About Us
Our mission is to realize the promise of precision medicines to help patients with cancer lead better, longer lives.
Dr. Alan Ho
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer, Center, New York
Our Commitment
At Kura Oncology, we are committed to realizing the promise of precision medicines for the treatment of cancer.
The genomics revolution is transforming how we treat cancer. We now understand that a patient’s response to treatment depends in part on the cancer’s genetic makeup. This new era of precision medicine offers the potential for innovative treatments that are safer and more effective for patients with certain cancers.
We are advancing a pipeline of precision medicines for the treatment of solid tumors and blood cancers. Our small-molecule drug candidates target signaling pathways and other drivers of cancer where there is a strong scientific and clinical rationale to improve outcomes by identifying those patients most likely to benefit from treatment.
Our goal is to help patients with cancer lead better, longer lives.
“We’re living in the golden age of oncology, and I believe that cancer will become a manageable condition within our lifetime.”
–Troy Wilson, President and CEO, Kura Oncology
Leadership Team
Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Teresa Bair, J.D.
Chief Legal Officer
Stephen Dale, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Kirsten Flowers
Chief Commercial Officer
Kathleen Ford
Chief Operating Officer
Marc Grasso, M.D.
Chief Financial Officer and
Chief Business Officer
Nic Scalfarotto, D.V.M.
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
Roger Bakale, Ph.D.
Vice President, Head of CMC, Clinical and Commercial Manufacturing
Francis Burrows, Ph.D.
Vice President, Translational Research
Maureen Clancy
Vice President, Global Head of Program Leadership and Project Management
Pete De Spain
Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
George Dimitrov, M.D.
Vice President, Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety
Tom Doyle
Vice President, Finance
Mollie Leoni, M.D.
Vice President, Clinical Development
Brandy Lewis
Vice President, Quality Assurance
Blake Tomkinson, Ph.D.
Vice President, Clinical Development
Board of Directors
Troy Wilson, Ph.D., J.D.
Chairman
Troy E. Wilson, Ph.D., J.D., is one of Kura’s co-founders and has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as the chairman of our Board of Directors since our inception in August 2014. Previously, Dr. Wilson served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Wellspring Biosciences, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, and its parent company Araxes Pharma LLC from July 2012 to March 2019 and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Avidity Biosciences, Inc., a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company, from November 2012 to February 2019. Dr. Wilson served as the President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Intellikine, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, from April 2007 to January 2012 and from August 2007 to January 2012, respectively, until its acquisition by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. He has also been a member of the board of directors of Puma Biotechnology, Inc., a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company, since October 2013, Chairman and a member of the board of directors of Avidity Biosciences, Inc., a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company, since February 2019 and November 2012, respectively, Executive Chairman and a member of the board of directors of Wellspring Biosciences since February 2019 and July 2012, respectively, and a member of the board of managers of Araxes Pharma LLC since July 2012. Dr. Wilson holds a J.D. from New York University and graduated with a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry and a B.A. in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Faheem Hasnain
Director
Mr. Hasnain has served as a member of our Board of Directors since April 2015. Mr. Hasnain served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Receptos, Inc. from November 2010 until the company’s acquisition by Celgene Corporation in August 2015. Prior to joining Receptos, Mr. Hasnain was the President and Chief Executive Officer and a director of Facet Biotech Corporation, a biology driven antibody company with a focus in multiple sclerosis and oncology. He held that position from December 2008 until the company’s acquisition by Abbott Laboratories in April 2010. Previously, Mr. Hasnain was President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of PDL BioPharma, Inc. from October 2008 until Facet Biotech was spun off from PDL BioPharma in December 2008. From October 2004 to September 2008, Mr. Hasnain served at Biogen Idec Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders and cancer, most recently as Executive Vice President in charge of the oncology/rheumatology strategic business unit. Prior to Biogen Idec, Mr. Hasnain held roles with Bristol Myers Squibb, where he was President of the Oncology Therapeutics Network, and for 14 years at GlaxoSmithKline and its predecessor organizations. He has been Chairman of the Board of Sente, Inc. since 2008, Chairman of the Board of Tocagen Inc. since November 2014 and member of the Board of Directors of Vital Therapies, Inc, since August 2016. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Ambit Biosciences Corporation and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Tercica, Inc., Aragon Pharmaceuticals and Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Hasnain received a B.H.K. and B.Ed. from the University of Windsor Ontario in Canada.
Helen Collins, M.D.
Director
Dr. Collins joined our Board of Directors in July 2021, with more than 25 years of experience in medical oncology/hematology. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Five Prime Therapeutics, overseeing the development of bemarituzumab, a first-in-class anti-FGFR2b antibody for the treatment of patients with gastric cancer, until the company’s acquisition by Amgen in April 2021. Previously, Dr. Collins held positions of increasing responsibility at Gilead Sciences, most recently as Program and Clinical Lead for Gilead’s GS-5829 (BET inhibitor) and GS-4059 (BTK inhibitor) programs, and Amgen, most recently as Global Lead of Oncology Biosimilars. Prior to her career in the biopharma industry, Dr. Collins practiced as a medical oncologist/hematologist for 12 years. She earned her M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, completing her residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and oncology fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, and her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College.
