Jnana Therapeutics Appoints Donald Nicholson, Ph.D., as Chair of its Board of Directors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Jnana Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Donald Nicholson, Ph.D., an accomplished scientist and executive, as chair of its Board of Directors. Don most recently served as chief executive officer of Nimbus Therapeutics.

“I am thrilled to welcome Don as chair of our Board of Directors. Don’s experience and strategic input will be immensely valuable to Jnana as we build the organization and advance a pipeline of programs modulating SLC transporters to correct metabolite pathway dysregulation in disease,” said Joanne Kotz, Ph.D., co-founder, chief executive officer and president at Jnana.

Prior to Nimbus, Dr. Nicholson spent 25 years at Merck, where he held various strategic, leadership and operational roles across diverse therapeutic areas including inflammation, immunology and neuroscience, amongst others. He began his career at Merck Frosst in Montreal as a senior research biologist and advanced through various positions of increasing responsibility, including vice president and site head of the Merck Neurosciences Research site in San Diego, vice president of immunology and infectious diseases and then vice president and worldwide discovery head for the Bone, Respiratory, Immunology and Endocrine franchise based in New Jersey. Don has co-authored more than 150 publications in peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals and is internationally recognized for his contributions to the field of apoptotic cell death. Don received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario and trained as a Medical Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the University of Munich in Germany. He is the recipient of multiple academic and professional honors. Don is also a member of the Board of Directors of Kymera Therapeutics and Generation Bio.

“Jnana has built an impressive drug discovery platform aimed at developing therapies for patients with serious unmet need,” said Dr. Nicholson. “I am excited by the opportunity to serve as chair of the Board as the company advances its innovative pipeline of therapies.”

About Jnana Therapeutics

Jnana Therapeutics is a biotechnology company creating the first drug discovery platform to unlock the solute carrier (SLC) family of metabolite transporters as a therapeutic target class. Jnana is systematically targeting SLCs, the cell’s metabolite gates, to advance first-in-class therapies for diseases where patients have limited or no treatment options. Headquartered in Boston, Jnana launched in 2017 with $50 million in Series A financing from investors including Polaris Partners, Avalon Ventures, Versant Ventures, AbbVie Ventures and Pfizer R&D Innovate. For more information, please visit www.jnanatx.com, and follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

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