Meet the team behind our science

Uyen Phan, PhD, serves as the Head of Preclinical Development at Invenra, responsible for providing scientific leadership to define and execute preclinical development strategy from candidate selection through IND-enabling studies. Uyen brings in over 20 years of research experience in discovery and early development of biologics. Prior to joining Invenra, Uyen held the position of senior principal scientist in Discovery Oncology at Merck, and most recently, senior director at Foundery Innovations. Uyen received her PhD in Immunobiology from Yale University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

Sherry Boozer-Hobbs is the Senior Director of Operations for Invenra. Prior to Invenra, Sherry an R&D scientist for 7 years at Athersys working on regenerative medicine including tri-lineage differentiation and GMP compliant expansion of Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells, protein chemistry, and exploratory molecular biology. Before Athersys, Sherry was Invitrogen/Life Technologies (ThermoFisher) in a range of operations roles including manufacturing, manufacturing sciences, supplier quality, technical sourcing engineering, project management, process development, kaizen facilitation, and ISO 9001/13485 auditing and validation. Sherry holds a BS is Genetic Engineering from Cedar Crest College.

Nicholas Marshall, PhD, adds a diverse background in protein biochemistry, biophysical characterization, protein engineering, and process development to Invenra. As the leader of the Protein Sciences group, Nick oversees production and characterization of R&D phase molecules, including biophysical characterization and developability assessments of lead molecules. Nick brings more than 10 years of experience in therapeutic protein discovery and drug development. Prior to joining Invenra, Nick worked in Process Chemistry Research and Development at Merck (MSD), where he used directed evolution and high throughput methods to develop enzymes needed for biocatalytic synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Before Merck, Nick worked with Everett Stone and George Georgiou at the University of Texas at Austin to discover therapeutic enzymes for immune oncology. Nick holds a PhD in Chemical Biology from the University of Illinois where he studied electron transfer in proteins.

Dileep Pulukkunat, PhD, serves as Senior Director of Antibody Discovery at Invenra. In his current role he leads a team of scientists responsible for designing and executing antibody discovery campaigns to deliver cutting-edge, mutispecific advanced antibody therapeutics by employing various in vitro antibody display technologies and complex molecular biology workflows. Dileep brings in over 20 years of research experience in molecular biology and protein biochemistry. Prior to joining Invenra, Dileep was a senior scientist at Promega Corp. where he was part of the Proteomics team developing and commercializing a bioluminescence-based technology platform for studying protein-protein interactions in live cells. Dileep received his PhD in Biochemistry from The Ohio State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Biophysics from Columbia University.

Heather Preston, MD, is an experienced healthcare venture capitalist and company builder with more than 30 years of industry experience. She currently serves as a Senior Advisor to TPG Biotech and sits on the Boards of Oxford Biomedica (OXB; LSE), Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT; LSE), Aligos Therapeutics (ALGS; Nasdaq), and Azura Ophthalmics. Previously, she was a Managing Partner of Pivotal Bioventures and a Firm Partner and Managing Director of TPG Biotech.

Dr. Preston also held investing roles at JP Morgan Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Before her investing career, she spent five years at McKinsey & Co., where she led the pharmaceutical and medical products consulting practice.

Dr. Preston holds an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of London and a medical degree from the University of Oxford. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, and trained in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and subspecialized in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UCSF. During her academic medical career, she received a Fulbright Scholarship, a Fulbright Cancer Research Scholarship, a Harlech Scholarship, and a Science and Engineering Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award.

William Hinshaw brings over 30 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He currently serves as CEO of Fore Biotherapeutics, a precision oncology company. His prior roles include President and CEO of Axcella Therapeutics, where he spearheaded the development of novel therapies for complex diseases. At Novartis, he led the U.S. Oncology business, overseeing flagship products such as Tasigna®, Gleevec®, and Kymriah®, and played a key role in integrating the GSK oncology portfolio. He also led the oncology business in 33 European countries and global infectious disease and transplant business as well as all Novartis businesses across 90 countries. Mr. Hinshaw began his career at Schering-Plough Corporation in various commercial roles, eventually serving as Head of U.S. Oncology. He holds a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin.

Dennis Cho is a seasoned business attorney with over three decades of professional experience and a proven track record of agile strategic guidance and practical problem solving, particularly in the area of transactions. He is Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, for Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ: TWST), where he has served since 2021.

He has also held various legal and leadership roles throughout his career, within the life sciences industry since 2009 at companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb (previously Celgene, and previously Abraxis BioScience), CytomX Therapeutics, Seagen, and as general counsel from 2000-09 for public and private companies in the healthcare, entertainment, and internet industries. Prior to that, he received expert training at the law firms of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and O'Melveny & Myers. He earned his J.D. (1995) and a B.A. in Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics (1992) from University of California, Berkeley.

Roland Green, PhD, is a Co-Founder of Invenra and currently serves as the company’s CEO and Chairman. He brings a broad range of life science and technology development leadership experience to the company, with particular expertise in advancing technologies from the lab bench to commercial development and leading interdisciplinary teams. Prior to founding Invenra, Roland co-founded NimbleGen Systems, a company formed to commercialize the Maskless Array Synthesizer (MAS) technology that Roland co-invented as his PhD thesis project. Roland served in a variety of positions at NimbleGen, including Chief Technology Officer, VP of Research & Development, and Head of Manufacturing, Engineering, and Chemistry; the company was ultimately sold to Roche for $273M in 2007, having developed world-leading high-density, long oligo microarrays using photochemical DNA synthesis on glass slides. Roland received his BS in Biological Sciences from Colorado State University, holds a PhD in Environmental Toxicology from the University of Wisconsin, is inventor on 13 patents, and has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed papers.