About Us
Senior Leadership Team
Dr. Russo is an accomplished biotechnology CEO with over 25 years of experience leading R&D and commercialization in the biopharmaceutical industry across a range of therapeutic areas, including oncology. As an executive leader, Dr. Russo has led successful teams from early discovery research through all phases of clinical development, registration, and commercialization to bring multiple innovative therapies to patients across the United States and Europe. Dr. Russo also played a key role in helping to build Cubist Pharmaceuticals, a leading global anti-infective company that Merck acquired for $9.6B in 2015. In addition to Xilio’s board of directors, Dr. Russo serves as founder and executive chair of Ropirio Therapeutics, a member of the board of directors of Leyden Labs and PRxCision. Dr. Russo also serves on the board of trustees of Tufts Medical Center, the Boston Ballet and Life Science Cares Boston. Dr. Russo holds a B.S. in pharmacy and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Rutgers University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship with Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Dr. Bialucha is a passionate life science leader with more than 15 years of experience in oncology/immuno-oncology drug discovery and preclinical development. Dr. Bialucha has served as Xilio’s chief scientific officer since August 2022 and joined Xilio as the senior vice president of research in April 2021. He joined Xilio from Immunitas Therapeutics where, as vice president of drug discovery, he led the development of a single cell genomics-based discovery platform and immuno-oncology focused therapeutic pipeline. Prior to joining Immunitas, Dr. Bialucha held roles of increasing responsibility at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, most recently leading the oncology biotherapeutics group, where he directed multiple programs towards successful entry into clinical development across a variety of modalities. Dr. Bialucha serves on the scientific advisory board for the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation. Dr. Bialucha received his B.S. in molecular genetics from the University of Sussex and his Ph.D. in molecular cell biology from the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London. He completed his postdoctoral training in Professor Scott Lowe’s laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, studying tumor suppressor gene networks using genetic mouse models of cancer.
Dr. Coleman has over 25 years of experience in biotechnology and drug development, including contributing to the successful development and approval of multiple therapies across a broad range of therapeutic areas, including oncology. Dr. Coleman most recently served as Xilio’s senior vice president of nonclinical development. Prior to joining Xilio in June 2022, Dr. Coleman served as vice president, nonclinical development at Acceleron Pharma Inc. (Acceleron), through its acquisition by Merck where he contributed to the development of sotatercept. Prior to Acceleron, Dr. Coleman served in senior scientific roles at Spero Therapeutics, Merck, Cubist Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Coleman received a B.S. in toxicology from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in toxicology from North Carolina State University and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Mr. Frankenfield is an accomplished biotechnology executive with over 15 years of experience guiding companies on capital markets and business development transactions, corporate and financial strategy, operations, corporate governance and legal matters. Mr. Frankenfield has served as Xilio’s chief financial officer since August 2024 and chief operating officer since August 2023. Prior to that, he served as Xilio’s chief legal and administrative officer from August 2022 to August 2023, and general counsel from March 2021 to August 2022. In these roles, Mr. Frankenfield has helped lead the execution of Xilio’s corporate and financial strategy as well as operations across multiple business functions. Prior to joining Xilio, Mr. Frankenfield served as vice president of corporate legal affairs at Blueprint Medicines and as a member of its management team. At Blueprint Medicines, he led public company reporting activities, advised on capital markets strategy and supported multiple successful equity offerings, supported commercial product launches and helped executed multiple successful collaborations and partnerships with Roche and Genentech, CStone Pharmaceuticals, and Ipsen. Before Blueprint Medicines, Mr. Frankenfield was a senior associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, with a focus on capital markets and strategic transactions, public company reporting and corporate governance matters. Mr. Frankenfield began his career in the advisory practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He received his B.A. in economics from the College of William & Mary and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Mr. Harshbarger brings over 20 years of executive leadership and legal expertise within the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Xilio, he served as chief legal officer at Astria Therapeutics, Inc. until its acquisition by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. At Astria, Mr. Harshbarger served on the leadership team and helped lead strategic and operational initiatives, including the company’s transition from Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to Astria, its growth from a pre-clinical organization to a late-stage clinical company and its acquisition. Prior to Astria, he served as interim chief executive officer and general counsel at Novelion Therapeutics Inc. and as general counsel at Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was a subsidiary of Novelion. Earlier in his career, he served in legal roles of increasing responsibility at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ViaCell, Inc., and Biogen, Inc. Mr. Harshbarger received his B.A. in political science from the University of Richmond and his J.D. from Boston College Law School.