Thomas Malley
Director
Mr. Malley has served as a member of our Board of Directors since October 2015. Mr. Malley has served as President of Mossrock Capital, LLC, or Mossrock, a private investment firm, since May 2007. He worked for Janus Mutual Funds in positions of increasing responsibility from April 1991 to May 2007. From January 1999 to May 2007, Mr. Malley served as the portfolio manager of the Janus Global Life Sciences Fund and also led the Janus Healthcare team of analysts. From 1991 to 1998 Mr. Malley served as an equity analyst for Janus covering, among others, healthcare and biotechnology stocks. Mr. Malley has been a director of OvaScience, Inc., a public life sciences company, since October 2012, and BeiGene, Ltd., a public biotechnology company, since January 2016. Previously, he served as a director of Synageva BioPharma Corp., a public biopharmaceutical company, from 2006 to 2015, until its acquisition by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Puma Biotechnology, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company, from 2011 to 2015, and Cougar Biotechnology, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company, from 2007 to 2009, until its acquisition by Johnson and Johnson. Mr. Malley holds a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University.
Diane Parks
Director
Ms. Parks joined the board of directors in October 2019 with more than 30 years of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Most recently, she served as Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Commercial for Kite Pharma (acquired by Gilead for $11.9 billion), where she developed and executed the strategic plan for the commercial launch of Yescarta®, the first CAR-T therapy approved for large B-cell lymphoma. Previously, Ms. Parks served as Vice President, Head of Global Marketing for Pharmacyclics (acquired by Abbvie for $21 billion), where she was responsible for the marketing strategy and launch of Imbruvica®. Before that, she served as Vice President, Sales for Amgen, where she successfully led the Hospital and Nephrology sales teams. In addition, she served as Senior Vice President, Specialty Biotherapeutics and Managed Care for Genentech (acquired by Roche for $46.8 billion). She currently serves on the boards of Calliditas Therapeutics, Soligenix and TriSalus Life Sciences. Ms. Parks earned an MBA from Georgia State University and a BS from Kansas State University.
Carol Schafer
Director
Ms. Schafer joined our Board of Directors in June 2021, with more than 25 years of experience in healthcare investment banking. She is currently the Managing Partner at Hyphen Advisors. Ms. Schafer previously served as Vice Chair, Equity Capital Markets at Wells Fargo Securities from 2007 to 2018, where she oversaw more than 200 transactions that raised nearly $90 billion in proceeds. Prior to that, Ms. Schafer served as Vice President of Finance and Business Development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals from 2003 to 2007. Earlier, she held positions of increasing responsibility at J.P. Morgan, most recently serving as Managing Director of Equity Capital Markets. Ms. Schafer currently serves on the board of directors of Insmed, Idera Pharmaceuticals and Repare Therapeutics, and she previously served on the board of Five Prime Therapeutics until its acquisition by Amgen in April 2021. She holds an M.B.A from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a B.A. from Boston College.
Steven Stein, M.D.
Director
Dr. Stein has served as a member of our Board of Directors since January 2017. Dr. Stein currently serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer of Incyte Corporation. Dr. Stein joined Incyte as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer in March 2015, and has over 10 years of experience in clinical development and regulatory interactions. Dr. Stein joined Incyte from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, US Clinical Development & Medical Affairs at Novartis Oncology US. Dr. Stein previously worked at GlaxoSmithKline as Vice President, Global Oncology, Clinical Development and also as Head of Medicines Development for Hematology and Supportive Care. Dr. Stein earned his MD from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mary Szela
Director
Ms. Szela joined our board of directors in November 2018 with more than 30 years of experience as an executive in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer and President of TriSalus Life Sciences, a company developing technologies to deliver immune oncology agents to solid tumors in high mortality cancers. Previously, she was Chief Executive Officer of Novelion Therapeutics, where she executed the merger of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and QLT Therapeutics, and Melinta Therapeutics. Earlier, Ms. Szela spent 25 years at Abbott Laboratories, where she held a number of ascending leadership positions, including President of Abbott’s $8 billion U.S. Pharmaceuticals business. Ms. Szela has previously served on the board of Receptos, acquired by Celgene for $7.2 billion in July 2015, and Novo Nordisk, a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company. She currently serves on the board of Coherus Biosciences, Alimera Sciences and TriSalus Life Sciences. Ms. Szela earned an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Illinois.
Clinical Advisors
And thus, we chose the name “Kura” as a link to our past efforts to discover and develop drugs and a metaphor for the central signaling pathways that drive cancer.