About Us

Dr. Maria Alba is Vice President of Clinical Development.

Prior to joining Immunovant, from 2005 to 2019 Maria had spent 6 years at Merck and 8 years at Janssen as Senior Director in Clinical Research, holding key roles and responsibilities in all activities of Phase 2 to Phase 4 clinical development, including the design and implementation of over 20 studies of small and large molecules across multiple indications in the diabetes-metabolism area.

From 2019 to 2020, she was Executive Director at Amicus Therapeutics where she held the position of Global Medical Leader for the entire Phase 2 and 3 clinical program for the development of second generation of enzyme replacement therapy of Pompe disease.

More recently, Maria was Senior Director at Vertex Pharmaceuticals where she led the design and initiation of the First-in-Human study involving the transplant of human stem-cell derived pancreatic islets for the treatment of T1D.

Maria earned an MD from the Catholic University in Rome, Italy, where she also completed her fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Ronald Bates, Ph.D. is the Vice President of CMC Process Development and Technical Operations at Immunovant. Prior to joining Immunovant, Ron was a Director of Manufacturing Science and Technology (MSAT) at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Syracuse, NY where he was part of the development and commercialization of numerous protein therapeutics. Dr. Bates has more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry holding roles of increasing responsibility in Process Development and MSAT with Pfizer, Allergan, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He is active in the scientific community with over 50 publications and presentations, chaired dozens of conference sessions and roundtable discussions, and he is a member of the Editorial Board of the Biotechnology Journal.

Dr. Bates earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Chau Cheng, Ph.D., M.B.A. is Vice President of Investor Relations at Immunovant. He has more than 18 years of experience leading the investor relations function of small- and mid-cap biotech companies.

Chau most recently served as Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at CytomX Therapeutics, where he worked closely with the C-suite on crafting corporate messaging and articulating competitive positioning in front of the investment community. Prior to CytomX, Chau spent more than 16 years at Immunomedics during which the company transformed from a research and development-oriented organization to a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical enterprise.

Chau earned a B.Sc. (First Class Honors) in Chemistry from University of Bradford, the United Kingdom, a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from The Open University, the United Kingdom, and a M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from Stern School of Business, New York University.

Andy Deig is Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis and Chief of Staff to the CEO at Immunovant. Prior to joining Immunovant, Andy spent almost 13 years at Eli Lilly & Company where he held numerous roles in different functions across the business, including finance, sales, and value & access. Most recently, Andy served as the national account manager for McKesson and Walmart after leading the commercial integration of Dermira.

Andy earned a B.A. from Wabash College in 2008 with majors in Economics and German and an M.B.A. in health sector management and strategy from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 2016.

Ian Gourley, MD is Vice President of Clinical Development at Immunovant

Ian is a Translational Medicine and Clinical Development physician with over 20 years of experience in the Biopharma industry. He has focused on early development of both large and small molecules in the Immunology/Inflammation space. Prior to joining Immunovant, Ian worked at CSL Behring in Clinical Pharmacology & Translational Development where he was responsible for strategy and clinical oversight of early development programs in the Immunology Therapeutic Area. Prior to CSL Behring, he held positions as Head of Translational Medicine Science, Immunology at Janssen and in Clinical Precision Medicine at Pfizer. Ian started his industry career with Eli Lilly as a Clinical Research Pathologist.

Ian received his MB, BCH and completed his MD Thesis, both from Queen’s University of Belfast, and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. He is a Board-Certified Clinical Pathologist and is accredited by the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics as an HLA Laboratory Director.

Thomas Hardy, MD, PhD is Vice President of Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance at Immunovant.

Prior to joining Immunovant, Dr. Hardy spent 18 years at Eli Lilly and Company, holding key roles in all phases of Clinical Development. While in Early Phase Medicine at Lilly, Tom oversaw numerous IND filings and directed the design and implementation of over 30 phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of small and large molecule investigational agents across multiple disease areas. He subsequently directed the global registration trials and regulatory filings for late-phase assets in the Diabetes Business Unit, resulting in the global approvals of Baqsimi® and Lyumjev®. Before joining Lilly, he ran a busy clinical practice in Endocrinology.

He holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and an M.D. and Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from Indiana University. He completed fellowship training in Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Claudia Jacobs, Ph.D. is the Vice President of CMC Project Management, Operations and Clinical Supply at Immunovant. Prior to joining Immunovant she spent over 15 years at Eli Lilly & Company where she held numerous roles in product development in CMC, Clinical Trial Materials Manufacturing and Operations, Clinical Supply and Quality roles, supporting early and late phase program as well as launching products to market.

Most recently Claudia was a consultant for biotechnology start-up companies as CMC Project Manager, CMC Development Lead, and Quality Assurance Head for early phase programs small and large molecules. 

Claudia obtained her Pharmacy Degree from the University of Hamburg, Germany and earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from The Free University of Berlin, Germany.

Ant Kidwell is Vice President of IT and Facilities at Immunovant.  He has more than 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry with the last 10 years leading IT and Facility functions in Bio-tech start-ups.

