About Us

About Us - Kinevant

Kinevant Sciences (kine-a-vant) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to treating rare inflammatory and autoimmune diseases with significant unmet need. Our lead candidate namilumab is a novel monoclonal antibody being developed for the treatment of pulmonary sarcoidosis. Namilumab targets GM-CSF, a key pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis and other inflammatory disorders.

Kine

(from the Ancient Greek: kīnéō, “to move” or “set in motion”)

Diseases shouldn’t define us. We are dedicated to improving patients’ quality of life, so they spend less time on the sidelines and more time on the move.

Management Team

Our leadership team has significant experience developing new therapies for inflammatory and immunological disorders.

Our executive team is supported by an accomplished board of directors and expert panel of scientific advisors.

Kinevant Management Team
Bill Gerhart
Bill Gerhart
Chief Executive Officer

Bill Gerhart has more than 20 years of experience building high-performance execution teams to develop new therapeutics for serious diseases. Prior to joining Kinevant in 2021, he was the CEO of Respivant/Patara Pharma, Elevation Pharma, and Mpex Pharma which focused on developing new medicines for pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cystic fibrosis, respectively. In addition to his biotech activities, Bill serves as the Chair of Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute’s Board of Trustees, a non-profit medical research institute focused on basic and translational research in cancer, neurodegeneration, infectious, and inflammatory diseases.

Bill earned a BA from Baylor University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Tuan Nguyen
Tuan Nguyen
Chief Financial Officer

Tuan Nguyen has more than 15 years of experience in biopharma working on small molecules and AAV gene therapies. Most recently, he was VP of Finance at Adverum Biotechnologies. Prior to that he held various senior Finance leadership roles at Intarcia Therapeutics, Fibrogen, and UCB. He has helped raise over $1 billion in dilutive and non dilutive capital. Tuan earned his MBA with dual concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurship, Innovation, & Change from Emory University.

Gary Barrera
Gary Barrera
Senior Vice President, Regulatory, Quality, and Drug Safety

Gary has more than 25 years of experience in Clinical and Commercial biologics and small molecules with increasing levels of leadership. Most recently, Gary was Senior Vice President of Quality at Allakos Inc. Prior to that, his leadership spanned Quality, Regulatory, Drug Safety and Operational Excellence at Theravance Biopharma. Gary also was the Site Head of Quality at Boehringer Ingelheim’s Fremont, California facility and he worked at Genentech for 16 years in roles of increasing responsibility.

Gary graduated from UC Berkeley with a Degree in Integrative Biology and Environmental Science in 1996 and a Masters of Business Administration from St. Mary’s College in 2011. Gary serves as an adjunct professor for the Keck Institute, teaching a Master’s Level course called Pharmaceutical Quality.

Jill Denning
Jill Denning
Vice President, Clinical Development

Jill has more than 25 years of experience in clinical research at CRO, biopharma, and large pharma companies. Prior to Kinevant, Jill was most recently VP of Clinical Development at Enzyvant (Sumitovant/Altavant), where she led clinical research and operations. Prior to Enzyvant, Jill held various clinical research roles at Arbutus, Gilead, Pharmasset, and GSK. Jill was part of the team that brought the cure for Hepatitis C (Sovaldi and Harvoni) from first in human clinical studies to the market. Jill spent 10 years of her career in clinical pharmacology, beginning as Director of a Clinical Pharmacology Unit, and after, leading later-stage complex clinical programs.

Jill earned her MA in exercise physiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tim Noffke
Tim Noffke
Vice President, Program Management

Tim Noffke has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharma industry leading the global cross-functional development of biologics, biosimilars, new chemical entities, and small molecule generics across a variety of therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Kinevant, Tim was most recently Vice President, Program Management and Chief of Staff at Aptinyx, a clinical-stage biotech focused on novel therapies for neurological diseases. Before Aptinyx, Tim served in cross-functional leadership roles in R&D and Operations at Pfizer and Hospira advancing portfolio, program, and partnering priorities.

