A purpose-built team.
At Fable, our diverse team of machine learning experts, protein engineers, structural biologists, biostatisticians, and business professionals unite with a shared dedication to revolutionizing healthcare through intelligent, purposefully designed medicines.
Leadership Team
Geoff MacKay
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66213a40c344a6c940ea6360_Geoff%20MacKay.jpg)
Geoff MacKay
Geoff is our CEO and brings over 20 years of industry leadership as CEO of several innovative biotech companies. Previously, he was founding CEO of AVROBIO Inc., developing hematopoietic gene therapy from concept to late-stage trials and ultimately a sale of their lead program to Novartis.
Geoff was also the founding CEO of eGenesis Inc., a company dedicated to applying gene editing to xenotransplantation. During his tenure as CEO of Organogenesis Inc., the company received the first approval of an allogeneic cell therapy from the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and treated one million patients with living cell therapies.
Earlier in his career, Geoff spent 11 years at Novartis in senior leadership positions, culminating as Vice-President Transplantation & Immunology. Past and present board activities include Chairman of the Board of Satellos Bioscience, Chairman of the Board of MassBio, Chairman of the Board of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine, and a member of the advisory council to the Health Policy Commission for Massachusetts.
Geoff was recognized as Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year” for New England.
Philip M. Kim
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66213a46cd8bc775ff6d8f6f_Philip%20M.jpg)
Philip M. Kim
Philip serves as our Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Fable Therapeutics, where his expertise in machine learning methods for protein design has established him as a world-leading expert. For the past 15 years, he has held a professorship at the University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre and in the Departments of Computer Science and Molecular Genetics.
In his academic research, Philip has been at the forefront of the machine learning revolution in protein design. Alongside his lab team, he has pioneered novel methods for protein and peptide engineering, resulting in over 90 publications, 7 invention disclosures, and 5 patent applications.
Philip's contributions extend beyond academia; he has played pivotal roles as a co-founder, consultant, and member of the scientific advisory boards for various biotechnology companies, including TBG Therapeutics, Zymedi, and Synepark Therapeutics. Prior to his academic career, he honed his skills as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University and as an associate at McKinsey & Co.
He earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Department of Chemistry, complemented by a dual Bachelor's degree in Physics and Biochemistry from the University of Tuebingen, Germany.
Rhonda Wideman
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66ce0ec616616bf47038aab0_Rhonda%20Headshot_768x768.jpg)
Rhonda Wideman
Rhonda serves as Fable’s Chief Business Officer, with 15 years of experience leading a wide variety of transactions, core R&D collaborations and corporate strategy initiatives across private and public biotechnology companies, from start-up to late clinical stage.
Prior to joining Fable in 2024, Rhonda led corporate development activities for Innovakine Therapeutics, a VC-backed start-up developing a novel approach for in vivo control of therapeutic immune cells. She previously worked in progressively senior roles spanning transactions, alliance management, market and competitive intelligence, and corporate strategy functions at Zymeworks Inc., a clinical-stage public biopharmaceutical company focused on multifunctional therapeutics.
Rhonda holds a PhD from University of British Columbia, where her research focused on novel approaches for treating diabetes using cellular and gene therapy, and an MBA in Management of Biotechnology from Simon Fraser University.
Vanita D. Sood
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66213a75b00289bfbbe494a9_Vanita%20Sood.jpg)
Vanita D. Sood
Vanita brings over 15 years of experience in drug discovery, focused on elevating the standard for optimizing drugs through structural, computational, and drug disposition approaches.
Before joining Fable, Vanita spent a decade at EMD Serono in progressively responsible roles, contributing to numerous discovery projects, including Bavencio™, an early success in immune checkpoint inhibition. As a member of Discovery and Development Technologies leadership, she guided large, global, multi-disciplinary teams and served on preclinical governance committees for projects spanning oncology, immuno-oncology, auto-immunity, and inflammation. Her expertise covers various modalities, from antibodies to small molecules and degraders, and she honed her skills across all stages of drug discovery and development.
