Management Team

Michael Gilman, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Michael is CEO of Arrakis. In addition, Mike currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Novartis Venture Fund, Obsidian Therapeutics, and Scholar Rock and on the Scientific Advisory Board of FutuRx. Previously, Mike was Chief Executive Officer of Obsidian Therapeutics, a venture-funded company focused on applying synthetic biology to gene and cell therapies. Prior to Obsidian, Mike was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Padlock Therapeutics, a venture-funded company focused on autoimmune disease, acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2016. From 2012-2013, Mike served as Senior Vice President, Early-Stage Pipeline, at Biogen Idec, with responsibility for managing the company’s development programs through clinical proof-of-concept. He joined Biogen Idec in March 2012 following its acquisition of Stromedix, a venture-funded company focused on fibrosis and organ failure, where he was Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to founding Stromedix in 2006, Mike served as Executive Vice President, Research at Biogen Idec, with responsibility for the company’s discovery research activities in Cambridge and San Diego. From 1994 to 1999, Mike was at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. From 1986 to 1994, Mike was on the scientific staff of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, where his research focused on mechanisms of signal transduction and gene regulation. Mike was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from University of California, Berkeley, and a SB in Life Sciences from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jennifer C. Petter, PhD, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer

Jennifer Petter, Ph.D., is a Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Arrakis Therapeutics. An experienced drug hunter, scientist, and life science executive, Dr. Petter’s research has spanned different fields over the years, with a current focus on RNA at Arrakis. She is the author or co-author on over 50 papers and over 50 patents and/or patent applications. Prior to creating Arrakis, Dr. Petter was Vice President of Chemistry at Celgene. She joined Celgene after the acquisition of Avila Therapeutics, a startup, in 2012. She has also held roles at Mersana Therapeutics, Biogen, and the Sandoz Research Institute (now a part of Novartis). She is a member of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), the Society of Neuro-Oncology, and the RNA Society and an associate member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Dr. Petter serves on the scientific advisory boards for Cygnal Therapeutics and PIC Therapeutics, and on the boards of directors for OUTBio and Theon Therapeutics. Dr. Petter received her bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and her Ph.D. from Duke University. She completed her post-doctorate research at Columbia University.

James Mutamba, PhD, Chief Business Officer

Dr. Mutamba leads corporate strategy, business development, investor relations and finance at Arrakis. He has broad experience in company formation, strategy and growth in the biotech and life sciences industry.

Prior to joining Arrakis, Dr. Mutamba was Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Pyxis Oncology (Nasdaq: PYXS) where he was responsible for leading strategy and business development for the company culminating in a worldwide licensing agreement with Pfizer and financing transactions, including the company’s Series B financing and subsequent initial public offering. Prior to Pyxis Oncology, Dr. Mutamba was a Principal at Longwood Fund, where he built and supported portfolio companies. Previously, he was a Senior Associate at PureTech Health where he was a co-founder of Commense, Inc., and was a co-founder and inventor of Glyph Biosciences and Calix Biopharma (now Orasome). Earlier in his career, Dr. Mutamba was a strategy consultant and played multiple roles in research and product development at Pathogenica, Inc., a biotech startup out of Harvard University. He received his BS in Biochemistry from University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and earned his PhD from MIT in the Department of Biological Engineering and completed coursework at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Heather Lounsbury, Sr. Vice President, Program & Alliance Management and Operations

Ms. Lounsbury is Senior Vice President, Program & Alliance Management and Operations of Arrakis Therapeutics. Heather is a proven leader with over 20 years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Previously Heather served as the Executive Director of Strategy & Operations at Celgene Corporation following the acquisition of Avila Therapeutics, Inc. by Celgene in 2012. Heather was the Operational Site Head for Celgene’s team in Cambridge and led the integration efforts of first Avila and later Quanticel, into the global Celgene R&D organization. At Avila, Heather was the head of Project & Alliance Management, where she was responsible for a dynamic portfolio of programs including Avila’s clinical programs and strategic alliances with Clovis Oncology, Sanofi, and with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Prior to joining Avila in 2008, Heather was Director, Project Leadership at Praecis Pharmaceuticals until the acquisition of Praecis by GSK. From 1995-2003 Heather held positions of increasing responsibility at UCB Pharma, ranging from bench scientist to research operations to Development Project Leadership. Heather is a graduate of Colby College.

Kathleen McGinness, PhD, Vice President, Platform Biology

Dr. McGinness is Vice President, Platform Biology for Arrakis. She is an established leader with a proven record of innovation and success developing novel therapeutic platforms and driving early drug discovery programs towards clinical development across a broad range of therapeutic modalities and disease areas. Previously, she served as Senior Director, Platform Technologies at Unum Therapeutics where she led teams responsible for driving platform development, drug discovery, and process and analytical development. While at Unum, she contributed to regulatory submissions for several engineered T-cell therapies in oncology and drove the development and evolution of the cellular engineering platform. Prior to that, she was Director, In Vitro pharmacology at the Broad Institute in a role focused on target validation and therapeutic discovery leveraging genetic data in psychiatric disease. Prior to the Broad Institute, Kathleen worked in roles with increasing responsibilities at Archemix Corp, and subsequently Baxter Healthcare following the acquisition of Archemix’ assets in hemophilia. In these roles, she led teams that drove the discovery, characterization, and optimization of nucleic acid aptamer therapeutics, with a focus on the treatment of hematologic disease, and supported the clinical development of an aptamer therapeutic for the treatment of hemophilia. She has over fifteen years of experience in the biotech industry and has been working with RNA for three decades. Dr. McGinness holds bachelor’s degrees in both chemistry and psychology from the University of Maryland, a PhD in chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute, and completed postdoctoral studies in the department of biology at MIT.

Domi Stickens, PhD, Vice President, Discovery and Translational Sciences

Domi is Vice President of Discovery and Translational Sciences at Arrakis Therapeutics. Domi has 20 years of drug discovery and translational research experience across multiple therapeutic areas in both large pharma and small biotechs. Prior to joining Arrakis, Domi was Head of Translational Sciences at Mitobridge, which was acquired by Astellas after initiation of several clinical stage programs. Previously, Domi was at Merck, where he held increasing roles of responsibility, leading programs from early discovery to clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas. His drug discovery experience includes therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases and inflammation, immuno-oncology, sarcopenia, urology and hematological disorders. Domi initiated his career in healthcare during his academic research, which focused on rare diseases, principally disorders of dysregulated bone development. Connecting with patients and patient advocacy groups catalyzed a long-term passion and career commitment to the advancement of treatments for diseases with a high unmet medical need. Domi received his BS degree in Biology from Antwerp University, Belgium and his PhD in developmental genetics from UTSW Medical Center, Dallas (TX). After his thesis research, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Zena Werb at UCSF in San Francisco, CA.