Founded in 2013, we’re led by a seasoned team of inventors, scientists, and big thinkers. We combine our deep expertise in immunology, neurology, and genetics in our quest to deliver life-transforming medicines that can profoundly impact patients’ lives.
Close
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Director
Arnon co-founded Alector in 2013 and has served as a member of our board of directors, as Chief Executive Officer, and as our President since 2013. Arnon co-founded Annexon Biosciences, Inc., and served as its acting Chief Executive Officer from August 2011 to December 2014 and served as a member of the board of directors, including as Chairman from August 2011 to February 2017. Arnon co-founded Rinat Neuroscience Corporation (acquired by Pfizer Inc. in August 2006), and served as President, Chief Scientific Officer, and as a member of the board of directors from August 2001 to August 2006. From January 1985 to August 2001, Arnon served in various roles at Genentech, Inc., where he ultimately served as Staff Scientist and was appointed as a permanent member of Genentech’s Research Review Committee, where his team discovered the target for the cancer drug Erivedge. Arnon conducted his post-doctoral fellowship at Genentech, Inc. He holds a Ph.D. in biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Close
President and Head of Research and Development
Sara Kenkare-Mitra, Ph.D., joined Alector as President and Head of Research and Development in December 2021 to lead all aspects of the company’s immuno-neurology and oncology R&D efforts, including oversight of the research, development, clinical, manufacturing, regulatory, and related functions.
Prior to joining Alector, Sara held roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech over the course of 23 years. She most recently served as Senior Vice President, Development Sciences in Genentech’s research and early development unit. During her tenure at Genentech, Sara led a large, integrated global organization of approximately 650 employees, and played a key role in the filing of more than 100 Investigational New Drug/clinical trial applications around the world, and the approval of 15 medicines for diverse diseases, including cancers and neurological diseases. Her team also enabled the successful development and approval of over 15 companion diagnostics.
Sara received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she also stayed on as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the school of medicine and completed a Fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology before joining Genentech. Sara also holds adjunct faculty positions in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the UCSF and at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Sara is an elected member of the National academy of Medicine (NAM) and elected fellow of Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She has been widely recognized for her work and leadership in the industry with awards such as the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists’ Alice E. Till Advancement of Women in Pharmaceutical Sciences Recognition, Endpoints’ 20 Most Extraordinary Women in Biopharma, Fierce Pharma’s Fiercest Women in the Life Sciences, and the University of California, San Francisco’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. She has served as a board member of the Genentech foundation and the Association of Women in Science (AWIS).
Close
Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Grasso joins Alector from Kura Oncology, Inc., where he served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer. Prior to Kura Oncology, he served as Managing Director of Stifel, where he was responsible for building and managing the west coast life sciences and biotechnology investment banking business. Previously, Dr. Grasso was Managing Director of Investment Banking in the Global Healthcare Group at UBS, focused on the biotechnology sector, and prior to that, he was Managing Director of Investment Banking at Leerink Swann, where he was instrumental in the west coast expansion of their franchise. Dr. Grasso joined Leerink from Morgan Stanley and earlier held positions in the Global Healthcare Group of Credit Suisse First Boston and at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Dr. Grasso received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he also performed research in molecular oncology. He obtained an A.B. in molecular biology with honors from Princeton University.
Close
Chief Medical Officer
Gary Romano, M.D., Ph.D., joined Alector as Chief Medical Officer in May 2022 to lead the company’s global clinical development strategy, including oversight of the clinical development, clinical operations, biometrics and digital science, and medical affairs functions.
Gary brings more than 25 years of experience in neurodegenerative disease to Alector, including 18 years in industry roles at Merck, the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, and Passage Bio. Gary served as the Chief Medical Officer of Passage Bio until May 2021, where he was responsible for the clinical development of gene therapies targeting rare monogenic central nervous system disorders and achieved Investigational New Drug and Clinical Trial Application clearances for three gene therapies. Prior to Passage Bio, Gary oversaw clinical development of the neurodegenerative disease portfolio for more than five years at Janssen as the Deputy Leader, Neurodegenerative Disease Area and Head of Development, Neurodegenerative Disease. He previously held other leadership positions at Janssen, including Head of Neuroscience Biomarkers and Head of Early Clinical Development. Earlier in his career, Gary served as the Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutic Area Group Co-Leader and Leader, Neuroscience Experimental Medicine at Merck.
