About Us
We aspire to develop transformative medicines by leveraging fundamental pathways of aging biology, with a focus in retinal diseases.
We aspire to develop transformative medicines by leveraging fundamental pathways of aging biology, with a focus in retinal diseases.
Working at the frontier of biotechnology and medicine, our mission is to develop therapeutics grounded in cellular senescence science to address the underlying biology of chronic and inflammatory diseases.
Our initial focus is on delivering localized therapy in ophthalmologic diseases.
Members of UNITY’s management team have a deep scientific understanding of aging biology and retinal diseases. UNITY is a team of expert scientists, drug developers and commercial strategists with a proven record of bringing new therapies to patients.
Anirvan joined UNITY as CEO in March 2020. Prior to joining UNITY, he served as senior vice president and head of research and early development at Biogen. During his tenure at Biogen, Anirvan led a team of 350 scientists and clinicians responsible for preclinical, and clinical Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies in all of Biogen’s disease areas and led a marked expansion of its early clinical portfolio. Between 2017 and 2020, ten assets advanced from Research to Development and several reported positive proof of concept studies and are now in pivotal registration-enabling clinical trials. Anirvan was also involved in expanding the portfolio through key partnerships, including acquisition of early stage assets in Alzheimer’s Disease, Schizophrenia, and Ophthalmology, and several multi-asset platform collaborations.
Prior to joining Biogen, Anirvan served as vice president and global head of neuroscience discovery and biomarkers at Roche. Previously he also held academic appointments at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of California, San Diego. Anirvan received his BS in physics from California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University. He completed his postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. The impact of his scientific contributions is reflected in over 100 scientific publications in top-tier journals, including Science and Nature. He has been a recipient of numerous awards, and as a recognized scientific leader he has chaired leading scientific congresses including Gordon Research Conferences and Cold Spring Harbor Meetings.
Lynne currently chairs the Audit Committees of Solid Bioscience, BiomX, and Inozyme Pharma. She was most recently CFO of Compass Therapeutics, a Cambridge based Immuno Oncology company, and was SVP of Finance at Biogen, where she spent over a decade, with global responsibility for Corporate Finance, Financial Planning and Analysis and Corporate Tax. Formerly, Lynne was the Vice President of Tax for EMD Serono and the Vice President of Tax for North America at Merck KgaA. She was also a Tax Partner at Arthur Anderson, where she led the North East Region’s Tax Consulting Practice for the firm. Lynne holds a B.S. in Accounting from Suffolk University and a M.S. in Taxation from Bentley College. She served as the Co-Chair of BIO’s Finance and Tax Committee from 2007 through 2018 and was a Certified Public Accountant licensed in MA from 1991 through June of 2018.
Alex joined UNITY as general counsel and corporate secretary in March 2021. Most recently, he served in a number of leadership roles at Roivant Sciences, including as general counsel at Alyvant, head of legal at Axovant Sciences and head of compliance at Roivant Sciences, where his responsibilities included leading corporate legal work, SEC reporting, equity financings, venture debt deals, licensing agreements, corporate governance and board meetings, litigation, internal investigations, asset recovery, HR, IT, operations, FDA compliance and risk management. Before that, he handled a wide range of high-stakes litigation and investigations in the private as well as the public sector, including as deputy section chief and federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Alexandria and Philadelphia, respectively, successfully leading dozens of cases involving cybercrime, data breaches, IP and trade secrets violations, FDA regulatory offenses, illegal importation of adulterated and misbranded pharmaceuticals, prescription drug diversion, white collar crime, identity theft and tax violations. Alex also served as assistant White House counsel, managing and implementing key White House policy initiatives across Cabinet and federal agencies, including on data use, congressional investigations and Obama appointees. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his law degree from Yale Law School.
Alicia serves as chief strategy officer at UNITY, bringing extensive experience in the pharma and medical device industry. She has led 18 launches across eight therapeutic areas spanning 70 markets globally, while operationalizing numerous firsts at Genentech Pharmaceuticals (GNE), Astellas Pharmaceuticals and Baxter Healthcare. Prior to joining UNITY, Alicia was senior vice president at Outlook Therapeutics where she drove organizational activation and go to market, scaling multiple global functions for the pre-commercial biopharmaceutical company’s global entry. Previously, she was head of ophthalmology at GNE with US oversight for market access, marketing and specialty sales where she mobilized the company’s inaugural entry into the surgical market with PDS. In addition, she scaled a multi-functional faricimab team to achieve the fastest growing launch in anti-VEGF history, representing a top growth driver for GNE. Alicia also served as global leader for Astellas Pharmaceuticals to build global new product planning strategies for novel paradigm shifting cell and gene therapies, as well as new organizational capabilities in regenerative medicine and digital therapeutics. Earlier in her career, she held numerous roles at Baxter Healthcare, in which she drove record-setting growth and launched four platforms across 70+ markets. Alicia is a Stanford Graduate Business School Alumni, recently graduating from the Executive Leadership Program, and earned her MBA at Colorado State University and BA from the University of California Santa Barbara.