Throughout her tenure, Vanita collaborated with visionary leaders to introduce cutting-edge advancements in structural biology, biophysics, and deep learning, paving the way for her current role.
Vanita earned her bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from McGill University and holds a PhD in Molecular and Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto. She conducted her post-doctoral training in computational and experimental protein design at the University of Washington in David Baker's lab.
Zack McNealy
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/662fef2a4de989d264113d51_NEW_ZACK_McNEALY.jpg)
Zack McNealy
Zack is our Chief Financial Officer, bringing over 15 years of extensive experience in financial leadership within the biotech sector. His journey includes notable roles as Chief Financial Officer at Ventus Therapeutics and Inception Sciences Canada, where he played integral roles in shaping financial strategies for success.
Prior to his current position, Zack held key financial leadership positions at Versant Ventures and Biotie Therapies, where his expertise in financial management and strategic planning made significant impacts. He also gained valuable insights during his tenure at Johnson & Johnson, contributing to his comprehensive understanding of the industry landscape.
Zack's expertise extends to supporting small biotech companies through mergers & acquisitions and international structures, underscoring his commitment to driving growth and maximizing value for organizations. He holds a BS in finance and accounting from Miami University (Ohio) and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Christine Oborski
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66213a9d1f2e939ad4b2b10d_Christine%20Oborski.jpg)
Christine Oborski
Christine brings over two decades of extensive experience in pharmaceutical and biotech program development and leadership to Fable. Her expertise spans the entire spectrum of early-stage development, from target identification and lead development to Phase I/II clinical testing. With a scientific focus on neurodegeneration, lysosomal storage disorders, and rare diseases, she has made significant contributions to preclinical small molecule therapeutic programs at Pfizer and lentiviral gene therapy advancements at AVROBIO, Inc.
In her previous roles, Christine held key scientific and project leadership positions, where she was responsible for developing analytical strategies and assays across various programs, including preclinical, manufacturing, translational sciences, and clinical testing. Her accountability and leadership have been instrumental in driving program success.
Christine holds advanced degrees in Project and Program Management from Brandeis University and in Biology from Brown University. She is excited to leverage her commitment to excellence and her expertise in navigating complex scientific landscapes to contribute to the mission of Fable.
Kirsten Dupuis
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66ce0d771031fbad7407d67d_KDupuis%20headshot.jpg)
Kirsten Dupuis
Kirsten brings over two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry. Kirsten’s expertise is in providing strategic and operational support to the CEO and Leadership Team to ensure successful business planning and implementation of all Fable initiatives.
She has extensive experience working with start-up companies guiding them from Seed through IPO in addition to acquisitions and reverse mergers. Prior to joining Fable, she worked with the CEOs at AVROBIO, Organogenesis, Generation Health and Alseres Pharmaceuticals on developing business strategy, managing priority projects and overseeing timing of milestone achievements.
Her career in biotechnology was preceded by business management, consulting and marketing advising Fortune 500 companies, including Fidelity, Ford Motor Company, Goldman Sachs, McDonald's, NBC, Raytheon and Toyota.
Dasha Redka
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66213a39504d79edbcc18819_Dacha%20Redka.jpg)
Dasha Redka
Dasha spearheads a machine learning platforms team at Fable Therapeutics, blending her pharmaceutical science background with a robust academic journey spanning molecular pharmacology, biochemistry, biophysics, immunology, and computational chemistry. Her doctoral research at the University of Toronto, under Dr. James Wells, elucidated signaling mechanisms via G protein-coupled receptors and delved into mechanistic modeling of drug-target interactions. During her postdoctoral tenure at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, supervised by Dr. Sergio Grinstein, Dasha explored immunology and cell biology, focusing on mechanisms of macropinocytosis.