Mr. McBride has served as Chief Information Officer at Xilio Therapeutics since September 2022, bringing more than 25 years of information technology leadership experience to support the company’s mission of developing tumor-activated immuno-oncology therapies. Prior to joining Xilio, Mr. McBride served as Vice President of IT at Affinivax, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on next-generation vaccine development, where he led the technological re-acquisition of key digital assets following the company’s acquisition by GSK in September 2022. Mr. McBride received a B.A. in Classics from Connecticut College and holds numerous professional certifications, including Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from Villanova University and Google Cybersecurity Professional
certification. He completed the MIT Technology Leadership Program at MIT Sloan School of Management and holds master certifications in various enterprise software platforms.
Board of Directors
Sara Bonstein has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2021 and as chair of our board of directors since January 2026. Ms. Bonstein has more than 10 years of experience as a chief financial officer for public biotechnology companies, and she currently serves as chief financial officer of Insmed, Inc. where she oversees key financial functions including capital raising, investor relations, accounting, treasury, financial planning and analysis and procurement. Earlier in her career, Ms. Bonstein held finance roles of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly & Company and Johnson & Johnson. Ms. Bonstein holds a B.S. in finance from The College of New Jersey and an M.B.A. from Rider University.
Akintunde Bello, Ph.D., brings more than 25 years of oncology drug development and leadership experience to Xilio, with deep expertise in early translational medicine and clinical pharmacology across complex biologics and immunotherapies, including anti-CTLA-4 and PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, T cell engagers and tumor-selective molecules. He most recently served as senior vice president, head of clinical pharmacology, pharmacometrics and bioanalysis at Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMS) until his retirement in 2025. While at BMS, Dr. Bello oversaw clinical pharmacology and pharmacometrics across multiple therapeutic areas. Prior to BMS, Dr. Bello spent more than a decade with Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer), where he was responsible for overseeing clinical pharmacology for Pfizer’s late-stage oncology development programs. Dr. Bello received a B.Sc. in biomedical sciences from Portsmouth Polytechnic, an M.Sc. in instrumentation and analytical science from University of Manchester and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from King’s College, University of London.
Dr. Blanchard brings more than 30 years of leadership experience to Xilio, with deep scientific, operational and commercial leadership in life science companies. She currently serves as the executive chair of the board of directors of Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANIK) and previously served as the president and chief executive officer where she led the successful implementation of a high-growth commercial strategy and advanced multiple programs through U.S. clinical and regulatory pathways. Prior to Anika, Dr. Blanchard served as the president and chief executive officer of Microchips Biotech, Inc., until its acquisition by Daré Bioscience, Inc., and as chief scientific officer at Zimmer, Inc. (now Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.). Earlier in her career, Dr. Blanchard established the medical device practice at Southwest Research Institute and was an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas. She currently serves on the board of directors of Lumicell, Inc. and Surgicure Technologies, Inc., privately-held life science companies. Dr. Blanchard received a B.S. in ceramic engineering with a minor in mathematics from Alfred University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Aoife Brennan, M.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2024. Dr. Brennan brings over 16 years of industry leadership and drug development experience to Xilio and currently serves as chief executive officer, president and a member of the board of directors of Climb Bio, Inc. (formerly Eliem Therapeutics, Inc.) since June 2024. Prior to Climb Bio, Dr. Brennan served as chief executive officer, president and a member of the board of directors of Synlogic, Inc. from 2018 until 2023, and previously served as its chief medical officer from 2016 until 2018. Prior to joining Synlogic, Dr. Brennan was vice president and head of the Rare Disease Innovation Unit at Biogen Inc., where she was responsible for research and development for programs ranging from preclinical to commercial-stage within Biogen’s rare disease portfolio. Dr. Brennan currently serves on the boards of directors of FibroGen, Inc. and Cerevance. Dr. Brennan received her medical degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland and completed her post-graduate training in internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolism at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. In addition, she completed post-doctoral training in clinical research and metabolism at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School Scholars in Clinical Science Program.
Daniel Curran, M.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2020. He has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical experience in strategy, business development, project leadership and development roles. Dr. Curran currently serves as managing partner at Mountainfield Venture Partners, LLC, a biopharma company-creation firm that he co-founded in March 2024. Previously, Dr. Curran served as senior vice president and head of the rare genetics and hematology therapeutic area unit of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. from January 2019 to December 2023, and prior to that, he held roles of increasing responsibility at Takeda since 2008. Prior to Takeda, he served as vice president, corporate development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda. Prior to Millennium, Dr. Curran held a business development role in the product planning and acquisition group at DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Curran currently serves on the board of directors of Tome BioSciences, Inc., a private, programmable genomic integration company. Dr. Curran received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in chemistry from King’s College.