About Us

Lynn Seely, M.D., has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since December 2022 and has been a member of our board of directors since May 2021. She was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Myovant Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that gained marketing approval and launched ORGOVYX for men with advanced prostate cancer and MYFEMBREE for women with uterine fibroids and endometriosis. Prior to joining Myovant, Dr. Seely served as the Chief Medical Officer of Medivation, Inc. from 2005 to 2015. In this role, Dr. Seely oversaw the development and marketing approval of the blockbuster medicine XTANDI for men with castration-resistant prostate cancer and held leadership roles in drug development collaborations with Pfizer Inc. and Astellas Pharma US, Inc. Prior to joining Medivation, Dr. Seely served as Vice President of Clinical Development at Corgentech Inc., at Cytyc Health Corporation, and at ProDuct Health, Inc., a medical device company acquired by Cytyc Corporation. Dr. Seely began her industry career in clinical development at Chiron Corporation in 1996. In addition to serving on the Lyell Board, Dr. Seely serves as the lead independent director for Blueprint Medicines and is on the Board of Managers for Life Science Cares Bay Area. Dr. Seely received a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and an M.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. She completed her residency and served as Chief Resident in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and she completed her Fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of California, San Diego, where she was on faculty before joining industry.

Stephen Hill has served as our Chief Operating Officer since October 2021. He joined Lyell in June 2019 as our Chief Technical Operations Officer. From June 2018 to June 2019, he was Senior Vice-President, Head of Global Biologics Operations and from March 2016 to June 2018 as Vice-President, Site Head at AstraZeneca, a publicly-traded company. From December 2012 through February 2016, Mr. Hill served in multiple positions at Amgen, including as Vice President, Bulk Manufacturing, Executive Director, Plant Manager and Executive Director, Manufacturing Technologies. Mr. Hill received an MBA and a B.S. in Microbiology and B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington.

Matthew Lang, J.D., has served as our Chief Business Officer since July 2023. He also serves as our Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. Before joining Lyell, Mr. Lang held several executive officer positions at Myovant Sciences between 2017 and 2023, most recently as Chief Administrative and Legal Officer. Mr. Lang also served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and as Managing Director and General Manager of Myovant Sciences GmbH in Basel, Switzerland. Mr. Lang was previously Vice President, Head of Global Litigation, Investigations, Employment Law and Information Governance at Gilead Sciences, Inc., from November 2009 to July 2017. Prior to Gilead, from 2003 to 2009, Mr. Lang was an attorney at Dechert LLP in New York City. Mr. Lang received his B.A. in Classical Studies from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Gary Lee, Ph.D., has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since January 2022. Dr. Lee is a veteran biotech executive with over a decade of experience leading cell and gene therapy programs for human applications. From October 2018 to January 2022, Dr. Lee was the Chief Scientific Officer at Senti Bio. From August 2005 to October 2018, Dr. Lee held positions of increasing scientific and leadership responsibility at Sangamo Therapeutics, including last as the Vice President of Cell Therapy. Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Charles Newton has served as our Chief Financial Officer since February 2021. From November 2015 to February 2021, he served as Managing Director & Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking in the Americas at Bank of America. From September 2010 to November 2015, Mr. Newton served as Managing Director at Credit Suisse where his last position was Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking in the Americas. From June 1996 to September 2010, he served in the investment banking division at Morgan Stanley where his last position was Managing Director and Head of Western Region Healthcare Investment Banking. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Carmot Therapeutics and Coherus BioSciences, a publicly traded company. Mr. Newton received an MBA from The Tuck School at Dartmouth College and a B.S. in Finance from Miami University.

Ellen Rose joined Lyell in April 2021. Prior to Lyell, she held several leadership positions at Prothena Corporation, Plc between 2015 and 2021, including Senior Vice President, Communications and Chief of Staff to the CEO. Before Prothena, she held several senior positions within Johnson & Johnson between 2010 and 2015 including Communications and External Affairs Leader for Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Head of Communications and Public Affairs for Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy, a Johnson & Johnson Company. She also worked as Director, Communications for ALZA Corporation prior to and following their acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Ms. Rose earned a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.

Bryan Selby joined Lyell in June 2023. Before joining Lyell, Mr. Selby was Senior Vice-President, Product Development at Myovant between 2016 and 2023. Before Myovant, he held multiple senior roles at Medivation between 2007 and 2016, including Senior Vice-President, Product Strategy and Vice President, Biometrics. Bryan earned a B.A. in mathematics from Washburn University and a M.S. in statistics from Kansas State University.

