Meet the Visionaries
Behind the Science

Saurabh Johri is a seasoned industry executive with more than 20 years of strategy and commercialization experience in healthcare and biopharma. His experience spans global and US leadership roles in multiple top-tier biopharmaceutical companies across early-stage development and product launches as well as leading $1B+ businesses with responsibility for partnerships of varying types and scale. Saurabh joins Catena Biosciences from Bayer, where he was most recently vice president and global head of oncology strategy and early commercialization. In his last role at Bayer, he was responsible for setting the short-term and long-term oncology strategy, partnering with early R&D to ensure oncology pipeline development was in line with strategy, and partnering with business development to ensure strategic deal flow for Bayer’s oncology pipeline and top-line goals. Prior to that, he was US head, LYNPARZA^® (olaparib), leading strategy and execution across all tumor types for this first-in-class and market-leading PARP inhibitor. Saurabh also held senior commercial roles at Merck and Teva Pharmaceuticals, where he was held multiple leadership positions in new product planning and global strategy. He holds a degree in industrial engineering from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Kendall was most recently president and CEO of ImmPACT BIO, a cell therapy company developing engineered T cells for the treatment of cancer. Prior, he was vice president of research at Kite Pharma, where he was responsible for the company’s research pipeline and development of CAR-T technologies. Dr. Kendall was also an executive director and head of oncology research at Amgen, where he directed a group of more than 90 scientists and was responsible for the development of the company’s oncology therapeutic strategy aligning research with other functions, including chemistry, protein sciences, medical translational sciences, development, and commercial. Among his many accomplishments at Amgen, Dr. Kendall initiated efforts that led to the development of the first true KRAS inhibitor, LUMAKRAS. Additionally, he led the research diligence and integration team for the Micromet acquisition integrating the Bi-Specific T-cell Engager (BiTE) platform into Amgen’s repertoire of therapeutic modalities, which became a cornerstone in the company’s immune-oncology efforts. He holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a PhD from the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine.

Marco Lobba obtained a PhD from the University of California Berkeley and was a student in the labs of Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna and Matthew Francis, Emeritus Chair of the Berkeley Department of Chemistry. In addition, he holds a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College. With his educational foundation rooted at the intersection of chemistry and molecular biology and gene editing, Dr. Lobba cofounded CatenaBio to address the pressing challenge of delivering targeted protein therapeutics. His expertise in protein conjugation has helped advance innovative treatments, such as CRISPR-based editors and cell-based therapies. Dr. Lobba's academic background and experience at UC Berkeley have shaped his vision for revolutionizing precision medicine and developing therapies that were previously unimaginable.