About Us

OUR LEADERSHIP

Executive Leadership Team

Pete Salzmann, M.D., MBA

Pete Salzmann, M.D., MBA

Pete Salzmann, M.D., MBA

Chief Executive Officer

Pete 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, Pete was Head of US 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, Pete was the Head of Marketing for Eli Lilly China.

Pete 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

Renee Barnett, MBA

Renee Barnett, MBA

Chief Financial Officer

With two decades of experience in healthcare, Renee is a passionate and effective leader, who thrives in fast-paced growth organizations. Renee 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. Renee holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in Physics from DePauw University.

Julia G. Butchko, Ph.D.

Julia G. Butchko, Ph.D.

Julia G. Butchko, Ph.D.

Chief Development Officer

Prior to joining Immunovant, Julia 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 immune-oncology collaborations with Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca. Earlier in her career, Julia held significant roles in product development, marketing, manufacturing, and quality.

Julia 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’s Kelley School of Business.

Bill Macias, M.D., Ph.D.

Bill Macias, M.D., Ph.D.

Bill Macias, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Medical Officer

From 2018 to May 2021, Bill was the Chief Executive Officer at Focus Biomedical Consulting LLC, and in that role was the ad interim Chief Medical Officer for Promethera Biosciences S.A. from 2018 through 2020. From 1994 through 2017, Bill 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.

Bill 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 in Medicine.

Mark Levine

Mark Levine

Mark Levine

Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary

Mark has more than 25 years of legal experience, including negotiating mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures; managing licensing agreements and partnerships; and providing counsel to optimize development and commercialization. Mark 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. Mark’s tenure at Flexion culminated in the acquisition of the company by Pacira BioSciences, Inc. in late 2021. Mark previously served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Minerva Neurosciences, Inc.

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

Jay S. Stout, PhD

Jay S. Stout, PhD

Jay S. Stout, PhD

Chief Technology Officer

Jay is the Chief Technology Officer at Immunovant. From 2020 until April 2023, he was an independent consultant supporting the scale up and validation of late-stage products in Immunology and Cell and Gene Therapy. From June 2018 until January 2021, he led the Technical Operations at Immunomedics (Gilead) leading to the approval of an Antibody Drug Conjugate for Oncology. Prior to that Jay has held various senior leadership roles in Technical Operation at Versartis (Aravive), San Bio, Merck, Amgen, Pfizer, and BioNebraska (Restoragen). He has a proven track record of Biologic approvals for Monoclonal Antibodies, Antibody Drug Conjugates, and Cell and Gene Therapies.

Jay received a BS and MS in Chemistry from the University of Iowa and a PhD in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has served on the Amgen Center for BioProcessing Advisory Board at the Keck Graduate Institute for more than 10 years and was the Chair of the Advisory Board from 2021-2023.

Senior Management

Maria Alba, M.D.

Maria Alba, M.D.

Maria Alba, M.D.

Vice President of Clinical Development

Maria has over 16 years of experience across all phases of development in rare disease, endocrinology, and metabolism. Prior to joining Immunovant, Maria was the Global Medical Leader at Amicus Therapeutics for a phase 2 and 3 clinical program for the development of a second-generation enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease. Prior to Amicus Therapeutics, Maria held clinical roles at Vertex, Merck, and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Maria earned her M.D. from the Catholic University in Rome, Italy, where she also completed her fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism. Maria went on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship for preclinical research on growth hormone deficiency at the Johns Hopkins University.

Ronald Bates, Ph.D.

Ronald Bates, Ph.D.

Ronald Bates, Ph.D.

Process Development and Technical Operations

Ronald has more than 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, holding roles of increasing responsibility in process development, manufacturing science and technology (MSAT), and manufacturing. Prior to joining Immunovant, Ronald was in MSAT at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Syracuse, NY, where he was part of the development and commercialization of numerous protein therapeutics. He has also held roles at Pfizer and Allergan.

Ronald 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. Ronald is on the editorial board of the Biotechnology Journal and the advisory group for Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences’ Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training.

Christine Blodgett

Christine Blodgett

Christine Blodgett

Vice President of Human Resources

Christine brings 20 years of progressive human resources leadership experience across several industries and growth phases, from startups to the Fortune 100. She's spent the majority of her career focused on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Most recently, as the head of HR at Turnstone Biologics, Christine oversaw the Company’s talent strategy and management, learning and development programs, and all matters relating to Turnstone’s people and culture. Prior to that, Christine served as HR Director at Honeywell and held multiple leadership roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Medarex, Inc.

