About
Our Story
Driven To Do More
Every day, we come to work focused and driven by the opportunity to deliver the next best-in-class therapy for patients with genetically defined diseases – to move beyond incremental improvements and solely treating symptoms, to address the real causes of disease. We are methodical, rational, and intentional in our approach to identify pragmatic solutions to complex health challenges with the goal of restoring health and allowing patients to live better, longer lives.

Our Mission

To design rational precision therapies that treat the underlying cause of disease to improve patients’ lives.

Our Vision

To discover, develop, and commercialize best-in-class therapies that have a dramatic impact for patients with genetically defined diseases.
Leadership
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Andrew Robbins

CEO and President

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Jessica Sachs, MD

Chief Medical Officer

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John Robinson, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

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Brad Barnett

Chief Technology Officer

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Erin Schellhammer

Chief People Officer

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Evan Kearns, JD

Chief Legal Officer
and Corporate Secretary

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John Green

Chief Financial Officer

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Dana Martin, PharmD

Senior Vice President,
Medical Affairs
& Chief Patient Officer

The Cogent team is driven to discover and develop novel precision medicines. Beginning with bezuclastinib, we strive to improve the lives of patients fighting rare, genetically driven diseases.
Andrew RobbinsCEO and President
Board of Directors
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Peter Harwin

Managing Member, Fairmount
Funds Management LLC

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Chris Cain

Director of Research, Fairmount
Funds Management LLC

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Karen Ferrante

Medical Oncologist and former Pharma-Biotech Executive

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Arlene M. Morris

Chief Executive Officer,
Willow Advisors

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Matthew E. Ros

Pharma-Biotech Executive

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Todd E. Shegog

Pharma-Biotech Executive

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Andrew Robbins

CEO and President of
Cogent Biosciences

Research Leadership
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John Robinson, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

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Brad Fell

VP, Head of
Medicinal Chemistry

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Francis Sullivan, PhD

VP, Enzymology and
Structural Biology

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Shannon Winski, PhD

VP, Pharmacology and
Toxicology

Scientific Advisory Board
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Kwok-Kin Wong, MD, PhD

NYU Langone Health

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Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD

MD Anderson Cancer Center

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Michael Vasconcelles, MD

Chief Medical Officer,
Flatiron Health

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Ryan Corcoran, MD, PhD

Massachusetts General
Hospital Cancer Center

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Sylvia Adams, MD

Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center

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Andrew Robbins

CEO and President

Andy is an accomplished executive with extensive commercial, development, and strategic leadership experience during a 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on oncology and hematology products. Before joining Cogent as President & CEO, he served at Array Biopharma as the Chief Operating Officer until its acquisition by Pfizer in 2019. At Array, he was responsible for leading the sales, marketing, manufacturing, and corporate strategy teams, culminating in the successful commercialization of Mektovi and Braftovi for the treatment of BRAF mutant metastatic melanoma. Prior to working at Array, Andy held management positions at both Hospira, Inc., a global pharmaceutical and medical device company, and Pfizer, Inc. as part of its Oncology business unit. Andy currently serves on the Board of Directors for Harpoon Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HARP) and Turmeric Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: TMPMU). He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College. In his spare time, Andy enjoys hiking and skiing with his wife and kids.
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Jessica Sachs, MD

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Sachs has 20 years of experience, including over 12 in industry. Prior to assuming the role of Chief Medical Officer at Cogent, she served as Vice President of Clinical Sciences at Cogent, responsible for the clinical development strategy and medical and translational oversight of the Cogent portfolio. Before joining Cogent, Dr. Sachs spent several years at Takeda/Millennium where she led multiple clinical programs in oncology and transplantation, and at Genzyme Corporation, where she was responsible for post-marketing safety surveillance and risk management activities for a variety of oncology products. Dr. Sachs has been a faculty member of the Harvard Medical School since 2007 and is an Assistant in Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She completed her fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston. She received her MD from Washington University in St. Louis and her BS from Duke University. Jessica loves hiking, spending time outdoors, and being with her family.

