Our team, advisors, and investment committee members represent the world’s leading expertise across all aspects of lupus therapy development — including research, clinical medicine, drug development, and commercialization — combined with tenured experience in women’s health, autoimmunity, biotech, pharma, philanthropy, and finance.
Lupus Ventures offers an in-semester Fellowship program for students interested in life sciences venture capital. Current and past Fellows have included students from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, The London Business School, and the Scripps Research Institute. Our Fellows have had prior work experience in life sciences consulting, venture capital, and other related disciplines.
Applications are currently closed until Fall 2026.
Additional member information coming soon
Ira Akselrad is the President of The Johnson Company, Inc, a position he has held for over 20 years. To lead this multi-generational asset management firm, Ira oversees strategic planning including investments, financial reporting, estate / trust planning and administration, tax reporting and planning and foundation administration. Prior to joining the Company, Ira was an attorney for 22 years at the New York law firm, Proskauer Rose LLP. He became Partner in 1990, and in 1999, was elected to serve on the firm’s Management Committee. As Partner, Ira was principally devoted to federal income tax law, and he was a key member of the firm’s real estate and sports practices.
Ira also lends his talents to legal and charitable organizations. He is Chair of the Board of the Lupus Research Alliance, and is President of the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation, a private charitable foundation established by the late Mrs. Johnson’s estate. Ira is also a member of the board of trustees for The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Ira resides in New York City and West Palm Beach with his wife, Susan. They have two adult children, Cara and Mitchell, and four delightful grandchildren.
Dr. Andrew Chan is presently Venture Partner at the Column Group. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Research–Biology at Genentech, Inc., where he oversaw biological research across oncology, immunology, regenerative medicine, neuroscience, and infectious diseases for more than a decade and established himself as a leader in target discovery, drug discovery, and precision medicine. Dr. Chan is the author of more than 100 research papers and is a co inventor of ocrelizumab (Ocrevus™), the first FDA approved B cell–directed therapy for both relapsing and progressive multiple sclerosis. His research focuses on immune mechanisms that protect against pathogens while also driving autoimmune and inflammatory disease, and he has played a central role in bridging academia, patient advocacy, and industry. Dr. Chan serves in numerous leadership roles across academic and nonprofit institutions, received his BA and MS from Northwestern University and his MD and PhD from Washington University, completed medical training at Barnes Hospital and UCSF, joined the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine, and is currently Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF. He is the recipient of numerous national and international honors.
Dr. St. Clair, MD, serves as Co Director of the Immune Tolerance Network and is the W. Lester Brooks, Jr. Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, bringing extensive experience in the design, implementation, and coordination of multicenter clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjӧgren disease, and systemic vasculitis. Dr. St. Clair has been a site investigator for numerous clinical trials and served on multiple Data and Safety Monitoring Boards. In his ITN role, he oversees trial feasibility, site selection, efficient resource utilization, and monitoring of clinical sites. Dr. St. Clair is a former president of the American College of Rheumatology and Rheumatology Research Foundation.
Ajay Nirula, MD, PhD, is President and Head of Research and Development at Recludix Pharma and has more than two decades of experience in pharmaceutical leadership. Prior to joining Recludix, Dr. Nirula served as Senior Vice President and Immunology Therapeutic Area Head at Eli Lilly and Company, where he helped establish immunology as a new therapeutic area, leading to four globally approved medicines and a robust early stage pipeline, while also serving as site head of the Lilly Biotechnology Center in San Diego and contributing to Lilly’s COVID 19 therapeutic efforts. Previously, Dr. Nirula held leadership roles at Amgen, Biogen Idec, and Merck and Co., with development experience across multiple immune mediated diseases. He earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, his MD from UCLA, and his PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, completed fellowship training at UCSF where he served on the Rheumatology Faculty. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Zura Bio and Adaxion Therapeutics and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Kao Autoimmunity Institute.