Tim earned a BS in chemical engineering from Northwestern University.

Cynthia Scott
Cynthia Scott
Senior Director, Regulatory

Cynthia Scott has more than 15 years of regulatory experience working on biologics and small molecules, in the areas of diabetes, oncology, infectious diseases, and rare diseases. Prior to joining Kinevant, Cynthia served as a regulatory consultant for over 10 years where she led cross-functional teams toward global product development goals, providing regulatory strategy and team leadership, ranging from early to late phase development.

Cynthia earned a BS from Eastern Nazarene College and an MS in Drug Regulatory Affairs and Health Policy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

Frances Seput Dingle
Frances Seput Dingle
Senior Director, Data Management

Frances Seput Dingle has more than 25 years of experience in clinical data management. Before Kinevant, she was most recently a Senior Director of Clinical Data Management at Exelixis, leading the data management team for its Phase I-III oncology studies. Prior to Exelixis, Frances held various positions in the clinical data management function at CymaBay Therapeutics, Clovis Oncology, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Genentech and Hoffmann La Roche.

Frances earned a BS in Chemistry, Food, and Nutrition from Rutgers University-Douglass College.

Rayne Rodgers
Rayne Rodgers
Senior Director, Patient Advocacy

Rayne has over eleven years of experience in patient advocacy, clinical trial recruitment, data science innovation, and program management.  Prior to Kinevant, Rayne worked with the Muscular Dystrophy Association as the Vice President of MOVR – a unified, national patient data hub for neuromuscular diseases – facilitating research initiatives with pharmaceutical and academic partners.  Before MDA, Rayne led global patient recruitment and advocacy efforts at miRagen Therapeutics across multiple rare hematological malignancies as the Director of Medical and Patient Affairs.  Rayne was also a Program Manager at Takeda where she launched a novel, systematic study of exceptional drug responders to oncology treatments, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School.

Rayne earned a BS in Finance from the University of Florida and an MPH from Emory University.

Laura Hathaway
Laura Hathaway
Controller

Laura Hathaway has close to 20 years of experience in the accounting field. After starting her career in public accounting at Deloitte for 5 years, Laura held roles of increasing responsibility in the retail and biotech industries. Laura is a licensed CPA and earned a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.

Board of Directors

Frank Torti, MD
Roivant Vant Chair

Frank Torti serves as Vant Chair at Roivant Sciences and is responsible for the operating companies in the Roivant Pharma family. He previously served as Vant Investment Chair, where he oversaw a group of companies responsible for the development of thirty-five investigational drugs in eleven therapeutic areas and over fifty clinical trials, including four successful Phase 3 trials. Dr. Torti joined Roivant in 2018 from New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a leading venture capital firm where he served as partner. Prior to joining NEA in 2007, Dr. Torti was a researcher at the Duke University Center for Clinical & Genetic Economics.

Dr. Torti received his M.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Bill Gerhart
Chief Executive Officer

Bill Gerhart has more than 20 years of experience building high-performance execution teams to develop new therapeutics for serious diseases. Prior to joining Kinevant in 2021, he was the CEO of Respivant/Patara Pharma, Elevation Pharma, and Mpex Pharma which focused on developing new medicines for pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cystic fibrosis, respectively. In addition to his biotech activities, Bill serves as the Chair of Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute’s Board of Trustees, a non-profit medical research institute focused on basic and translational research in cancer, neurodegeneration, infectious, and inflammatory diseases.

Bill earned a BA from Baylor University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Eric Venker, MD, PharmD
Roivant President and Chief Operating Officer

Eric Venker serves as President and Chief Operating Officer of Roivant Sciences. Dr. Venker first joined Roivant in 2014 and has since served in various roles of increasing responsibility, including Chief of Staff to the CEO. Prior to joining Roivant, Dr. Venker was a physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center, where he trained in internal medicine. Earlier in his career, Eric was a Clinical Pharmacist at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Dr. Venker received his Pharm.D. from St. Louis College of Pharmacy and his M.D. from Yale School of Medicine.