Ann Tomlin joined Lyell in July 2023. Before joining Lyell, Ms. Tomlin was Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Myovant Sciences between 2022 and 2023. Between 2013 and 2022 she held multiple leadership roles across global divisions at AbbVie, most recently as Head of Human Resources for the South San Francisco site and Oncology Early Development function, and also led the Human Resources function across US and Swiss entities for the Pharmacyclics integration with AbbVie. She began her career at Abbott Laboratories, serving in various leadership roles between 2000 and 2013. Ms. Tomlin received her M.S. in Labor and Industrial Relations from Loyola University of Chicago and her B.A. in Communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign.

Rick Klausner, M.D., is our founder and current Board Chair and was previously our Chief Executive Officer from September 2018 to July 2020 and Executive Chairman from August 2020 to October 2021.  Dr. Klausner is the founder and Chief Scientist of Altos Labs, a private life sciences company.  He is the President of the Milky Way Research Foundation and founder and Managing Partner of Milky Way Investments. He was the founder and Director of Juno Therapeutics and the founder and Director of GRAIL.  He is the Chairman of Sonoma Biotherapeutics. Co-Founder and Chairman of LifeMine Therapeutics.  He is the former Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, and Chief Opportunity Officer of Illumina Corporation.  Previously, he was Executive Director for Global Health of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Klausner was appointed by Presidents Clinton and Bush as the eleventh Director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute between 1995 and 2001. Dr. Klausner served as chief of the Cell Biology and Metabolism Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a past president of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine. He has served in senior advisory roles to the U.S., Norwegian, Qatari, and Indian governments.  Dr. Klausner earned an M.D. from Duke Medical School and a B.S. from Yale University.

Lynn Seely, M.D., has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer since December 2022 and has been a member of our board of directors since May 2021. She was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Myovant Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that gained marketing approval and launched ORGOVYX for men with advanced prostate cancer and MYFEMBREE for women with uterine fibroids and endometriosis. Prior to joining Myovant, Dr. Seely served as the Chief Medical Officer of Medivation, Inc. from 2005 to 2015. In this role, Dr. Seely oversaw the development and marketing approval of the blockbuster medicine XTANDI for men with castration-resistant prostate cancer and held leadership roles in drug development collaborations with Pfizer Inc. and Astellas Pharma US, Inc. Prior to joining Medivation, Dr. Seely served as Vice President of Clinical Development at Corgentech Inc., at Cytyc Health Corporation, and at ProDuct Health, Inc., a medical device company acquired by Cytyc Corporation. Dr. Seely began her industry career in clinical development at Chiron Corporation in 1996. In addition to serving on the Lyell Board, Dr. Seely serves as the lead independent director for Blueprint Medicines and is on the Board of Managers for Life Science Cares Bay Area. Dr. Seely received a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and an M.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. She completed her residency and served as Chief Resident in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and she completed her Fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of California, San Diego, where she was on faculty before joining industry.

Hans Bishop has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2018. Since December 2021, Mr. Bishop has also served as the Board Co-Chair and President of Altos Labs, Inc., a private life sciences company. From July 2019 to September 2021, Mr. Bishop served as the Chief Executive Officer of GRAIL, a private life sciences company. From July 2013 to March 2018, Mr. Bishop served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Juno Therapeutics, a company that he co-founded and that was acquired by Celgene. From February 2012 through July 2013, Mr. Bishop served as Executive in Residence at Warburg Pincus, a multinational private equity firm. From January 2010 to September 2011, Mr. Bishop served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Dendreon, Inc., a publicly traded cancer immunotherapy company. From December 2006 to January 2010, Mr. Bishop served as President of Specialty Medicine at Bayer Healthcare, a publicly traded company. From January 2004 to August 2006, he served in multiple leadership positions at Chiron Corporation, a multinational biotechnology company, including as Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Operations and Vice President and General Manager of European Biopharmaceuticals. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Sana Biotechnology and as a director of Agilent Technologies, both of which are publicly traded companies, and he previously served as a director of JW Therapeutics, Juno Therapeutics and Celgene. Mr. Bishop received a B.A. in Chemistry from Brunel University in London.

