About Us

Madan Jagasia, M.D., M.S., is Obsidian’s Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Jagasia is a highly experienced physician executive with an extensive oncology and cell therapy-focused clinical background and deep industry experience developing tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) treatments for cancer. Prior to joining Obsidian, Dr. Jagasia was Executive Vice President, Medical Affairs at Iovance Biotherapeutics, where he was responsible for managing national medical affairs, strategic congress planning, advocacy, strategic alliances and external research collaborations. Before Iovance, he was Chief Medical Officer and Executive Medical Director of Cancer Patient Care Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), where he co-led Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Research Program at VICC. Dr. Jagasia began his career as a faculty member in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Jagasia has his M.B.B.S from the GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, an M.S. and a Master of Management in Health Care from Vanderbilt University.

Parameswaran Hari, M.D., M.S., is Obsidian’s Chief Medical Officer.  Dr. Hari brings decades of experience designing, managing and leading complex cell and gene therapy clinical programs, including TIL therapies. Previously, Dr. Hari was Senior Vice President, Clinical Science at Iovance Biotherapeutics, where he led solid tumor adoptive cell therapy programs across multiple tumor types and indications, including new IND submission, first in human phase 1 studies and BLA submission efforts. Prior to Iovance, Dr. Hari was the Chief of Hematology and Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he led national cooperative multi-PI trial groups in cell and gene therapy and multiple myeloma. He also served the American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) as its secretary. Dr. Hari received his M.B.B.S at Kerala University, M.D. at Central University of Pondicherry, and his M.S. at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Julie Feder is Obsidian’s Chief Financial Officer, a role in which she drives the financial and corporate growth of the Company. Ms. Feder has served in strategic financial roles in various life sciences companies. Most recently, she served as Chief Financial Officer of Aura Biosciences, for six years. At Aura, she was responsible for various financial objectives and overall operations of the company. Before Aura, Ms. Feder was Chief Financial Officer at Verastem, where she developed the strategic financial plan and oversaw the rapid growth and financing of the company. Prior to joining Verastem, Ms. Feder spent six years at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) as Chief Financial Officer. At CHAI, Ms. Feder was responsible for managing a global team across multiple departments. She also developed the global finance strategy and internal audit, treasury, and global payroll functions. Previously, Ms. Feder practiced as a CPA for over 20 years. Ms. Feder holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business.

Dana Alexander, is Obsidian’s Chief Technical officer and heads technical development, manufacturing and quality. In this role he leads all aspects of CMC, including process development, analytical development, external manufacturing and supply chain for Obsidian’s product portfolio. He also is responsible for the quality assurance function that supports all of Obsidian’s GxP activities. Mr. Alexander brings over two decades of operational expertise across cell, gene therapy and biologics process development and chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), from Phase 1 through commercialization. Prior to joining Obsidian, Mr. Alexander was Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at AlloVir, where he built and led all CMC technical functions, including manufacturing, process and analytical development, supply chain, CMC program management and quality operations. Prior to AlloVir, Mr. Alexander held roles as at Thermo Fisher Scientific (Brammer Bio) and Chief Operations Officer at Anika Therapeutics and Sanofi Genzyme. Mr. Alexander holds an M.B.A. from Boston University and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University.

Jennifer Peterson is Obsidian’s Chief People Officer and responsible for talent, culture, and organizational development. Ms. Peterson brings nearly 20 years as an human resources (HR) executive in diverse, dynamic, rapidly growing private and public global software and biotech companies. She most recently served as Vice President of People at Inari Agriculture, where she was the Company’s first HR executive and led global growth from 50 to 150 employees, the transition from exploratory research to strategic execution, and established cultural pillars of inclusion, collaboration and innovation. Previously, Ms. Peterson was Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Monotype, Inc. and Intralinks, Inc., where she implemented people strategies to enable strategic transformations, and led threefold growth. Jennifer holds a B.A. in sociology from Franklin & Marshall College, and a certificate in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from Cornell University’s ILR School.