Krishna Polu, MD, brings more than 20 years of experience in biotechnology leadership and company building, with a career focused on advancing innovative therapies from IND to FDA approval. Dr. Polu has held executive leadership roles at Commit Biologics, Equillium, Raptor Pharmaceuticals, CytomX, Affymax, and Amgen and has been deeply involved in new venture creation through partnerships with leading venture capital firms. With Catalys Pacific, he co created a portfolio of successful cardiorenal companies including Renalys Pharma (acquired by Chugai Pharmaceuticals), Mineralys (NASDAQ: MLYS), and Pathalys Pharma. Earlier he served as a founding member and Principal at Red Tree Venture Capital and as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Frazier Life Sciences. A physician scientist, Dr. Polu studied Human Biology at Stanford University, earned his MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center, and completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at the University of Colorado and nephrology at Harvard Medical School affiliated hospitals.
Albert T. Roy serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Lupus Research Alliance and brings more than two decades of executive nonprofit leadership spanning research, drug development, and organizational management. Prior to becoming President and CEO, Mr. Roy served six years as Executive Director of Lupus Therapeutics, where he expanded the organization into a leading clinical research enterprise supporting 20 research programs with 16 biopharmaceutical partners and significantly grew the Lupus Clinical Investigators Network to North America’s leading academic institutions. Mr. Roy has prioritized addressing health inequities in lupus research and increasing participation among underrepresented populations through new initiatives and partnerships. Previously, he was Vice President of Operations and Research Programs at CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, overseeing a clinical research portfolio exceeding $50 million annually. Mr. Roy is a graduate of Ithaca College and holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Additional member information coming soon
Marcus Clark, MD, is an internationally known expert in the molecular mechanisms of B-cell development and activation. His translational research is focused on lupus nephritis and how immune processes within the kidney lead to tissue damage and ultimately renal failure. For the latter line of investigation, Dr. Clark has developed and deployed cutting-edge, high-dimensional imaging of human tissue coupled to novel machine learning analytical pipelines. Both his B cell and lupus nephritis work are supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. A member of both the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, he is the author of over 120 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious scientific journals including Science, Cell, Nature Immunology, Science Immunology, Nature Communications, The Journal of Experimental Medicine and Immunity.
Dr. Selwyn Ho is an experienced biopharma and biotech executive, with nearly 30 years of experience across commercialization, drug development and multiple pre-& post-product launches, with a focus in ophthalmology, immunology and immuno-oncology, leveraging cell therapy, monoclonal antibodies and multi-specific antibody modalities. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Signadori Bio, a preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a next generation, off-the shelf, in vivo engineered, monocyte immunotherapy platform to treat solid tumors. Most recently, Dr. Ho was Chief Executive Officer of Medigene AG, a German publicly listed, immuno-oncology company, developing T cell receptor (TCR) guided modalities for the treatment of solid tumors. At Medigene, Dr. Ho led the strategic pivot into the development of “off-the shelf” treatments, whilst advancing the lead autologous cell therapy program into a successful IND and CTA approval. Prior to this, Dr. Ho was EVP, Chief Business Officer at Connect Biopharma, a U.S., immunology focused biotech listed on NASDAQ (CNTB) where he supported the successful crossover financing, subsequent upsized, oversubscribed IPO, and the build out of the company’s US operations and footprint. Dr. Ho also serves as an advisor to a number of biotech focused venture capital funds.
J. Michelle Kahlenberg completed her BS in Biology (Summa Cum Laude) at Denison University, her MD, PhD, and Internal Medicine training at Case Western Reserve University, and her fellowship in Rheumatology at the University of Michigan. Her clinical work is centered on the care of complicated lupus patients, including those with refractory skin disease. Her independent research laboratory (est. 2013) is funded by multiple NIH and foundation awards and combines translational approaches using patient samples and murine models to uncover the mechanisms that drive lupus and other autoimmune diseases. In particular, she is focused on unraveling the pathogenic mechanisms in cutaneous lupus, the factors that drive photosensitivity, and how skin inflammation can influence systemic lupus activity. She has published >160 papers in high-impact journals, including Science Translational Medicine, Science Immunology, JCI, and Nature Immunology. Seminal discoveries from her lab include the role for IFN-kappa and of dysfunction of “normal” keratinocytes in lupus skin disease. As a testament to her impact within lupus research, her work has received national accolades from the US Government, American College of Rheumatology, and the Lupus Foundation of America. She has also been elected to numerous honorific societies.