Otis Brawley, M.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2021. Dr. Brawley has served as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Oncology and Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University since January 2019 and a member the board of directors of PDS Biotechnology Corporation, a publicly traded biotechnology company, since November 2020, Incyte Corporation since September 2021 and Agilent Technologies since November 2021. From April 2007 to December 2018, he served as the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of American Cancer Society. From January 2002 to August 2007, he was director of the Georgia Cancer Center at Grady Memorial Hospital. From April 2001 to December 2018, he served as a professor of hematology, oncology, medicine and epidemiology at Emory University. Dr. Brawley received an M.D. from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago. He completed an internal medicine residency at Case-Western Reserve University and a fellowship in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology.

Catherine Friedman has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2018. Ms. Friedman is a business executive with nearly 40 years of experience across finance, technology and healthcare. Ms. Friedman is an Executive Venture Partner at GV Management Company, LLC, where she is a senior member of the investing team and advises the life sciences portfolio. Ms. Friedman has spent 15 years on the boards of leading public and private life sciences and technology companies. She has served as an independent director at Seer, Inc., Altaba Inc. (formerly Yahoo!), Revolution Healthcare Acquisition Corp., and until recently, at GRAIL, Vividion Therapeutics (acquired by Bayer) and Radius Health. Earlier in her career, Ms. Friedman spent nearly 24 years with Morgan Stanley. She held several executive positions, including Managing Director, Head of West Coast Healthcare, and co-head of Morgan Stanley's biotechnology practice. Ms. Friedman holds a B.A. in economics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from The University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. She is a foundation trustee for the University of California San Francisco and the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.

Elizabeth Nabel, M.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2021 and brings a unique perspective to health care based on her experience as a physician, research scientist, academic medicine leader and wellness advocate. She also serves on the board of directors of Moderna, Medtronic and Accolade. Since May 2022, Dr. Nabel has served as Chief Medical Officer of OPKO Health, following its acquisition of ModeX Therapeutics, a new biotechnology company focused on developing innovative immunotherapies for cancer and viral diseases, where she served as Executive Vice President of Strategy from March 2021 through its acquisition by OPKO. Through February 2021, Dr. Nabel was President of Brigham Health, which includes Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, and the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization, a position she held from 2010. Simultaneous with her service as President of Brigham Health, Dr. Nabel was also a Professor of Medicine from 2010 to 2021 at Harvard Medical School, where she is currently a Professor of Medicine emeritus. Prior to joining Brigham Health, she held a variety of roles, including Director, at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, a federal agency funding research, training and education programs to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung and blood diseases, from 1999 to 2009. Her colleagues have elected her to the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and she is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Nabel received an M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College and a B.A. in psychology from St. Olaf College, and she completed her internal medicine and cardiology training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Robert Nelsen has served as a member of our board of directors since September 2018. Since January 2022, Mr. Nelsen has also served as a member of the board of directors of Altos Labs, Inc., a private life sciences company. Since 1986, Mr. Nelsen has served as co-founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology companies. Mr. Nelsen is a member of the board of directors of Denali Therapeutics, Hua Medicine, Sana Biotechnology, Revolution Healthcare Acquisition Corp. and Vir Biotechnology, all of which are publicly traded companies. Previously, Mr. Nelsen served on the boards of Juno Therapeutics from August 2013 to March 2018, Syros Pharmaceuticals from August 2012 to June 2018, Sienna Biopharmaceuticals from August 2015 to October 2018, Agios Pharmaceuticals from December 2007 to June 2017, KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals from January 2006 to December 2014, Adolor Corporation from November 1994 to May 2008, Illumina from June 1998 to August 2006, Fate Therapeutics from September 2007 to June 2014, deCODE genetics from August 1996 to November 2001, NeurogesX from July 2000 to May 2013, Bellerophon Therapeutics from February 2014 to February 2015, Sage Therapeutics from September 2013 to March 2016 and Caliper Life Sciences from April 1996 to December 1999. From 2004 to 2014, Mr. Nelsen served as trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Mr. Nelsen received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. with majors in Economics and Biology from the University of Puget Sound.

William Rieflin has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2020. From September 2010 to September 2018, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. Since April 2015, Mr. Rieflin has served on the board of directors and has been Chairman of the Board since June 2019 at RAPT Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, and since July 2022, he has served as Chairman of the Board at NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company where he also previously served as Executive Chairman since September 2018 and a member of the board since 2010. Mr. Rieflin previously served on the board of directors of Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, from April 2011 to June 2016 and of XenoPort, Inc. from September 2010 to July 2016. Mr. Rieflin also served as a board member of Flexus Biosciences until its acquisition in 2015. He currently serves on the board of directors of Kallyope, Inc. and Lycia Therapeutics, Inc., both privately held companies. Mr. Rieflin received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.