Reimagining what’s possible in cardiovascular medicine: We are a heart health company working to make cardiovascular disease preventable, curable and no longer the leading cause of death in the world.
Kardigan is on a mission to develop multiple targeted treatments in parallel that bring people with cardiovascular diseases closer to the cures they deserve.
We have a cutting-edge discovery and translational research platform, a pipeline of late-stage candidates, and an industry-leading team that is driven to improve the lives of patients.
We are relentless in our pursuit to develop a portfolio of medicines that modify the underlying cardiovascular disease, moving the field beyond symptom management toward functional cures.
Cardiac Intelligence drives our singular aim to deliver multiple important medicines at an unprecedented pace. Obsessed with eliminating cardiovascular disease, Kardigan brings an unmatched level of focus, expertise and passion to modernize the discovery and development of treatments targeted to an individual’s disease.
01
Driven and Accomplished Leadership
Kardigan has a motivated team of executives with deep cardiovascular, biotechnology and operational expertise led by chief executive officer and chair Tassos Gianakakos, chief medical officer Jay Edelberg, and chief scientific officer Bob McDowell. Following the success at their previous company, MyoKardia, they are back together to take innovation for cardiovascular disease to the next level.
02
Portfolio of Personalized Medicines
We have curated a portfolio of multiple late-stage clinical candidates designed to target critical disease drivers that match with treatment responders. We believe this will enable effective patient segmentation and streamlined clinical trials to deliver novel therapies to patients who have the potential to benefit most, while identifying alternative therapies for those who may not.
03
Integrated and Efficient R&D Platform
Using a proprietary set of cardiac-specific tools to understand our drugs’ mechanisms, we can confirm markers for safety, efficacy and patient selection before moving into human studies. We incorporate real-world clinical data to further understand the diseases we are targeting and our candidates’ potential impact on them. Data generated from Kardigan’s clinical trials will enhance our cardiac intelligence across programs, improving our efficiency and chances of success.
04
We Can Do Anything Together
Inspired by patients and their families, Kardigans are a group of passionate individuals with the entrepreneurial spirit to win as a team. Collectively, we lead with the courage to push boundaries as we develop our portfolio of medicines that move patients closer to the cures they deserve.
05
Strong and Strategic Partnerships
Kardigan is partnering with those who believe in our bold mission to bring meaningful change to patients. With the support of our strong investor syndicate, we have established partnerships with some of the industry’s top organizations that share our vision to make cardiovascular disease curable, preventable and no longer the leading cause of death in the world.
We are led by a team of biopharma veterans with a proven track record in cardiovascular drug development.
Tassos Gianakakos
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chair
Tassos is a driven executive and entrepreneur with a passion for taking on the world’s most challenging health problems. He’s a values-based leader who has built and developed extraordinary teams to improve health outcomes for society. He has more than 20 years of deep industry experience and a proven record of successfully building innovative, science-based companies in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Prior to Kardigan, Tassos served as chief executive officer of cardiovascular drug development company MyoKardia, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $13.1 billion in 2020. He also co-founded cardiovascular technology and connected care company Prolaio, where he currently holds the role of chair and chief executive officer. Since starting his career in vaccine development at Merck & Co. more than two decades ago, Tassos has played an instrumental role in the start up of multiple biotechnology companies focused on creating game-changing therapies.
Tassos earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering and economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a graduate degree in biotechnology at Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Paul Berns
Board of Directors
Paul brings over 30 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology expertise and is currently a managing director of ARCH Venture Partners, which he joined in 2018. He is also co-founder and executive chairman of Neumora Therapeutics, chairman for Happy AI and NICO Therapeutics, and a member of the boards of Mirador Therapeutics, Areteia Therapeutics, Metsera Therapeutics, Epirium, Ollin Biosciences and Unity Biotechnology. Paul previously served as president, CEO and chairman at Anacor Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer), president and CEO of Allos Therapeutics (acquired by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals) and Bone Care International (acquired by Genzyme), as well as co-founder and chairman of HI-Bio (acquired by Biogen). Paul has also held senior management roles at Abbott Laboratories, BASF Pharmaceuticals/Knoll (acquired by Abbott) and Bristol Myers Squibb. Paul previously served on the boards of EQRX, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, PLC, MC2 Therapeutics, Menlo Therapeutics, XenoPort, Allos Therapeutics and Bone Care International. He holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Doug Giordano
Board of Directors
Doug has extensive pharmaceutical business development expertise and is currently managing director at Perceptive Advisors. He previously served as senior vice president/global head of Pfizer’s Worldwide Business Development Group, where under his leadership the company deployed more than $150 billion in business development across a wide range of transaction types including venture investing and biotech licensing through large-scale mergers and acquisitions. Prior to his Pfizer career, Doug was a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. He was previously a board member for Cerevel Therapeutics (acquired by AbbVie). Doug holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business.
