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 innovative therapies to patients across the United States and Europe. Before Xilio, Dr. Russo was the President and CEO of Arsanis, a company developing monoclonal antibodies to prevent and treat serious infectious diseases. Prior to Arsanis, Dr. Russo spent 12 years at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, a leading global anti-infective company that Merck acquired for $9.6B in 2015. Before Cubist, Dr. Russo held R&D roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, contributing to the successful development and global commercialization of multiple therapeutics. In addition to Xilio’s board of directors, Dr. Russo serves as Founder and Executive Chair of Ropirio Therapeutics, director of Leyden Labs and PRxCision, as well as the board of directors for the non-profit 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.
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.
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.
Dr. Luptakova, a hematologist and oncologist, has approximately 20 years of experience in clinical practice and oncology drug development and most recently served as Xilio’s senior vice president, medical since October 2022. Prior to joining Xilio as vice president, clinical research in December 2021, Dr. Luptakova served as vice president, clinical development at Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Constellation) through its acquisition by MorphSys AG. Prior to Constellation, Dr. Luptakova served as senior medical director and clinical lead at Tesaro, Inc. where she contributed to the successful development and commercialization of multiple cancer therapies, including Zejula® (niraparib) and Blenrep® (belantamab mafodotin-blmf). Earlier in her career, Dr. Luptakova held roles of increasing responsibility at Takeda Oncology and was an attending physician in the bone marrow transplant and malignant hematology division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Luptakova received her
medical degree from Comenius University School of Medicine in Bratislava, Slovakia. She completed her internal medicine residency at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston and her fellowship in hematology/oncology at Beth Israel Medical Center, Harvard Medical School.
Ms. Hensley is an experienced lawyer and biotechnology executive with extensive experience advising public life science companies across all stages of development and commercialization. Prior to joining Xilio, she served as senior vice president, assistant general counsel and chief compliance officer at Seres Therapeutics, Inc. where she oversaw all corporate legal and compliance matters, including capital markets and licensing transactions, clinical development and commercial launch activities, partnership/collaboration management, and FDA and healthcare regulatory compliance matters. Previously, Ms. Hensley was a corporate associate in the Boston office of Latham & Watkins, where she represented public and private companies in biotechnology and other industries across a range of capital markets and strategic transactions throughout their lifecycle. She received her B.A. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin and her J.D. from the Boston University School of Law.
Board of Directors
Paul Clancy has served as a member of our board of directors since July 2020 and brings more than 35 years of experience in financial management and strategic business planning. Mr. Clancy most recently served as executive vice president, senior advisor of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., after previously serving as chief financial officer of Alexion. Prior to Alexion, Mr. Clancy served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Biogen Inc. Before Biogen, Mr. Clancy spent 13 years at PepsiCo Inc., serving in a variety of finance, strategy, and general management positions. Mr. Clancy serves as a member of the board of directors of Incyte Corporation, Exact Sciences Corporation and Sionna Therapeutics, Inc. a private life sciences company Mr. Clancy is a senior visiting lecturer of finance at Cornell University’s Graduate School of Business. Mr. Clancy received his B.S. in business administration from Babson College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Sara Bonstein has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2021. Ms. Bonstein has more than two decades of operational and financial leadership in the life sciences industry and currently serves as chief financial officer of Insmed, Inc., where she is responsible for Insmed’s key financial functions, including accounting, financial planning and analysis, procurement, and investor relations. Prior to joining Insmed, she served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer of OncoSec Medical Incorporated and as the chief financial officer, treasurer and executive vice president at Advaxis, Inc. In these roles, Ms. Bonstein led multiple capital markets and licensing transactions, while establishing strong financial controls, streamlined business operations, and building high performing teams. Prior to Advaxis, Ms. Bonstein served in various finance roles of increasing responsibility, including at Eli Lilly & Company and Johnson & Johnson. Ms. Bonstein currently serves as a member of the board of directors of scPharmaceuticals Inc. She holds a B.S. in finance from The College of New Jersey and an M.B.A. from Rider University.
Aoife Brennan 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.
