about us

The Variant Bio Team

Our team has a passion for exploration, and expertise spanning genetics, molecular biology, therapeutics, anthropology, and ethics. We started Variant Bio because we share the belief that human genomics has the power to transform drug development.

Katie Anderson
Isabella Apriyana
Heather Arnett
Hiba Babiker
Katie Anderson

Biology

Isabella Apriyana

Fellow

Heather Arnett, PhD

VP, Research

Hiba Babiker, PhD

Partnerships

Alyson Barnes
Molly Blank
Stephane Castel
Konstantin Deutsch
Alyson Barnes, PhD

Functional Genomics

Molly Blank, PhD

Digital and Diagnostic Solutions

Stephane Castel, PhD

Chief Technology Officer, Co-Founder

Konstantin Deutsch, PhD

Biology

Rachel Eguia
Anne-Katrin Emde
Andrew Farnum
Rob Flickenger
Rachel Eguia

Biology

Anne-Katrin Emde, PhD

Bioinformatics

Andrew Farnum

Chief Executive Officer

Rob Flickenger

Research Infrastructure

Eli Goubert
Olivia Gray
Paloma Guzzardo
Iman Hamid
Eli Goubert

Human Resources

Olivia Gray, PhD

Population Genetics

Paloma Guzzardo, PhD

Biology

Iman Hamid, PhD

Population Genetics

Yan Hao
Melissa Hendershott
Leslie Hepner
Melissa Ilardo
Yan Hao, PhD

Functional Genomics

Melissa Hendershott, PhD

Partnership Operations

Leslie Hepner

Operations

Melissa Ilardo, PhD

Partnerships

Christina Jarvis
Casey Johanns
Sarah Kaewert
Mohd Karim
Christina Jarvis

Operations

Casey Johanns

Partnerships

Sarah Kaewert, PhD

Functional Genomics

Mohd Karim, MD, PhD

Medical Biology

Prathap Kasina
Melanie Kirsche
Yvette Latchman
Sarah LeBaron von Baeyer
Prathap Kasina

Partnerships

Melanie Kirsche, PhD

Bioinformatics

Yvette Latchman, PhD

Biology

Sarah LeBaron von Baeyer, PhD

Cultural Anthropology

Laveria Lee
Tony Lee
Gautam Mehta
Jaye Moors
Laveria Lee

Operations

Tony Lee

Software Engineering

Gautam Mehta

VP, Partnerships

Jaye Moors, PhD

Partnerships

Mehreen Mughal
Sarbari Mukherjee
Khanh-Dung Nguyen
Gabriel Pérez
Mehreen Mughal, PhD

Population Genetics

Sarbari Mukherjee

Human Resources

Khanh-Dung Nguyen, PhD

Functional Genomics

Gabriel Pérez

Information Technology

Luan Phan
David Powell
Oscar Sias
André Singer
Luan Phan

Functional Genomics

David Powell, PhD

VP, Therapeutics Discovery

Oscar Sias

Biology

André Singer

Partnerships & Business Development

Carole Smith
Shaar Sridhar
Mayank Tandon
Holly Vance
Carole Smith

Biology

Shaar Sridhar

Biology

Mayank Tandon, PhD

Bioinformatics

Holly Vance

General Counsel

Kaja Wasik
Laura Yerges-Armstrong
Kaja Wasik, PhD

Chief Science Officer, Co-Founder

Laura Yerges-Armstrong, PhD

VP, Computational Genetics

Our Board of Directors

Josh Wolfe
Bob More
Stuart Nagae
Julie Sunderland
Josh Wolfe

Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Lux Capital

Bob More

Managing Director, Alta Partners

Stuart Nagae

Director, Vulcan Capital

Julie Sunderland

Co-Founder and Managing Director, Biomatics Capital

Rob Scott
Andrew Farnum
Stephane Castel
Rob Scott, MD

Former CMO, Abbvie

Andrew Farnum

Chief Executive Officer

Stephane Castel, PhD

Chief Technology Officer, Co-Founder

Our Ethics Advisory Board

Misha Angrist
Adia Benton
Laura Hercher
Huti Watson
Misha Angrist, PhD

Misha is an Associate Professor of the Practice in the Social Science Research Institute at Duke University. His research and teaching focus on science writing and the governance of human participation in research and medicine.

Adia Benton, PhD

Adia is an Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Northwestern University. She specializes in global health, biomedicine, and development and humanitarianism, and in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia in particular.

Laura Hercher, MS

Laura is the Director of Research for the Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College. She has expertise in genetic counseling and the ethical, legal, and social dimensions of genetic medicine.

Huti Watson

Huti is Chair of Genomics Aotearoa’s Variome Project governance group and Deputy Chair of Ngāti Porou Hauora, a tribal health provider in New Zealand. She is an expert on the interface between Māori knowledge and science.

Our Scientific Advisory Board

Karen Akinsanya
Evan Eichler
Ryan Hernandez
Tuuli Lappalainen
Karen Akinsanya, PhD

Executive Vice President, Chief Biomedical Scientist, Head of Discovery R&D, Schrödinger

Evan Eichler, PhD

Professor of Genome Sciences, HHMI Investigator, University of Washington

Ryan Hernandez, PhD

Professor of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, UC San Francisco

Tuuli Lappalainen, PhD

Professor, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Senior Associate Member, New York Genome Center

David McElligott
Rob Scott
Gosia Trynka
David McElligott, PhD

Former CSO, Petra Pharma

Rob Scott, MD

Former CMO, Abbvie

Gosia Trynka, PhD

Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Experimental Science Director, Open Targets

Our Advisors

Jay Flatley
Keolu Fox
Alon Keinan
Daniel MacArthur
Jay Flatley

Former CEO/Executive Chairman, Illumina

Keolu Fox, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of California, San Diego

Alon Keinan, PhD

Associate Professor, Cornell University

Daniel MacArthur, PhD

Director, Centre for Population Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Murdoch Children's Research Institute

Kiran Musunuru
Fernando Racimo
Michael Schatz
Bruce Stillman
Kiran Musunuru, MD, PhD

Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Fernando Racimo, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen

Michael Schatz, PhD

Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University

Bruce Stillman, PhD

President, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Our Investors

Lux Capital
SoftBank
Alta Partners
General Catalyst
Casdin Capital
Vulcan Capital
Sahsen Ventures
Alexandria Venture Investments