Management Team

Mr. Garcia has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since November 2021. Prior to joining Dianthus, Mr. Garcia served as Senior Vice President, Corporate and Business Development at Zealand Pharma A/S, a biotechnology company, from October 2018 to October 2021. Mr. Garcia previously served as Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer at Synergy Pharmaceuticals from 2014 to 2018. Prior to Synergy, Mr. Garcia served as Head of Business Development for Aptalis Pharma when it was acquired by Forest Laboratories (now Allergan, an AbbVie Company) in 2014. Previously he served as Vice President, US Commercial Operations and Global New Product Development at Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Vifor Pharma in 2007. Aspreva was developing CellCept (myocophenolate mofetil) for a range of autoimmune diseases, including Lupus Nephritis, Myasthenia Gravis, and Pemphigus Vulgaris. Mr. Garcia started his career in various commercial and strategic roles at large, multinational biopharmaceutical companies, including Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. Mr. Garcia received his M.B.A. from the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario and his Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.

Dr. Randhawa brings over 20 years of clinical practice and pharmaceutical industry experience to Dianthus. He most recently served as Senior Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, an autoimmune-focused company, where he supported the clinical development of voclosporin and investor relations. Dr. Randhawa has held a number of senior commercial and medical leadership roles in the autoimmune and rare disease spaces within large pharma and biotech companies such as Novartis and Biomarin. Previously, he supported business development opportunities and integration needs in the health care sector while at McKinsey Consulting. Dr. Randhawa completed his M.D. at Drexel University and received his M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Mr. Savitz brings over a decade of experience providing strategic and financial advice to life sciences companies. He most recently served as Managing Director in Citigroup’s Healthcare Investment Banking division, where he focused on advising biopharma companies on private and public capital raising, partnering, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to becoming Managing Director, he held positions of increasing responsibility all within the Healthcare Investment Banking division at Citigroup. Mr. Savitz received his Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University.

Joining Dianthus most recently from Cyteir Therapeutics, Mr. Veness spent much of his career as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Acceleron Pharma Inc. prior to the acquisition by Merck in November 2021. During his tenure at Acceleron, Mr. Veness gained experience in roles of increasing responsibility where he served on the Executive Committee responsible for company strategy, and he led all aspects of global legal and compliance, including capital markets and SEC reporting obligations, corporate governance, contracts, intellectual property, employment matters, and data privacy. Prior to moving in-house to the biotechnology industry, Mr. Veness was a corporate and securities attorney at the law firm Mintz Levin where he represented and counseled public and private companies in the biopharmaceutical, technology, and healthcare industries. Mr. Veness earned a B.A. in political science and philosophy from Tulane University, and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law.

Dr. Stavenhagen is a recognized expert in early-stage drug development, with more than 20 years of experience building and leading research teams to advance new therapeutic candidates into clinical development. He was most recently Chief Scientific Officer at Therini Bio, where he directed R&D initiatives leading to the development of a first-in-class monoclonal antibody for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. He previously served in leadership roles at Therachon, leading preclinical research and CMC, and Lundbeck, advancing its first internal antibody programs into clinical development for neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Stavenhagen began his biotech career as the first employee of MacroGenics, where he built a novel antibody engineering platform that resulted in Margenza®, one of the first Fc optimized monoclonal antibodies on the market. Throughout his career, he has authored over 40 scientific patents and publications. Dr. Stavenhagen received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Columbia University and performed post-doctoral studies at the Fred Hutchinson Research Center in Seattle.

Ms. Maximenko brings 15 years of human resources experience, having most recently served as the VP, Head of HR at Abeona Therapeutics where she was responsible for developing and executing people strategy and supporting the Company’s growth in a highly competitive gene therapy space. Prior to that she served as the Global HR Director and Head of HR for Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAAP), a Novartis company. Before the acquisition of AAAP by Novartis, she was responsible for more than 700 employees operating in a matrix environment within 11 International locations and in more than 20 US states.