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John Robinson, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

John Robinson is Cogent’s Chief Scientific Officer with over 20 years of small molecule drug discovery experience. He previously served as Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Pfizer Boulder Research and Development. John joined Pfizer from Array BioPharma, where he was Executive Director/Head of Chemistry. He started with Array in 2002 and served in a series of scientific and people leadership positions. He received his undergraduate degree in BioChemistry from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the University of Delaware. John spends a lot of time coaching high school baseball and youth football in Brighton, CO.

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Brad Barnett

Chief Technology Officer

Brad is a deeply experienced technical operations executive with a demonstrated knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry. His extensive career includes nearly 20 years at Array BioPharma where he most recently served as Vice President of Supply Chain & Manufacturing. Brad joined Array in 2000, two years after the company was founded, and played an invaluable role in successfully bringing Mektovi and Braftovi, two precision oncology medicines, to market while serving in a range of roles including research, business development and technical operations. Prior to joining Cogent, he led the Mektovi and Braftovi manufacturing integration into Pfizer following Pfizer’s acquisition of Array. Brad holds an MBA from the University of Colorado, and a BS in Chemistry from Colorado State University. In his spare time, Brad enjoys playing golf and spending time with his family.
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Erin Schellhammer

Chief People Officer

Erin has over 20 years of experience in HR, 15 of which have been in biotech ranging from research to commercial organizations. Erin brings a breadth and depth of HR knowledge that helps define the unique candidate and employee experience here at Cogent. Prior to joining Cogent, Erin was Senior Director/Head of HR at Intellia Therapeutics, where she led the HR team to double to triple digit growth, and spent over 11 years at Biogen where she held increasing roles in global responsibility. She received her Bachelor of Science at Bryant University and has a master’s in Human Resources from Cornell University.
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Evan Kearns, JD

Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary

Evan joined Cogent in May 2021 and is responsible for the company’s legal and compliance functions. Evan is a team-oriented leader with more than a dozen years of experience serving as both in-house and outside counsel to biotech companies. Prior to joining Cogent, Evan served as Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer at Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ: AGEN), where he advised on corporate and securities law matters, as well as M&A, financing and licensing transactions. Before joining Agenus, Evan spent several years as a life sciences corporate associate with Goodwin Proctor LLP in Boston. Evan earned his JD from the University of Toledo College of Law and his BA in Economics from Colby College. In his spare time, Evan is usually in an ice rink or on a ball field or golf course with his wife and three children.
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John Green

Chief Financial Officer

John brings nearly 20 years of strategic finance and accounting experience to his position, nearly half of which has been in the Biotech industry for both public and private companies. Throughout his career in biotech he has managed the strategic build out of numerous finance teams aligning people, processes and systems to the strategic goals of the organization. This has included transactional support, strategic plan and forecasting, cash management, SEC reporting, system implementation and operational accounting. Prior to his career in Biotech, he held various senior positions in accounting firms, including PwC and EY, where he specialized in transactions within financial institutions including private equity, private credit and security issuances. He received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Biology from Acadia University and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. In his spare time, you can find him on the soccer field with his 2 daughters or spending time in Canada with his family.
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Dana Martin, PharmD

Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs & Chief Patient Officer

Dr. Martin brings over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Cogent, he held several roles of increasing leadership responsibility in the areas of clinical pharmacy, medical affairs, and patient advocacy at Genzyme Corporation, Synageva BioPharma, Sarepta Therapeutics, and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Martin has contributed to the clinical development and/or product launch of multiple rare disease therapeutics, including first-to-market treatments for Fabry disease, Pompe disease, lysosomal acid lipase deficiency, and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in pharmacy and a Doctor of Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy-Boston.
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Peter Harwin

Managing Member, Fairmount Funds

Peter Harwin is a Managing Member at Fairmount Funds Management LLC, a healthcare investment firm he co-founded in April 2016. Prior to Fairmount, Mr. Harwin was a member of the investment team at Boxer Capital, LLC, part of the Tavistock Group, based in San Diego. Mr. Harwin also serves on the boards of directors of Viridian Therapeutics, Inc., Apogee Therapeutics, Inc., Spyre Therapeutics, Inc., and Paragon Therapeutics, Inc. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University.