David Meeker, M.D.
Board of Directors
David is president, chairman and CEO of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, a company developing therapies for rare neuroendocrine diseases. He previously served as president and CEO of KSQ Therapeutics, a company developing an industry-leading genome-scale precision functional genomics platform, and executive vice president, Sanofi and head of Sanofi Genzyme, Sanofi’s specialty-care global business unit. David also serves as chairman of the boards of Trevi Therapeutics and Pharvaris, and previously served on the board of MyoKardia. He holds an M.D. from the University of Vermont Medical School, completed fellowship training in pulmonary/critical care medicine and was head of the pulmonary fellowship program at the Cleveland Clinic. He completed the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.
Kim Popovits
Board of Directors
Kim has extensive commercialization and management experience in precision medicine. She served as president, chairman and CEO of Genomic Health, a leading provider of genomic-based diagnostic tests for cancer, before it was acquired by Exact Sciences in 2019. Prior to joining Genomic Health in 2002, Kim was senior vice president of Sales and Marketing at Genentech, where she led the successful commercialization of 14 new therapies. Kim has served on the boards of directors for several other healthcare companies, including Exact Sciences, 10x Genomics, Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, MyoKardia and ZS Pharma. She holds a B.S. in business administration from Michigan State University.
Tassos Gianakakos
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chair
Tassos is a driven executive and entrepreneur with a passion for taking on the world’s most challenging health problems. He’s a values-based leader who has built and developed extraordinary teams to improve health outcomes for society. He has more than 20 years of deep industry experience and a proven record of successfully building innovative, science-based companies in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Prior to Kardigan, Tassos served as chief executive officer of cardiovascular drug development company MyoKardia, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $13.1 billion in 2020. He also co-founded cardiovascular technology and connected care company Prolaio, where he currently holds the role of chair and chief executive officer. Since starting his career in vaccine development at Merck & Co. more than two decades ago, Tassos has played an instrumental role in the start up of multiple biotechnology companies focused on creating game-changing therapies.
Tassos earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering and economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a graduate degree in biotechnology at Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer
As a clinical cardiologist and vascular biologist with two decades of leadership in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry, Jay brings deep clinical research and drug development expertise to his work creating innovative medical solutions to cardiovascular challenges. Most recently, he co-founded the cardiac technology firm Prolaio, where he developed Hospital-to-Home Transition Care and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) solutions. Prior to Prolaio, Jay was chief medical officer for MyoKardia overseeing the development of treatments for patients with obstructive HCM until the company was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020. Jay spent a number of years at Sanofi in senior-level roles, including as head of Global Cardiovascular Development, and before that, he held various senior positions at leading pharmaceutical companies Bristol Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline. In academic medicine, Jay served as an attending coronary care unit cardiologist and directed the Cardiac Vascular Biology Research Laboratory at Weill-Cornell Medical Center, with a specific research focus on cardiac stem cells and biomarkers of cardiac aging. Jay has been widely recognized for his research and inventions and has been awarded seven patents.
Jay trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Internal Medicine), the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston (Cardiovascular Medicine) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Biology). He holds a bachelor's degree in bioengineering from Columbia University, and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Duke University.
Bob McDowell, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Bob has extensive scientific experience and brings decades of successful leadership in biopharmaceutical drug discovery to Kardigan. An accomplished scientist, Bob has expertise in small molecule drug discovery in cardiovascular disease, inflammation and oncology, with multiple compounds advancing into clinical trials and beyond.
Bob was a key member of the team that founded cardiovascular health company MyoKardia in 2012, where he advanced treatment breakthroughs as senior vice president of Drug Discovery and chief scientific officer until the company was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) in 2020. After the acquisition, Bob served as vice president of Research at BMS where he facilitated the MyoKardia team’s integration into the larger firm. Bob’s considerable leadership experience includes roles at 3-V Biosciences, where his direction led to program advancements; Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw drug discovery, translational research and manufacturing functions; and Axys Pharmaceuticals, where he led the structural chemistry group. Before joining Axys, Bob was a senior scientist at Genentech, where he developed successful strategies for peptidomimetic design. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is an inventor on more than 20 issued U.S. patents.
Bob holds a B.S. in chemistry and physics from Butler University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.
