Board of Directors

Abe brings nearly two decades of biopharmaceutical industry experience to Rapport. He served as President of Cerevel Therapeutics from May 2021 through February 2023, and was previously CEO of Tiburio Therapeutics, where he built a fully integrated company that led to the investigational new drug enablement for a rare neuroendocrine tumor. Prior to joining Tiburio, Mr. Ceesay held positions including Chief Operating Officer at scPharmaceuticals, Head of Commercial at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Vice President of Marketing at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and roles of increasing responsibility at Sanofi, formerly Genzyme. Mr. Ceesay serves as Chairman of the Board for Life Science Cares and on the Board of Trustees at The Museum of Science in Boston. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College and Master of Business Administration from Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management.

Steve brings over 40 years of R&D leadership experience to Rapport. He has co-founded and led multiple neuroscience-focused companies, including Karuna Therapeutics, Sage Therapeutics and Voyager Therapeutics. He currently serves as Chief Scientific Officer and President of Research and Development at Karuna, and sits on the Board of Directors at Sage. He is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Steve was at the National Institutes of Health for 18 years, where he served as the Scientific Director for the National Institute of Mental Health. Following NIMH Steve held several R&D leadership positions over a 17-year career at Eli Lilly & Co., including Executive Vice President for Science and Technology and President of the Lilly Research Laboratories. He is also a former Director of the Weill Cornell Medicine Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute.

Steve currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the NIH, and has served on many other advisory committees and received many awards recognizing his contributions to neuroscience research. Steve received his bachelor’s in Biology and Psychology from Tulane University, and his M.S. and M.D. from the Tulane University School of Medicine

Reid brings to Rapport over 25 years of operating experience in the biotechnology industry. He was a member of the founding scientific team at Incyte and served there for 17 years, ending with five years as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to Incyte, he held positions of increasing responsibility at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He has been a Partner at Third Rock Ventures since 2018, and holds board positions at Asher Bio, MOMA Therapeutics, Tango Therapeutics, Terremoto Biosciences, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals and insitro. Reid received his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and completed his post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health.

Jeff has served in executive roles at several biotechnology companies, including as Executive Chairman of the Board at Delinia; President, CEO, and Member of the Board of Directors at Nora Therapeutics; and Vice President, Corporate and Product Development at Infinity Pharmaceuticals. Earlier he worked at McKinsey & Company and was a founding researcher at the Harvard Bauer Center for Genomics Research. He joined Third Rock Ventures in 2016. Jeff received his A.B. from Harvard College, A.M. and Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.M.S. from the Harvard Medical School.

Jim is the Managing Partner at Sofinnova Investments with over twenty three years of experience in funding innovative therapies. At Sofinnova, twenty two of his investments have gone public and twelve have been acquired. Prior to Sofinnova, Jim worked at Bayer and Sanderling. He received various recognitions over the course of his career including IBF Innovator, Xconomy’s Young and Proven Biotech VC’s and named one of Fortune’s Top Life Science Investors. An immunologist by training, Jim currently serves on the boards of ArriVent, Atsena, Bolt (BOLT), Karuna (KRTX), Natera (NTRA) and Y-mAbs (YMAB). He previously served on the boards of the Executive Committee at UC Berkeley, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). Jim received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Terry-Ann Burrell is Chief Financial Officer of Beam. Prior to Beam, she spent 11 years with J.P. Morgan, most recently as a Managing Director in the healthcare investment banking group. There, Terry-Ann had broad coverage across the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, helping to execute over $10 billion in equity and equity linked financings and more than $50 billion in M&A transactions. She was instrumental in advising clients on transaction considerations, including strategic rationale, valuation and structuring, and engaged with more than 100 companies during her tenure. Prior to J.P. Morgan, she worked in equity research at Citigroup, where she covered specialty pharmaceuticals and generics. She holds an MBA from New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a B.A. from Harvard University.

John is a Venture Partner at both ARCH Venture Partners and Atlas Ventures, Senior Advisor at Blackstone Life Sciences, and Principal and Chief Executive Officer at JMM Innovations, LLC. He served as founding CEO of Alnylam from 2002 to 2021, where he led the development of a novel class of medicines, referred to as RNAi therapeutics. Under John’s leadership, Alnylam built over $25 billion in market capitalization, established more than 20 major pharmaceutical alliances and saw the approval and commercialization of four of its RNAi medicines, ONPATTRO®️, GIVLAARI®️, OXLUMO®️, and Leqvio®️. Prior to founding Alnylam, John held leadership positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Biogen, Inc. He also previously served as Chair of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. He received his B.A. in biological sciences and M.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Chicago.