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Chris Cain

Director of Research, Fairmount Funds

Chris Cain, Ph.D. currently serves as Director of Research at Fairmount Funds Management LLC, a healthcare investment firm based in greater Philadelphia. Prior to joining Fairmount, Dr. Cain served in various positions at the healthcare funds Samsara BioCapital, Apple Tree Partners, and RA Capital Management, where he invested in both public and emerging private biotechnology companies. Before this, Dr. Cain served as a writer and editor at BioCentury Publications. He received a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Francisco.

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Karen Ferrante, MD

Medical Oncologist and former Pharma-Biotech Executive

Dr. Ferrante is a medical oncologist who has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2018. Dr. Ferrante is the former Chief Medical Officer and Head of Research and Development of Tokai Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company where she developed treatments for prostate cancer and other hormonally driven diseases between April 2014 and August 2016. From 2007 to July 2013, Dr. Ferrante held senior positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its parent company, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, including Chief Medical Officer and most recently as Oncology Therapeutic Area Head and Cambridge USA Site Head from May 2013 to July 2013. Dr. Ferrante previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer Global Research and Development and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Ferrante serves on the board of directors of MacroGenics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGNX). Dr. Ferrante also served as a director of Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGNX) from 2014 until its acquisition by Lantheus Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: LNTH) in 2020 and Baxalta Inc., a previously publicly-traded global biopharmaceutical company from July 2015 until its acquisition by Shire Pharmaceuticals in June 2016. She also served as an advisory board member for Kazia Therapeutics Limited (Nasdaq: KZIA) from 2016 until 2022 and Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIL) from 2020 until its acquisition by Pfizer in November 2021. She holds an M.D. from Georgetown University and a B.S. in chemistry and biology from Providence College.

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Arlene M. Morris

Chief Executive Officer, Willow Advisors

Ms. Morris currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Willow Advisors, a consultancy advising biotech companies on financing, strategy and business development. She brings extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries from numerous management and board roles. Previously, she spent over a decade leading public biotechnology companies, as Chief Executive Officer of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of an epigenetic therapy for treatment-resistant cancers, and prior, as President and Chief Executive Officer of Affymax, where she led the company through the development of peginesatide (Omontys®). Ms. Morris also held various management and executive positions at Clearview Projects, Coulter Pharmaceutical, Scios Inc., and Johnson & Johnson. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Palatin Technologies, Inc. and Viridian Therapeutics, Inc.

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Matthew E. Ros

Pharma-Biotech Executive

Matthew Ros is the former Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Board at FORE Biotherapeutics. He possesses over 33 years of experience in global pharmaceutical and early-stage biotechnology companies, with a successful track record of raising capital in both the public and private markets, delivering exceptional results, and building high performance teams to either turn around or transform companies into sustainable, vibrant organizations.

Mr. Ros is also the former Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Business Officer of Epizyme, Inc., a commercial-stage and publicly traded biopharmaceutical company developing novel epigenetic therapies. In that role he delivered multiple strategic collaborations, created a corporate governance model to support an expanding product portfolio, and led a corporate restructuring that captured significant savings in external costs. He was initially hired as the company’s first Chief Operating Officer to implement its operating plan.

Prior to joining Epizyme, Mr. Ros served as Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of the Oncology Business Unit at Sanofi-Genzyme and held senior leadership positions at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Ros began his career at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in its Oncology division, contributing to the successful launches of many leading oncology brands.

Mr. Ros has been a member of the board of directors since 2019 and sits on its Audit and Nomination and Governance Committees. He previously served on the Board of Trustees of CancerCARE, a leading national organization dedicated to providing free, professional support services to people affected by cancer.