Alfred Kim, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, where he directs the Lupus Center, founded in 2013. He also leads the Biobanking and Phenotyping Core within the NIH/NIAMS P30‑funded Rheumatic Diseases Research Resource‑based Center, is a Faculty Scholar at the Institute of Public Health, serves as Associate Program Director for the Rheumatology Fellowship Program at Washington University, and is Chief Medical Officer at Kypha, Inc., an innate immune diagnostics company. Dr. Kim earned his BA in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and his MD and PhD from Drexel University College of Medicine. He completed clinical training in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at Barnes‑Jewish Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine, where he participated in the Physician‑Scientist Training Program. His research focuses on translational and clinical investigations of systemic lupus erythematosus, including complement biomarkers of disease activity, role of the alternative pathway of complement in lupus pathophysiology, healthcare disparities in SLE, and runs the cellular therapy SLE trials at WashU. He also founded the COVID‑19 Vaccine Responses in Patients with Autoimmune Diseases (COVaRiPAD) study.
Maximilian Konig, M.D., is a physician scientist with expertise in cellular therapies, autoimmunity, and translational immunology. Dr. Konig is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and serves as Director of the Cellular Therapy Program (Autoimmunity) in the Department of Medicine. He leads a translational research program focused on developing antigen-specific cellular and protein based immunotherapies, including engineered T cell and T cell–engaging approaches, for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. He is also the scientific co-founder of Winnow Therapeutics. Dr. Konig earned his M.D. from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He completed his residency training in the Stanbury Physician-Scientist Pathway at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Following this, he completed his subspecialty training in Clinical and Molecular Rheumatology and Advanced Rheumatology at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Matthew Linnik served as Vice President, Immunology at the Lilly Biotechnology Center in San Diego where his responsibilities included discovery and clinical research, stepping down in 2025. He contributed to multiple clinical programs, including baricitinib, ixekizumab, tabalumab and tirzepatide. His research lab focused on innate immunity and targeted antibody drug conjugates. Dr. Linnik joined Lilly in 2011 from Biogen Idec where he was Distinguished Medical Research Scientist and Head of Translational Medicine for Immunology. At Biogen, Dr. Linnik was responsible for rituximab and ocrelizumab in autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, SLE and lupus nephritis. Prior to Biogen Idec, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President at La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co (NASDAQ: LJPC) where his responsibilities included leading registration trials for a phase 3 asset in lupus nephritis and driving a discovery research platform for B cell toleragens. Dr. Linnik received his PhD in Pharmacology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. He has served as Instructor in Neurology and Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and Associate Professor of Neurosurgery (Volunteer) at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Dr. Timothy B. Niewold is the Director of the Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Diseases at the Hospital for Special Surgery Department and a Professor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. He is a Rheumatologist, and a physician-scientist who has pioneered research in the underlying genetic causes of lupus and other autoimmune diseases.His dedication to identifying and understanding how autoimmune disease develops and affects the human body has resulted in many honors, including the Mary Betty Stevens Prize for Lupus Research from the Lupus Foundation of America and the Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award from the American College of Rheumatology. Dr. Niewold is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immunological Methods, serves on the Lupus Foundation of America Medical and Scientific Advisory Board, and is a past Chair of the ACR Rheumatology Research Foundation Scientific Advisory Council and a past President of the Central Society for Clinical and Translational Research. His interests currently involve studying human genetics and human immunology to understand the causes of lupus and autoimmune disease and identifying new targets for therapy in lupus.
Peter Schafer is the Chair of the Prognostic Lung Fibrosis Consortium (PROLIFIC), a pharma/biotech consortium coordinated by the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. Prior to this role, he held senior roles in R&D in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Dr. Schafer was Scientific VP, Translational Medicine at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he and his team were responsible for designing and implementing biomarker plans for the late clinical pipeline in Immunology, Cardiovascular, and Neurology. His team also included laboratory scientists who conducted experiments to understand patient subsets, biomarkers of response resistance, and mechanisms of action for rational combinations and identification of novel targets. Peter joined BMS from Celgene where for 20 years he led the Drug Discovery Biology group and helped to build the Translational Development group focused on Hematology and Immunology. He is co-inventor of apremilast (Otezla), now approved for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Behçets Disease. His teams helped uncover the mechanism of action of several lupus drugs, including deucravacitinib, afimetoran, and iberdomide. In addition to his work with the PFF, Peter has served on several LRA committees, such as Co-chairing the Lupus Nexus Steering Committee from 2020-2025.
