Board of Directors

Howard H. Berman, Ph.D., has served as Chairman of the board of directors of Coya Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: COYA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, since he co-founded the company in November 2020, and where he also served as Chief Executive Officer from 2020 to November, 2024 transitioning to his current role as Executive Chairman. Dr. Berman has over 20 years of entrepreneurial and industry experience working at the interplay of science and business. Previously, Dr. Berman served as Founder and on the board of directors of Imaware Inc., a private company focused on at-home health testing and diagnostics, offering solutions for consumers, employers, and health systems, from 2018 to March, 2024 (exited in 2024). Dr. Berman gained corporate experience with increasing responsibilities and positions in Medical Affairs at AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV), a research-based biopharmaceutical company engaging in the research and development and  sale of medicines, from 2013 to June 2020, where he launched Venclexta (Venetoclax) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and later, supported numerous solid tumor assets. 

Prior to that, Dr. Berman served in leadership roles at Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY), a global medicine company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets pharmaceutical products for humans and animals, from 2009 to 2013, where he launched Alimta (Pemetrexed) in non small lung cancer and served as the scientific point of contact between the company and key opinion leaders for development and initiation of collaborations, clinical trials and investigator-initiated trials, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NYSE: NVS), a multinational pharmaceutical corporation, from 2003 to 2006 where he launched Focalin XR (dexmethylphenidate hydrochloride) an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Dr. Berman began his career at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the technology transfer division where he was responsible for assessing the market, patent, and scientific merits of numerous oncology-based technology platforms in order to ascertain their commercial viability. Dr. Berman received a Bachelors in Biology from the University of Michigan and a Masters and Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Pharmacology from Weill Cornell Medical School. 

Dieter Weinand is an experienced executive with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceuticals and biotech industries. Mr. Weinand presently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Replimune Group Inc. (NASDAQ: REPL), Mnemo Therapeutics, Umoja Biopharma, Inc., Inspirna, Inc., and Ziel Bio, Inc. Previously, Mr. Weinand was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Bayer Pharma AG and member of the Management Board at Bayer AG. Prior to his work at Bayer, Mr. Weinand held various positions in commercial, operational, and strategic areas of the pharmaceutical industry. These included responsibilities spanning various therapeutic areas and geographies for companies such as Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Otsuka. Mr. Weinand is a former board member of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations (EFPIA), and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (IFPMA), and served as a member of the Board of Directors of HealthPrize Technologies.

Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence as the 39th U.S. Secretary of Commerce on February 28, 2017. Secretary Ross is the former Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of WL Ross & Co. LLC and has over 55 years of investment banking and private equity experience. Secretary Ross has been chairman or lead director of more than 100 companies operating in more than 20 different countries. Named by Bloomberg Markets as one of the 50 most influential people in global finance, Secretary Ross is the only person elected to both the Private Equity Hall of Fame and the Turnaround Management Hall of Fame.

Dr. Anabella Villalobos brings 35 years of biopharmaceutical leadership with Pfizer and Biogen along with a personal commitment to discovering and delivering medicinal solutions to patients. Her significant industry experience lies in delivery of development candidates, INDs, and clinical study results, and advancing partnership opportunities by building strong relationships and scientific credibility.

From 2017-2025, Dr. Villalobos was head of Biotherapeutics and Medicinal Sciences at Biogen, where she was responsible for the delivery of high-quality, differentiated drug candidates for neurological, rare, and auto-immune diseases across multiple modalities, including small molecules, biologics, oligonucleotides, and gene therapy.

Prior to Biogen, Dr. Villalobos was with Pfizer for 28 years where she most recently served as Vice President of Medicinal Synthesis Technologies and Neuroscience Medicinal Chemistry. As the leader of several medicinal chemistry groups throughout her tenure at Pfizer, Dr. Villalobos’ teams delivered more than 30 small molecule candidates to combat Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, depression, and insomnia. Noteworthy are Ogsiveo® (SpringWorks) and tavapadon (AbbVie) which reached the market and proof of concept in Phase 3 studies, respectively. Dr. Villalobos also championed new scientific directions that have improved design practices in medicinal chemistry including the Central Nervous System Multi-Parameter Optimization (CNS MPO).