Leslie Leinwand, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
Dr. Leinwand is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) and the chief scientific officer of the BioFrontiers Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research laboratory focuses on the genetics and molecular physiology of inherited diseases of the heart and particularly how biological sex affects the heart in health and disease. She co-founded Myogen, Inc. (acquired by Gilead Pharmaceuticals), Hiberna, Inc., and MyoKardia, Inc. (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb), which developed therapeutics for inherited cardiomyopathies. She is a Fellow of the AAAS, a former MERIT Awardee of the NIH, an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors.
Dr. Leinwand received her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, her Ph.D. from Yale University, and did post-doctoral training at Rockefeller University.
Beth McNally, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-Founder
Dr. McNally is the Elizabeth J Ward Professor of Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, where she directs the Center for Genetic Medicine. A cardiologist and geneticist who is advancing the use of genetics in cardiovascular healthcare, Dr. McNally has been a leader in defining and using genetic signals to drive drug development. She is a former Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, past Chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences, and past president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. Currently, Dr. McNally is on the Board of Directors for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Dr. McNally received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and completed postgraduate training in internal medicine and cardiology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Perceptive Capital
ARCH Venture Partners
Sequoia Capital
Tassos Gianakakos
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chair
Tassos is a driven executive and entrepreneur with a passion for taking on the world’s most challenging health problems. He’s a values-based leader who has built and developed extraordinary teams to improve health outcomes for society. He has more than 20 years of deep industry experience and a proven record of successfully building innovative, science-based companies in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Prior to Kardigan, Tassos served as chief executive officer of cardiovascular drug development company MyoKardia, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $13.1 billion in 2020. He also co-founded cardiovascular technology and connected care company Prolaio, where he currently holds the role of chair and chief executive officer. Since starting his career in vaccine development at Merck & Co. more than two decades ago, Tassos has played an instrumental role in the start up of multiple biotechnology companies focused on creating game-changing therapies.
Tassos earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering and economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a graduate degree in biotechnology at Northwestern University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer
As a clinical cardiologist and vascular biologist with two decades of leadership in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry, Jay brings deep clinical research and drug development expertise to his work creating innovative medical solutions to cardiovascular challenges. Most recently, he co-founded the cardiac technology firm Prolaio, where he developed Hospital-to-Home Transition Care and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) solutions. Prior to Prolaio, Jay was chief medical officer for MyoKardia overseeing the development of treatments for patients with obstructive HCM until the company was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020. Jay spent a number of years at Sanofi in senior-level roles, including as head of Global Cardiovascular Development, and before that, he held various senior positions at leading pharmaceutical companies Bristol Myers Squibb and GlaxoSmithKline. In academic medicine, Jay served as an attending coronary care unit cardiologist and directed the Cardiac Vascular Biology Research Laboratory at Weill-Cornell Medical Center, with a specific research focus on cardiac stem cells and biomarkers of cardiac aging. Jay has been widely recognized for his research and inventions and has been awarded seven patents.
Jay trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Internal Medicine), the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston (Cardiovascular Medicine) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Biology). He holds a bachelor's degree in bioengineering from Columbia University, and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Duke University.
Bob McDowell, Ph.D.
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Bob has extensive scientific experience and brings decades of successful leadership in biopharmaceutical drug discovery to Kardigan. An accomplished scientist, Bob has expertise in small molecule drug discovery in cardiovascular disease, inflammation and oncology, with multiple compounds advancing into clinical trials and beyond.
Bob was a key member of the team that founded cardiovascular health company MyoKardia in 2012, where he advanced treatment breakthroughs as senior vice president of Drug Discovery and chief scientific officer until the company was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) in 2020. After the acquisition, Bob served as vice president of Research at BMS where he facilitated the MyoKardia team’s integration into the larger firm. Bob’s considerable leadership experience includes roles at 3-V Biosciences, where his direction led to program advancements; Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw drug discovery, translational research and manufacturing functions; and Axys Pharmaceuticals, where he led the structural chemistry group. Before joining Axys, Bob was a senior scientist at Genentech, where he developed successful strategies for peptidomimetic design. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is an inventor on more than 20 issued U.S. patents.
Bob holds a B.S. in chemistry and physics from Butler University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.
Brianne Jahn
Chief Financial Officer
Brianne leverages extensive operational experience along with financial planning and analysis insights that have helped drive key corporate business decisions. Her expertise reaches a broad range of business areas including finance and accounting, business development, market analysis, alliance management, and strategic planning. Prior to joining Kardigan, she served as chief business officer for biotechnology company LianBio. Previously, she was senior vice president of Finance and Strategic Operations at Kadmon, where she oversaw financial operations for startup biotech firms, leading them through their journeys from privately held to publicly traded companies. She has also held a senior-level position at KPMG.