Maria Fardis, Ph.D., is Chair of Obsidian’s Board of Directors, a Venture Partner at Frazier Life Sciences and the Chief Executive Officer of AirNexis Therapeutics. She has over 20 years of scientific and management experience in numerous public and private companies. Dr. Fardis previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Lassen Therapeutics, a privately-held company developing first-in-class antibodies as potential treatments for fibrosis, thyroid eye disease, and oncology. Prior to Lassen, she was President and Chief Executive Officer of Iovance Biotherapeutics, where she led the transformation from an early-stage development company to a company with multiple late-stage programs for the treatment of solid tumors. Prior to Iovance, Dr. Fardis served as the Chief Operating Officer of Acerta Pharma B.V., where she worked on the development of Calquence^® until the company’s acquisition by AstraZeneca. Prior to that, she worked at Pharmacyclics, Inc., where she was a key contributor in the creation of a broad clinical program leading to global approvals for Imbruvica^® in multiple hematologic malignancies, and where she served as Chief of Oncology Operations and Alliances. Prior to joining Pharmacyclics, Dr. Fardis held increasing senior positions in medicinal chemistry and the project and portfolio management department at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where she was involved with multiple therapeutic areas including antivirals, oncology, and cardiovascular therapeutics and worked on the development and life cycle management of Letairis^®.

Peter Barrett, Ph.D., was co-founder of and has served as a member of the Obsidian Board of Directors since September 2015. Peter has been involved in the creation and development of numerous innovative therapeutic and drug discovery platform companies as a Partner at Atlas Venture since 2002. Prior to joining Atlas, he was co-founder, Executive Vice President, and Chief Business Officer of Celera Genomics, where he led strategic alliances, acquisitions, and business strategy, and helped lead the company’s 1999 initial public offering. Celera announced the first successful sequencing of the human genome in 2001. Before co-founding Celera, Peter held senior management positions at Applera, most recently as Vice President of Corporate Planning and Business Development, where he led business units and expanded the company’s life sciences business through licensing agreements, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions. Peter holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Northeastern University, and completed the Management Development Program at Harvard Business School.

Heidi Hagen is a member of Obsidian’s Board of Directors. Ms. Hagen has extensive experience in operations management and commercializing innovative technologies, including 20 years in the cell and gene therapy industry. Ms. Hagen is the former Chief Technical Officer of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a privately-held company leading the development of adoptive Treg cell therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. She also serves on the Board of Directors for cell therapy company Vericel. Additionally, she served as interim CEO and sat on the board for Ziopharm Oncology, Inc., a publicly traded company developing immune-oncology gene and cell therapies. She is also Co-Founder and former Chief Strategy Officer of Vineti, a software platform company for cell and gene therapy supply chain management. Formerly, she served as Global COO for SOTIO Biotech a.s. and the Senior Vice President of Operations for Dendreon. She began her career at Immunex Corporation and worked for ten years in a range of roles in drug development and operations management. Ms. Hagen has a B.S. in cell and molecular biology, an M.S. in bioengineering, and an MBA from the University of Washington.

Madan Jagasia, M.D., M.S., is Obsidian’s Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Jagasia is a highly experienced physician executive with an extensive oncology and cell therapy-focused clinical background and deep industry experience developing tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) treatments for cancer. Prior to joining Obsidian, Dr. Jagasia was Executive Vice President, Medical Affairs at Iovance Biotherapeutics, where he was responsible for managing national medical affairs, strategic congress planning, advocacy, strategic alliances and external research collaborations. Before Iovance, he was Chief Medical Officer and Executive Medical Director of Cancer Patient Care Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), where he co-led Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Research Program at VICC. Dr. Jagasia began his career as a faculty member in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Jagasia has his M.B.B.S from the GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, an M.S. and a Master of Management in Health Care from Vanderbilt University.

Matthew Norkunas, M.D., M.B.A., most recently served as the chief financial officer at Tubulis and President of Tubulis Inc. Prior to Tubulis, he was chief financial officer at Generation Bio, where he oversaw financial operations and strategy. Previously, he was chief financial officer at SomaLogic, where he helped lead a complete strategic overhaul for the company, closed several large business development deals, and oversaw strong commercial growth both in the US and overseas. Matt previously served as senior equity analyst at Marsico Capital Management, where he was the firm’s primary health-care investment specialist. Matt began his career as a practicing anesthesiologist. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School, a medical degree from University of Maryland School of Medicine, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Rob Ross, M.D. serves as the chief executive officer of Clasp Therapeutics. Prior to Clasp, he most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of Surface Oncology, Inc. before its acquisition by Coherus Biosciences. Rob has extensive biotech experience, including leading the clinical development of genetically modified cellular therapies in thalassemia and sickle cell disease at bluebird bio. Rob was also the head of oncology at bluebird, building a multifaceted oncology program, led by the anti-BCMA chimeric antigen T cell therapy (Abecma) in collaboration with Celgene. Previously, he worked at Genentech and Infinity Pharmaceuticals on both small molecule and antibody programs from Phase I through pivotal trials and was a faculty member at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, treating patients with genitourinary malignancies. Rob earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, his master’s degree from Harvard Medical School and his medical degree from Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Rob did his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and his fellowship in hematology/oncology at the combined program at the Dana Farber/Massachusetts General Hospital.

