Board of Directors
George Kemble, PhD
Executive Chairman of the Board
Dr. Kemble joined Sagimet Biosciences in August 2011 as its chief scientific officer and served as chief executive officer from October 2015 until October 2022, when he transitioned to the role of executive chairman. As CSO, Dr. Kemble directed Sagimet’s medicinal chemistry, research, translational and CMC groups, and worked on several programs including the lead product candidate, denifanstat. Prior to joining the company, Dr. Kemble served as the senior vice president of R&D and head of research at MedImmune, Inc., a subsidiary of Astra-Zeneca PLC. During his tenure, he was responsible for a large group of scientists dedicated to the research and development of programs across a number of therapeutic areas, including the launch of FluMist®, the first innovation in influenza vaccines in over 60 years. Dr. Kemble received a BS from the University of Santa Clara,a PhD from Stanford University and completed post-doctoral training at UCSF, where he worked on a number of different human viruses.
David Happel
Chief Executive Officer
David Happel joined Sagimet as chief executive officer in October 2022, bringing extensive industry experience, and a strong track record of developing and executing corporate business strategies, raising private and public capital, negotiating M&A transactions, scaling operations and commercializing products. He was most recently president and chief executive officer of Cognoa, a pediatric behavioral health company developing AI-based technologies for developmental and behavioral health conditions, including the first FDA-authorized diagnostic aid, Canvas Dx, for autism. Mr. Happel was previously CEO of Chrono Therapeutics and has held several executive and commercial positions at Horizon Therapeutics, Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Dynavax Technologies and Chiron. Mr. Happel has a BA in chemistry from Indiana University and an MBA from Indiana State University.
Anne Phillips, MD
Dr. Phillips has over 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. She joins Sagimet’s board following an 11 year tenure as corporate and senior vice president of clinical, medical, and regulatory affairs at Novo Nordisk where she led and oversaw over a dozen FDA approvals of both drugs and biologics while securing new indications for approved medicines in diabetes, obesity, hemophilia, and growth disorders. Before joining Novo, she held a variety of positions including global vice president of the Metabolic Clinical Cardiovascular Metabolic Medicines Development Centre, vice president and clinical head of the Center of Excellence in External Drug Discovery, and vice president and medicine development leader of Promacta and Avodart at Glaxo over a period of 12 years. Dr. Phillips currently serves on the boards of Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc (NASDAQ: BRNS) and Travena Corporation (NASDAQ: TRVN). Previously, she served on the board of directors for Carmot Therapeutics until its acquisition by Roche in December 2023, AMAG Pharmaceuticals, and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). She earned her BSc (Hons) from the University of Western Ontario and MD from the University of Toronto where she trained as a specialist in Internal Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
Beth Seidenberg, MD
Dr. Seidenberg is a general partner at Kleiner Perkins, a leading venture capital firm and founding managing director of Westlake Village BioPartners. A longtime life sciences investor, she has incubated-invested in greater than 44 biotech companies.
Dr. Seidenberg has a demonstrated ability to identify and accelerate medically meaningful molecules through development. Her expertise is grounded in her significant senior level industry experience with leadership roles at Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck Research Laboratories. Most recently, at Amgen, Dr. Seidenberg was chief medical officer and head of global development.
Dr. Seidenberg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and anthropology from Barnard College and attended medical school at the University of Miami School of Medicine. She completed her medical residency at Johns Hopkins University and the George Washington University, and Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.
Elizabeth Grammer, Esq
Ms. Grammer joined our board of directors in April 2021. She currently serves as the chief legal and administrative officer for Ardelyx, Inc., which she joined in 2012. Ms. Grammer brings over 25 years of experience advising privately held and publicly traded life sciences companies at all stages of corporate development, and she is respected as a credible voice in strategic decision making and establishing governance boundaries. Prior to joining Ardelyx, Ms. Grammer served as vice president and general counsel of Trine Pharmaceuticals and as an independent general counsel of GelTex Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Genzyme Corporation. Liz started her career in the law firms of Ware & Freidenrich in Palo Alto, Calif., and Palmer & Dodge in Boston, Mass., in both cases, focusing her work on emerging life sciences companies. Ms. Grammer received her JD from Stanford Law School and her BA from Boston University. Ms. Grammer is also a member of the board of directors of the California Life Sciences Association.
