Nereid Therapeutics, a company discovering new disease treatments by applying pioneering research and technologies in biomolecular condensates, announces the appointment of Laura L. Forese, M.D., MPH, and Rupert Vessey, FRCP, Ph.D., to its Board of Directors. Dr. Forese is executive vice president and chief operating officer of NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the nation’s most comprehensive academic health care delivery systems. Dr. Vessey is executive vice president and president of Global Research and Early Development at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), a global biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and delivering innovative medicines for patients with serious diseases.
“What Nereid is doing to translate cellular biophysics into drug discovery and design is completely new and very exciting, and we are fortunate to have Rupert and Laura on the company’s board to provide strategic guidance as we work to realize the promise of this new technology for patients,” said Seth Harrison, M.D., chair of the Nereid Board of Directors and founder and managing partner of ATP, the life sciences venture capital firm that created Nereid.
As executive vice president and chief operating officer, Dr. Laura Forese has ultimate operational responsibility for the NewYork-Presbyterian enterprise, including 10 hospital campuses, 200 primary and specialty care clinics and medical groups, more than 45,000 employees and affiliated physicians, and more than $9 billion in revenue. A pediatric orthopedic surgeon and faculty member at Columbia University for more than 20 years, Dr. Forese has chaired the board of the NIH Clinical Center Research Hospital since 2016. She has an engineering degree from Princeton University and medical and public health degrees from Columbia University.
Under Dr. Rupert Vessey’s stewardship, BMS has made substantial progress advancing the company’s early-stage pipeline and capabilities, focusing its research in therapeutic areas where there is the best opportunity to deliver transformational medicines to patients. Today, the company has more than 50 compounds in development across more than 40 diseases, with emphasis on oncology, hematology, cardiovascular disease and immunology. In his 24-year career in industry, Dr. Vessey has held leadership roles in discovery research, preclinical and early clinical development, and informatics at Celgene, Merck Research Laboratories, Rosetta Inpharmatics, and GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Vessey graduated from Oxford University with degrees in physiological sciences and clinical medicine.
“Nereid’s work to discover and pursue novel targets using its unique approach to liquid-liquid phase separation is exhibiting potential in many disease areas, and I am pleased to join the company’s board at this critical time in the company’s growth and progress,” Dr. Vessey said.
“Biomolecular condensate science is an important avenue of exploration that we hope will lead to new therapeutic interventions that contribute great value to patients and society. It is my honor and pleasure to advise Nereid on patient and health care provider perspectives as the company’s discoveries advance,” Dr. Forese said.
Other members of the Nereid Board of Directors include:
Raj Chopra, FRCP, FRCPath, FRSB, Ph.D., head of Oncology and venture partner at ATP.
Michael Ehlers, M.D., Ph.D., chief scientific officer and venture partner at ATP.
Robert J. Hugin, former chairman and CEO of Celgene Corporation.
Spiros Liras, Ph.D., co-founder and interim CEO of Nereid Therapeutics and venture partner at ATP.
Clifford Brangwynne, Ph.D., (observer), professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, co-founder of Nereid Therapeutics, and chair of the Nereid scientific advisory board.
About Nereid Therapeutics
Nereid Therapeutics, an ATP company, is discovering new disease treatments using proprietary state-of-the-art technologies for generating, visualizing, and measuring liquid-liquid phase separation and the resulting biomolecular condensates. Nereid applies leading expertise in soft matter physics and cell biology to pioneer completely new ways to fight intractable diseases. For more information, visit www.nereidtx.com.
About ATP
Founded in 1999, ATP is a leader in life sciences venture capital, with $2.65 billion in committed capital and offices in New York, London, San Francisco, and Cambridge, MA. ATP creates companies starting at various stages, from pre-IP ideas to asset spinouts, investing in them from seed stage through IPO and beyond. The core of ATP’s strategy is providing flexible capital and access to a world-class team of venture partners and EIRs, to build sustainable, research-driven enterprises that deliver therapeutics to improve human lives. For more information, visit www.appletreepartners.com.
