Michael Kelly serves as Atsena’s VP of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC). Mr. Kelly has over 25 years of experience in the field of gene therapy, serving in a range of scientific, technical, and operational roles. Mr. Kelly has had oversight of early and late stage CMC for AAV, lentiviral, retroviral, and adenoviral vectors and associated ex-vivo cell therapy programs in ophthalmology, CNS, neuromuscular and oncology indications.

Prior to joining Atsena, Mr. Kelly was VP of Process Development at Avrobio, where he was responsible for the development of CMC for the companies ex-vivo cell therapies. Prior to that he was responsible for CMC oversight for Biogen’s gene therapy portfolio, including business development activities in support of gene therapy transactions. Mr. Kelly held various senior roles in gene therapy CMC at Sanofi-Genzyme, Cell Genesys and Somatix Therapy Corporation. Mr. Kelly also serves as the chair for viral vector sector of the Standards Coordinating Body for Gene, Cell and Regenerative medicine and is a member of its board of directors.

Mr. Kelly holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Mr. Sanford Boye is an Associate Scientist of Pediatrics and Associate Director of the Powell Gene Therapy Center at the University of Florida. His research on AAV and ocular gene therapy spans 20 years and over 100 publications. His work has focused primarily on the design and utilization of recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for gene transfer to the eye and the evaluation of AAV based gene therapies in models of retinal disease. He has designed AAV vectors that have been used to establish proof of concept for the treatment of autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa, X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, achromatopsia, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Usher syndrome and multiple forms of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). Several of these gene therapies have gone on to be clinically applied, including a gene therapy for LCA due to mutation in RPE65 and what would ultimately become Luxturna, the first gene therapy approved by the FDA. Recently, his work has focused on modifications of the AAV capsid to improve vector performance and safety. Currently, he splits his time between working with Dr. Shannon Boye on both basic science research and translational programs and directing the Vector Core within the Powell Gene Therapy Center.

Dr. Christine Kay, MD, is a vitreoretinal surgeon and the Director of Electrophysiology, Retinal Genetics, and Clinical Trials at Vitreoretinal Associates in Gainesville, Florida, and an Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida. Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor and Director of the retinal genetics service at the University of Florida. She graduated from Harvard University with a magna cum laude in neuroscience, went to medical school at the University of Florida and completed her vitreoretinal surgical fellowship at the University of Iowa. After her vitreoretinal surgical fellowship, she was awarded a five-year Career Development Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness, which launched her career as a clinical-scientist and inherited retinal disease specialist, and funded research focusing on optimizing adeno-associated virus (AAV) genetic therapy for the treatment of achromatopsia.

Dr. Kay is a member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and has been inducted into Macula Society and Retina Society, and has published over 20 either first or senior author articles in peer-reviewed ophthalmic journals, authored textbook chapters and serves as an editor for multiple ophthalmology and retinal journals. She has developed a large inherited retinal disease patient population in her clinic, with over 1,000 patients in her clinical database and with 800 of these patients genotyped.

She is currently a principal investigator in 12 inherited retinal disease clinical trials, including surgical gene therapy trials, and has performed multiple subretinal injections within ocular gene therapy clinical trials. Her combined interests in management of IRDs, IRD clinical trials, and optimization of vitreoretinal surgical delivery techniques allows a unique perspective in the field of ocular gene therapy.

Dr. Andreas K. Lauer, MD, completed his ophthalmology residency and vitreoretinal fellowship training at the Casey Eye Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). He specializes in the care of patients with medical and surgical diseases of the retina and vitreous. He has served as investigator for clinical trials in the areas of age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, inherited retinal diseases and ocular gene therapy. Dr. Lauer is recognized internationally as one of the leading ocular gene therapy surgeons. In 2018, Dr. Lauer was appointed as Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the OHSU Casey Eye Institute.

Dr. Mark Pennesi, MD, PhD, is a Professor in Ophthalmology at Oregon Health & Science University. He holds the Kenneth C. Swan Endowed Professorship and is the Chief of the Ophthalmic Genetics Division at the Casey Eye Institute. Dr. Pennesi attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and was awarded the Herman P. Schwann award in bioengineering for exemplary scholarship. Dr. Pennesi’s interest in degenerative retinal disorders began shortly after his first year in college when he spent a summer working at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest, where he worked under the supervision of Dr. David Birch seeing patients with inherited retinal degenerations, such as retinitis pigmentosa.

Dr. Pennesi pursued a combined MD/PhD at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He received numerous awards while in graduate school, including the John J. Trentin Award for earning the highest GPA in his class and the BRASS scholarship for playing an active role in community service. This was followed by a residency in Ophthalmology at University of California, San Francisco, where he was awarded the Hogan-Garcia Award for having the best resident research project. In 2011 Dr. Pennesi received the ARVO/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Award. He is also the recipient of a Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) career development award, a Research to Prevent Blindness career development award and an FFB enhanced career development award. He was awarded the Alcon Young Investigator Award in 2014 and a Residency Teaching award in 2015. He has also been elected into both the Macula Society and Retina Society.