Mr. Ros earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from State University of New York College at Plattsburgh.

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Todd E. Shegog

Pharma-Biotech Executive

Mr. Shegog has served as a member of our Board since February 2021. Mr. Shegog has more than 25 years of financial, operations, corporate strategy and compliance expertise in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Forma Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: FMTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, from September 2019 through its acquisition by Nova Nordisk in October 2022. Prior to Forma Therapeutics, Todd most recently served as Chief Financial Officer for Synlogic, where he directed the company’s financial strategy and management as well as facilities and information systems. Before Synlogic, Todd served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Forum Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for finance, operations, and information systems during their pursuit of innovative therapies for schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease. He also served as the Chief Financial Officer of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., now Takeda Oncology, where he was responsible for management of the company’s financial resources, corporate planning, financial reporting, and compliance. Todd earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Lafayette College and an MBA from the Tepper School of Management at Carnegie Mellon University.

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Andrew Robbins

CEO and President of Cogent Biosciences

Andy is an accomplished executive with extensive commercial, development, and strategic leadership experience during a 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on oncology and hematology products. Before joining Cogent as President & CEO, he served at Array Biopharma as the Chief Operating Officer until its acquisition by Pfizer in 2019. At Array, he was responsible for leading the sales, marketing, manufacturing, and corporate strategy teams, culminating in the successful commercialization of Mektovi and Braftovi for the treatment of BRAF mutant metastatic melanoma. Prior to working at Array, Andy held management positions at both Hospira, Inc., a global pharmaceutical and medical device company, and Pfizer, Inc. as part of its Oncology business unit. Andy currently serves on the Board of Directors for Harpoon Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HARP) and Turmeric Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: TMPMU). He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College. In his spare time, Andy enjoys hiking and skiing with his wife and kids.
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Kwok-Kin Wong, MD, PhD

NYU Langone Health

Dr. Kwok-Kin Wong is currently a professor of medicine and director of medical hematology and oncology at the Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center at New York Langone Health. He has authored more than 300 peer reviewed publications and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation/the American Association of Physicians (ASCI/AAP).

Dr. Wong’s research, teaching, and clinical activities focus on understanding the genetic alterations driving lung tumor formation and the testing of new targeted and immune lung cancer therapies. His laboratory integrates human cancer genomic studies, the generation of new mouse models of cancers, and novel drug treatment studies. The unique models used in Dr. Wong’s laboratory allow scientists to investigate the efficacy of new targeted therapeutics and immunotherapeutics. Furthermore, these “mouse clinical trials” will help uncover the molecular mechanisms and genetic underpinnings of sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies and immunotherapy. Insights into these processes gained by Dr. Wong and his team continue to lead us closer to curative treatments for patients with advanced lung cancer.

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Srdan Verstovsek, MD, PhD

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Verstovsek is the United Energy Resources, Inc., Professor of Medicine and hematologist-oncologist at MD Anderson. Dr. Verstovsek is a global leader in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and the Founder/Director of the largest MPN Clinical Research Center worldwide. Dr. Verstovsek has achieved international acclaim for his leadership in developing landmark MPN therapeutics. He led more than 60 early/advanced phase clinical trials of novel MPN drugs, including ruxolitinib, the only FDA-approved medication for myelofibrosis (MF) until 2019, and second-line treatment for polycythemia vera. He is leading several pivotal phase 3 trials for promising MPN medications. He has published 24 book chapters, and more than 600 peer-reviewed original articles/reviews in leading medical journals, such as New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Leukemia, and Lancet. Dr. Verstovsek is lead and senior author of over 80 and 200 articles, respectively (h-index 91).

