabolic and renal therapeutic area and rare disease consulting and drug development expertise to pharmaceutical and biotech clients, assisting them in the successful development and delivery of their drug development portfolio. She previously served as senior director, cardiovascular and metabolism at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company; as vice president, clinical development at Relypsa, a private pharmaceutical company; and as medical fellow I, Lilly Diabetes at Eli Lilly and Company. During her tenure at Lilly, Dr. Geiger was responsible for clinical development of Trulicity® from post-Phase 1 through completion of pivotal clinical studies. She began her biopharmaceutical industry career at Merck in 2000, and before this was in private practice, a clinical trial investigator, IRB member and chairman of the department of internal medicine. Dr. Geiger earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Marquette University, and her medical doctorate and Ph.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She completed her internal medicine internship and residency at Duke University Medical Center with additional research in nephrology and cardiology, and has authored numerous scientific and clinical publications.

Steven J. Prestrelski, PhD, MBA

July 3, 2023/in Leadership/by Ellie Solorio

Steven J. Prestrelski, Ph.D., M.B.A, is seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with over 30 years of scientific and operational expertise who has led successful endocrine and metabolism product development programs from discovery through regulatory approval. Dr. Prestrelski serves as our Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr. Prestrelski previously served as Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Xeris Biopharma Holdings Inc., a publicly traded pharmaceutical company focused on innovative ready-to-use solutions to improve patients’ lives. During his time at Xeris, he was responsible for all aspects of company research and development and intellectual property operations, portfolio management, and new product development. He also served as the company’s interim Chief Executive Officer from 2013-2014 and served on its board of directors from 2005-2015. Prior to Xeris, Dr. Prestrelski was Vice President, Pharmaceutical Research and Development at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he oversaw its R&D portfolio, including the Bydureon^© (GLP-1) program in diabetes and managing the strategic alliances with Eli Lilly and Alkermes. Prior to Amylin, Dr. Prestrelski held significant roles in drug formulation and delivery as Vice President, Biopharmaceuticals at PowderJect Technologies, Inc., and as Director, Biopharmaceuticals at Alza. He also worked as a research scientist at both Amgen and the US Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Prestrelski has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and invited book chapters. He has 35 issued U.S. patents (over 100 globally) and 47 pending patent applications in the ﬁeld of drug development, formulation, and delivery.

Dr. Prestrelski earned a B.S. in nutrition science from Drexel University, a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics from the City University of New York and an M.B.A. from Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.

Richard Bartram, CPA

April 12, 2022/in Leadership/by eallison

Richard Bartram has more than 15 years of finance and accounting experience. Mr. Bartram is our Chief Financial Officer.

Prior to joining MBX, Mr. Bartram served as Chief Financial Officer at Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. a publicly traded pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for patients with elevated LDL-C cholesterol. During his time at Esperion, Mr. Bartram led the completion of several equity and non-equity financings, aggregating to more than $1.2 billion in proceeds, and provided key contributions to business development license transactions and the approval and commercialization of Esperion’s first products, Nexletol® and Nexlizet®. Prior to Esperion, Mr. Bartram served as a public accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP in its Assurance practice. Mr. Bartram earned both a Master of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Michigan State University and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Michigan.

Michael A. Dorato, PhD, DABT, Fellow ATS

February 8, 2022/in Leadership/by Emily Hennes

Dr. Dorato has over 45 years of experience in pharmacology, toxicology and drug development. He has spent 30 years at Eli Lilly and Co, retiring as Executive Director, Toxicology and Greenfield Laboratories Site Head. Dr. Dorato also has significant experience in the Toxicology CRO industry, spending 5 years at Covance as Vice President and CSO Global Discovery Services; 5 years at Smithers Avanza as Executive Vice President Toxicology Services; 2 Years at Inotiv, as Sr. Vice President Toxicology and Pharmacology. In these positions he has led global organizations in safety and efficacy, lead optimization, investigative and regulatory toxicology, discovery and late phase pathology, animal welfare, molecular and anatomical imaging, in vivo pharmacology (oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, inflammation, renal, bone, receptor occupancy), developmental and reproductive toxicology, and model development. Dr. Dorato has led drug development decisions in various phases of pharmaceutical research and development, organizational growth initiatives, and development of leaders. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences, a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology, an Emeritus member of the Society of Toxicology and a full member of the American College of Toxicology.