Dr. Pennesi is a clinician scientist with a passion for developing novel therapeutic regimens for inherited retinal diseases. He has helped propel the Casey Eye Institute into a leader in novel therapies for inherited retinal dystrophies. He is the PI or Co-PI on numerous clinical trials, including gene augmentation therapy for RPE65-related retinopathy, ABCA4-related retinopathy, Type IB Usher syndrome, CNGA3 and CNGB3-related achromatopsia, X-linked retinoschisis, X-linked retinitis pigmentosa and choroideremia. In addition, he is investigator for antisense oligonucleotide therapies for CEP290-related retinopathy, USH2A-related retinopathy and RHO autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. He is a principal investigator on the Allergan Brilliance, where the first patient was treating with gene editing from CEP290-related retinopathy.

Dr. Kimberly Stepien, MD, is a medical retina specialist and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW–Madison). She is the Director of the Adult Inherited Retinal Disease Clinic and Co-director of the Ocular Genetics Service. She also serves as Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs for her department. Dr. Stepien completed her residency at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, and medical retina fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida.

Her research interests focus on the diagnosis and treatments of inherited retinal disease and advanced retinal imaging. She leads UW–Madison’s clinical research efforts centered around inherited retinal disease and serves as PI on several IRD clinical trials. She also is an investigator at the Fundus Photography Reading Center at UW-Madison. Her imaging research is focused on exploring cellular retinal pathology by applying high-resolution imaging modalities such as adaptive optics and optical coherence tomography to investigate mechanisms of pathogenesis and explore better ways to detect cellular changes over time. She is a founding member and on the leadership committee of the Wisconsin Advanced Imaging of Visual Systems (WAIVS) Lab.

As Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ben Yerxa is responsible for the overall management of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the world’s leading private funder of research on potential treatments and cures for inherited retinal degenerative diseases including age-related macular degeneration. He also serves as CEO of the Retinal Degeneration Fund, a wholly owned, not-for-profit subsidiary focused on making venture philanthropy investments to further the Foundation’s mission.

Dr. Yerxa has more than 25 years’ experience in biotechnology, drug development and in translating promising research discoveries into clinical milestones and treatments. His experience, from drug discovery through product launches and in leadership positions, is in the pulmonary, oral health, cardiovascular, HIV and ophthalmology fields. Just before joining the Foundation, Dr. Yerxa was president and co-founder of Envisia Therapeutics, a company focused on developing novel ocular sustained delivery therapies for the front and back of the eye.

Dr. Yerxa holds 60 U.S. patents. An inventor of DIQUAS™, an innovative treatment for dry eye approved in Japan, he has been involved in the discovery and development of investigational new drugs, Phase 3 clinical programs, new drug applications, and drug approvals.

Dr. Yerxa earned his PhD in organic chemistry from University of California, Irvine, and BA in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.

Aravind Asokan, Ph.D., is Professor & Director of Gene Therapy at Duke University. He holds a primary appointment in the Department of Surgery and secondary appointments in Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Biomedical Engineering. Originally trained as a chemist, he leads a research program in Synthetic Virology, which blends the fields of protein engineering, RNA biology and virology to enable gene therapy and gene editing platforms. His lab has pioneered several innovative platforms that are being developed into transformative new medicines. Dr. Asokan is lead inventor on multiple patents licensed to biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He is  founder and acting CSO at StrideBio, Inc., founder and director at TorqueBio LLC, was a scientific founder of Bamboo Therapeutics (a Pfizer company), sits on advisory committees for the NC Rare Disease Advisory Council and ASGCT, and serves as an advisor to UCB, AstraZeneca, and other biotechnology companies. Prior to joining Duke, he was on the faculty in the Departments of Genetics and Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also obtained his doctoral degree.

Dr. Ong is a physician and bioentrepreneur with over 20 years of clinical and drug development experience in pharma and biotech. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Ring Therapeutics and prior to his current role, served as Senior Vice President at Biogen. Dr. Ong was also Chief Development Officer at Nightstar Therapeutics until its acquisition by Biogen. During this time, he was involved with the company’s public listing on the NASDAQ, corporate and gene therapy strategy, investor, and M&A activities. Dr. Ong has worked in the fields of genetics, ophthalmology, and rare disease at PTC Therapeutics Inc., Bausch and Lomb Inc. (acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.), and Pfizer.

He holds an MD from the University College London and an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business. Dr. Ong is also a member of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and a Churchill Fellow.