Dr. Sigal is Tunitas’ founder and Chief Executive Officer. A serial entrepreneur, he has spent over 25 years in the academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology communities. His biotechnology experience includes President of Trellis Bioscience, EVP of R&D and CSO at Cytokinetics and SVP Drug Discovery for Pharmacopeia, where he was one of Pharmacopeia’s founders. Prior to joining Pharmacopeia, Dr. Sigal held several management positions during a 10-year period with Merck, including Executive Director of Immunology Research. Nolan graduated from Princeton University with an AB in Chemistry. Following completion of an MD/PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania and a pediatric residency, Dr. Sigal was on the faculty at the University of Toronto before moving to Merck. Most of his scientific research focused on understanding the biochemical events involved in the lymphocyte signal transduction.

Dr. Nikodem has more than 13 years of experience in capital markets and financial analysis of biotechnology and healthcare companies. As a senior representative of Ally Bridge Group (ABG), David plays an important role in ABG’s biopharmaceutical investments and sits on the boards of several of ABG’s US-based biopharmaceutical companies. Prior to becoming associated with ABG in 2013, Dr. Nikodem served as Portfolio Manager at Exane Asset Management, where he managed a global healthcare fund. He also managed a U.S. focused healthcare fund as a Director at BNP Paribas in New York on the long/short proprietary trading desk. Dr. Nikodem began his Wall Street career as a biotechnology analyst at Orbitex Asset Management, followed by analyst roles at Acacia Research Investment Corporation and Blumberg Capital Management. Earlier, Dr. Nikodem conducted basic science research for nearly a decade at the National Institutes of Health as well as at Georgetown University, where he earned his doctorate, after which he served as a patent examiner at the US Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C. Dr. Nikodem holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University and undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and English Language and Literature from The University of Virginia.

Dr. Li is Manging Director of WuXi Healthcare Ventures II, with over 20 years of experience as a successful executive and entrepreneur in the biotech industry. Prior to joining WuXi Healthcare Ventures, Dr. Li focused his effort on healthcare and life science investment opportunities at Fidelity Biosciences, Fidelity Growth Partner Asia, and Baird Venture Partners. He also led drug discovery projects and technology licensing due diligence at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company in Boston, MA. During his scientific career, Wei authored numerous scientific publications in journals such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Dr. Li received a B.S., with distinction, in Chemical Physics from University of Science and Technology of China, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Mammalian Genetics from Harvard University, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he was elected Beta Gamma Sigma, with a concentration in Finance, Accounting and Marketing.

Dr. Mervyn Turner has over 27 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery, research and development, licensing and business development, emerging markets, strategy development and implementation. He is recognized for his deep industry perspective and for his global connections within the pharmaceuticals sector, biotech, and venture capital. Before retiring from the company he was the company’s first Chief Strategy Officer, and drove strategy planning and resource planning discussions. Prior to that, he served as head of World Wide Licensing & External Research, where he was personally involved in more than 200 strategic transactions, Site Head for both Merck & Co. Inc.’s largest R&D facility (Rahway, NJ), and it’s most productive labs (Merck Frosst, Canada). In that role, he oversaw the introduction of multiple development candidates. Dr. Turner is currently an Advisor to Bay City Capital in San Francisco. In addition to serving on the Board of Tunitas, he is also on the Board of the private biotechnology companies Pharmakea and EnGeneIC. He is Chairman of the Board of Prescribe Well, a physician-centric SaaS company based in Philadelphia and serves on the Steering Committee of the Wellcome Trust’s “Seeding Drug Discovery” program.