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Jnana Therapeutics Names Chen to Board of Directors, Susztak to Scientific Advisory Board
6 January 2021 - - US-based biotechnology company Jnana Therapeutics has appointed two experienced scientific and clinical leaders to the company's boards, the company said.

Annie C. Chen, MD, MPH, chief medical officer of Nimbus Therapeutics, joins the company's board of directors. Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, joins the company's scientific advisory board.

Dr. Annie Chen is an expert in clinical development strategy with an extensive background in immunology, where she has brought multiple therapies forward to regulatory approval.

In addition to her role as CMO at Nimbus, she is president of the company's Tyk2 subsidiary, Nimbus Lakshmi, Inc.

Prior to joining Nimbus, she was Executive director of Clinical Research, Section Head of Vaccines for Merck, where she oversaw clinical research activities for a broad portfolio of vaccines from discovery through registration and life cycle management.

Dr. Chen also held the role of Section Head of Immunology, where she oversaw clinical research for small molecule and protein therapeutics.

Prior to Merck, she held roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech and began her industry career at Celera Genomics. She was formerly Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, where she completed her fellowship training in rheumatology.

She received her MD from Cornell University, her MPH in epidemiology from the University of California Berkeley and her AB in biological sciences from Harvard University.

Dr. Katalin Susztak is an accomplished physician-scientist, and her laboratory is focused on understanding the pathological mechanisms of chronic kidney disease.

Susztak is a Professor of Nephrology / Medicine and Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Complications Unit at the Institute of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.

Susztak has made fundamental discoveries towards defining critical genes, cell types and mechanisms of chronic kidney disease.

She was instrumental in defining genetic, epigenetic and transcriptional changes in diseased human kidneys, has identified novel kidney disease genes, and has demonstrated the contribution of Notch signaling and metabolic dysregulation to kidney disease development.

She is Principal Investigator of the Transformative Research in Diabetic Nephropathy (TRIDENT), a public-private observational clinical study to identify novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for kidney disease development.

Jnana Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on opening the solute carrier family of metabolite transporters as a target class to develop transformational therapeutics.

Jnana uses its RAPID platform, a proprietary, cell-based drug discovery approach, to systematically target SLC transporters and develop best-in-class therapies to treat a range of diseases, including immune-mediated, neurological and metabolite-dependent diseases.

Headquartered in Boston, Jnana is founded by scientists and backed by leading life science investors.
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