Christine holds a B.S. in Business Administration from The College of New Jersey and earned two certifications: a Strategic Human Resources Practices certification from Cornell University and a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification.

Chau Cheng, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Chau Cheng, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Chau Cheng, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Vice President of Investor Relations

Chau 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. 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

Andy Deig

Andy Deig

Vice President, Financial Planning and Chief of Staff to the CEO

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, M.D.

Ian Gourley, M.D.

Ian Gourley, M.D.

Vice President of Clinical Development

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 M.B., B.Ch. and completed his M.D. 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 for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics as an HLA laboratory director.

Thomas Hardy, M.D., Ph.D.

Thomas Hardy, M.D., Ph.D.

Thomas Hardy, M.D., Ph.D.

Vice President of Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance

Tom is a physician scientist with extensive early- and late-phase clinical development expertise. Prior to joining Immunovant, Tom spent 18 years at Eli Lilly and Company, holding key roles in all phases of clinical development. He oversaw numerous IND filings and directed the design and implementation of phase 1 and 2 clinical trials across multiple disease areas. Tom went on to direct multiple global registration trials in the Diabetes Business Unit, resulting in two global approvals. Before joining Lilly, he ran a busy clinical practice in endocrinology.

Tom earned a B.A. in Biology from University of California, Santa Cruz, and he earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Indiana University. He completed fellowship training in Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism at Vanderbilt Medical Center.

Claudia Jacobs, Ph.D.

Claudia Jacobs, Ph.D.

Claudia Jacobs, Ph.D.

Vice President of CMC Project Management Operations and Clinical Supply

Prior to joining Immunovant Claudia 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

Ant Kidwell

Ant Kidwell

Vice President of IT and Facilities

Prior to joining Immunovant, Ant led IT and Facilities at Iterum Therapeutics. He has over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with the last 11 years setting up and leading IT and facilities at Bio-tech start-ups. Ant’s leadership in IT, cybersecurity, and facilities enables true partnership between IT and business functions to further the goal of delivering needed medicines to patients.

He holds a B.Sc. In Information Management from Albertus Magnus College.

Julie Kirschling

Julie Kirschling

Julie Kirschling

Prior to joining Immunovant, Julie spent 33 years in a variety of project leadership roles at Eli Lilly & Company. She is an experienced project and functional Leader with a proven track record of developing and leading high performing cross-functional teams to enable business critical outcomes and maximizing performance of others with and without direct authority. She has 30+ years of pharmaceutical development experience and 20+ years of experience leading projects across all phases of development and therapeutic areas including leading successful submissions for two marketed products. 

She holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and is a certified Project Management Professional.

Chedvi Levin-Sister

Chedvi Levin-Sister

Chedvi Levin-Sister

Vice President of Finance

Chedvi’s expertise includes regulatory compliance (PCAOB, US GAAP, SEC, and IFRS), technical and income tax accounting, revenue recognition (inclusive of gross-to-net in domestic US pharma), 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, including remediation of material weaknesses. Prior to 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, life science and medical device companies, SEC registrants, technology, and startup companies.

Chedvi earned a B.A. (cum laude) in Management Accounting and Information System from the Jerusalem College of Technology, Israel. She is a CPA (Is).

Paola Mina-Osorio M.D., Ph.D.

Paola Mina-Osorio M.D., Ph.D.

Paola Mina-Osorio M.D., Ph.D.

Vice President of Medical Affairs

Paola is an immunologist focused 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.

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. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Center for Vascular Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, and at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell Health.

Jennifer Moseley

Jennifer Moseley

Jennifer Moseley

Vice President of Clinical Operations

Jennifer has more than 25 years of drug development experience in the areas of global operations, CRO oversight and management, and operational excellence in clinical trial delivery. Prior to joining Immunovant, Jennifer was at Astellas, where she was responsible for managing program delivery teams supporting regulatory filings, clinical inspection activities, and operational excellence initiatives. Prior to Astellas she spent 16 years at Abbott/AbbVie, where she contributed to development and global submissions for 2 approvals that resulted in new treatment paradigms for AIDS and HCV patients.