Jennifer Jarrett
Ms. Jarrett has served as chief operating officer of Arcus Biosciences for the last four years where she is responsible for finance, IR/communications, corporate development /alliance management and commercial/medical affairs. She also led the “opt-ins” for three Arcus assets by Gilead. Prior to that position, she was vice president of corporate development and capital markets for Uber where she was heavily involved in its initial public offering (IPO) and concurrent private placement as well as multiple corporate development transactions. From 2017-2019, she held both the chief financial officer and chief operating officer roles at Arcus where she oversaw an oversubscribed Series C round of financing and a successful IPO. Ms. Jarrett has held multiple financial executive and investment banking roles for Medivation, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenerette, Merrill Lynch, and Kidder, and Peabody & Co/Painewebber. Ms. Jarrett currently serves on the board of Arcus Biosciences (NYSE:RCUS), LifeMine Therapeutics, Zura Bio Ltd (NASDAQ: ZURA), Syndax Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SNDX), and the non-profit organization SMART. She has previously served on the board of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Audentes Therapeutics, and Radius Health. Ms. Jarrett earned a BA in economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University.
Merdad Parsey, MD, PhD
Dr. Parsey joined Sagimet Biosciences as president, chief executive officer and board director in September 2010 and stepped down from the role of president and chief executive officer in 2015. He is currently Chief Medical Officer at Gilead Sciences, Inc. Previously, Dr. Parsey held positions at Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, Sepracor, Regeneron and Merck, Inc. He has worked on multiple development and post-marketing programs from initial human trials to NDA/BLA submissions in respiratory, inflammation, virology, neurology, ophthalmology and gastrointestinal diseases. In addition to his work in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, Dr. Parsey was the director of critical care medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. He completed his MD and PhD at the University of Maryland, his residency in internal medicine at Stanford University and his fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado.
Paul Hoelscher
Mr. Hoelscher served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Horizon Therapeutics from 2014 to 2022, prior to the company’s acquisition by Amgen. Prior to joining Horizon, Mr. Hoelscher held multiple financial executive roles in various consumer products, retail and business services companies, as well as working in the audit practice of KPMG LLP. Mr. Hoelscher currently serves on the board and is audit committee chair of Reneo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RPHM). From 2007-2022 he served on the board of trustees of the Illinois Region of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, including two terms as board chair. Mr. Hoelscher earned a B.S. in accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a certified public accountant.
Tim Walbert
Mr. Walbert has nearly 30 years of biotechnology and industry experience. He joins Sagimet’s board following a 15-year tenure as president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board at Horizon Therapeutics, which he built from inception to a leading rare disease company. In 2023, Amgen acquired Horizon for $28 billion, and Mr. Walbert currently serves as a senior advisor to Amgen. Before joining Horizon, he was president, chief executive officer and director of IDM Pharma Inc., a public biotechnology company, which was acquired by Takeda America Holdings Inc. in June 2009. Before IDM, Mr. Walbert served as executive vice president, commercial operations at NeoPharm Inc., a public biotechnology company. From 2001 to 2005, he was divisional vice president and general manager, immunology, at Abbott, now AbbVie, leading the global development and launch of the multi-indication biologic HUMIRA, and served as divisional vice president, global cardiovascular strategy. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Walbert served as director, CELEBREX North America, and arthritis team leader, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Canada, at G.D. Searle & Company. From 1991 to 1998, he also held sales and marketing roles with increasing responsibility at G.D. Searle, Merck & Co. Inc. and Wyeth. Mr. Walbert currently serves on the boards of Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MIRM), Century Therapeutics (NASDAQ: IPSC), COUR Pharmaceuticals, Odyssey Therapeutics, Inc. and Latigo Biotherapeutics. Previously, he served on the board of directors for Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AUPH), Exicure (NASDAQ: XCUR), Assertio (NASDAQ: ASRT), Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp., which was acquired by Horizon Therapeutics in 2016, XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ: XOMA), and Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was acquired by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals in 2018.