Driven by a passion for continuous learning, Dasha embarked on self-directed education in machine learning, seamlessly transitioning into industry. Her impactful contributions as an applied scientist and computational scientist at Cyclica Inc, later acquired by Recursion, underscore her expertise in computational small molecule drug discovery and machine learning models predicting small molecule properties and drug-target interactions. At Fable Therapeutics, Dasha assumed the role of a machine learning engineer, leading the antibody design platform team.
Complementing her industry roles, Dasha is dedicated to nurturing future pharmaceutical scientists as an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. Her commitment to education is evident in her lectures on molecular pharmacology, receptor theory, and enzymology, shaping the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists.
Mark Sun
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66218216685a5b37b9d57bb8_Mark%20Sun.jpg)
Mark Sun
Mark serves as a principal scientist and ML team lead at Fable Therapeutics, bringing with him 8 years of experience in the biotechnology startup space. Throughout his career, he has specialized in developing and applying machine learning methods to engineer therapeutic compounds.
Mark's academic contributions are notable, including the development of the pioneering protein generative model and demonstrating the efficacy of coupling computational protein design with high throughput screening methods to produce tight protein binders. Prior to his role at Fable, Mark held the position of senior research scientist at Deep Genomics, a company focused on developing an AI platform for programmatically designing RNA therapies.
Mark earned his BSc in Biochemistry and Computer Science from the University of British Columbia, followed by an MSc and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Toronto. He boasts an impressive publication record, with over 10 publications, 3 invention disclosures, and 2 patent applications to his name.
Joe Wu
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66265905d740ccbe520e01f0_Joe_photo.jpg)
Joe Wu
Joe leads the generative AI team at Fable Therapeutics, leveraging nearly two decades of entrepreneurial experience and a passion for interdisciplinary research.
Joe's journey began with the founding of Shanghai Vastview Tech, where he developed ERP solutions tailored for the hospitality industry. Under his leadership, the company's flagship product gained significant traction, capturing over 70% of the market share in Shanghai and its surrounding areas. Expanding his vision internationally, Joe forged a strategic partnership with Logiclink, extending Vastview Tech's operations into the United States.
Driven by a genuine curiosity in biology and artificial intelligence, Joe pursued further studies at the University of Toronto. There, he developed VARITY, a computational model for predicting the pathogenicity of rare human variants. VARITY's recent success in winning the CAGI6 competition's missense category underscores Joe's contributions to genome interpretation.
Joe's academic background includes a bachelor's degree in engineering from Shanghai JiaoTong University, followed by bachelor’s degrees in computational biology, a master's degree in molecular genetics, and a doctorate in computer science from the University of Toronto.
Renelly Francella
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/662181fab2f6160b7fc0fd08_Renelly%20Francella.jpg)
Renelly Francella
Renelly serves as our Director of Finance and Administration, bringing over 15 years of progressive experience across diverse industries. Renelly holds a CPA, CMA (Ontario) designation.
Previously, Renelly held pivotal roles as Controller at Northern Biologics, where her established skills helped to support the acquisition of their preclinical portfolio in 2020. She then transitioned to the position of Controller at Faze Medicines in Cambridge, MA. Renelly has a proven track record of supporting biotechs in both the Boston and Toronto areas, specializing in Seed to Series A companies. Her expertise lies in implementing robust systems and controls, helping start-ups drive growth throughout successful exits.
Board of Directors
Jerel Davis, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/662183df83c06c2bf829d998_Jerel_FPO.jpg)
Jerel Davis, PhD
Jerel is a Managing Director at Versant Venture Management, LLC, a healthcare investment firm he joined in 2011. In this capacity, he has played a critical role in crafting the company's strategies for creating new ventures, initiating early pharmaceutical deals, and expanding globally.
During his tenure, Jerel has been heavily involved with more than 25 portfolio companies including Crispr (CRSP), BlueRock (sale), Repare (RPTX), Akero (AKRO), Graphite (GRPH), Chinook (KDKY), Rayze (RYZB) Inception 4 (sale), Inception 5 (sale), Northern (sale), Turnstone (TSBX), Ventus, Santa Ana, Tentarix, Firefly, Fable, Nested, and Kolm.