Mike Briskin, Ph.D., is Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Board at Obsidian Therapeutics. Dr. Briskin brings more than 20 years of industry experience in multiple areas of drug discovery, including molecular biology, immunobiology, oncology and inflammation. Prior to Obsidian, Dr. Briskin founded and ran discovery research at Jounce Therapeutics, a company developing biotherapeutics for immune-oncology indications. Prior to Jounce, he was Senior Director of Immunology at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, where he led the company’s efforts aimed at translational studies with a lead therapeutic compound in rheumatoid arthritis, as well as programs in inflammation and oncology. Prior to Merrimack, Dr. Briskin was a scientific consultant for Healthcare Ventures, one of the world’s largest venture capital firms. Previously, he was Director of Inflammation – Cell Migration at LeukoSite and subsequently Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where his early discovery work led to the development and subsequent approval of a novel T Cell homing inhibitor, Entyvio® (vedolizumab), for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s disease. Dr. Briskin also led efforts in target identification and validation for the Millennium/Aventis collaboration and led discovery efforts in the company’s biotherapeutic and small molecule programs. Dr. Briskin holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and a B.A. in biology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Klebanoff is cellular immunologist and medical oncologist with 24 years of experience in the pre-clinical and early clinical development of T cell-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Prior to joining Memorial Sloan Kettering and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in 2016, he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar and Assistant Clinical Investigator at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Klebanoff pioneered the paradigm that T cell subsets with the memory-like attributes of self-renewal and multipotency are a critical determinant for adoptive immunotherapy efficacy. Further, he resolved how host lymphodepletion – a standard practice for nearly all cellular immunotherapies – enhances the potency of adoptively transferred T cells through the removal of homeostatic cytokine “sinks.” The Klebanoff laboratory is currently focused on the discovery and immunologic targeting of shared neoantigens resulting from recurrently mutated driver genes using TCR gene therapy.

Clinically, Dr. Klebanoff has contributed to the successful early phase development of numerous T cell-based therapies. These include an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that would become FDA approved (Yescarta®), tumor infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for the treatment of melanoma (Lifileucel) and other common cancers, and TCR gene therapies targeting epitopes derived from NY-ESO-1 (Letetresgene), MAGE-A3, and HPV16.

Dr. Klebanoff is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award and a National Institutes of Health MERIT Award. Multiple technologies developed in his laboratory have been licensed to biotechnology companies and was a scientific co-founder of Affini-T Therapeutics.

Lewis L. Lanier, Ph.D., is an American Cancer Society Professor, the J. Michael Bishop M.D. Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco, Leader of the Cancer Immunity Program of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at UCSF. Dr. Lanier received his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After postdoctoral studies, first at the Lineberger Cancer Center at UNC, Chapel Hill and then as a Damon Runyon – Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fellow at the University of New Mexico, he joined the Research & Development Department at the Becton Dickinson Monoclonal Center in Mountain View, California, advancing to Associate Director of Research and was a Becton Dickinson Research Fellow. In 1990, he joined the DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Palo Alto, California, where he advanced to Director of Immunobiology. In 1999, Dr. Lanier joined the faculty of UCSF. His research group studies natural killer cells, which recognize and eliminate cells that have become transformed or infected by viruses. In recognition of his scientific contributions, he was awarded the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic Tumor Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute in 2002. In 2005, he was given the Rose Payne Award for contributions to the field of immunogenetics by the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics; in 2010 was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences; and in 2011 was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the 2017 Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Association of Immunologists, served as President from 2006-2007, and named an AAI Distinguished Fellow in 2019. Dr. Lanier serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of several pharma and biotech companies and research institutes and Editorial boards of scientific journals.

Tom Wandless, Ph.D., is Obsidian’s Scientific Founder and a Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University. Dr. Wandless earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University and his B.S. in biochemistry from Trinity University. Following his undergraduate studies, he worked in the laboratory of Stuart Schreiber where he helped elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the immunosuppressive drugs, FK506 and cyclosporin. Based on those studies, he then developed the first chemical dimerizer system to control specific gene transcription in T cells. He spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow with Chris Walsh at Harvard Medical School before starting his own lab at Stanford in 1995. The Wandless Lab concentrates on the invention of molecules and techniques that enable better studies of biological processes, inventing tools and techniques that provide new experimental windows into mechanisms that cells use to maintain protein homeostasis. In particular, his work over the last 15+ years on the use of small molecules to regulate protein folding and stability serves as the basis for Obsidian’s Drug Responsive Domain technology.