Dr. Verstovsek received several awards, including the Distinguished Clinical Faculty Mentoring Award (2021), the Waun Ki Hong Faculty Award for Excellence in Team Science (2021), the Otis & Pearl Walters Faculty Achievement Award in Clinical Research (2017), the Seventh Annual Irwin H. Krakoff Award for Excellence in Clinical Research (2013), and the Celgene Young Investigator Award (2010). He was elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2015. His contributions have been globally recognized with numerous invitations as expert speaker/educator/Chair at the most significant national/international conferences. He regularly engages at multiple levels with MPN patients’ advocacy groups/societies. He is Co-Founder/Executive Committee Member of the International Working Group for MF Treatment and Research.

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Michael Vasconcelles, MD

Chief Medical Officer, Flatiron Health

Dr. Michael Vasconcelles is currently Chief Medical Officer and Head of the Medical and Scientific Organization at Flatiron Health. Prior to joining Flatiron, Dr. Vasconcelles served as Chief Medical Officer at Unum Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy company developing autologous engineered T cell products for the treatment of cancer. Prior to Unum, Dr. Vasconcelles spent several years at Takeda/Millennium, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of the Oncology Therapy Area Unit. In his role, he was accountable for strategic and operational oversight of the oncology research and development portfolio globally. He was also a member of the Takeda Research and Development executive management team. Prior to Takeda/Millennium, Dr. Vasconcelles spent 12 years at Genzyme in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Group Vice President, and Therapeutic Area Head of Transplant and Oncology. In this capacity, he was the senior R&D executive on the Genzyme Transplant and Oncology Management Team, holding accountability for the transplant and oncology research and development portfolio.

From 1994-2021, Dr. Vasconcelles was a faculty member of the Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Dr. Vasconcelles serves on the Board of Directors at Molecular Partners, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology. His board commitments have included the Personalized Medicine Coalition and the eastern New England board of the American Cancer Society. Dr. Vasconcelles has served as a grant reviewer for the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. He has been the recipient of several research grants from the NIH and has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the
Journal of Immunotherapy.

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Ryan Corcoran, MD, PhD

Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

Dr. Ryan Corcoran is the Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Center Program and the Scientific Director of the Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Corcoran graduated from Princeton University with an AB in Molecular Biology and received an MD and a PhD in Cancer Biology from the Stanford University School of Medicine. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and his fellowship training in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

Dr. Corcoran directs a research laboratory focused on the development of therapeutic strategies that
target the specific mutations driving individual patients’ tumors and understanding molecular
determinants of response or resistance to anti-cancer therapies. Dr. Corcoran’s laboratory is also
studying new ways to utilize liquid biopsy and specific analysis of circulating tumor DNA in the clinic to optimize how we deliver cancer care to individual patients. Through his continued translational work in these areas, Dr. Corcoran strives to integrate both laboratory and clinical research efforts to more rapidly develop new and effective treatments for patients suffering from these lethal cancers.

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Sylvia Adams, MD

Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center

Dr. Adams is a Professor of Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Director of the Breast Cancer Center at the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center, an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York, USA. As an internationally recognized expert in breast cancer immunotherapy, she has led groundbreaking research and clinical studies leading to the first chemo-immunotherapy approval for breast cancer. She is a member of the ECOG-ACRIN Breast Cancer Committee, has served on various ASCO committees as well as a member of the NCI Clinical Oncology Study Section and at present co-chairs the NCI Breast Cancer Immuno-Oncology Task Force. Her research has been supported by grants from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the New York State Department of Health, the Department of Defense, and the National Cancer Institute. She also completed a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation at NYU and chairs the Data and Safety Monitoring Board of the NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center.

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Sara Saltzman

Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs

Sara joined Cogent in March 2021 and is responsible for the company’s global regulatory affairs strategy and operations. Sara is an accomplished regulatory professional with 20 years of global regulatory and drug development experience across a variety of therapeutic areas. She has successfully led regulatory and cross-functional teams supporting development programs from first-in-human trials through commercialization, including global marketing approvals for Mozobil® (plerixafor) and Kanuma® (sebelipase alfa). Prior to joining Cogent, Sara held regulatory leadership positions at Unum, Alexion, Takeda Oncology, and Sanofi Genzyme. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Colby College. In her spare time, Sara loves cooking and skiing with her family.