Eli de los Pinos is the founding CEO of Aura, which she has created from the ground up: She developed the company concept and has spearheaded fundraising efforts, and today, she continues to lead Aura’s strategy and operations. Prior to founding Aura, she worked in Eli Lilly & Co.’s oncology business unit, where she was part of the leadership team responsible for the market launch in Europe of Alimta, a drug for the treatment of lung cancer. Earlier in her career, Eli worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. She previously completed fellowships at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine Institute of Molecular Medicine and at the Georgetown School of Medicine. Eli holds a Ph.D., magna cum laude, in Molecular Biology from the University of Barcelona and an MBA from IE Business School.

She is a member of the board of overseers at the Museum of Science, Boston. Eli has also been named to Boston Business Journal’s 2009 “Top 40 under 40” list; as a Mass High Tech “Woman to Watch” in 2010; as a “Technology Pioneer” by the World Economic Forum in 2010; and as one of Goldman Sachs’ “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs” in 2014.

Julie Feder is the Chief Financial Officer at Aura. Prior to this role, Julie served as Chief Financial Officer at Verastem, where she was responsible for developing the company’s strategic financial plan and overseeing a rapid growth in financing and staff size. Prior to joining Verastem, Ms. Feder spent six years at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) as Chief Financial Officer. At CHAI, Ms. Feder was responsible for managing a global team across multiple departments. She also developed the global finance strategy and internal audit, treasury, and global payroll functions. Prior to joining CHAI, Ms. Feder spent three years at Genzyme Corporation, as Vice President of Internal Audit and later as Finance Integration Leader. In these roles, she managed the day-to-day operations of Genzyme’s global internal audit function, while leading the Genzyme Global Finance integration following Sanofi’s acquisition of Genzyme. Ms. Feder began her career at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where she was Senior Manager of Audit, Consulting and Enterprise Risk Services. Ms. Feder holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business.

Jill Hopkins is the Chief Medical Officer and President of Research & Development at Aura. Before joining Aura, Jill served as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Ophthalmology and Exploratory Development at Novartis, and Chief Executive Officer of Gyroscope Therapeutics, a Novartis company, where she was responsible for the global ophthalmic pipeline and portfolio of medicines, gene therapy, devices and digital solutions to impact eye disease and reduce visual impairment globally. Previously, Dr. Hopkins spent over a decade at Roche-Genentech in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Global Head Ophthalmology Personalized Health Care. Before Roche-Genentech, she spent over 20 years in clinical retinal research and academic practice at the University of Toronto, University of Southern California, and Retina-Vitreous Associates Medical Group. Jill brings over 30 years of cross-sector experience in ophthalmology, spanning clinical care, academia, education, industry, advocacy, and innovation. Dr. Hopkins received her M.D. from McMaster University and completed her Ophthalmology residency at the University of Toronto. She has completed fellowships in Retinal Disease from Moorfields Eye Hospital in London UK and in Visual Electrophysiology from the Universities of Toronto and Ottawa. Dr. Hopkins is board certified in Ophthalmology from the American Board of Ophthalmology and the Royal College of Surgeons Canada.

Mark Plavsic is the Chief Technology Officer at Aura. Before joining Aura, Mark served as Chief Technology Officer at Fate Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, and was previously Chief Technical Officer at Lysogene, a late-stage gene therapy company. Dr. Plavsic also spent over 10 years at Sanofi Genzyme in Technical Operations, where he was head of product safety and global manufacturing process improvement, and in Technology Development & Manufacturing, where he was head of gene therapy development. Before joining Sanofi Genzyme, Dr. Plavsic held various technical leadership positions with AstraZeneca, Q-One Biotech, and Life Technologies. Mark brings 30 years of global biopharmaceutical experience including end-to-end technical operations in the United States, Europe, and Australasia and successful translation and scale-up of complex biologics from preclinical development through commercial launch and distribution. Dr. Plavsic received his Ph.D. in Virology and Immunology and his DVM from the University of Belgrade, and is board certified in Microbiology, subspeciality Virology from the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists, and Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) credentialed.

Bruce Brown is Senior Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head Urologic Oncology at Aura. Dr. Brown is responsible for leading the bladder cancer program, including the current ongoing trial, as well as driving future strategy and development plans. He joins Aura from Myovant Sciences, where he was Vice President, Clinical Development. Prior to Myovant, Bruce was the Chief Medical Officer at Dendreon Pharmacetuicals. He previously held positions of increasing responsibility at several biotech and healthcare companies including Astellas Pharma and Baxter Healthcare. Dr. Brown is a board-certified urologist and joined the pharmaceutical industry after practicing urology for 17 years. He obtained his M.D. from University of Illinois College of Medicine and his A.B. in history from Stanford University.

Anthony Daniels is the Therapeutic Area Head Ocular Oncology at Aura. Dr. Daniels is responsible for leading the ocular oncology program and driving future strategy. He joins Aura from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was on faculty for ten years and was Chief of the Division of Ocular Oncology. Dr. Daniels is a board-certified ophthalmologist who has treated ocular oncology patients for 15 years. At Vanderbilt, in addition to his very large clinical ocular oncology practice, he ran an ocular oncology drug development laboratory as an NIH-funded physician-scientist. He received an A.B. summa cum laude in Molecular Biology from Princeton, an M.Sc. in public health and health policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, followed by an ophthalmology residency at Harvard, a vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at Harvard, and ocular oncology training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, at Mayo Clinic, and at Harvard.

Richard Mountfield is Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality, at Aura. Dr. Mountfield is responsible for overseeing regulatory affairs and quality activities for all programs. He joins Aura from Zenas BioPharma, where he was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs & Quality. Prior to Zenas BioPharma, Richard was Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, and earlier, Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Drug Development at Boston Pharmaceuticals. He previously held positions of increasing responsibility at several biotech and pharmaceutical companies including Celyad, Norvartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Hoffmann-La Roche. Dr. Mountfield obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Aberystwyth University and a B.Sc., with honors, in biochemistry from Coventry University.

Patrick Nealon is the Senior Vice President, Clinical Development Operations at Aura. Prior to this role, Patrick served as an Executive Vice President and General Manager, Oncology, at Syneos Health where he was responsible for the overall strategy and direction of the global clinical trials. Patrick also was responsible for the leadership of Syneos’ Clinical Pharmacology and Bioanalysis Business Unit; including two Phase I units and three global bioanalytical labs. He also previously served as the Head, Global Program Management at Servier where he led the program delivery for Shire and Baxalta. Mr. Nealon has also served in several senior leadership roles in clinical operations at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Genzyme Corporation and ZYCOS, Inc. He received his MBA and bachelor’s degree from Anna Maria College.