Sathgen Therapeutics, LLC.

Dr. Sendurai Mani, PhD

Chief Scientific Advisor

Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine | Dean's Chair of Translational Oncology, Brown University | Director, Stem Cell Center

After earning his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, Dr. Mani joined the Weinberg lab at the Whitehead Institute at MIT in 2009. His research helped define how epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) drives metastasis, including the landmark demonstration that EMT can confer stem-cell–like properties on cancer cells - work cited over 9,500 times and foundational to our understanding of tumor plasticity and metastatic spread. Dr. Mani’s honors include the V Scholar and American Cancer Society Research Scholar awards. He is an elected member of Sigma Xi and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is also a co-founder of Sathgen Therapeutics (a division of Godavari Biorefineries) and co-founder of Iylon Precision Oncology.

Dr. Padmaja Ganapathy, PhD, MBA

Chief Executive Officer

PhD in Cancer Biology | MBA in Finance

Dr. Ganapathy has worked in pharma in various roles spanning competitive intelligence, clinical benchmarking and informatics modelling having worked at major pharma such as J&J, Novartis and Covance. She has also been involved in oncology research during her PhD as well as post doctoral fellowships at the Rockefeller University and at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. She holds a PhD in Cancer Biology and an MBA in finance. She previously ran the US operations for Godavari Biorefineries. Now, with a background across several major pharmaceutical companies in varied roles, she brings a rare bird's-eye view of R&D, clinical development, and portfolio strategy to Sathgen USA.

Dr. Massimo Christofinali, MD

Professor of Medicine & Director of Breast Medical Oncology | Division of Hematology/Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine | Standing Member, Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee

Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli is Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of Translational Research and Precision Medicine at the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University in Chicago. He is President of the International Society of Liquid Biopsy (ISLB) and the Inflammatory Breast cancer International Consortium (IBC-IC). He graduated from the University La Sapienza in Italy, and then moved to the US his Internal Medicine at the Cabrini Medical Center and his fellowship training at the University of Texas/MD Anderson Cancer Center. He joined the faculty at the same Institution making seminal contribution to breast cancer research. Subsequently moving to Fox Chase Cancer Center serving as Chairman of Medical Oncology. Dr. Cristofanilli is an expert in the research and management of hormone-receptor positive metastatic breast cancer and IBC. He is a pioneer in liquid biopsy including CTCs and ctDNA research and clinical applications. Dr. Cristofanilli is known for contributions in several area of clinical and translational research including: the detection of and molecular characterization of micrometastatic disease; the research and treatment of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), the most aggressive and deadly form of breast cancer and drug development, particularly in HR+ MBC with focus on molecularly targeted therapies.

Dr. Razelle Kurzrock, MD

Chair of Precision Oncology, MCW Cancer Center | Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine | Professor of Medicine, UC San Diego | Director, Rare Tumor Clinic, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center

Dr. Razelle Kurzrock is a world-renowned leader in Precision Medicine and a physician-scientist leading the development of novel therapeutics in the field of oncology. She is known for developing and leading one of the unique Phase 1 clinical trial programs at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center where the central theme of the program was personalized medicine strategy, embodied in a protocol called PREDICT (Profile-Related Evidence Determining Individualized Cancer Therapy). She is one of the pioneer trialists in WINTHER trial focusing on precision medicine as the upcoming modality of treatment. ““Precision medicine focuses on DNA abnormalities, but not all tumors have tractable genomic alterations. The WINTHER trial (NCT01856296) navigated patients to therapy on the basis of fresh biopsy-derived DNA sequencing (arm A; 236 gene panel) or RNA expression (arm B; comparing tumor to normal). The study showed that genomic and transcriptomic profiling are both useful for improving therapy recommendations and patient outcome and expands personalized cancer treatment”. At Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, Dr. Kurzrock’s charge is broad, including not just growing and innovating the Center’s clinical trials program, but also heading its newly established Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy. As a physician-scientist, she brings extraordinary expertise and experience in clinical research, business operations, regulatory operations, financial and budget planning, and administrative oversight, in addition to her world-recognized work in translational science and precision medicine.