Before Versant, Jerel worked as an Associate Principal at McKinsey and Company, advising biopharma firms in the U.S., Europe, China, and Russia.
Jerel holds a doctorate from Stanford University, where he also conducted post-doctoral research. His blend of academic background and industry experience positions him as a key figure in healthcare investment, driving strategic decisions and fostering growth.
John Hamer, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/6622621bb11687e038805c5b_John%20Hammer.jpg)
John Hamer, PhD
Before co-founding DCVC Bio, John held key roles across academia, entrepreneurship, and venture capital, shaping his diverse expertise in the biotech industry. He served as a VP and Managing Director at Monsanto Growth Ventures (MGV) after successful stints at Burrill & Company.
John's entrepreneurial journey began at Paradigm Genetics, where he rose from a visiting scientist to Chief Science Officer and eventually President and CEO post the company's IPO. He later founded Arête Therapeutics, securing backing from leading life science venture firms.
With roots in academia, John excelled as a Full Professor at Purdue University, garnering prestigious fellowships along the way. He holds a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. from the University of Windsor and earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis. This unique blend of academic and industry experience positions John as a seasoned leader in biotech innovation and venture capital.
Joel Drewry, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/662181ccdf2e6c518b132198_Joel%20Drewry.jpg)
Joel Drewry, PhD
Joel is a Principal based in Versant’s Toronto office. Since joining Versant in 2014, Joel has played pivotal roles in creating and launching multiple companies across the US and Canada. With a keen eye for scientific frontiers, he contributes to Versant's first-mover advantage in company formation. Joel earned his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Toronto in 2012.
Geoff MacKay, CEO
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66213a40c344a6c940ea6360_Geoff%20MacKay.jpg)
Geoff MacKay, CEO
Geoff is our CEO and brings over 20 years of industry leadership as CEO of several innovative biotech companies. Previously, he was founding CEO of AVROBIO Inc., developing hematopoietic gene therapy from concept to late-stage trials and ultimately a sale of their lead program to Novartis.
Geoff was also the founding CEO of eGenesis Inc., a company dedicated to applying gene editing to xenotransplantation. During his tenure as CEO of Organogenesis Inc., the company received the first approval of an allogeneic cell therapy from the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and treated one million patients with living cell therapies.
Earlier in his career, Geoff spent 11 years at Novartis in senior leadership positions, culminating as Vice-President Transplantation & Immunology. Past and present board activities include Chairman of the Board of Satellos Bioscience, Chairman of the Board of MassBio, Chairman of the Board of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine, and a member of the advisory council to the Health Policy Commission for Massachusetts.
Geoff was recognized as Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year” for New England.
Markus Enzelberger, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66296de26f246d8e44b1ec5f_1520146943277.jpeg)
Markus Enzelberger, PhD
Markus, based in Basel, serves as a partner at Versant Ventures, where he is instrumental in launching future newcos from Versant's Ridgeline Discovery Engine.
As a seasoned executive, Markus brings extensive expertise in drug discovery and development, particularly in the protein field. Prior to his role at Versant Ventures, he served as CSO and a member of the management board at MorphoSys. Markus joined MorphoSys in 2002 and is widely recognized as an authority in protein engineering.
Markus earned his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Stuttgart, Germany.
Georg Schragel
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/662fef4b98b0523b1a62a620_NEW_GEORGE.jpg)
Georg Schragel
Georg serves as Director of Business Development at Genmab, overseeing the identification, evaluation, and negotiation of partnerships with biotech companies, academic institutes, and industry stakeholders.
In his current role, Georg leads Genmab’s Venture Capital Fund relationships and direct investment activities, leveraging his extensive industry experience in antibody therapeutics. Over the past 15 years, he has held positions at renowned companies such as argen-x, Genmab, and Byondis.
Georg's career spans various domains including R&D, Competitive Intelligence, Corporate Finance, and Business Development. With a background in Molecular Biology & Microbiology, he holds a degree in Science & Business Management from the University of Utrecht.
