Leadership
Our leadership team is a highly successful and uniquely experienced group of clinicians, scientists, corporate executives, and investment professionals.
Our focus: deliver novel antiviral medicines to the right people at the right time, to significantly reduce morbidity, mortality, and costs associated with viral infections among vulnerable populations.
Altesa’s world-class scientific founders have already developed medicines that have saved – and are continuing to save – countless lives. Specifically, Altesa’s founders have invented emtricitabine (Emtriva®), which combats HIV/AIDS, and molnupiravir (Lagevrio®), which prevents hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Altesa’s clinical, regulatory, and scientific teams also have helped develop and market medicines such as brincidofovir (Tembexa®) to treat smallpox, and enfuvirtide (Fuzeon®), the first HIV fusion inhibitor to treat people living with HIV/AIDS.
Management Team
Brett P. Giroir, MD
Chief Executive Officer
- Former US Assistant Secretary for Health and Admiral, US Public Health Service
- Former Acting FDA Commissioner
- Inaugural CEO, ViraCyte (now AlloVir)
John M. Clerici, JD
President and Chief Operating Officer
- Founder, Tiber Creek Partners LLC, Raised over $6B in Non- Dilutive Capital
- Former Partner & Life Sciences Chair, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
- Former Board Member, Aeolus Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Katie Laessig, MD
Chief Medical and Regulatory Officer
- Former Deputy Director, Division of Anti-infective Products, FDA
- Former VP Therapeutic Strategy, IQVIA
- Board Certified in Infectious Diseases
Andy Drechsler
Chief Financial Officer
- Former CFO, Provention Bio and VaxInnate Corp.
- Over 25 years of financial and operational leadership experience in life sciences companies
Melissa Allaband
VP Operations and Program Management
- Former VP Operations, Antios Therapeutics
- 20+ years experience in pharmaceutical operations and manufacturing
Laura K. Smart, BA, MA
VP Corporate
Affairs
- Former Principal and Co-founder, Tiber Creek Partners, LLC
- Former Policy Advisor, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
Alan Parr, PharmD, PhD
VP Manufacturing
(Acting)
- Former Vice President of Biopharmaceutics, GlaxoSmithKline
Erica Bitten, MHA, SPHR
VP Human Resources
(Acting)
- Former Program Director, Human Resources, Emory Institute for Drug Development
- 15 years Experience in Human Resources and Corporate Culture
Katherine Squires, PhD
VP, Preclinical and Translational
Science
- Doctorate in Molecular Pharmacology, Emory University
- Former Director of R&D at Antios Therapeutics
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Seth Rudnick, MD
Altesa
Co-Founder
- Chairman, DRIVE Advisory Board
- Former Canaan Partners, General Partner
- Former CytoTherapeutics, CEO & Chairman
- Forbes Midas List: top deal makers in biotechnology (named twice)
Brett P. Giroir, MD
CEO
NOT TITLE
- Former US Assistant Secretary for Health and Admiral, US Public Health Service
- Former Acting FDA Commissioner
- Inaugural CEO, ViraCyte (now AlloVir)
Moncef Slaoui, PhD
Board
Member
- Former chair of global vaccines for GlaxoSmithKline
- Previously served on Moderna’s board of directors
- Led U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed during the COVID-19 pandemic
Ittai Harel, BSc, MSc
Managing General Partner Pitango
- Former Director of Corporate Development at Nektar Therapeutics
- Previous management roles with IDEXX Laboratories and IDGene Pharmaceuticals.
Nick Williams
Medicxi, Partner
- Creating and investing in their therapeutic companies across of full spectrum of development
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
George R. Painter, PhD
Altesa Co-Founder and Chair
- Professor, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine
- CEO, Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory and Executive Directory, Emory Institute for Drug Development
- Decades of experience in discovery and development of drugs; inventor of Molnupiravir
James F. Donohue, MD
No Title
- Former Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Recipient of the “Breathing for Life Award” from the American Thoracic Society, the highest honor given for philanthropy, scientific achievement and commitment to mentorship
- Has led trials for the most commonly used inhaled therapies for COPD and asthma
Gary Ferguson, MD
No Title
- Clinical Professor of Medicine, Michigan State University
- Director Emeritus, Pulmonary Research Institute of Southeast Michigan
- Former Director of the Emphysema/COPD program, National Jewish Medical Center
Dennis C. Liotta, PhD
Altesa Co-Founder
- Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor, Department of Chemistry, Emory University
- Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine
- Co-founder, Pharmasset
- Co-founder, DRIVE and Emory Institute for Drug Development
- Co-inventor emtricitabine and lamivudine
MeiLan K. Han, MD, MS
No Title
- Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Michigan
- Member, Scientific Advisory Committees for the COPD Foundation and the American Lung Association
- Member of the Global Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) scientific committee
Richard Whitley, MD
No Title
- Professor of Microbiology, Medicine and Neurosurgery, University of Alabama, Birmingham
- Past President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
- Inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Clinical Research Scholar and Educator in Residence at the NIH Clinical Center.
- Recipient of the 2020 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases John P. Utz Leadership Award
Our
Partners / Collaborators
Altesa has an innovative relationship with Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE),formed by Emory University to discover and advance new medicines against viral infections. DRIVE is both a key scientific collaborator and a founding shareholder of Altesa.
George R. Painter, PhD, and Dennis C. Liotta, PhD are Altesa scientific co-founders and serve on the Scientific Advisory Board. Drs. Painter and Liotta were instrumental, respectively, in the discovery and successful commercialization of molnupiravir, which treats the virus causing COVID-19, and emtricitabine, which is one of the most widely used medicines for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
The unprecedented partnership agreement between Altesa and DRIVE led to the licensing of a late-stage preclinical, antiviral drug (ALT-2023) in January 2022. ALT-2023 is a broad-spectrum nucleoside analog that is active against most enteroviruses and flaviviruses, including rhinovirus and hepatitis C. Altesa has a unique, preferred relationship with DRIVE/Emory, giving Altesa exclusive access to up to five additional DRIVE molecules to combat other viral respiratory diseases.
