Decoding genetics to transform medicine

Dr. Goldstein is a human geneticist whose scientific career has focused on genetic diversity, the genetics of disease and pharmacogenetics, leading to the co-founding of Actio Biosciences. He was previously director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine, and a professor of genetics and development at Columbia University, with the mission to integrate genetics and genomics into research, patient care and education. Previously, Dr. Goldstein directed Duke University’s Center for Human Genome Variation. He has discovered over 30 disease-causing genes and syndromes, in particular for neurological and infectious diseases. He has also served as an advisor to numerous pharmaceutical companies, including as AstraZeneca’s chief genomics adviser, where he led an initiative focused on the discovery of new targets and biomarkers linked to molecular mechanisms of disease across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Goldstein is a scientific co-founder of Praxis Precision Medicines, a publicly traded clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company translating genetic insights into the development of therapies for patients affected by central nervous system disorders characterized by neuronal imbalance. Dr. Goldstein holds a B.S. in biology from University of California, Los Angeles and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Dr. McHutchison is a veteran industry executive who has deep research and clinical development experience across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to co-founding Actio Biosciences, he was CEO & president of Assembly Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology company. Prior to Assembly, he was the chief scientific officer and head of research and development of Gilead Sciences, Inc. He joined Gilead in 2010 and under his leadership, Gilead developed five medicines that have been used by more than three million people around the world for the curative treatment of chronic hepatitis C, and for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. He also oversaw the company’s internal and external expansion into other non-viral therapeutic areas including oncology, inflammation and auto-immunity, fibrosis and non-viral liver diseases, as well as the development of Gilead’s first cancer medicine, Zydelig® (idelalisib). In 2018, Dr. McHutchison was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his distinguished service to medical research in gastroenterology and hepatology. Prior to Gilead, Dr. McHutchison worked at Duke University Medical Center, where he served as associate director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He also held the positions of professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology at Duke University Medical Center, associate director at Duke Clinical Research Institute, and co-director of the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Award. Prior to his positions at Duke University, Dr. McHutchison spent nearly 10 years at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, including serving as medical director, liver transplantation. Dr. McHutchison holds a B.S. and M.D. in medicine and surgery from the University of Melbourne.

Dimitrios Arkilo, M.D., serves as chief medical officer of Actio. Dr. Arkilo is a trained pediatric neurologist with significant experience in childhood epilepsy and joins Actio from Sage Therapeutics, where he served as vice president in medical science. Prior to that, he was vice president of clinical development, rare disease at Acadia Pharmaceuticals, and earlier, held positions of increasing responsibility at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, most recently as global clinical leader, executive medical director. Before joining industry, Dr. Arkilo was an attending physician and director of the chromosome 15 duplication clinic, focused on pediatric neurology and epilepsy, at the Minnesota Epilepsy Group. He completed his clinical training at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, NY (residency in pediatrics); The Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA (residency in child neurology); and University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (fellowship in clinical neurophysiology). Dr. Arkilo obtained his M.D. from Semmelweis University of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary, and holds a certification in Neurology with Special Qualification in Child Neurology from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Prior to joining Actio Biosciences, Dr. Breckenridge spent 15 years at Gilead Sciences, where he held several leadership roles within research. Most recently, he was vice president, external innovation, where he oversaw industry collaborations spanning target discovery through early clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas. Previously, Dr. Breckenridge was the head of fibrosis research. Under his leadership, Gilead’s fibrosis department developed a diverse research portfolio, advanced several therapies into clinical development and completed translational research that led to the clinical evaluation of numerous combination regimens for patients with NASH. Dr. Breckenridge was the project leader for selonsertib, a first-in-class inhibitor of ASK1, that progressed to clinical trials for NASH, pulmonary arterial hypertension and diabetic kidney disease. He was also project lead for alobresib, a BET bromodomain inhibitor that was evaluated in the clinic for cancer. Dr. Breckenridge holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from McGill University and conducted postdoctoral research in genetics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Dr. Sahdeo brings broad experience across a range of small molecule targets and areas of disease biology including neurodegenerative, inflammatory and rare genetic diseases. He joined Actio Biosciences following over 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry working in novel target identification, target validation and drug discovery. Previously, Dr. Sahdeo was director and in vitro pharmacology group leader at Gossamer Bio. Prior to Gossamer, he was a scientific researcher in Emerging Sciences and Innovation at Janssen, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. He has authored more than 15 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Sahdeo began his career as a research scientist at Hoffmann-La Roche, Palo Alto. Dr. Sahdeo holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University California, Davis, and a B.S. in microbiology from the University of California, San Diego.