Scientific Advisory Board
David Duvenaud, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66218180a4eb2f31b07bd7ae_David%20Duvenaud.jpg)
David Duvenaud, PhD
Dr. Duvenaud is an Associate Professor in Computer Science and Statistics at the University of Toronto, holding esteemed positions such as a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Canada Research Chair in Generative Models, and a CIFAR AI chair. With a wealth of experience, he has authored over 50 publications in machine learning, showcasing groundbreaking contributions such as pioneering work on graph neural networks for molecular representations and generative chemical design.
Dr. Duvenaud's academic journey includes a postdoctoral position at Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. As a Founding Member of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, he continues to shape the field's trajectory. Presently, David leads a talented team at Anthropic, focusing on designing Alignment Evaluations, crucial in advancing AI and its ethical dimensions.
Jennifer Listgarten, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/66218194d2edc15b747cf330_Jennifer%20Listgarten.jpg)
Jennifer Listgarten, PhD
Dr. Jennifer Listgarten, a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, holds positions in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Center for Computational Biology, and the Bioengineering program. She is also a member of the steering committee for the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab.
Previously, Dr. Listgarten spent a decade at Microsoft Research, with stints in Cambridge, MA, Los Angeles, and Redmond, WA. She earned her Ph.D. from the machine learning group at the University of Toronto and holds undergraduate degrees in Physics and Computer Science from Queen's University in Canada.
Dr. Listgarten's research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning, applied statistics, molecular biology, and science. Her current focus is on leveraging machine learning to advance protein engineering.
Mohammed Al Quraishi, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/662fef1536f9870250bbdfdf_NEW_MOHAMMED.jpg)
Mohammed Al Quraishi, PhD
Dr. Mohammed AlQuraishi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Systems Biology and Computer Science and a member of Columbia University’s Program for Mathematical Genomics, where his research resides at the dynamic intersection of machine learning, biophysics, and systems biology.
At the helm of the AlQuraishi Lab, he navigates two distinct biological perspectives: the molecular and systems levels. On the molecular front, his team pioneers machine learning models for predicting protein structure and function, protein-ligand interactions, and novel representations of proteins and proteomes. Simultaneously, on the systems side, they apply these cutting-edge models to explore the intricate organization, combinatorial logic, and computational paradigms of signal transduction networks. Delving deeper, they investigate how these networks vary across human populations and unravel the dysregulations present in human diseases, with a particular focus on cancer.
Dr. AlQuraishi holds undergraduate degrees in Biology, Computer Science, and Mathematics. He furthered his academic studies with an M.S. in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Genetics from Stanford University. Following his doctoral studies, he made significant contributions to the field during his tenure at the Systems Biology Department at Harvard Medical School, where he developed pioneering differentiable models for learning protein structure from data.
Before embarking on his academic career, Dr. AlQuraishi spent three years founding two startups in the mobile computing space, showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit and diverse skill set.
Ron Dror, PhD
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66194178e5feee9a02baeb4c/6621818b24664c767980ce0f_Ron%20Dror.jpg)
Ron Dror, PhD
Dr. Ron Dror is the Cheriton Family Professor of Computer Science at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab. Additionally, he is affiliated with the Departments of Structural Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Physiology in the Stanford School of Medicine.
Dr. Dror leads a pioneering research group that leverages machine learning and molecular simulation to uncover the structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules, driving the development of more effective medicines. With extensive collaborations across academia and industry, he brings a wealth of expertise, previously serving as second-in-command at D. E. Shaw Research, a pioneering hundred-person company where he was the first hire.
His impactful research spans over 30 publications in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science, and Cell, alongside several accolades including Gordon Bell Prizes and Best Paper Awards at computer science conferences.
CAREER
OPPORTUNITIES
WORK![Two men in an office](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6609d90898f18c3fbf61b788/662018b8fb3e07d2309e6247_computational-min.jpg)