Sumit Aggarwal
President and CEO
Sumit Aggarwal is Zikani’s President and CEO. He is leading the transformation of Zikani from an early-stage technology company to a clinical-stage rare disease and oncology focused organization. ...see moreUnder Sumit’s leadership, Zikani has concentrated its focus on demonstrating pre-clinical proof of efficacy across several disease states using its TURBO-ZM™ technology platform.
In his more than 20 years in pharmaceutical and biotechnology commercial operations, investment management, and management consulting, Sumit has been successful in transforming companies by re-invigorating innovation, growth and profitability, and raising capital for promising technology companies.
Prior to joining Zikani, he reinvigorated growth and profitability at Progenity, raised $125 million in capital, and built a novel drug delivery-based GI pipeline. He also held leadership roles in healthcare and biotechnology at Adage Capital and as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company in its healthcare practice.
Sumit has an MBA with distinction from the Johnson School, Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology with Honors in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
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In his more than 20 years in pharmaceutical and biotechnology commercial operations, investment management, and management consulting, Sumit has been successful in transforming companies by re-invigorating innovation, growth and profitability, and raising capital for promising technology companies.
Prior to joining Zikani, he reinvigorated growth and profitability at Progenity, raised $125 million in capital, and built a novel drug delivery-based GI pipeline. He also held leadership roles in healthcare and biotechnology at Adage Capital and as an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company in its healthcare practice.
Sumit has an MBA with distinction from the Johnson School, Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology with Honors in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
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Vijay Modur
Head of R&D, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer
Vijay Modur is Zikani’s Chief Scientific and Medical Officer and is leading the scientific efforts to transform medicines based on ribosomal modulation using Zikani’s proprietary TURBO-ZM™ technology platform....see more
In his more than 20 years in pharmaceutical and diagnostic roles in R&D he has successfully translated research discovery efforts into products that impacted medical practice.
Prior to joining Zikani, Dr. Modur led the venglustat rare disease program at Sanofi across multiple rare disease indications into phase 2 and phase 3 clinical development and also leading other early development programs. Prior to Sanofi, he held leadership roles in HTG Molecular, Novartis Oncology and Merck Research Labs.
Vijay obtained his MBBS from Karnatak University and his PhD from University of Utah. He was a resident in Clinical Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine where he also completed his post-doctoral fellowship.
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In his more than 20 years in pharmaceutical and diagnostic roles in R&D he has successfully translated research discovery efforts into products that impacted medical practice.
Prior to joining Zikani, Dr. Modur led the venglustat rare disease program at Sanofi across multiple rare disease indications into phase 2 and phase 3 clinical development and also leading other early development programs. Prior to Sanofi, he held leadership roles in HTG Molecular, Novartis Oncology and Merck Research Labs.
Vijay obtained his MBBS from Karnatak University and his PhD from University of Utah. He was a resident in Clinical Pathology at Washington University School of Medicine where he also completed his post-doctoral fellowship.
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Dan Geffken
Chief Financial Officer
Daniel Geffken serves as Zikani’s Chief Financial Officer, directing and advancing activities to enable investment and growth as a clinical research-based organization....see more
Daniel is a proven leader of life science companies with more than 30 years of experience steering strategy, finance and operations across all stages of the corporate life cycle. As Co-founder and Managing Director of Danforth Advisors, Daniel leads a team of consultants to provide strategic CFO advisory, accounting and operational support for clients ranging from life science start-ups to publicly traded companies with $1 billion+ market capitalizations.
Over the course of his career, Daniel has served as CFO and executive-level advisor to numerous companies and has raised nearly $2 billion in equity and debt securities for life science companies. Prior to establishing Danforth, he served as CFO of Transkaryotic Therapies, where he negotiated and closed five equity transactions totaling $600 million. Daniel has been a board member and chairman of audit and compensation committees of both public and private life science companies.
Daniel received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
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Daniel is a proven leader of life science companies with more than 30 years of experience steering strategy, finance and operations across all stages of the corporate life cycle. As Co-founder and Managing Director of Danforth Advisors, Daniel leads a team of consultants to provide strategic CFO advisory, accounting and operational support for clients ranging from life science start-ups to publicly traded companies with $1 billion+ market capitalizations.
Over the course of his career, Daniel has served as CFO and executive-level advisor to numerous companies and has raised nearly $2 billion in equity and debt securities for life science companies. Prior to establishing Danforth, he served as CFO of Transkaryotic Therapies, where he negotiated and closed five equity transactions totaling $600 million. Daniel has been a board member and chairman of audit and compensation committees of both public and private life science companies.
Daniel received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
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Roger Clark, Ph.D.
Vice President, Discovery Sciences
Roger Clark, Ph.D., is the Vice President, Discovery Sciences at Zikani Therapeutics, responsible for hit and lead optimization for our target diseases using our TURBO-ZM™ platform....see more
Roger has accumulated more than 20 years of R&D experience spanning all phases of the discovery and pre-clinical development process. He is a co-author of 15 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and a co-inventor on 10 issued patents.
Prior to joining Zikani in 2015, Roger was the Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals where he contributed to the discovery and development of four clinical compounds, including Eravacycline. As a medicinal chemist, Roger has extensive experience across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology and metabolic disorders (Bayer Pharmaceuticals) and inflammation (Critical Therapeutics).
Dr. Clark received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Michigan.
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Roger has accumulated more than 20 years of R&D experience spanning all phases of the discovery and pre-clinical development process. He is a co-author of 15 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and a co-inventor on 10 issued patents.
Prior to joining Zikani in 2015, Roger was the Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals where he contributed to the discovery and development of four clinical compounds, including Eravacycline. As a medicinal chemist, Roger has extensive experience across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology and metabolic disorders (Bayer Pharmaceuticals) and inflammation (Critical Therapeutics).
Dr. Clark received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Michigan.
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