Board of Directors
Benjamin F. McGraw, III, PharmD
Executive Chairman of the Board
Dr. McGraw is currently Chairman and CEO of TheraVida, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company as well as CEO of Auration Biotech, Inc., a private biotechnology company focused on using growth factors for tissue regeneration. He is on the board of Aerie Pharmaceuticals, a public ophthalmology company, and active in the SPARK program at Stanford University. Previously, Dr. McGraw was on the board of Ista Pharmaceuticals, a public ophthalmology company; Chairman and CEO of Valentis, Inc.; Corporate Vice President, Corporate Development at Allergan, Inc.; and Vice President, Development at Marion Laboratories, Inc. and Marion Merrell Dow, Inc. (now Sanofi US). Dr. McGraw received his B.S. and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he also completed a clinical practice residency.
.jpg)
Stella M. Robertson, PhD
Member of the Board
Dr. Robertson has over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and global product development, including R&D strategies, project management, clinical trials, regulatory filings, market support, and medical communication. Stella is a co-founder of Bios Partners, LP, a member of the Cowtown Angels, and the founder of Arrochar Consulting LLC, specializing in due diligence, translational research, product development and the life sciences. She volunteers with the incubator TECH Fort Worth, the UNTHSC entrepreneurial program, and as an adjunct for the Ophthalmology Department at UT Southwestern. She formerly was a Vice President in Research and Development at Alcon Laboratories, Inc., a Division of Novartis, where she grew and led organizations responsible for the ophthalmic pipeline. During her tenure at Alcon, she and her colleagues successfully developed, registered, and globally launched sixteen ophthalmic medications, and also treatments for otitis media and nasal allergy. She serves on the board of four Bios Partners portfolio companies, Azitra, Inc. (member), Trefoil Therapeutics Inc. (member), Lantern Pharma, Inc. (observer), Lung Therapeutics, Inc. (observer), and also as a member on the ARVO Foundation Board, the Cowtown Angels steering committee, and the AyuVis Research, Inc. board. Stella is an immunologist-cell biologist by training, receiving a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She was an Arthritis Foundation post-doctoral research fellow at the UTHSC in Dallas, TX and completed the executive Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.
Christy Shaffer, PhD
Member of the Board
Seasoned entrepreneur and biotech executive, Christy Shaffer, Ph.D. has over 25 years of experience in the life science industry. Following her career as a clinical scientist, international project leader and Associate Director of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Burroughs Wellcome Co., she joined Inspire Pharmaceuticals in 1995 as the first, full-time employee. She was responsible for raising over $300m for the company, including taking the company public in 2000. As President and CEO, Christy grew the company from 20 scientists to nearly 250 employees with revenues of over $100 million. Under her leadership, Inspire was named as “Best Place to Work for Scientists” by the Scientist magazine, and “Best Place to Work in North Carolina.” Christy retired from Inspire in 2010 and the company was acquired by Merck in 2011. She joined Hatteras in 2011 as the Managing Director of Hatteras Discovery and became a general partner in 2016. Christy serves as a board member of seven Hatteras portfolio companies and chairs five of them: Artizan Biosciences (Chair), Clearside Biomedical (Chair), GrayBug Vision (Chair), Trefoil Therapeutics (Chair), Kinodyn (Chair), G1 Therapeutics and Spyryx. Christy is a receptor pharmacologist by training, earning her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis TN in 1985. She received her post-doctoral training at The Chicago Medical School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Derek Yoon
Member of the Board
Mr. Yoon is Partner at Aju IB Investment, one of leading venture capital firms in Korea. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Yoon oversees Aju IB’s international investments with focus on U.S. based life science companies and early stage start-ups with novel science. Mr. Yoon also leads multiple cross-border strategic partnerships by leveraging his strong relationship with top-tier pharmaceutical companies in Korea. Currently, he is also involved in multiple overseas venture capital fundraising projects by interacting with Korean governmental institutional funds as well as various private investors in Asia. Prior to joining Aju IB Investment, he spent more than fifteen years in alternative (VC/PE) investments and healthcare corporate banking where he took numerous responsibilities in portfolio management, deal structuring, and fundraising. His previous experience includes seven years of venture investment management at Kibo Capital, the oldest venture fund in Korea; three years of portfolio management with RBS Citizens Healthcare Banking Group; and two years with venture accelerator program at Berwind Private Equity, a multi-generational family office located in Harvard, Massachusetts. Mr. Yoon earned his M.B.A. from Babson College, M.S.F from Boston College and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.
David Eveleth, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Trefoil Therapeutics, Inc.
David Eveleth is the CEO of Trefoil Therapeutics Inc. Prior to this David was a consultant to numerous biotechnology companies as well as an advisory to venture capital groups. Earlier in his career David led the Ophthalmology Medicines Development Group at Pfizer, a franchise that achieved peak revenue of $1.8 billion. He has been involved in or led seven pharmaceutical INDs, the approval of several new drugs, and the approval of two medical devices. David has experience in both biotech and pharmaceuticals with several different companies and across the neuroscience and ophthalmology therapeutic areas including roles in R&D, business development, and portfolio and decision analysis. David received his PhD in Biology from the University of California, Irvine and was a Bank of America/Giannini Foundation fellow prior to joining industry.