Gary earned a B.S. in Biology from Trinity College, a Ph.D. in Molecular Neurobiology from Rockefeller University, and an M.D. from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his medical internship, neurology residency and neuromuscular fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served on the executive committee of the Innovative Medicines Initiative – European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Dementia (EPAD), and as the industry co-chair of the Critical Path Institute Coalition Against Alzheimer’s Disease. Gary currently serves on the board of directors of the ALS Hope Foundation and is an adjunct member of the neurology department at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
Close
Chief Scientific Officer
Peter Heutink, Ph.D., is the Chief Scientific Officer at Alector and leads the company’s research teams with the goal of rapidly advancing our pipeline of novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Most recently, Peter was a group leader and the site speaker of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) – Tübingen. In addition, he was a full professor of Genome Biology for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany and an honorary professor of Functional Genomics of Ageing and Neurodegeneration at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), the Netherlands.
Peter has led teams that identified mutation in genes for Parkinson’s disease (PD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), chorea, ataxia, hemochromatosis, porencephaly and various development disorders. He has also made important contributions to genome wide association studies (GWAS) for major depression, Tourette Syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorders, FTD, and PD. Additionally, Peter has made contributions to a series of GWA, exome and whole genome sequencing studies as a member of the International Parkinson’s Disease Genomics Consortium (IPDGC), the International Frontotemporal Dementia Genomics Consortium (IFGC) and the International FTLD-TDP WGS consortium and is a member of the steering committee of the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program. Peter has been involved in many industry collaborations to bring genetic findings toward the clinic and is an author or co-author of more than 400 peer-reviewed publications.
Peter Heutink studied Biology at the University of Amsterdam and earned a Ph.D. in Human Genetics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Close
General Counsel
Danielle Pasqualone, Ph.D., J.D., serves as the General Counsel at Alector. She joined Alector in 2019 as the Vice President of Intellectual Property. In her role, Danielle oversees the company’s legal function, driving business objectives and decision-making. Partnering with teams throughout Alector, she also directs global intellectual property strategy and provides legal counsel on various matters, including transactions, such as the recent GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Adimab collaborations. Danielle’s diverse experience at and prior to Alector has included intellectual property strategy from research through commercialization, litigation and adversarial proceedings, licensing and transactions, IP-related FDA and regulatory matters, trade secret protection, trademark registration, privacy and data protection, and general corporate matters. Danielle earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Penn State University, a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Cornell University, and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.
Close
Chief People Officer
Clare is the Chief People Officer at Alector and has led our People team since January 2017. In this role, Clare is responsible for the development and growth of Alector employees, recruiting top talent, advancing Alector’s position as an employer of choice, and leading the People team to continue to enhance every part of the employee experience.
Prior to joining Alector, Clare spent seven years as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, where she was most recently a case team leader and worked in the Boston, London, Manhattan, and San Francisco offices. Clare is a leadership coach who managed a coaching sole proprietorship and completed the Coaches Training Institute’s coach certification and leadership programs, as well as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). She has international operating experience, having lived and worked in Eswatini for a private sector development consultancy, and rural Kenya for a social enterprise startup. Clare holds a B.A. in international relations and economics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Close
Chief Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance, and Quality Assurance Officer
Kristina entered the pharmaceutical industry after graduating from the University of Michigan School of Public Health with a Masters in Public Health. Her first job was auditing neurology clinical trials for Parke-Davis, giving her a glimpse of the Clinical Research world and providing her an opportunity to transition into the project management of large epidemiological studies for the company, combining her interest in both science and public health.
Early in her career she shifted her focus on late-stage drug development, specifically the commercialization of products that she had helped to develop. She started her career in Commercial Regulatory Affairs, helping the Pfizer Marketing team promote women’s health, cardiovascular and oncology products throughout the years. Understanding the business was exciting, and a passion for finding regulatory pathways to develop & commercialize products was the perfect blend for her interests. Since then, she has worked across numerous therapeutic areas, from IND to commercialization at small, mid-sized and larger companies including Amgen, Genentech/Roche, Intermune, Halozyme and now Alector, Inc. Each role increased her leadership and enterprise expertise.