As the Wolfe Professor of Translational Research at the University of Montreal and director of the neurovascular eye disease research unit at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont in Montreal, Mike has made seminal contributions to the understanding of ophthalmologic diseases. His pioneering work in the biology of eye diseases has been widely recognized, and he is recipient of the Alcon Research Institute Senior Investigator Award and the Cogan Award in Vision Research. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and McGill University, where he worked on the patho-mechanisms of retinopathy of prematurity and the roles of metabolism and lipids in this disease. Mike obtained a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in pathology and cellular biology at University of Montreal.
Dr. Bhisitkul, Professor of Ophthalmology, Alex Irvine MD Endowed Chair at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, has over 20 years of experience as a retina surgeon and clinician scientist. Dr. Bhisitkul graduated from Stanford University then combined medical school at Stanford with his Ph.D., in Neurosciences at Yale University, followed by residency and fellowship training at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. His translational research interest is in pre-clinical development of novel technologies for ophthalmic diseases. In clinical research, he is an investigator in major clinical trials of novel ophthalmic therapeutics, as well as studies of long-term outcomes of drug treatments for chronic eye disease. He is Director of the UCSF Retina Fellowship program. He is an Associate Examiner for the American Board of Ophthalmology and a recipient of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award. Additionally, Dr. Bhisitkul has served as an editorial board member of American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports and as associate editor of the British Journal of Ophthalmology. He acts as consultant and medical advisor for ophthalmologic pharmaceutical companies in designing early-stage trials and conducting clinical development of new ocular therapies.
Keith served as the Chief Executive Officer of UNITY Biotechnology from 2016 until March 2020. Previously, Keith served as the Chief Executive Officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals from its founding in 2005 to its acquisition by Allergan in 2015. Before Kythera, Keith spent 13 years at Amgen, ultimately as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Amgen Europe, where he ran all commercial operations in 28 countries. Prior to that position, Keith ran Amgen’s manufacturing operations, established Amgen’s presence in rheumatology, served as Head of Information Management, and had leadership roles in sales and marketing, engineering, operations, and finance.
Keith has been an Independent Director of Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Affymax, and ARYx Therapeutics. Keith holds a Master of Business Administration from The Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, a Bachelor of Arts in History from University of Maryland, College Park, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles.
Anirvan joined UNITY as CEO in March 2020. Prior to joining UNITY, he served as senior vice president and head of research and early development at Biogen. During his tenure at Biogen, Anirvan led a team of 350 scientists and clinicians responsible for preclinical, and clinical Phase 1 and Phase 2 studies in all of Biogen’s disease areas and led a marked expansion of its early clinical portfolio. Between 2017 and 2020, ten assets advanced from Research to Development and several reported positive proof of concept studies and are now in pivotal registration-enabling clinical trials. Anirvan was also involved in expanding the portfolio through key partnerships, including acquisition of early stage assets in Alzheimer’s Disease, Schizophrenia, and Ophthalmology, and several multi-asset platform collaborations.
Prior to joining Biogen, Anirvan served as vice president and global head of neuroscience discovery and biomarkers at Roche. Previously he also held academic appointments at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the University of California, San Diego. Anirvan received his BS in physics from California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University. He completed his postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. The impact of his scientific contributions is reflected in over 100 scientific publications in top-tier journals, including Science and Nature. He has been a recipient of numerous awards, and as a recognized scientific leader he has chaired leading scientific congresses including Gordon Research Conferences and Cold Spring Harbor Meetings.
Paul Berns served as president and chief executive officer at Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2014 until its acquisition by Pfizer Inc. in 2016. Previously, Mr. Berns served as president and chief executive officer of Allos Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, from 2006 to 2012 and was president and chief executive officer of Bone Care International, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, from 2002 to 2005.
