Anil Singhal, Ph.D., MBA
President and CEO
About Us
Trishula is a clinical stage company dedicated to the development of TTX-030, a first-in-class, anti-CD39 antibody in advanced cancers.
Leadership
Dr. Singhal is the President and CEO of Trishula Therapeutics, bringing with him more than three decades of research and development leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Trishula and TriSalus Inc.
He joined Trishula from Adicet Bio where, as the President and CEO, he led the company to its first oncology IND and merger with a public company. Dr. Singhal also served as Vice President of Early Oncology Development at AbbVie and Head of the AbbVie Redwood City site. In that role, he led the global approval of Empliciti in multiple myeloma and daclizumab in MS. As a member of the AbbVie R&D leadership team, he helped to build an impressive portfolio and key translational science capabilities in oncology, immunology and other diseases.
Prior to his industry tenure, Dr. Singhal was Assistant Research Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and concurrent with the industry role, Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Washington.
Siddhartha Mitra, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Mitra joined Trishula as Chief Medical Officer in June 2023. Prior to joining Trishula, he served as Vice President, Clinical Development at Arcus Biosciences where he oversaw clinical development of programs directed to a range of solid tumors. Earlier in his career, he served in clinical development leadership at Five Prime Therapeutics leading up to the acquisition by Amgen and led programs at Gilead Sciences/Kite Pharma focusing on malignant hematology and oncology. He earned his MD and PhD and did his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco followed by hematology and medical oncology fellowships at Stanford University.
Alan Luk
Vice President, CMC
Alan Luk is Vice President, CMC for Trishula Therapeutics and is responsible for leading the planning and execution of the TTX-030 program CMC strategy. He brings with him over 20 years of biotech experience working on research programs from early stage to commercial.
Prior to joining Trishula, Alan served as the Director of CMC at Tizona Therapeutics overseeing the TTX-030 program. In this role, he assisted in establishing the overall strategy for process development and manufacturing to support Tizona’s preclinical and clinical programs. Previously, Alan held various positions of increasing responsibility in process development, clinical manufacturing, technology transfer, and external manufacturing at companies including FibroGen and BioMarin Pharmaceuticals.
Alan holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis and a MBA from San Francisco State University.
Sharon Horton, PhD
Vice President, Program and Alliance Management
Sharon joined Trishula as Vice President of Program and Alliance Management. Sharon has 25 years of experience leading, organizing, and managing cross-functional teams for early and late-stage drug development.
Prior to joining Trishula, Sharon was Vice President of Program Management at Iovance Biotherapeutics where she built a strong project management organization which led to the submission and accelerated approval of lifileucel (AMTAGVITM) in metastatic melanoma. Prior to that, she served as the Head of Project Management at Five Prime Therapeutics and Pharmacyclics. At Pharmacyclics, Sharon gained extensive experience in alliance management with Johnson & Johnson and contributed to the development and approval of IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) in lymphoma.
Sharon earned her PhD in Neurosciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed her postdoctoral training at UT-Southwestern and SRI.
Anh Tran
Head of Clinical Operations
Anh Tran is the Head of Clinical Operations at Trishula Therapeutics and is responsible for overseeing departmental infrastructure, as well as strategic clinical program planning and execution for TTX-030. She brings with her over 15 years of experience in early- to late-phase clinical development.
Prior to joining Trishula at its inception, she served as a Director of Clinical Operations at Tizona Therapeutics overseeing the TTX-030 program. Previously, Anh held positions with increasing responsibilities at Adverum Biotechnologies, Iovance Biotherapeutics and Pharmcyclics (an AbbVie company). While at Pharmcyclics, she contributed to the development and execution of the IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) pivotal studies and New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with global regulatory filings for several hematology indications. Anh holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from the University of California, Davis.
Board of Directors
Luke Evnin, PhD
Chair, Trishula Therapeutics
Managing Director, MPM Capital
Dr. Luke Evnin is the Chairman of Trishula. He was a founder of MPM and continues to serve as a member of the Investment Committee for the MPM Bioventures funds. Dr. Evnin has been a co-founder and served as Chairman of the Board for seven MPM portfolio companies including, Harpoon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HARP), Maverick Therapeutics (acquired by Takeda), Potenza Therapeutics (acquired by Astellas), Tizona Therapeutics and Werewolf Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HOWL). He has contributed as an inventor in several of these companies. Dr. Evnin has also served on the board of directors of many other public and private companies over his 30-year venture capital career.
Prior to co-founding MPM, he honed his skills as a venture capitalist at Accel Partners where he was involved in biopharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare service investing as an analyst and then General Partner at Accel Partners (1990-1997). Dr. Evnin serves as Chairman of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, a not-for-profit entity where he has contributed for over 25 years. Dr. Evnin holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1990) from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and an A.B. magna cum laude in Molecular Biology (1985) from Princeton University.
Nina Kjellson
General Partner, Canaan Partners
Nina Kjellson joined Cannan’s healthcare team from InterWest Partners where she has been investing in healthcare start-ups since 2002. She focuses primarily on investments in biopharmaceuticals and digital health. Nina is co-founder and co-chair of ConsumerMed.org, a forum to address the convergence of health care and consumer innovation and serves as a mentor to Blueprint Health, a digital health incubator and Springboard Life Sciences, an accelerator for healthcare companies driven by women entrepreneurs. Investment themes include innovative therapeutics for serious and underserved conditions, IT-enabled transformation of healthcare delivery and patient/consumer engagement.
Current investments include Cidara (CDTX), Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, Lycera, Ocera (OCRX), Paratek (PRTK), and WellTok.
