Our Vision
We aim to redefine what's possible in drug discovery by unlocking the therapeutic potential of synthetic macrocycles (unnatural products) to build a robust, diverse pipeline of valuable medicines.
Leadership
Cameron Pye, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO
UC Santa Cruz PhD in organic chemistry who co-founded UNP during his final year of doctoral work, turning his research on macrocycle cell permeability in the Lokey Lab into a platform to drug the undruggable.
Joshua Schwochert, PhD
Co-Founder & CSO
Macrocycle and cyclic peptide expert with a PhD from UC Santa Cruz, whose doctoral collaborations with Pfizer and Eli Lilly on beyond-rule-of-5 pharmacokinetics laid the scientific foundation for UNP's drug discovery platform.
Neera Ravindran, MD MBA
CFO
Coming Sunday or Monday Morning
Simon Bailey, PhD
COO & President of R&D
Veteran drug discovery leader with 25+ years of experience across Pfizer, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, and Plexium, and recipient of the ACS Hero of Chemistry award for his role in the discovery of Lorbrena™
Lindsay Young
VP Human Resources
Lindsay brings broad experience across the HR landscape—people strategy, compliance, talent acquisition, compensation, and building amazing places to work. Before joining Unnatural Products, Lindsay served as the Head of Human Resources at Tempest Therapeutics, and earlier in her career she held various positions in commercial operations at Cepheid and CV Therapeutics.
Henry Johnson, PhD
VP Medicinal Chemistry and CMC
Henry W.B. Johnson, PhD, is a drug discovery leader with 20+ years of experience advancing small molecule therapeutics. He has led multidisciplinary R&D teams and contributed to the advancement of several clinical assets from early discovery through late-stage development.
Board of Directors
Cameron Pye
Co-Founder & CEO
Mert Aktar
CEO of Receptive Bio and a life sciences executive with over 20 years of experience bridging science and business, having previously served as SVP and Global Head of Corporate Development & Strategy at Kite Pharma. He also holds board positions with Kyverna Therapeutics, ReAlta Life Sciences, and the UCLA Technology Development Group.
Abbas Kazimi
CEO and board member of Nimbus Therapeutics, a computational drug discovery company, where he previously served as Chief Business Officer and helped drive transactions totaling over $7 billion. He holds a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.S. from Harvard University.
Stuart Peterson
Founder and Managing Partner of ARTIS Ventures, a San Francisco–based tech-bio venture firm known for early investments in YouTube and Stemcentrx. He has served on numerous life sciences boards, including IDbyDNA and Locus BioSciences.
William Taranto
Founder and President of the Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Merck's corporate venture arm, which he launched in 2010 and has grown into an evergreen fund with a broad healthcare portfolio. He spent 18 years at Johnson & Johnson in venture and business development roles before joining Merck.
Nicholas Shekerdemian
Founder and Managing Partner of The Venture Collective (TVC), an early-stage venture firm investing at the intersection of deep tech, biotech, and healthcare. A former Thiel Fellow, he previously co-founded and led the AI recruiting startup Headstart.
Luc Dochez
Managing Partner of CROIA Genetic Disease Fund and a veteran European biotech entrepreneur and investor with more than 20 years in the industry, best known as former CEO of Tusk Therapeutics, which he led to its acquisition by Roche. He has co-founded multiple companies, including Pharvaris and Vico Therapeutics, and serves as a biotech investor focused on oncology and genetic disease.
Scientific Advisors
Mark Pruzanski
CEO Alentis Therapeutics
Larry Mattheakis
Former SVP Biology Protagonist
Scott Lokey
UCSC Professor and Macrocycle Field Leader
Tomi Sawyer
Peptide Drug Hunter, Ex-Merck
Nancy Thornberry
Former CEO Kallyope