BOSTON & LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Talaris Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company developing transformative cell therapies that have the potential to induce durable immune tolerance across a range of indications, today announced the appointment of Sapna Srivastava, Ph.D., and Gaurav Shah, M.D., as independent representatives to its Board of Directors.
“Sapna and Gaurav are both experienced biotechnology leaders with deep industry knowledge and a track record of value creation across many different settings. Their expertise and strategic insights will be instrumental to Talaris as it executes its ongoing Phase 3 trial and pursues additional applications for its unique cell therapy,” said Francois Nader, M.D., Chairman of the Board. “On behalf of the Board, I’m pleased to welcome them to Talaris and look forward to partnering with them to advance our important mission of delivering transformative cell therapies to patients with immune and blood disorders.”
Dr. Srivastava, who will also become the Chairperson of Talaris’ Audit Committee, has almost 20 years of experience as a senior executive in the biopharmaceutical industry and on Wall Street. Most recently, she was the Chief Financial and Strategy Officer for Abide Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck). Prior to Abide, she was the Chief Financial and Strategy Officer for Intellia Therapeutics, where she played a key role in leading the company’s financial operations, private and public equity financings, strategic alliances and direction. Previously, Dr. Srivastava was a senior biotechnology analyst at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and ThinkEquity Partners, LLC. She began her career as a research associate at J.P. Morgan. She has also served as an independent board member and strategy advisor to several therapeutically focused biotechnology companies and non-profit organizations. She currently serves on the Board of SQZ Biotechnologies and Asclepix Therapeutics. Dr. Srivastava received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University and a B.Sc. from St. Xavier's College in India.
Dr. Shah is the founding Chief Executive Officer and President of Rocket Pharma, with a pipeline comprised of first-in-class gene therapies for rare and devasting inherited genetic diseases. Prior to this role, Dr. Shah was Global Program Head in the Cell & Gene Therapies Unit at Novartis, where he had strategic oversight of 12 functions and helped spearhead pivotal trials with CART-19 for patients with leukemia and lymphoma. Dr. Shah started his career in industry at ImClone/Eli Lilly as a Medical Director overseeing oncology trials focused on monoclonal antibodies. He graduated from Harvard College with a degree in behavioral neuroscience. He received his M.D. from Columbia, completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and hematology/oncology fellowship training at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
About Talaris Therapeutics
Talaris Therapeutics, Inc. is a late-clinical stage biotechnology company that is developing transformative cell therapies with the potential to eliminate the burden of chronic immunosuppression for organ transplant recipients as well as induce durable remissions in patients with severe autoimmune and immune-mediated disorders. Talaris is backed by a number of leading life sciences investors and maintains corporate offices in Boston, Mass., and its cell processing facility in Louisville, Ky. www.TalarisTx.com.