Brianne holds a B.B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an MBA from New York University.
Minako Pazdera, Ph.D., J.D.
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Minako brings more than 20 years of legal experience in the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. She has served as general counsel at Carmot Therapeutics, Inc., including through its acquisition by Roche, and as vice president of Intellectual Property at both Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. and Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. She has also held various positions at Genentech, Inc., including associate general counsel, overseeing intellectual property matters for Genentech's oncology products and pipeline. Prior to going in-house, Minako practiced intellectual property law for several years at Ropes & Gray LLP and Fish and Neave LLP in New York and Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP in Chicago.
Minako holds a B.A. in molecular cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley, a Ph.D. in biological sciences from Carnegie Mellon University, and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.
Emily Faucette
Chief Communications Officer
Emily brings more than 25 years of experience leading high-impact, integrated communications for fast-growing and innovative global healthcare companies. Before joining Kardigan, Emily held the role of senior vice president of communications and investor relations at Talis Biomedical, where she established its investor relations function, ushered the company through its $250 million initial public offering, and led change communications through major strategic corporate events. Prior to that, she served as senior vice president of Global Corporate Affairs & Investor Relations at Portola Pharmaceuticals, and also spent 13 years growing and leading strategic communications at Genomic Health, culminating in its $3 billion acquisition by Exact Sciences in 2019. Emily began her career in the healthcare communications agency setting with 10 years of experience between WeissComm Partners (now Real Chemistry) and Ketchum.
Emily holds a bachelor’s degree in public communications from American University.
Diane Hagerty
Chief Quality Officer
Diane has extensive experience leading global manufacturing quality and regulatory programs. She leads the Quality and Compliance function with global execution and oversight responsibilities across all clinical and manufacturing activities. Previously, Diane served in executive Quality roles at Allogene, MyoKardia, Dermira, Ultragenyx, Genentech/Roche and Johnson & Johnson. She is known for bringing a pragmatic approach to ensure the successful development, licensing and ongoing commercialization of a wide variety of platform technologies spanning biologics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and combination products. Diane is also active across industry forums, exercising her passion for developing the next generation of biotech leaders. She began her career at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, holding roles of increasing responsibility in Research & Development and Regulatory Affairs.
Diane holds a B.S. in biology from Bates College and an M.S. in pharmaceutical quality assurance and regulatory affairs from Temple University.
Donald Mackenzie, Ph.D.
Chief Technical Operations Officer
Donald brings a deep understanding of the global drug development process across multiple therapeutic areas and drug modalities. Most recently, he was senior vice president of CMC and Technical Operations at Athira Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for developing, filing and launching all of the company’s portfolio assets. Donald’s operational leadership experience includes more than 30 years at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and he has led the product design, development and launch of more than 20 new molecular entities. His leadership roles at GSK include six years as vice president and global head of Formulation Design and Development, four years as vice president and global head of Chemical Development, and three years as vice president and global head of Product Lifecycle Management.
Donald has more than 10 U.S. patents and is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, MRSC, CCHEM. He holds a BSc. and Ph.D. in chemistry from University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.
Liz Nguyen
Chief People Officer
Liz brings a considerable breadth of human resources management experience in the biotechnology industry. Previously, she served as senior vice president of Talent and Culture at Surrozen, a publicly traded clinical-stage biotech company, where she led people and culture, talent acquisition and development, organizational development, and compensation and benefits. Prior to Surrozen, Liz worked at MyoKardia, leading talent acquisition and serving as an HR business partner as the company expanded from a privately held company to a publicly traded organization. She held several progressive leadership roles at MyoKardia, including executive director, head of HR Business Partnering, and interim HR site head during the company’s acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020.
Liz holds a B.S. in Economics from Virginia Tech and an M.S. in Human Resources Management from Marymount University.
Amy Westfall
Vice President Portfolio and Project Management
Amy has more than 25 years of corporate strategy and operational execution experience in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors. She was previously vice president of Portfolio Strategy and Program Management at Allogene, where she helped drive development of pipeline products, and built its organizational infrastructure and strategy as it grew from a private company to a publicly traded organization with a $2.25 billion market cap. Prior to Allogene, Amy held director and senior director roles at Google and Facebook, where she led operational teams and executed strategies that optimized processes and programs across the enterprises. She served at Amgen as an executive director and operational lead for products where her leadership helped reduce costs and support commercial product growth. Amy began her career at the Boston Consulting Group advising international corporations.
Amy holds a B.A. in Economics from University of Michigan, a Master's in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.