Prior to that, Mr. Berns was vice president and general manager of the immunology, oncology and pain therapeutics business unit of Abbott Laboratories. He also served as vice president, marketing of BASF Pharmaceuticals/Knoll. Earlier in his career, Mr. Berns held various positions, including senior management roles, at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Mr. Berns received his B.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Ned co-founded UNITY in 2011, largely because he thought it was “simply the coolest biology he had ever seen.” Before UNITY, Ned co-founded four other biotechnology companies that together raised over $1.5 billion in financing and today employ over 400 scientists, engineers, and business people. Ned builds companies because he sees company creation as a means to create technologies that change the world. Ned is a co-founder of Syrrx (acquired by Takeda), Achaogen (AKAO), Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH, acquired by Allergan), and Sapphire Energy. Ned holds pending and issued patents in fields such as nanovolume crystallography, antibiotic resistance, aesthetic medicine, and cellular senescence. He has served on the board of directors of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Sapphire Energy, and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and is a member of the board of trustees of the University of California Foundation. Ned was named one of the Top 100 innovators in the world under 35 by the MIT Technology Review. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Molecular and Cellular Biology and an A.B. in Biology from Harvard University.
Dr. O’Neill has more than 25 years of experience in drug development, and medical and regulatory affairs. Formerly the chief medical officer and executive vice president of research and development at Sarepta Therapeutics, Dr. O’Neill spent 15 years at Biogen, holding leadership roles in development programs for Alzheimer’s disease, movement disorders, neurology, multiple sclerosis, pain, neuromuscular disease, gene and cell therapy, and rare diseases, and overseeing multiple global marketing approvals.
Dr. Margo Roberts most recently served as chief scientific officer (CSO) at Lyell Immunopharma, Inc., where she led the clinical development of novel CAR- and TCR- based T cell therapies for solid tumors. Formerly, she served as CSO at Kite Pharma, Inc. (acquired by Gilead Sciences, Inc. in October 2017) starting in 2013, where she built a talented research organization that played an instrumental role in the successful development of the CAR-T therapy Yescarta®, and the clinical advancement of additional CAR/TCR-engineered T-cell therapies. Subsequent to her role as CSO, Dr. Roberts served as senior vice president of Discovery Research at Kite in order to focus on the development of next generation therapeutic approaches, including heading up Kite’s universal allogeneic T-cell programs.
Dr. Roberts has almost three decades of biomedical research experience in both biotechnology and academia, and has been recognized as a top R&D leader by Endpoints News’ Top 20 Women Leaders in Biopharma 2020. Prior to her tenure at Kite, Dr. Roberts was principal scientist and director of Immune and Cell Therapy at Cell Genesys, Inc. where she led the development and application of CAR technology to T-cells and stem cells, culminating in the very first CAR T-cell clinical trial in 1994. Dr. Roberts was also an associate professor at the University of Virginia, has authored more than thirty scientific publications, and is the inventor on thirteen issued U.S. patents and three published U.S. patent applications. Dr. Roberts received both her Bachelor of Science degree with honors and her Ph.D. degree from the University of Leeds in England.
Mr. Samar joined Windgap Medical, Inc. in 2022 as its Chief Financial Officer. Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer at Assembly Biosciences, as well as in senior leadership positions including Senior Vice President of Finance and Business Operations. Before that, Mr. Samar was Vice President of Finance and Site Head for the South San Francisco facility at Acorda Therapeutics (formerly Biotie Therapies). In earlier positions, he served as Director, Financial Planning and Analysis at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Senior Finance Director, Global Planning and Analysis at Agennix (formerly GPC Biotech), and roles of increasing responsibility within finance at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development. Mr. Samar earned his MBA from Villanova University and his BSBA in finance from Bryant University. He also serves as Treasurer on the Board of OUTbio, Inc., a non-profit organization for LGBTQ+ professionals in the biotech and related industries.
Camille joined Venrock in 2014 and focuses on healthcare with an emphasis on biotech and consumer health. Prior to Venrock, Camille was a Managing Director at Versant Ventures for a decade where she led investments in Achaogen (AKAO), Kythera (KYTH), Novacardia (acquired by Merck), and ParAllele (acquired by Affymetrix), among others. She was also a board observer at several companies including Genomic Health (GHDX), Fluidigm (FLDM), and Syrrx (acquired by Takeda). Before Versant, she was responsible for business development at Tularik, Inc. (acquired by Amgen) where she in-licensed two of the company’s clinical-stage products and led Tularik’s Technology Acquisition Group. Before Tularik, Camille worked in corporate development at Genzyme and Millennium Predictive Medicine and was a management consultant to healthcare and biotech companies at LEK Consulting. Camille earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar. In 2002, The Aspen Institute named Camille a Henry Crown Fellow.
Study Design & Execution
Strategy
With wonder and devotion, each of us advances company ideals and ambitions. At UNITY, we embrace:
and individuality — daring to be different
compassion, and mutual respect
in the realization of our dreams
our commitment with fun
to explore and courage to test
Learn more about our company culture and how we live these values.