Ms. Maximenko has hands-on experience setting up the HR function from the ground up in growing biotechs from pre-clinical to commercial stage and building out teams in various functional areas including R&D, Medical Affairs, Commercial, Quality, TechOps, and others. She’s got expertise in multiple HR disciplines, including talent acquisition, employee engagement, employee relations, organizational development and compensation.

Mr. Carr is a veteran financial leader with over 30 years of finance and public accounting experience including managing financial operations, financial reporting (including SEC reporting), technical accounting, internal controls, financial planning, treasury, and taxation. Prior to Dianthus, Mr. Carr served as Chief Financial Officer of Abeona Therapeutics, a publicly traded, clinical stage biotechnology company. Prior to Abeona, Mr. Carr served as Assistant Controller at Coty Inc., a multi-billion dollar, publicly traded manufacturing company and as Chief Accounting Officer at Foster Wheeler AG, a multi-billion dollar, publicly traded engineering and construction company. Mr. Carr, who is a Certified Public Accountant, began his career at Ernst & Young LLP. He received his Master of Professional Accountancy and Bachelor of Business Administration from West Virginia University.

Jennifer Davis Ruff has more than 20 years of experience in investor relations and corporate communications in the biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Ms. Ruff most recently served as Vice President, Investor Relations at Pyxis Oncology, where she led communications with investors and analysts. Previously, she held the roles of Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations at TESARO, Director, Investor Relations at Pfizer, and Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at MGI Pharma. She earned a master’s degree in biotechnology from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Iowa.

Ms. Gluck brings to Dianthus an extensive track record in building and leading highly effective clinical operations functions within the autoimmune space. She most recently served as Senior Vice President, Global Clinical Operations at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., where she was responsible for creating a clinical organization and executing clinical programs to bring their lead candidate from early phase development through two successful pivotal trials and later to NDA submission and FDA approval. Prior to Aurinia, Ms. Gluck was Vice President of Clinical Operations at Qu Biologics Inc, a company focused on the development of immunotherapeutics. She also served as Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Operations at Vifor Pharmaceuticals following the acquisition of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, a company collaborating with Roche to develop CellCept (myocophenolate mofetil) for a range of autoimmune diseases. Throughout her career, Ms. Gluck has served in increasingly senior positions at major pharmaceutical companies including Novartis, Organon, and GSK, and has acquired extensive experience with start-up companies.

Ms. Segal brings more than 20 years of experience leading the development and execution of global regulatory strategies across all phases of drug development for a range of therapeutic areas including oncology, hematology, inflammatory diseases, and neurology. She most recently served as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality at Scholar Rock where she directed all global regulatory efforts, oversaw quality and compliance, and contributed to overall R&D pipeline strategy. Prior to that, Ms. Segal held positions of increasing responsibility at biopharmaceutical companies including Q32 Bio, Solid Biosciences. In addition, while at Biogen, she was responsible for leading the global regulatory team where they attained marketing approvals of ELOCTATE®️ and ALPROLIX®️, treatments for Hemophilia A and Hemophilia B respectively, including approvals in the US, EU, Japan, Australia, and Canada.

Dr. Gokhale is a U.S Board Certified Neurologist and brings over 15 years of clinical practice and pharmaceutical industry experience to Dianthus. He has experience in all phases of clinical development (Phase 1-3) specifically, in the rare disease neurology indications. He most recently served as Senior Director of Clinical Development at Radius Health where he led the clinical development of oral CBD for multiple rare neuropsychiatric and epilepsy indications. Previously, he worked as Medical Director of Clinical Development at Alexion Pharmaceuticals where he led multiple phase 2 and 3 global clinical trials (pediatric and adult) for Eculizumab and Ravulizumab in Myasthenia Gravis, leading to successful U.S. FDA approval of Ravulizumab in Myasthenia Gravis. After attending medical school in Mumbai, India, Dr. Gokhale completed his Neurology Residency at Harvard and received his M.B.A. from the University of Arizona.

