About Verastem
Management Team
Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman/CEO
Dr. Westphal is a Partner of Longwood Founders Fund, which founds and invests in medical companies. He was founder and CEO of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SIRT acquired by GlaxoSmithKline in 2008), which he took public and led as Chief Executive Officer until 2010. Dr. Westphal cofounded Alnara Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Eli Lilly in 2010), and was co-founder/CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY) and Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA). Dr. Westphal serves on the board of directors of Ovascience (which he cofounded), and serves on the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School, and the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University and he graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University.
Robert Forrester, LL.B., Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Forrester has over 10 years experience as the CEO, COO or CFO of both private and public life science companies with Forma Therapeutics, CombinatoRx (NASDAQ: CRXX, now ZLCS) and Coley (NASDAQ: COLY, acquired by Pfizer). Robert was a managing director of the Proprietary Investment Group at MeesPierson, part of the Fortis Group, investing in life science companies. Prior to MeesPierson, Robert worked for the investment banks, BZW (now Barclays Capital) and UBS, in the corporate finance groups undertaking M&A, and public and private finance transactions. Robert started his career as lawyer with Clifford Chance in London and Singapore. Robert has completed over $12 billion of transactions. He holds a LL.B. from Bristol University. Robert is a member of the Board of Directors of Myrexis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MYRX).
Jonathan Pachter, Ph.D., Head of Research
Dr. Pachter brings over 20 years of experience in leading discovery of small molecule and monoclonal antibody therapeutics for treatment of cancer. He was previously Head of Cancer Biology at OSI Pharmaceuticals where his team was responsible for development of models of tumor cell EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transition) and discovery of drugs disrupting this process. At OSI he advanced five small molecules into development for treatment of cancer, including OSI-906 – a selective IGF-1R/ insulin receptor kinase inhibitor currently in phase III clinical trials and OSI-027 – a selective mTOR kinase inhibitor. Prior to OSI, Dr. Pachter held positions of increasing responsibility at Schering-Plough where he progressed three agents into development including the monoclonal antibody robatumumab which advanced to phase II clinical evaluation in cancer patients. Dr. Pachter also made key contributions to the regulatory approval of temozolomide for treatment of glioblastoma. He is an author of over 40 peer-reviewed publications and inventor on numerous patents. Dr. Pachter did his postdoctoral work in Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine and he holds a Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine.
Dan Paterson, Head of Corporate Development and Diagnostics
Mr. Paterson has over 20 years of experience in management roles at healthcare and biotechnology companies, including as COO and CEO, and specific expertise in oncology drug and diagnostic product development. Mr. Paterson was the founding CEO of The DNA Repair Company (acquired by On-Q-ity) which develops oncology-focused molecular diagnostics. Mr. Paterson was Head of Global Strategy for Specialty Market and Patient-Level Data at IMS Health after playing a key role in the acquisition of PharMetrics by IMS Health as VP, Marketing and Corporate Development. Mr. Paterson was on the founding management team of CareTools, a healthcare information systems company, OnCare, an oncology physician practice management company with $100 million in annual revenue, and Axion, a oncology pharmaceutical and clinical service firm with an annual revenue of over $250 million when acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb. Mr. Paterson has designed and managed clinical trials in both industry and academic settings and holds a B.A. in Biology from Boston University.