About

Sanuj Ravindran, M.D.

President, CEO & Director

Sanuj K. Ravindran, M.D. is the CEO of PellePharm Inc., and also serves as executive chairman of Phoenix Tissue Repair. Both companies are affiliates of BridgeBio Pharma (BBIO), where Dr. Ravindran is a CEO-in-residence, focused on rare and genetic skin diseases. Dr. Ravindran has more than 18 years of strategic and operational biopharma experience. Previously, he was chief business officer at aTyr Pharma (LIFE), a clinical stage rare disease-focused biotechnology company, where he led corporate strategy, financial strategy, business development, and investor relations. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of corporate development for The Medicines Company (MDCO).  Initially a practicing physician, Dr. Ravindran began his biopharma career as a venture capitalist for 10 years with Burrill & company, Radius Ventures, and Asian Healthcare Fund. Dr. Ravindran is trained in Internal Medicine and completed his residency training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He received a B.A. from Northwestern University, his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College, and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

JEAN TANG, M.D., Ph.D.

Co-Founder, Medical Advisor & Director

Jean Tang, M.D., Ph.D. is co-founder of PellePharm and serves on the PellePharm board of directors. Jean is a practicing dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology at Stanford University. Her research focuses on finding new ways to treat and prevent non-melanoma skin cancer and genetic skin diseases such as Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome and Epidermolysis Bullosa. Jean and her colleagues discovered that hedgehog pathway inhibition could dramatically shrink basal cell carcinoma tumors in patients with Gorlin Syndrome in randomized clinical trials. She has led or co-led four investigator-initiated clinical trials, three of which were focused on basal cell carcinoma treatment or prevention. Jean earned both her M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. She completed her dermatology residency at Stanford and later completed a three-year post-doctorate in mouse genetics at the University of California, San Francisco while simultaneously pursuing formal coursework in biostatistics, epidemiology and clinical trial design.

Ervin Epstein, M.D.

Co-Founder, Medical Advisor & Director

Ervin Epstein, M.D. is co-founder of PellePharm and serves on the PellePharm board of directors. Ervin is a practicing dermatologist. From 1972 to 2007, Ervin was a research dermatologist and clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco. Ervin and his colleagues conducted the first randomized trials evaluating chemoprevention of basal cell carcinomas, testing the effects of celecoxib, tazarotene and vismodegib in people with Gorlin syndrome.  His lab also identified dysregulated hedgehog signaling as the molecular defect causing all basal cell carcinomas. Ervin has served as secretary/treasurer and president of the Society for Investigative Dermatology and as a member of the advisory council of the National Institute for Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases of the NIH. He is an honorary member of investigative and clinical dermatologic societies worldwide. Ervin earned his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. He is lead author on papers that have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, and Science. From 2007 to 2018, Dr. Epstein was a scientist at the research arm of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, an institute at the forefront of translating research into interventions for treating and preventing human diseases. At UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Dr. Epstein’s research included the use of hedgehog inhibitors for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma and related conditions such as Gorlin syndrome.

Frank McCormick, Ph.D.

Co-Founder of BridgeBio

Frank McCormick, Ph.D., serves on the PellePharm board of directors. Frank is a professor and director of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and co-founder of BridgeBio Pharma. Previously, Frank was co-founder and chief scientific officer of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, where he initiated and led drug discovery efforts leading to the approval of ONYX-015 in China for the treatment of nasophryngeal cancer. His group’s research also led to the identification of a CDK4 kinase inhibitor. Prior to Onyx, Frank worked with several Bay Area biotechnology companies, including Cetus Corporation, where he served as director of molecular biology and vice president of research, and Chiron Corporation, where he served as vice president of research. Frank is the David A. Wood Chair of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research at UCSF, and has served as president for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Currently, he oversees an NCI-supported national effort to develop therapies against Ras-driven cancers at the Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research. Frank earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Birmingham in England. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is the author of over 285 scientific publications and holds 20 issued patents.

NEIL KUMAR, Ph.D.

Co-Founder of BridgeBio

Neil Kumar, Ph.D., serves on the PellePharm board of directors. Neil is the chief executive officer of Eidos Therapeutics and chief executive officer and co-founder of its parent company, BridgeBio Pharma. Prior to founding BridgeBio, he was a principal at Third Rock Ventures, where he supported and managed various portfolio companies and focused on new company formation and due diligence. Neil also served as interim vice president of business development and operations for MyoKardiam, Inc., a precision medicine company working on targeted therapies for the treatment of rare cardiovascular diseases. Previously, Neil served as an associate principal at McKinsey & Company, where he developed strategies for pharmaceutical and medical device companies and helped lead personalized medicine efforts. Neil was also involved in the formation of a gene chip company and was a technical consultant for AstraZeneca’s pathway signaling group. Neil earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Stanford University. He is the author of several peer-reviewed papers in the fields of oncology and systems biology.