MEET OUR BOARD

Board of Directors

MinervaX’s Board of Directors oversees the executive management and strategic direction of the company. It is comprised of experienced professionals dedicated to providing effective leadership and guidance to management and ensuring that the interests of stakeholders are represented.
Veronica Gambillara Fonck
Chair of the Board
Veronica Gambillara Fonck
Chair of the Board

Veronica has been a Partner at Pureos Bioventures since 2022. Prior to joining Pureos, she co-founded and was CEO of LimmaTech Biologics and GlycoEra AG. Veronica started her career in the MedTech field, focused on clinical R&D and international regulatory. In 2009, she moved to the vaccine company GlycoVaxyn where she held roles in clinical, regulatory, and business development, and was one of the core members responsible for building GlycoVaxyn’s success and acquisition by GSK in 2015. Veronica holds a degree in engineering and a PhD in life sciences in the field of cardiovascular disease.

Current positions: Member of Board of Directors of Memo Therapeutics and AnaCardio.

Emmanuelle Coutanceau
Board member
Emmanuelle Coutanceau
Board member

Emmanuelle is Partner in the Seed Investment team at Novo Holdings, with over 16 years’ experience as a life science venture investor. Prior to Novo Seeds, Emmanuelle was Partner at Auriga Partners and oversaw the Seed Stage Investment Programme at Omnes Capital (formerly Crédit Agricole Private Equity). Emmanuelle has a PhD in Microbiology from the Universite Paris Cite and an MSM, Medical management from ESCP Business School.

Current positions: Member of the Board of Directors of Draupnir, Corwave, Heparegenix, Refuel Bio (Chair), Coave and BiOrigin (Chair).

Sten Verland
Board member
Sten Verland
Board member

Sten is a founding partner at Sunstone Capital A/S. He has more than 30 years of experience as an international executive, entrepreneur, and venture investor in biotech companies and pre-clinical and clinical CROs. Sten holds an M.Sc. in Biology and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Copenhagen.

Current positions: Board member/CEO at Sunstone Life Science Ventures A/S (and several GPs / holding companies in the Sunstone Group), Board member at Skovoyst Production A/S and Koncenton Ikast Birkelyst A/S.

Patrik Sobocki
Board member
Patrik Sobocki
Board member

Patrik is Practice Lead Deep Tech and Senior Investment Director at Industrifonden, having joined the organisation in 2016. Previously he held leading roles at IMS Health, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca and was part of the team building, scaling and successfully selling United Health Group and IMS Health. Patrik is an Associated Professor in Health Economics and Epidemiology at the Karolinksa Institute and has published over 40 scientific articles. He has an MSc in Finance from the Stockholm School of Economics, an MA in international management from the Community of European Management Schools and a PhD in Medicine from the Karolinska Institute.

Current positions: Member of the Board at Pixelgen Technologies, EnginZyme, NuvoAir, BCB Medical, Trialbee, European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA).

Varun Gupta
Board member
Varun Gupta
Board member

Varun is Partner at Wellington Partners, where he has taken a leading role to define Wellington’s early-stage investment strategy and deal sourcing with a focus on the biopharma sector. Before joining Wellington, Varun worked as an Intern at Ysios Captial (Spain) and supported the investment team of Forbion (The Netherlands). Varun was awarded a PhD with Summa cum Laude in Neuroscience from the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) and holds an MBA from IESE Business School (Spain).

Current positions: Member of the Board at Confo, ImCheck, Dunad, Seamless and SciRhom and serves as a Board observer for TRiCares.

Kabeer Aziz
Board member
Kabeer Aziz
Board member

Kabeer is a Partner at Adjuvant Capital, a life sciences investment fund designed to accelerate the development of new technologies for the world’s most pressing public health challenges. He is based in New York. Prior to Adjuvant, Kabeer was with the Global Health Investment Fund (GHIF), where he led investments in biotech companies addressing unmet needs in infectious disease and maternal and child health. Before GHIF, Kabeer spent time at Metalmark Capital investing across the healthcare sector, as well as at Greenhill & Co., where he advised on biopharmaceutical M&A transactions. Kabeer graduated with honors from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Current positions: Member of the Board of Directors of AN2 Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ANTX), Pulmocide, and Frontier Nutrition; vice president and secretary of Adjuvant Global Health Technology Fund.

Christopher Gagliardi
Board member
Christopher Gagliardi
Board member

Christopher is a Principal at Sanofi Ventures. Prior to joining Sanofi Ventures, he was a management consultant at L.E.K. Consulting, where his work focused on corporate strategy, due diligence, commercial launch planning, and asset valuation across the pharmaceutical, biotech, R&D, and API manufacturing sectors. Prior to a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, Chris earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated with honors from Roger Williams University.

Current positions: Member of the Board of Directors of I2O Therapeutics, Sudo Bio and AvanCell Isotopes, and a Board Observer at Matchpoint, NextPoint, Avilar, Atalanta.

Bita Sehat
Board member
Bita Sehat
Board member

Bita is a Partner focusing on Ventures at Trill Impact and has more than 15 years of experience from both life science R&D and venture capital. Prior roles include Investment Director at Industrifonden, Head of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships for Battat Inc., and as a consultant at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Canadian investment fund, and Foster Rosenblatt Consulting. She holds a Master of Science in Biomedicine, a Ph.D. in molecular oncology from Karolinska Institute and has an MBA from Concordia University John Molsen School of Business. She also held post-doctoral fellowships at Karolinska Institute and McGill University.

Vincent Brichard
Board member
Vincent Brichard
Board member

Vincent is a Venture Partner within the EQT Life Sciences team. Vincent worked for LSP from 2016 until 2022, when LSP joined forces with EQT and was renamed EQT Life Sciences. Previously, Vincent was Senior Vice-President and member of the Executive Committee at GSK Biologicals. Vincent holds an M.D., specializes in oncology, has a Ph.D. from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, has been a researcher with the FNRS/NFWO and holds an exec MBA from the Harvard Business School. Vincent has more than 90 primary research publications and reviews in the fields of immuno-oncology, auto-immunity, and vaccines.

Tal Zaks
Board member
Tal Zaks
Board member

Tal is a Partner with OrbiMed. Tal was recently the Chief Medical Officer at Moderna, where he led the development of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine and other key programs. Previously, Tal held senior leadership positions in drug development at major pharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline. Tal received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the Ben Gurion University and conducted post-doctoral research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Current positions: Executive chairman of Averna (f.k.a. Exsilio); Non-executive director at Teva, iECURE and Convergent.