Robert Ross, M.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2022. Dr. Ross currently serves as chief executive officer of Clasp Therapeutics, Inc., a private biotechnology company. Prior to Clasp, Dr. Ross served as the chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Surface Oncology, Inc. until its acquisition by Coherus Biosciences, Inc. Prior to that, Dr. Ross also served as Surface’s chief medical officer. Before Surface, Dr. Ross served as the head of oncology at bluebird bio, Inc. and earlier served in roles as senior vice president of clinical development and pharmacovigilance and vice president of clinical development. Prior to bluebird bio, Dr. Ross worked at Genentech and Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Ross was a Fellow in Medical Oncology and a faculty member at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where he subsequently maintained a clinical practice until 2015. Dr. Ross currently serves on the board of directors of Obsidian Therapeutics, Inc., a private biotechnology company. Dr. Ross received a B.S. in biological sciences and a B.A. in philosophy from Stanford University, an M.S. in medical science from Harvard Medical School and an M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Christina Rossi has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2021. Ms. Rossi currently serves as chief operating office of Blueprint Medicines Corporations and previously served as chief commercial officer of Blueprint from October 2018 to April 2022. Prior to joining Blueprint, Ms. Rossi served as the Multiple Sclerosis business unit head, North America, at Sanofi Genzyme, where she oversaw all aspects of the financial performance of Sanofi’s Multiple Sclerosis franchise and increased market share for existing products, led the launch of new therapies and optimized operations to accelerate patient access. Prior to that, Ms. Rossi also served as vice president, Multiple Sclerosis Sales and vice president, Multiple Sclerosis Patient and Provider Services at Sanofi. Prior to joining Sanofi, Ms. Rossi served in various roles at Biogen Inc., including head, commercial strategy for Eidetica Biopharma GmbH, Biogen’s biosimilar-focused venture, and U.S. brand leader for TYSABRI®(natalizumab). In addition, Ms. Rossi consulted in the healthcare practice at the Boston Consulting Group. Ms. Rossi holds a B.S. in biology, cum laude, from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
René Russo, Pharm.D., is an accomplished biotechnology CEO with over 20 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 preclinical research through all phases of clinical development, registration, and commercialization to bring innovative therapies to patients across the United States and Europe. Before Xilio, Dr. Russo was the President and CEO of Arsanis, a company developing monoclonal antibodies to prevent and treat serious infectious diseases, merged with X4 Pharmaceuticals in 2018. Prior to Arsanis, Dr. Russo spent 12 years at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, a leading global anti-infective company that Merck acquired. Before Cubist, Dr. Russo held R&D roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, contributing to the successful development and global commercialization of multiple therapeutics. Dr. Russo serves on the boards of Xilio Therapeutics, Celsius Therapeutics, Ledyen Labs, and the non-profit Life Science Cares. 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.
James Shannon has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2024 and brings more than 30 years of drug development and leadership experience to Xilio. From 2012 until his retirement in 2015, Dr. Shannon served as the chief medical officer of GlaxoSmithKline PLC. Prior to that, Dr. Shannon spent more than a decade with Novartis, including as global head of pharma development, where he was responsible for all of Novartis’ development activities, from preclinical through Phase 4 clinical development, and oversaw an annual development budget of approximately $4 billion. Dr. Shannon currently serves as chair of the board of directors of MannKind Corporation, ProQR Therapeutics N.V., and Kyowa Kirin (NA). Dr. Shannon also serves on the boards of directors of Leyden Laboratories B.V., a private biotechnology company, and MyTomorrows, a private health technology company. Dr. Shannon is trained in Medicine and Cardiology and received his undergraduate degree and M.D. from Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dr. Shannon is also a Member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK).
Yuan Xu, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2022. Dr. Xu is a biopharmaceutical executive with more than 25 years of experience, most recently serving as chief executive officer of Legend Biotech Corporation from March 2018 until August 2020. In this capacity, she played a leading role in Legend Biotech’s initial public offering, global clinical development of Legend Biotech’s autologous CAR T-cell therapy CARVYKTI® (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), and a strategic partnership with Janssen Biotech, Inc. Prior to Legend Biotech, Dr. Xu served as senior vice president at Merck & Co., Inc., where she led discovery, preclinical and technical development, and manufacturing for Merck’s biologics and vaccines subdivision. Prior to that, Dr. Xu served as general manager and vice president of biologics at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where she led biologics and vaccines development and oversaw all operational aspects of Gilead’s Oceanside manufacturing facility as site head. Prior to Gilead, Dr. Xu served as vice president at Novartis and led several functions in the U.S. and Europe, including the biotherapeutics development unit focusing on innovative medicines. Earlier in her career, Dr. Xu held positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen Inc., Chiron, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Genentech Inc. Dr. Xu currently serves as a member of the boards of directors of Fate Therapeutics, Inc. and Akero Therapeutics, Inc., as well as a scientific advisory board member and technical advisory board member of National Resilience, Inc. Dr. Xu received a B.S. in biochemistry from Nanjing University, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Maryland and completed her post-doctoral training in virology and gene therapy at the University of California, San Diego.