Teodora Staeva, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer at the Lupus Research Alliance. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the organization’s research portfolio and operations, including the development of a research strategy and leading its implementation, as well overseeing all research initiatives, partnerships and collaborations. Until September 2017, Dr. Staeva was Assistant Dean for Research at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) where she was responsible for managing the strategic planning efforts related to research, building and overseeing institutional programs facilitating faculty research, development and recruitment, and leading and managing intra-campus as well as inter-campus collaborations with Cornell University and WCM’s Tri-Institutional partners, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Rockefeller University. Prior to joining WCM, Dr. Staeva worked at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (currently known as JDRF) where she was Director of Immune Therapies for nine years. She obtained her PhD in Immunology from Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University, and her BS, with honors, in Biology and Neuroscience from Macalester College.
Robert Huizinga is the former Executive Vice President of Research at Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, where he led a team of immunologists, pharmacologists, and laboratory scientists working to deliver therapeutics to people with autoimmune diseases. Under his leadership, the company received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in January 2021 for a drug (LupkynisTM) to treat patients suffering from lupus nephritis. Dr. Huizinga began his career as a Registered Nurse, went on to receive national certification in nephrology and worked as a research epidemiologist and nephrology nurse clinician at The University of Alberta, where he also earned a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology. Dr. Huizinga later joined a pharmaceutical company that later became Aurinia, and as one of the co-founders of Aurinia shepherded the lupus nephritis treatment from Phase I to approval, including presenting and defending data to global regulatory authorities, including the FDA. Dr. Huizinga is also an adjunct professor and past-chair of the Board of Governors at The King’s University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Veronica Vargas Lupo is a transformation leader and operator with over 20 years of experience driving large-scale business redesign, AI-powered innovation, and revenue growth across Fortune 100 companies. During her tenure at IBM, Veronica led high-impact engagements across retail, CPG, and healthcare — delivering over $2 billion in measurable client value for organizations. Her work spanned operational transformation, Generative AI deployment, and strategic alliance development. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in Marketing from the University of Florida.
Veronica has been a dedicated member of the lupus community for over fifteen years. She serves on the Board of the Lupus Research Alliance, where she was recognized as Woman of Achievement in 2018, and co-chairs the Lupus Voices Council at the Lupus Accelerating Breakthroughs Consortium, leading multi-stakeholder strategy to accelerate clinical trial innovation and therapeutic development. Veronica brings both the lived experience of the lupus community and the strategic and commercial expertise to help translate promising science into real-world impact for patients.
Anna Fisch is on the Executive Committee of the Lupus Research Alliance and is a former Nonprofit Executive Director and fundraising consultant. Anna graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University and received an MS in Nonprofit Management from The Milano School at The New School. She was raised in NYC and Dallas,Texas and raised four children in Short Hills, NJ. Anna’s involvement with the LRA started 33 years ago, shortly after being diagnosed with SLE, and later Lupus Nephritis. Finding a cure for Lupus and focusing on the quality of life and empowerment of Lupus patients, is a life-long passion and philanthropic priority for Anna. Towards that end she has served as a consumer reviewer for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Funding program of the DoD and is a member of the Lupus Voices Council of the Lupus ABC public private partnership. In addition, Anna is a member of the board, Chair of Manhattan Women’s Leadership and member of the Crisis to Stability grantmaking committee of UJA NY.
Liuna Fekravar is a healthcare investor and strategist focused on life sciences innovation, venture investing, and corporate development. She brings a patient-centered lens to technical and strategic work across biotechnology, healthcare services, and care delivery, with particular interest in clinical evidence, reimbursement dynamics, and access barriers. Liuna’s career has spanned healthcare investing, credit, and M&A, including roles at Lindsay Goldberg, The Carlyle Group, Man Capital, and Credit Suisse. She has worked with healthcare companies and investors across biotechnology, diagnostics, healthcare services, and care delivery, including a World Bank IFC-backed effort to expand diagnostics access in Nigeria. Liuna earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and completed health policy work through Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. As a member of the Lupus Research Alliance Young Leaders Board, she has supported outreach to advance lupus education and address barriers to care. As a person living with lupus, Liuna is committed to elevating patient perspectives and supporting research and innovation for people affected by lupus. She is especially interested in translating scientific advances into accessible treatments and care models that meaningfully improve patients’ lives. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, photography, and spending time with her rescue dog, Ollie.