Previous investments include Labrys Biologics (acquired by Teva), Alt12 (acquired by Honest Company), Trius Therapeutics (TSRX; acquired by Cubist), CNS Therapeutics (acquired by Covidien), NovaCardia (acquired by Merck), and Aspreva (ASPV; acquired by Galenica)
Prior to InterWest, Nina was an investment manager at Bay City Capital, a life sciences merchant bank, and a research associate at Oracle Partners, a health care-focused hedge fund. Nina began her career conducting health policy and survey research with the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Nina received a B.A. in human biology from Stanford University (1997).
She serves on the California Leadership Council for the Nature Conservancy and has been nominated to join the board of the California Family Health Council.
Scott Brun, MD
Board Director
Dr. Brun has over two decades of drug development and leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He was most recently Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Head of AbbVie Ventures. Previously, Dr. Brun served as Vice President and Head of Pharmaceutical Development at AbbVie. During his tenure, Dr. Brun oversaw a global organization with responsibilities for AbbVie’s portfolio of early and late stage pipeline compounds as well as marketed compounds within oncology, neurology, immunology, renal, infectious disease, and women’s and men’s health. Dr. Brun contributed to the development and approval of a number of products across therapeutic areas, including Viekira, Mavyret, Venclexta, Rinvoq, Skyrisi, and Orilissa. Prior to joining AbbVie, Dr. Brun spent over 15 years at Abbott Laboratories, where he held positions of increasing leadership in drug development within the R&D organization.
Dr. Brun is a venture partner at the global life science VC firm Abingworth, a senior medical advisor at Launch Therapeutics, and was a senior advisor to Horizon Therapeutics prior to its acquisition by Amgen. Dr. Brun is also a board member at Axial Therapeutics, Forte Bio, Jasper Therapeutics, and Cabaletta Bio, and acts as a consultant to a range of startup companies and academic incubator programs. Dr. Brun received his BS in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned his MD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in ophthalmology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary/Harvard Medical School.
John A. Hohneker, MD
Board Director
Dr. Hohneker joined the board in September 2020 and brings 30 years of drug development and leadership experience within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. He most recently served as President and CEO of Anokion.
Prior to Anokion, he was President of Research and Development at FORMA Therapeutics Inc., where he guided the company’s transition from a discovery-stage biotech to one with multiple programs in clinical trials. Prior to FORMA, he held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis AG, most recently as senior vice president and global head of development for immunology and dermatology, where he led the development and registration of Cosentyx® and Ilaris®. During his tenure at Novartis, Dr. Hohneker also played a key role in the development, approval, and commercialization of several products including Gleevec®, Tasigna®, Zometa®, Afinitor® and Exjade®. Prior to joining Novartis, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Glaxo Wellcome and its legacy company, Burroughs Wellcome.
He received a BA from Gettysburg College and a MD from Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences (formerly the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers Medical School). He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in medical oncology, all at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Pablo J. Cagnoni, MD
Board Director
Pablo J. Cagnoni, M.D. is currently President, Head of Research & Development at Incyte. In his role, Dr. Cagnoni oversees Incyte’s research and development efforts across its portfolio of programs in Oncology, Hematology and Inflammation and Autoimmunity, including Dermatology.
Prior to joining Incyte, Dr. Cagnoni served as the Chief Executive Officer of Laronde, a company dedicated to the development of a new type of translatable ribonucleic acid (RNA) called endless RNA (eRNA), and held leadership roles at Rubius Therapeutics, Tizona Therapeutics, Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology. Throughout his career as a pharmaceutical executive and oncologist, Dr. Cagnoni has advanced the development of breakthrough treatments, playing a key role in the development, approval and commercialization of more than 20 life-changing medicines.
Dr. Cagnoni earned his medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine. He completed his fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, and a fellowship in Stem Cell Transplantation at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Scott Clarke
Board Director
Scott Clarke brings more than 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, currently serving as CEO of Ambagon Therapeutics. Before Ambagon, Scott was CEO of Trishula, responsible for launching Trishula as a stand-alone company. Prior to his role at Trishula, Scott was CEO of Tizona Therapeutics. Under his leadership, Tizona’s two lead programs advanced into the clinic, culminating in the spinout of Tizona’s lead program into Trishula and Gilead’s acquisition of rights to the rest of Tizona’s pipeline.
Prior to Tizona, Scott was the Global Head of Oncology Partnering and Head of Asia and Emerging Markets Partnering at Roche. Earlier in his career, Scott held multiple roles at BioMarin, including the Senior Vice President of Product Development, responsible for advancing its portfolio of clinical and late preclinical product candidates through approval. Scott earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, a MSc in Biotechnology at Northwestern University, and an MBA from London Business School.
Anil Singhal, PhD, MBA
President and CEO, Trishula Therapeutics
Dr. Singhal is the President and CEO of Trishula Therapeutics, bringing with him more than three decades of research and development leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Trishula and TriSalus Inc.
He joined Trishula from Adicet Bio where, as the President and CEO, he led the company to its first oncology IND and merger with a public company. Dr. Singhal also served as Vice President of Early Oncology Development at AbbVie and Head of the AbbVie Redwood City site. In that role, he led the global approval of Empliciti in multiple myeloma and daclizumab in MS. As a member of the AbbVie R&D leadership team, he helped to build an impressive portfolio and key translational science capabilities in oncology, immunology and other diseases.
Prior to his industry tenure, Dr. Singhal was Assistant Research Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and concurrent with the industry role, Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Washington.