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

Sheetal Patel M.D., MS MBA

Sheetal Patel M.D., MS MBA

Sheetal Patel M.D., MS MBA

Vice President of Clinical Development

Sheetal is a physician with more than 20 years of experience in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry. She has held key roles in all phases of clinical development, medical affairs, and data generation. She has led cross-functional teams for filing of multiple BLA, NDA and device submissions, bringing multiple products to market. Her skillsets expanse from Phase I-IV, registrations trials, prelaunch, launch and LCM in various therapeutic areas globally. Sheetal has worked across large and small biopharmaceutical companies, including: Baxter, Abbott, Shire, Takeda, Bayer, Exact Sciences, Relmada and Lundbeck. She also held positions at Rush University Medical Center and University of Illinois and other Chicago Hospitals prior to making her transition to industry.

Sheetal received her MD from Medical University of Lublin and a Master of Clinical Research from Rush University. In 2022, Sheetal received her Executive MBA from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Jody Roth, MS, RAC, PMP

Jody Roth, MS, RAC, PMP

Jody Roth, MS, RAC, PMP

Vice President of Global Regulatory Affairs

Jody is recognized for her communication and advocacy of label-in-mind concepts, as well as her expertise in FDA interactions. Prior to joining Immunovant, Jody held leadership positions at Outpost Medicine, Gate Neurosciences, and Guidehouse where she set up new molecules for a successful global registration across multiple regions. Prior to roles in biotech, Jody spent 25 years at Eli Lilly and Company established robust filing experience across the drug development lifecycle where she supported the initiation of new molecules and obtaining US approvals for BLAs and NDAs.

Jody has her B.S. in Animal Science and M.S. in Growth Physiology/Immunology from Purdue University. Jody is a member of Regulatory Affairs Professionals and Project Management Institute.

Rod Saponjic Ph.D., MBA

Rod Saponjic Ph.D., MBA

Rod Saponjic Ph.D., MBA

Vice President of Clinical Operations

Rod has more than 25 years of drug development leadership experience in the areas of global operations, project management, clinical operations, clinical systems, and vendor management. Prior to Immunovant, Rod led Clinical Operations at Respivant, responsible for the management of Phase 1-3 trials in the areas of immunology and respiratory disease. Prior to Respivant, Rod led global development operations at Greenwich Bioscience, resulting in the NDA submission and the first FDA approval of a cannabinoid therapy. Prior to Greenwich, Rod has held senior management positions at Alkensa, Clingenix, Patara Pharma, PRA International, AirPharma, Quintiles, and Synteract.

Rod earned his B.A. in Psychology at Texas Tech University. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Texas Christian University and an M.B.A. at Baker University.

Lauren Schrier, MBA

Lauren Schrier, MBA

Lauren Schrier, MBA

Vice President of Marketing

Lauren brings expertise in commercial product strategy and execution in immunology. Prior to joining Immunovant, Lauren held multiple leadership roles at Celgene, including experiences spanning Global Marketing, Commercial Development, Project Leadership, and Chief of Staff for the Inflammation and Immunology franchise. Prior to Celgene, Lauren worked in management consulting at Accenture and Easton Associates, where she advised life science clients in opportunity assessment, strategy, and development engagements.

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

Lesa Valentine

Lesa Valentine

Lesa Valentine

Vice President of Quality

Lesa’s depth of quality leadership experience includes the development and implementation of global systems and processes, assuring compliance, continuous improvement, and strategic risk mitigation across both development and commercial biologic and small molecule products. Prior to joining Immunovant, Lesa led global quality functions at SanBio, Exelixis, Genentech/Roche, Novartis, and Amgen.

Lesa earned a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Wyoming.

Yan Zheng, Ph.D.

Yan Zheng, Ph.D.

Yan Zheng, Ph.D.

Vice President of Biostatistics and Programming

Yan brings more than 16 years of experience with broad knowledge in diverse aspects of drug development, including real-world evidence and medical affairs, microbiome biosciences, and across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to Immunovant, Yan led biometrics at Kaleido Biosciences, where she built and led the biometrics team and strategic and operational planning of biometric resources and contributions. Prior to Kaleido Biosciences, Yan held roles at Sarepta Therapeutics, Merck, Allergan, and Sanofi.

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

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS