Career Services

Chris Garabedian founded Xontogeny in June of 2016 to support multiple promising technologies from early development through clinical proof of concept. In 2017, Chris joined Perceptive Advisors to develop their Venture Fund strategy and is Portfolio Manager of the Perceptive Xontogeny Ventures Fund which supports early stage companies with Series A investments across biotech, medtech and healthtech.

Chris has a broad base of experience and a track record of success over his decades long experience in the biopharma industry.  Chris served as the President and CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics from 2011 to 2015, overseeing the turnaround of a company that is now a commercial stage leader in the genetic technology space after leading the development of the company’s Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy program. Prior to Sarepta, Chris led Corporate Strategy for Celgene from 2007 to 2010. Prior to Celgene, Chris served in a number of global commercial and corporate development leadership roles at Gilead from 1997 to 2005.

Chris serves on a number of Boards of life sciences companies and speaks at industry conferences on a wide range of important issues.  Chris is also on the Board of Directors of MassBio, has served as a Senior Advisor for the Boston Consulting Group and is a member of the Corporate Relations Board for the Keck Graduate Institute.

Hutch Humphreys is an experienced regulatory professional with over 15 years of increasing responsibility for programs in all phases of product development, from pre-IND to NDA submission and post-approval lifecycle management. Prior to Endeavor Biomedicines, Hutch was at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Therapeutics, Inc., Samumed, LLC, and Intercept Pharmaceuticals, all in San Diego, CA, serving in expanding regulatory leadership roles for compounds in a wide variety of therapeutic areas, including metabolism/endocrinology, dermatology, rheumatology, oncology and pulmonology. Hutch is also an adjunct faculty member at KGI, teaching a course on current issues in regulatory affairs. Hutch earned a BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Kansas. After college, he spent 5 years as a nuclear-trained submarine officer in the US Navy, serving onboard the USS Helena, homeported in Pearl Harbor, HI, and San Diego, CA. Following military service, he attended KGI, earning a Master of Bioscience degree prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry.

Kevin Harley has served as Vice President of Human Resources at Illumina Inc. since June 2007, focusing on the global realignment and redefinition of key positions in the areas of talent management, compensation and rewards, human resources data management, employee relations and labor compliance. Formerly, he was Vice President of Human Resources at IntraLase, Corp. (2004-2007). Harley served as Vice President for Employee Relations at Edwards Lifesciences and Vice President for Human Resources in the Cardiovascular Group at Baxter Healthcare.

A commissioned officer in the United States Navy from 1984-1990, Harley holds an MBA with an emphasis in human resources from National University.

Ravneesh Sachdev is a partner and head of business development at Apple Tree Partners (ATP) with more than 20 years of experience inorganically creating value for biopharma companies. Founded in 1999, ATP is a leader in life sciences venture capital with $2.65 billion in committed capital to create companies starting at various stages, from pre-IPO ideas to asset spinouts, investing in them from seed stage to IPO and beyond. Prior to ATP, Ravneesh was senior vice president and head of business development at Acceleron Pharma, a commercial-stage biopharma company focused on therapeutics treating rare hematologic and pulmonary diseases, where he established Acceleron’s partnering strategy before eventually leading the company’s sale to Merck for $11.5 billion. Prior to Acceleron, Ravneesh was at Sage Therapeutics in a similar leadership role that culminated in a $3.2 billion strategic collaboration with Biogen. Over his career, he has both led and contributed to the execution of more than 30 transactions at Pfizer, Onyx Pharmaceuticals (including the company sale to Amgen for $10.4 billion), UCB Pharma, Acorda Therapeutics and Bioverativ (including the company sale to Sanofi for $11.6 billion).

Ravneesh earned his bachelor’s degree in molecular neuroscience from Claremont McKenna College, his Master of Business and Science degree from the Keck Graduate Institute, and his MBA in healthcare leadership from Yale University School of Management.

Prior to his USC role, Dr. Thomas Lobl was the Emerging Technology Strategist at Alfred Mann Foundation. He has a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and post-graduate work at Caltech and Rockefeller University. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 39+ years in both big pharma and biotech start-up companies.

In 2002, he joined the Al Mann family of companies at AlleCure/Mannkind as V.P. and subsequently as Senior V.P. of R&D. In January 2004, he helped to start NeuroSystec and was acting CEO for nearly seven years. NeuroSystec was developing an anti-tinnitus drug. NeuroSystec has been sold to Otonomy (San Diego). Since October 2011, he has worked at the Alfred Mann Foundation as an Emerging Technology Strategist. He has over 74 publications and patents and has been a scientific reviewer or editorial board member in various scientific journals.

He has been a board member and/or officer of a number of scientific organizations and is currently Chair of the American Tinnitus Association Board of Directors. He is/has been on a number of NIH grant review study sections (currently on: Sensory Technologies). Lobl’s scientific and research experience is quite broad and includes medicinal and peptide/protein chemistry, drug discovery and development, clinical development, and drug and tissue-specific delivery systems in cancer, inflammatory, infectious, reproductive, and endocrinology diseases areas. He is currently working in the neurobiology area for diseases/injuries of the brain and peripheral nervous system using medical devices and drug delivery systems. He has helped prepare grants/contracts that have brought in several millions of dollars in research support for AMF in the areas of implanted myoelectric sensors. His personal research interests are in developing skull-mounted pumps, sensors, and microstimulators for treating brain diseases through tissue-specific drug delivery to areas of the brain responsible for various disorders.

Tom Klopack previously served as CEO of Skylight Healthcare Systems. Before heading Skylight, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Automedics Medical Systems. Before that, he was President and Chief Executive Officer for IntelliDOT Corporation; Chief Operations Officer of Aurora Biosciences in San Diego; and Chief Executive Officer of Aclara Biosciences in Mountain View, CA.

Klopack currently serves on the boards of directors of Accumetrics and PhotoThera. He holds a BS in chemical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.