Dr. Villalobos obtained her B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Panama and her Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Kansas where she was a Fulbright-Hayes fellow. She was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University in synthetic organic chemistry for two years.

Ann Lee is currently the Chief Technical Officer at Prime Medicine, Inc. She was previously SVP and Head of Cell Therapy Development and Operations (CTDO) at Bristol Myers Squibb from 2019 to July 2021 where she was responsible for developing new cell therapy processes and technologies, manufacturing cell therapy products, designing new facilities, and building the global supply chain to deliver these new medicines for patients. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President of Technical Operations at Juno Therapeutics, which was acquired by BMS via Celgene. Prior to Juno, Dr. Lee joined Genentech in 2005, and she became SVP, Genentech and Head of Global Technical Development at Roche in 2009. She was responsible for developing and delivering all clinical stage products in Roche’s global pipeline, as well as technology transfers and technical support for all commercial products. Earlier, she was at Merck & Co., where she led and developed new vaccines and technologies in R&D, and then was responsible as VP for process engineering and technical operations at 10 chemical sites around the world. Over the course of her career, she has contributed to the development of hundreds of new investigational drugs, and the licensure and commercialization of 25 new vaccines and medicines, with the most recent being two new CAR-T cell products for blood cancers.

Dr. Lee has authored over 40 scientific publications and holds several patents. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences. She serves on the Board of Directors for American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine, and JW Therapeutics. She earned her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a masters and Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering with a concentration in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University.

Dr. Goldstein brings over 20 years of strategic financial and operational experience within the healthcare sector. He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer at BioAge.Previously, he was the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Indapta Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary, off-the-shelf, allogeneic FcRy-deficient natural killer (G-NK) cell therapy to treat multiple types of cancer. Dr. Goldstein was previously Chief Executive Officer of RIGImmune. Prior to that he served as the Chief Financial Officer at Schrödinger, LLC from 2017 to 2018. Dr. Goldstein held various leadership roles at Aisling Capital, a private investment firm, from 2006 to 2017, serving as its Managing Partner from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Goldstein served as the Chief Financial Officer of Loxo Oncology, Inc. between 2014 and 2015. From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Goldstein served as Chief Financial Officer of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., raising over $250 million in equity financings, facilitating company partnership transactions and participating in the M&A process when Vicuron was acquired by Pfizer, Inc. for $1.9 billion. Prior to joining Vicuron, he was Director of Venture Analysis at HealthCare Ventures.

Dr. Goldstein currently serves on the board of Directors of NeuBase Therapeutics (Nasdaq: NBSE) and Gain Therapeutics (Nasdaq: GANX). He previously served as a director for ADMA Biologics, Loxo Oncology, Esperion Therapeutics, Duranta Therapeutics, Cempra and a number of private companies. He received a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences from Stanford University, an MBA from Columbia Business School and an M.D. from Yale School of Medicine.

Arun Swaminathan, Ph.D., has over 20 years of hands-on healthcare business executive experience with an emphasis on corporate and business development, strategy, and finance. He possesses a demonstrated history of prospecting, evaluating, structuring, and closing company validating transactions that augment both organizational and shareholder value.

Prior to joining Coya, Arun served as Chief Business Officer (CBO) for Actinium Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: ATNM) where he was responsible for all business development. Within 1 year of joining Actinium, he successfully moved forward negotiations to closure and executed a $452M deal with $35M upfront. Prior to Actinium, he was the CBO at Alteogen (196170.KQ) where he spearheaded over $6B in deals, including deals with two of the top 10 global pharma companies and a $1B+ deal within the first year of assuming the role of CBO. Prior to this, he co-founded and served as CEO of Lynkogen Inc, a pre-clinical stage biotech.

Arun began his career in clinical development and commercial roles of increasing responsibility at BristolMyers Squibb and Covance. He obtained his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Pittsburgh.