Matt Gambino

May 16, 2023/in Leadership/by Ellie Solorio

Matt Gambino has over 30 years of commercial pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience. Mr. Gambino serves as our Vice President of Marketing.

Mr. Gambino has extensive experience across a variety of therapeutic areas and treatment modalities – transforming new and existing products into market-leading, well-differentiated brands. Most recently, he served as Executive Director at G2 Life Sciences, a privately held consulting firm focused on the development of US commercialization and launch strategies for new chemical entities, biologics, and medical devices seeking to enter the US market. Prior to this, Mr. Gambino held numerous leadership positions across marketing, strategy, operations, and sales – leading teams at Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, UCB, and Galderma. He received his MBA from Butler University and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Troy University.

Rita Shah, PharmD

February 8, 2022/in Leadership/by Emily Hennes

Dr. Shah has 10 years of broad pharmaceutical experience. Prior to joining MBX, Dr. Shah served as a Director of regulatory affairs at AstraZeneca and various regulatory roles at Johnson & Johnson and Janssen. Her experiences include developing regulatory strategy and executing health authority consultations for consumer products, dietary and food supplements, and all phases of pharmaceutical development in a multitude of therapeutic areas including respiratory, immunology, and gastroenterology both in rare and large diseases. Her regulatory career is complimented with experience in external policy engagement and scientific publication.

Dr. Shah obtained her PharmD from Northeastern University and completed a post graduate fellowship at Johnson & Johnson Consumer with a faculty position at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Paul Wright, PhD

April 13, 2022/in Leadership/by eallison

Paul B. Wright, PhD, has 25 years of experience in drug development. Dr. Wright is our Vice President for Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC).

He has served in various technical leadership and management roles throughout his pharma career, most recently within the Product R&D organization at Eli Lilly and Company. At Lilly, Dr. Wright supported programs from early phase through commercialization, contributing to many successful regulatory approvals. Dr. Wright received his bachelor’s degree with college honors from Knox College and his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Cincinnati.

Kent Hawryluk MS, MBA

February 8, 2022/in BOD/by Emily Hennes

Kent Hawryluk has nearly 20 years’ experience as a life sciences entrepreneur, leader and investor. Mr. Hawryluk is President & CEO and one of our co-founders.

Richard DiMarchi, PhD

February 8, 2022/in BOD/by Emily Hennes

Richard DiMarchi is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Gill Chair in Biomolecular Sciences at Indiana University, where he served as chairman of the Chemistry Department. Dr. DiMarchi is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He is a former Group Vice President at Eli Lilly and later at Novo Nordisk. He is recognized for his contributions to the discovery and development of rDNA-derived Humalog®, rGlucagon®, and Forteo®. His academic research has broadened the understanding of glucagon physiology and the discovery of single molecule multimode agonists for the treatment of diabetes and obesity. He is chairman of the Peptide Therapeutics Foundation and is widely recognized as an international spokesperson for macromolecular medicines.

Dr. DiMarchi is co-inventor on more than 100 U.S. patents and co-author to more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He was identified as a top-five translation researcher by Nature Biotechnology for the years 2014 and 2015. MBX is the sixth biotech company he has co-founded following successes with Ambrx, Marcadia, Calibrium, MB2 and Assembly. In the last decade Dr. DiMarchi has received the 2011 Merrifield Award for career contributions in peptide sciences, the 2014 German National Erwin Schrödinger-Preis, the 2015 Meienhofer Prize, the 2015 Max Bergmann Medal, and the 2016 ACS Alfred Burger career award in medicinal chemistry.

Patrick Heron

February 8, 2022/in BOD/by Emily Hennes

Patrick Heron is a Managing Partner of Frazier’s Life Sciences team. He joined the firm in 1999 and opened Frazier’s Menlo Park office in 2003. Throughout his 15 years as a Managing Partner, Mr. Heron has led or co-led investments across 30 companies. He has successfully partnered with entrepreneurs across a range of company types and stages, from early-stage drug discovery companies to $100M commercial-stage dermatology companies. Mr. Heron currently serves on the boards of Arcutis (NASDAQ: ARQT), Imago BioSciences, Iterum Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ITRM), Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MIRM), MBX Biosciences, Passage Bio (NASDAQ: PASG), ScoutBio, and SutroVax (NASDAQ:PCVX). He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He also holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate and Morehead Scholar.

Ed Mathers

February 8, 2022/in BOD/by Emily Hennes

Ed Mathers is a General Partner at NEA; he joined the firm as a Partner in August 2008 and is focused on biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals investments. He is a director of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RYTM), Synlogic (NASDAQ:SYBX), Trevi Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TRVI), Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MIRM), and ObsEva (NASDAQ:OBSV), as well as a number of private life sciences companies. Prior to joining NEA, Mr. Mathers served as executive vice president, corporate development and venture at MedImmune, a biopharmaceutical company, and led its venture capital subsidiary, MedImmune Ventures. Prior to this, he spent 15 years at Glaxo Wellcome (GlaxoSmithKline), where he held sales and marketing positions of increasing responsibility. Mr. Mathers earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from North Carolina State University.

Carl Gordon

February 8, 2022/in BOD/by Emily Hennes

Carl L. Gordon, CFA, Ph.D is a founding member, Managing Partner, and Co-Head of Global Private Equity at OrbiMed Advisors LLC, an investment firm. Dr. Gordon serves on the boards of several public and private companies. Additionally, Dr. Gordon was a Fellow at The Rockefeller University. Dr. Gordon received a B.A. in Chemistry from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jim Cornelius

February 8, 2022/in BOD/by Emily Hennes

Jim Cornelius is an accomplished global biopharmaceutical leader, with past board and leadership roles at Bristol Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, as well as a recognized venture investor and philanthropist.

Mr. Cornelius served as Chairman of the Board of Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN) from December 2009 to June 2017, when MJN was acquired by Reckitt Benckiser for $16 billion. Previously, he served as Chairman of the Board of Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) from February 2008 to May 2015, and also held the title Chief Executive Officer from September 2006 to March 2010. BMY completed a successful transformation into a leading specialty biopharmaceutical enterprise during that time.

Mr. Cornelius served as Board Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Guidant (GDT) from November 2005 to April 2006, when it was acquired by Boston Scientific (BSX) for $27 billion. Previously, he was executive Chairman of the Board of Guidant and its senior executive starting from September 1994 when the Company was formed within Eli Lilly (LLY). Mr. Cornelius was a member of LLY’s Board of Directors and its Chief Financial Officer from 1983 until 1995.

In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of a dozen private and public companies, including The Chubb Corporation, The DIRECTV Group and Given Imaging. Mr. Cornelius is currently Chairman of Cornelius Family Foundation and Cornelius Private Investments. He earned a B.A. magna cum laude and M.B.A. from Michigan State University.

Ora Pescovitz

April 12, 2022/in BOD/by eallison

Ora Pescovitz, M.D. is a renowned academic leader, health care executive, pediatric endocrinologist and researcher, and has published extensively.

Dr. Pescovitz was named President of Oakland University in 2017. Previously, Dr. Pescovitz served as Senior Vice President and U.S. Medical Leader for Lilly Biomedicines at Eli Lilly and Company from 2014 to 2017. From 2009 to 2014, she was the University of Michigan’s first female Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Health System CEO. During this time, she led a system that included three hospitals, more than 120 health centers and clinics, and the University of Michigan Medical School, and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. She has also held numerous leadership positions with a broad range of medical research, healthcare, and civic organizations, including president of the Society for Pediatric Research, president of the Lawson Wilkins (North American) Pediatric Endocrine Society, and chair of the March of Dimes Grants Review Committee. She earned her M.D. from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where she has earned Distinguished Alumni Awards from both the Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern University.

Tiba Aynechi, PhD

November 10, 2022/in BOD/by Ellie Solorio

Tiba Aynechi is a General Partner of Norwest Venture Partners’ healthcare team with 20+ years of research and investment experience. Prior to joining Norwest, Tiba spent over ten years at Novo Holdings A/S, one of the top life sciences investment firms, with offices in the US and Europe. She has served on various public and private boards including iRhythm Technologies, Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Nkarta Therapeutics, Arcellx, Spruce Biosciences, and MDLive. Earlier in her career Tiba was a banker focused on M&A, licensing, and financing transactions involving biotech/pharma. Tiba attended the University of California Irvine where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with a Biomedical concentration. She also holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California San Francisco, where she also did her Postdoctoral Fellowship. Tiba is also a published author of scientific articles and book chapters in rational drug design.

Our Mission

Leadership

Investors