Scientific Advisory Board

Joy A. Cavagnaro is the President and Founder of Access BIO, where she consults globally on science-based preclinical development strategies. She has over 40 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, and has served at the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) and was appointed to Senior Biomedical Research Service. Dr. Cavagnaro was also the past Chair of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS), President of the National Capital Area Chapter of the Society of Toxicology (SOT), and recipient of the Society’s 2019 Arnold J. Lehman Award. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by post-graduate work at Duke University and Boston University Medical Centers.

Ben Kleinstiver is an Associate Professor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. His laboratory is focused on developing and applying protein engineering methods to improve genome editing technologies. He received his Ph.D in Biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario, and completed his postdoctoral studies at MGH and HMS. The major goals of the research in his laboratory are to address limitations of existing technologies, to develop new capabilities that will help solve important research questions in the genome editing field, all with the hope of providing safe and effective treatments for patients.

Rahul Kohli obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard, where he completed his Ph.D. studies in Biochemistry with Dr. Christopher T. Walsh. He carried out his clinical infectious diseases training at Johns Hopkins University where he also completed post-doctoral studies under Dr. James Stivers. Dr. Kohli joined the faculty at Penn in 2010 in a role bridging the Department of Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. The chief objective of his research group has been to probe DNA modifying enzymes and using approaches rooted in enzymology and chemical biology. The enzymes targeted by his group’s studies catalyze the purposeful introduction of mutations or in the chemical modification of nucleobases, and the processes of interest are central to host-pathogen interactions or to epigenetics. Dr. Kohli’s work has been recognized through support from the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation, Rita Allen Foundation and an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, among others. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigators and was the 2020 recipient of the American Chemical Society Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry.

Vic Myer, Ph.D. is a seasoned scientific leader with more than 25 years of research and development experience. A former CSO and CTO, he currently advises by sitting on two Boards of Directors, four Scientific Advisory Boards, is an advisor to the NIH SCGE, and is an advisor to Atlas Venture. His most recent role was President and Chief Scientific Officer at Chroma Medicine where he helped build that epi-genetic editing company from concept to successful proof of concept in NHPs with a clear path to the clinic. Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer of Editas Medicine where he led the genome editing platform, CMC and chemistry departments. At the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, he led a large, technology focused target discovery, target validation and lead finding group in the Developmental and Molecular Pathways department for 11 years. Prior to Novartis, Vic focused on industrializing and using ‘omics technologies at Millennium, Akceli and Corning. He has B.S. from Cornell, a Ph.D. from Yale and did his post-doc at MIT/The Whitehead Institute.