In her current role at Alector, Kristina Cutter leads the regulatory strategy & operations team and the safety & pharmacovigilance teams. She is responsible for the global regulatory development & safety strategy across the corporate portfolios for this exciting neuro-immunology and onco-immunology company.
Close
Chief of Staff and Head of Strategy
As the Chief of Staff and Head of Strategy, Virginia drives and coordinates the overall company strategy in partnership with the CEO and leads business planning and operations efforts to ensure clear decision-making aligns with the company’s strategic objectives. Virginia joined Alector in 2018, leading the Portfolio and Program Management function. Prior to Alector, Virginia held various roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech from 2007 through 2018, including in the global organization as a Disease Area Director and LifeCycle Leader. Prior to her work in the global organization at Genentech, Virginia held roles of increasing responsibility in the U.S. commercial organization, which spanned both the Marketing and Market Planning groups. Previously, she worked as an Associate at McKinsey & Co. and as a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Virginia holds an A.B. in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar and a Siebel Scholar.
Close
Senior Vice President, Portfolio, Program and Alliance Management
Norah Conway joins Alector as Senior Vice President, Portfolio, Program and Alliance Management. Norah brings over 20 years of program leadership and management experience, having built and established project management organizations and having led over 15 development programs in a range of indications and phases of development, including launch and life cycle, while working at Tranquis Therapeutics, Catalyst Biosciences, Ultragenyx and Bayer.
Prior to her Program Leadership & Project Management experience, she worked in leadership positions in Regulatory Affairs in four countries for Bayer, with successful drug submissions, approvals and interactions with regulatory authorities globally. Her broad experience enables a strategic, results-driven approach to development and operational activities.
Norah is a pharmacist with a Master in Pharmacy degree from the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Medicine. She also holds a Certificate in Project Management (PMP) from the Project Management Institute.
Chairperson of the Board
Close
Chairperson of the Board
Louis J. Lavigne Jr. became chairperson of the board of Alector in June 2023. He has served on the audit committee since October 2018 and was the lead independent director from August 2020 to June 2023. Mr. Lavigne has been Managing Director of Lavrite, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in corporate finance, accounting, growth strategy, and management since 2005 and since 2019, Laman Partners, LLC. He has served on the board of directors of several public and private companies and institutions, including Zynga, Accuray, Rodan + Fields, Allergan, DocuSign, and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, among others. He also served in various executive capacities at Genentech, Inc. for over 20 years, including as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. In 2005, Mr. Lavigne was named the Best CFO in Biotech in the Institutional Investor Survey, and in June 2006, he received the Bay Area CFO of the Year Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Lavigne holds a B.S. in finance from Babson College and an M.B.A. from Temple University.
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Close
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Arnon co-founded Alector in 2013 and has served as a member of our board of directors, as Chief Executive Officer, and as our President since 2013. Arnon co-founded Annexon Biosciences, Inc., and served as its acting Chief Executive Officer from August 2011 to December 2014 and served as a member of the board of directors, including as Chairman from August 2011 to February 2017. Arnon co-founded Rinat Neuroscience Corporation (acquired by Pfizer Inc. in August 2006), and served as President, Chief Scientific Officer, and as a member of the board of directors from August 2001 to August 2006. From January 1985 to August 2001, Arnon served in various roles at Genentech, Inc., where he ultimately served as Staff Scientist and was appointed as a permanent member of Genentech’s Research Review Committee, where his team discovered the target for the cancer drug Erivedge. Arnon conducted his post-doctoral fellowship at Genentech, Inc. He holds a Ph.D. in biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Close
Dr. Garofalo is a veteran biopharmaceutical executive with more than 25 years of experience in global clinical development and regulatory affairs, with a focus on neurology. Since 2016, Dr. Garofalo has served as the principal for EAG Pharma Consulting LLC. Previously, Dr. Garofalo worked for Novartis, serving as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development and as a member of its Global Development Leadership Team; she was also Chair of the Novartis Portfolio Stewardship Board and Co-Head of the Novartis Neuroscience Franchise. Prior to Novartis, Dr. Garofalo held several leadership positions, including Global Therapeutics Area Leader, CNS at Astellas; Ann Arbor Site Head, Worldwide Regulatory Affairs at Pfizer; and Ann Arbor Site Head of Neuroscience at Pfizer. Dr. Garofalo currently serves on the Boards of Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Exicure, Inc., and Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. She is also Chair of the Pediatric Oversight Committee at the Institute for Advanced Clinical Trials in Children and is the Chair of the Business Advisory Board for the Epilepsy Foundation of America. Dr. Garofalo holds an M.D. from the Indiana University School of Medicine and completed fellowships in pediatric neurology and epilepsy at the University of Michigan Medical School.