Mr. Taylor brings over 20 years of experience in product supply and technical operations across the consumer products and life sciences industries. He most recently served as Vice President of Technical Operations at Radius Health, Inc., where he was responsible for supply chain and manufacturing operations of clinical and commercial programs supporting their lead molecule, abaloparatide. Prior to Radius, Mr. Taylor served as Vice President of Supply Chain at Synergy Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for creating supply chain organization and strategy to successfully launched their first FDA approved product, plecanatide. Earlier in his career, Mr. Taylor also held a number of increasingly complex supply chain planning and procurement roles for larger companies including Johnson & Johnson, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and AstraZeneca. He received an M.B.A from the Fox School of Business at Temple University and a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University in Operations and Information Systems.

Ms. Hanff brings over two decades of expertise in global regulations and quality management systems in parenteral and solid oral finished drug manufacturing. Her expertise extends to organizational design and development, as well as risk-based strategy cultivation for quality. Ms. Hanff most recently served as Global Regulatory Affairs and Quality Director at Saint-Gobain Life Sciences, where she assured the quality of Single-Use Systems used in the pharmaceutical industry and medical components used in the medical device industry. In her role, Ms. Hanff built a central quality function from non-existent to a team of high performing quality professionals. She developed the strategy and led the implementing and overseeing of harmonized quality management systems at 30 manufacturing sites globally, including validation programs and quality control. Prior to Saint-Gobain, Ms. Hanff was the Associate Director of Quality Compliance for generic and branded parenteral drug manufacturing at Boehringer Ingelheim, with accountability for management of regulatory inspections and the supplier quality management and internal audit programs. There, Ms. Hanff led innumerable regulatory and compliance inspections from the company’s contracted customers and regulatory authorities. Earlier in her career, she served as a Regulatory Affairs Associate, Quality Compliance Associate, and Chemist at Pfizer. Ms. Hanff holds a B.S. from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology.

Mr. Nogi brings over twenty years of operational and administrative management expertise across a wide range of organizations. Prior to Dianthus, he served as Vice President of Business Operations at Abeona Therapeutics where he led all Business Development activities, including the successful out-licensing of two of the company’s later stage assets and was responsible for all Information and Technology operations, including scaling and managing infrastructure and cyber security. At Abeona, Mr. Nogi also led Facilities & Property Management across the US and EU, owned the Corporate Risk Portfolio, and headed COVID-19 response efforts ensuring global operational continuity while protecting the safety of employees and patients. Prior to Abeona, he served as Vice President of Business Development at Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he developed partnerships for an oral mucoadhesive product in the oncology space. Previously, he was Vice President of Operations at SCO Capital Management, a biotech-focused value fund, where he managed all operations, audit, fund administration, IT systems, and human resources. Earlier in his career, Mr. Nogi served as Executive Director of non-profit organization, Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives where he led the business strategy and operations, finances, facilities, and staff. Mr. Nogi earned a M.B.A. in Management and Strategy from the Stern School of Business at New York University, where he also received his B.F.A.

Dr. Hashmonay brings over 20 years of international experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries to Dianthus. He most recently served as Global Head of Business Transformation for Novartis. In his prior role as Chief Digital Officer at Novartis United States, he spearheaded digital transformation and strategic corporate health tech partnerships. As a member of the Novartis U.S. Executive Committee, Dr. Hashmonay has led multiple teams as Head of Business Innovation, Head of Business Development and Licensing, and Head of Launch Excellence. Prior to joining the U.S. division, he served as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Medical Affairs for Novartis Latin America & Canada. Dr. Hashmonay previously held a number of senior executive roles in Medical Affairs and Clinical Development at Novartis and Johnson & Johnson. He earned his M.D. and graduated Cum Laude from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.

Dianthus Therapeutics to Participate in Three Healthcare Investor Conferences in September

Dianthus Therapeutics