Most recently Ant served as Senior Director of IT and Facilities here at Immunovant, starting in July 2021.  Prior to that he spent time working at start-ups to set up their IT and Facilities functions and delivering an IT function that was a true partner with business functions to help deliver needed drug to patients.

Ant holds a B.Sc. in Information Management from Albertus Magnus College.

Chedvi Levin-Sister is Vice President of Finance at Immunovant. Prior to joining Immunovant, Chedvi spent over 15 years at PwC where she held numerous roles, most recently as Assurance Director, serving a range of industries and global clients including large pharmaceutical organizations, life science, medical device, SEC registrant, technology and start-up companies.

Chedvi’s expertise includes regulatory compliance of PCAOB, US GAAP, US GAAS, SEC and IFRS, technical and income tax accounting, revenue recognition (inclusive of Gross-to-net in domestic US Pharmaceutical companies), stock-based compensation and leases; she has deep transactional experience in carve-out and business combinations along with implementation of internal controls over financial reporting and remediation of material weaknesses.

Chedvi earned a B.A (cum laude) from The Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), Israel, in 2005, in Management Accounting (Major) and Information System (Minor); she is a CPA (Isr.)

Paola Mina-Osorio M.D., Ph.D. is the Vice President of Medical Affairs at Immunovant. Dr. Mina-Osorio is an Immunologist with a focus on autoimmune diseases. Prior to joining Immunovant, she held positions of increasing responsibility at Hoffmann-La Roche, Eli Lilly, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals. Paola has spent the last 10 years of her industry career in Medical Affairs, supporting the launch of several innovative drugs in the Immunology space including Taltz™, Lupkynis™, and Dupixent™.

Paola obtained her M.D. and Ph.D. from the Central University of Ecuador School of Medicine and the National Autonomous University of Mexico Institute of Biomedical Research; and conducted her postdoctoral training at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Center for Vascular Biology, and at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research.

Jennifer is the Vice President of Clinical Operations and Innovation at Immunovant. She has more than 25 years of drug development experience in the areas of global operations, program management, clinical operations, CRO oversight and management and operational excellence in clinical trial delivery. Prior to joining Immunovant, Ms. Moseley was an Executive Director at Astellas, where she was responsible for the managing program delivery teams, supporting regulatory filings and clinical inspection activities, operational excellence initiatives, and was the Astellas TransCelerate Operational Committee representative for the past 2 years. Prior to Astellas, Ms. Moseley spent 16 years at Abbott/AbbVie where she was responsible for clinical operations in a variety of therapeutic areas across early and late-stage development programs. She contributed to the clinical development, global submissions, and approvals for KaletraTM and Viekira PakTM, two novel antiviral therapeutics that led to new treatment paradigms for AIDs and HCV patients, respectively.

Jennifer holds a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jody Roth, RAC, PMP is the Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs. Most of her career has been focused on autoimmune and oncology therapeutic areas.

Prior to joining Immunovant Ms. Roth held positions with biotech companies as Vice President of Regulatory and Quality as well as COO for several global oncology teams where her leadership resulted in registrations across multiple regions. Jody spent 25 years at Eli Lilly and Company in drug development from discovery to post-marketing phases and across multiple therapeutic areas. She has expertise in global development with emphasis on the US (FDA), EU (EMA), Canada (Health Canada), China and Japan (PMDA). She obtained US approvals for BLAs, and NDAs. She filed multiple INDs and regulatory documents for CTAs to support initiation of new molecules for clinical development.

She is recognized for her communication and advocacy of the label in mind concepts, as well as her expertise in FDA interactions.

Jody obtained her B.S. and M.S. from Purdue University. Her master’s degree was in growth physiology/immunology.

Dr. Saponjic is the Vice President Clinical Operations at Immunovant. Dr. Saponjic has more than 25 years of drug development experience in the areas of global operations, project management, clinical operations, clinical systems and CRO Management. Prior to Immunovant, he was the Vice President, Clinical Operations at Respivant responsible for development of RVT1601 for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis patients, clinical department management, and member of Executive Leadership Team. Prior to Respivant, he was Vice President Global Development Operations at Greenwich Biosciences, responsible for development governance structures, clinical operations, portfolio pipeline process, and supporting the NDA submission and FDA approval for Epidiolex®. Prior to Greenwich, he held senior management positions at biotech, CRO, and Genomics companies including: AirPharma, Alkensa Clingenix, Monitorforhire.com, Patara Pharma, Quintiles, and Synteract. He earned a BA in Psychology at Texas Tech University, MS and PhD in Neuroscience at Texas Christian University, and an MBA from Baker University.

Lauren Schrier, M.B.A., is Vice President of Marketing at Immunovant. Prior to joining Immunovant, Lauren spent nearly 8 years at Celgene, where she held leadership roles including Project Leader of Otezla Dermatology and Chief of Staff of the Inflammation and Immunology franchise. While in Global Marketing and Commercial Development, Lauren was responsible for new product planning initiatives supporting the global commercialization of Otezla, franchise business development and portfolio strategies.

Prior to Celgene, Lauren worked in management consulting at Accenture and Easton Associates, where she advised biopharma and medtech companies in market assessment and strategy development engagements.

Lauren earned a B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.B.A. in Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management from Columbia Business School.

Lesa Valentine is Vice President, Quality at Immunovant. Prior to joining Immunovant Lesa served as the Head of Global Quality at SanBio Inc, where she advanced the Quality Management System in support of a regenerative cell therapy product. Her background includes executive quality roles where she developed and implemented global systems and processes, assuring compliance and strategic risk mitigation across both development and commercial products for organizations such as Aimmune, Exelixis Genentech and Novartis.

Lesa earned a B.S. in Microbiology from University of Wyoming and is a member of The Parenteral Drug Association (PDA) and The Society of Quality Assurance (SQA).

Yan Zheng is the Vice President of Biostatistics and Programming at Immunovant. Yan has more than 15 years of drug development experience in industry holding various roles with Sarepta Therapeutics, Merck, Allergan, and Sanofi.

Prior to joining Immunovant Ms. Zheng served as the Head of Biometrics at Kaleido Biosciences, where she built and led the Biometrics team as well as the strategic and operational planning of biometrics resources and contributions. Yan possesses broad knowledge in diverse aspects of drug development including global program development planning, multi-regional clinical trial designing, conducting and analyzing across several therapeutical areas.

Yan earned a B.S. in Probability and Statistics from Peking University in China, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Minnesota.

Peter Salzmann, M.D., M.B.A. is the Chief Executive Officer of Immunovant and a member of Immunovant’s board of directors. From November 2018 to June 2019, he served as a Global Development Leader in Immunology at Eli Lilly and Company, where he was responsible for the design of a comprehensive indication strategy and Phase 2 and 3 clinical trial execution. From May 2013 to October 2018, Dr. Salzmann was Head of U.S. Immunology at Eli Lilly, and he also served as Managing Director of Lilly Alps from January 2011 to April 2013. From January 2008 to December 2010, Dr. Salzmann was the Head of Marketing for Eli Lilly China.

Dr. Salzmann earned a B.A. in Chemistry from Northwestern University, an M.D. from University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Renee Barnett, MBA is Chief Financial Officer of Immunovant.  With two decades of experience in healthcare, Ms. Barnett is a passionate and effective leader who thrives in fast-paced, growth organizations. Ms. Barnett began her career at Eli Lilly where her roles included CFO of Lilly Austria and Switzerland, global lead for Financial Planning and Analysis, and financial lead of a partnership with Amylin pharmaceuticals.  Prior to joining Immunovant, she served in a variety of executive leadership functions, including Finance, Human Resources, Data & Analytics, Call Center Operations, and Technology Transformation at AbleTo, Inc., a leading technology-enabled behavioral health provider.  Ms. Barnett holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA in Physics from DePauw University.

Julia G. Butchko, Ph.D. is the Chief Development and Technology Officer of Immunovant. Prior to joining Immunovant, Dr. Butchko oversaw strategy and operations as Chief of Staff for the $4 billion Immunology and Neuroscience businesses at Lilly. She previously served as Vice President of Lilly’s Oncology Project Management and Clinical Development teams where she was responsible for over 100 global clinical trials, including immuno-oncology collaborations with Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca. Earlier in her career, Dr. Butchko held significant roles in product development, marketing, manufacturing, and quality.

She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Fredonia, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University and a Business Certificate from Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

William (Bill) Macias, MD, PhD is the Chief Medical Officer at Immunovant. From 2018 to May 2021, he was the Chief Executive Officer at Focus Biomedical Consulting LLC and in that role was the ad interim Chief Medical Officer for Promethera Biosciences SA from 2019 through 2020. From 1994 through 2017, Dr. Macias was at Eli Lilly and Company. At Lilly he led multiple clinical development programs leading to the submission and approval of medications across diverse therapeutic areas in both biologic and small molecules. From 2011 onward, he held multiple global development leadership roles in the Biomedicines Business Unit. Prior to joining Eli Lilly and Company, he was an Associate Professor of Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Dr. Macias earned a B.A. in Biology from Marquette University and both an M.D. and Ph.D. from Indiana University School of Medicine. He held board certifications in Internal Medicine, Nephrology, and Critical Care Medicine.

Mark Levine is the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Immunovant. Mr. Levine has more than 20 years of legal experience including negotiating mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures; managing licensing agreements and partnerships; and providing counsel to optimize development and commercialization. Mr. Levine most recently served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Flexion Therapeutics, Inc., a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, where he was a member of the executive committee and was responsible for overseeing all legal and compliance affairs related to Flexion’s launch of ZILRETTA® in the United States in 2017 and building its pipeline. Mr. Levine’s tenure at Flexion culminated in the acquisition of the company by Pacira BioSciences, Inc. in late 2021. Mr. Levine previously served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Minerva Neurosciences, Inc.

Mr. Levine holds a B.A. from Binghamton University, SUNY, and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.