Ms. Sandan joined Actio following 15 years leading finance and HR operations, as a member of the executive team of ViaCyte, a regenerative medicine company acquired in 2022 by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. She was actively involved in organizational planning, resource development, and played an instrumental role in successfully closing various financial transactions that fueled the company’s growth and its methodical transformation into clinical and manufacturing operations. Prior to ViaCyte, Ms. Sandan built and oversaw diverse teams and key functions within both private and public companies including Carl Zeiss Vision/Sola International, WFI/Kratos and Burnham Pacific. Her responsibilities spanned accounting, auditing, business planning, IPO readiness, SEC compliance, human resources, IT and risk management. Beyond her professional expertise, she also brings a profound commitment to cultivating the potential of employees, recognizing that they are the company’s most valuable asset. Ms. Sandan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting from University of San Diego, and is a certified public accountant in California.

Dr. Stock brings significant drug discovery experience in numerous therapeutic areas and was a key contributor to a number of programs currently in clinical development. Prior to joining Actio Biosciences, Dr. Stock was head of chemistry at Genesis Therapeutics. Earlier in his career, Dr. Stock held various positions in biotech, including roles at Amira Pharmaceuticals and Inception Sciences. He began his career as a medicinal chemist at Merck Research Laboratories in San Diego. Dr. Stock has more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and 36 granted U.S. patents. Dr. Stock holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Imperial College, London and conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of professor Larry Overman at University California, Irvine.

Prior to joining Actio Biosciences, Dr. Torkamani was the director of genomics and genome informatics at the Scripps Research Translational Institute. As a professor at The Scripps Research Institute and as co-founder at Cyper Genomics, he has developed computational tools for genome interpretation for 15 years. Dr. Torkamani’s research centers on the use of genomic and informatic technologies to identify the genetic etiology and characterize the underlying mechanisms of human disease to define health risks and individualized interventions. Major focus areas for his research have included human genome interpretation, genomic discovery of novel rare diseases, and comprehensive, genetically-informed machine- and deep-learning prediction of disease risk and outcomes. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Torkamani holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of California San Diego and a B.S. in chemistry from Stanford University.

John O. Link received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from EJ Corey’s lab at Harvard University (Corey-Link Reaction). At Syntex/Roche he elucidated the inhibition mechanism of the immunosuppressant drug CellCept®, along with the enzymatic mechanism of its target IMP dehydrogenase. At Arris/Celera he was co-inventor of several covalent-reversable serine and cysteine protease inhibitors that entered clinical trials. As Vice President of Medicinal Chemistry at Gilead Sciences, John is co-inventor of four approved drugs discovered in his research group: the curative hepatitis C drugs ledipasvir (NS5A inhibitor), velpatasvir (pan-genotypic NS5A inhibitor), and voxilaprevir (pan-genotypic NS3/4A protease inhibitor), components in Harvoni® Epclusa® and Vosevi®, and the first-in-class twice-yearly dosed HIV capsid inhibitor lenacapavir (Sunlenca®) which is the only approved drug that targets a viral capsid. John was project leader for the ledipasvir, velpatasvir and lenacapavir programs. John was awarded the American Chemical Society’s 2015 Heroes of Chemistry for his contributions to the discovery of Harvoni® and the 2017 inaugural Male Ally Award from the Women at Gilead employee resource group.