MIT
Close
MIT
Professor Paula T. Hammond is the David H. Koch Chair Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. She serves on the board of directors for Alector and is a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, the MIT Energy Initiative, and a founding member of the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology. Professor Hammond was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2017, the National Academy of Medicine in 2016, and the Class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. She won the ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science, the AIChE Charles M. A. Stine Award, the AIChE Alpha Chi Sigma Award for Chemical Engineering Research, the AIChE Foundation’s Doing a World of Good Medal, and the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Teal Innovator Award. Professor Hammond has published over 320 papers and over 20 patent applications. She is a co-founder and member of the Scientific Advisory Board of LayerBio, Inc. and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Moderna Therapeutics.
Polaris
Close
Polaris
A founding partner of Polaris Partners, Terry brings more than 25 years of successful early-stage investing experience in medical and information technology companies. Terry has invested in more than 50 companies and co-founded three companies: Inspire Pharmaceuticals (public and sold to Merck), AIR (sold to Alkermes), and MicroCHIPS (private). Terry has won numerous awards, including the Massachusetts Society for Medical Research Award and the Albert Einstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Life Sciences, awarded by Harvard and the City of Jerusalem. He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University and Canisius College for his work in translational science. Terry chairs the board of the Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, and sits on the boards of MIT’s The David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School, and The Healthcare Initiative Advisory Board (HBS). Terry holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, an M.S. in engineering from The Thayer School at Dartmouth College, and a B.S. in physics and economics from Hobart College.
BridgeBio
Close
BridgeBio
Dr. Scheller has served as a member of our board of directors since October 2018. Dr. Scheller has been Chairman of Research and Development at BridgeBio since January 2019. Previously, Dr. Scheller was Chief Scientific Officer at 23andMe, a personal genetics company, as well as the Executive Vice President of Research and Early Development and a member of the Executive Committee at Genentech. Dr. Scheller currently serves as a member of the board of directors for ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, and BridgeBio. Dr. Scheller’s research on elucidating the molecular machinery and regulatory mechanism that underlie the release of neurotransmitters earned him the 2013 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Scheller holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He completed his post-doctorate in Molecular Neurobiology at Columbia University.
Meta
Close
Meta
Dave Wehner is the chief strategy officer of Meta Platforms (known until 2021 as Facebook). Previously, he was the chief financial officer of Meta, where he led the finance, facilities, and enterprise engineering teams. Prior to becoming CFO in June 2014, Dave served as Meta’s vice president, corporate finance and business planning, since he joined the company in 2012. From 2010 through 2012, Dave served as chief financial officer of Zynga. Before Zynga, Dave was a managing director at Allen & Company, an investment bank focused on media and technology, which he joined in 2001. In addition to his role at Meta, Dave serves on the board of directors of Alector, Inc. He also serves as the co-chair of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a non-profit organization established to provide analysis and action on issues affecting the Silicon Valley economy and way of life. Dave holds a B.S. in chemistry from Georgetown University and an M.S. in applied physics from Stanford University.
UCSF
Close
UCSF
Dr. Kristine Yaffe has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2019. She is the Scola Endowed Chair and Vice Chair, professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology and the director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Yaffe has received numerous awards for her groundbreaking contributions to the field, including the American Academy of Neurology Potamkin Prize, a prestigious honor considered to be the Nobel Prize of Alzheimer’s disease research, and in 2019, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Yaffe holds a B.S. in biology-psychology from Yale University, an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and has completed residencies in neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco.
Department of Neurology at University of California, San Francisco
Department of Genetics at Stanford University
Department of Neurology at University of California, San Francisco
Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine at University of Luxembourg
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences
Department of Microbiology and Immunology at University of California, San Francisco
National Academy of Sciences and Department of Biology at Stanford University
National Academy of Sciences and National Institute of Medicine
Departments of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and Neurosurgery at Stanford University
Department of Neurology at Northwestern University
Department of Physiology and Neuroscience at University of Southern Califronia