Yukari Y. Perrella, President, Founder, Board of Directors
Yukari is a founder of Yuma. Yukari has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare field, including operations, business development, finance and research. She led a number of license, acquisition, and financing transactions. She forged the partnership between Yuma and the Laboratory for Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration (LDDN) at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is the Principal Investigator on five peer-reviewed grants awarded to the Company. Previously, Yukari was vice president of business development of Alseres Pharmaceuticals, a public neuroscience biotechnology company. Prior to Alseres, Yukari was executive director of business development for CombinatoRx. Yukari was head of U.S. operations at Xerion Pharmaceuticals where she ran North American operations and business development; and held positions of increasing responsibilities at Hybridon, V.I. Technologies, and Imperial Bank. Yukari worked in research laboratories at Harvard School of Public Health, Children’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. Yukari holds an M.B.A. from Boston University School of Management and a B.A. in biology from Reed College.
Martin D. Williams, Executive Chairman, Founder
Martin is a founder of Yuma. Martin has more than 30 years of experience in the global biopharmaceutical business. He was president and chief executive officer of Tokai Pharmaceuticals, a venture-backed oncology company. He has closed more than $3 billion worth of corporate transactions, including numerous partnerships, M&A, and public and private financings. Previously, Martin was chief business officer at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, a leading RNAi company. Martin was chief business officer and senior vice president for commercial and business development at Synta Pharmaceuticals, with responsibility for corporate development, sales and marketing, corporate communications and medical affairs. There, he completed Synta’s IPO in 2007 and negotiated a $1 billion collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline for the company’s lead oncology product. Martin held various leadership positions and directed the development, commercialization and launch of several flagship brands for Glaxo, Hoffmann-La Roche, and Lederle/Wyeth. These brands included Glaxo’s blockbuster Zantac® and Zofran®; Hoffmann La-Roche’s Xenical®; and Lederle/Wyeth’s global anti-infective portfolio, including Zosyn®/Tazocin®. Martin holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, an M.S. from the University of Manchester, England, and a B.A. in biology from the University of Humberside in Hull, England.
Donald Corcoran, Board of Directors
Don has over 35 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience. He was president and chief executive officer of Cyteir Therapeutics, a venture-backed oncology and autoimmune company focused on DNA repair and synthetic lethality. He has established partnerships and alliances with a value over $1 billion, including $160 million in upfront/guaranteed payments and support. He has been responsible or involved in obtaining over $325 million in public and private financings for biotech companies and spinouts. Prior to Cyteir he was chief of staff and head of operations for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals (Boston) and member of the leadership team that created the antibiotic spinout, Entasis Therapeutics. Don previously served 15 years as the president and chief executive officer of MethylGene, a public biotechnology company for which he led the IPO. Prior to MethylGene, he was vice president, international operations and business development at publicly traded Hybridon, and spent over a decade at Schering Plough and Eli Lilly and Company in financial, accounting, business planning, marketing, human resources and acquisition/strategic planning positions. He has served on board of six biotech companies/research organizations, including two which became publicly traded. Don holds an M.B.A. from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and a B.A. in economics and biology from Union College.
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