About Us

Kent Hawryluk has nearly 20 years’ experience as a life sciences entrepreneur, leader and investor. Mr. Hawryluk is President & CEO 
and one of our co-founders.

Mr. Hawryluk was a Co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Avidity Biosciences, a genetic medicines company, from January 2013 to December 2019. Under his leadership, Avidity raised $130 million in equity financings and initiated a significant strategic partnership with Eli Lilly. Previously, he served as Co-founder and CEO of MB2, a clinical-stage company focused on diabetes and obesity, from May 2014 to March 2016. MB2 was acquired by Novo Nordisk in October 2015. Prior to MB2 and Avidity, Mr. Hawryluk co-founded Marcadia Biotech and served as its Chief Business Officer and Vice President, Business Development from January 2006 to April 2011. Marcadia, a pioneer in peptide multi-agonists of incretin receptors, was acquired by Roche in December 2010. Mr. Hawryluk served as a director of Gemphire Therapeutics, a public clinical-stage cardiovascular drug company, from February 2015 to February 2019. 
He has served as partner of Twilight Venture Partners, a private seed- and early-stage life science venture capital fund, since January 2003. Mr. Hawryluk holds a BA from Princeton University, an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and an MS, Biology from Purdue University.

Steven J. Prestrelski, Ph.D., M.B.A, is seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with over 30 years of scientific and operational expertise who has led successful endocrine and metabolism product development programs from discovery through regulatory approval. Dr. Prestrelski serves as our Chief Scientific Officer.

Dr. Prestrelski previously served as Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Xeris Biopharma Holdings Inc., a publicly traded pharmaceutical company focused on innovative ready-to-use solutions to improve patients’ lives. During his time at Xeris, he was responsible for all aspects of company research and development and intellectual property operations, portfolio management, and new product development. He also served as the company’s interim Chief Executive Officer from 2013-2014 and served on its board of directors from 2005-2015. Prior to Xeris, Dr. Prestrelski was Vice President, Pharmaceutical Research and Development at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he oversaw its R&D portfolio, including the Bydureon^© (GLP-1) program in diabetes and managing the strategic alliances with Eli Lilly and Alkermes. Prior to Amylin, Dr. Prestrelski held significant roles in drug formulation and delivery as Vice President, Biopharmaceuticals at PowderJect Technologies, Inc., and as Director, Biopharmaceuticals at Alza. He also worked as a research scientist at both Amgen and the US Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Prestrelski has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and invited book chapters. He has 35 issued U.S. patents (over 100 globally) and 47 pending patent applications in the field of drug development, formulation, and delivery.

Dr. Prestrelski earned a B.S. in nutrition science from Drexel University, a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics from the City University of New York and an M.B.A. from Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.

Richard Bartram has more than 15 years of finance and accounting experience. Mr. Bartram is our Chief Financial Officer.

Prior to joining MBX, Mr. Bartram served as Chief Financial Officer at Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. a publicly traded pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for patients with elevated LDL-C cholesterol. During his time at Esperion, Mr. Bartram led the completion of several equity and non-equity financings, aggregating to more than $1.2 billion in proceeds, and provided key contributions to business development license transactions and the approval and commercialization of Esperion’s first products, Nexletol® and Nexlizet®. Prior to Esperion, Mr. Bartram served as a public accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP in its Assurance practice. Mr. Bartram earned both a Master of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Michigan State University and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Michigan.

Michelle Graham is our Chief Human Resources Officer, where she leads the people strategy and culture initiatives to support the company’s vision of transforming lives through innovative biotechnology. She brings over 25 years of experience in human resources, talent management, and organizational development across various sectors of the healthcare industry.

Prior to joining MBX Biosciences, Ms. Graham served as the Chief Human Resources Officer at Albireo Pharma, Tesaro, and Parexel, where she successfully scaled the organizations, enhanced employee engagement, and enabled business performance. She has held senior human resources roles at Bausch & Lomb, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, and Cigna-Intracorp. She has a proven track record of leading global teams, developing and executing HR strategies, and fostering a diverse and inclusive culture.

Ms. Graham is passionate about advancing women’s leadership and HR practices in the healthcare sector. She serves on the board of Notre Dame Academy, is a Healthcare Business Association Advisor, and is a Boston HR Council member and guest speaker. She is also certified by the American College of Corporate Directors.

Ms. Graham earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Management and a Master of Human Resources and Labor Relations from Michigan State University.

Dr. Dorato has over 45 years of experience in pharmacology, toxicology and drug development. He has spent 30 years at Eli Lilly and Co, retiring as Executive Director, Toxicology and Greenfield Laboratories Site Head. Dr. Dorato also has significant experience in the Toxicology CRO industry, spending 5 years at Covance as Vice President and CSO Global Discovery Services; 5 years at Smithers Avanza as Executive Vice President Toxicology Services; 2 Years at Inotiv, as Sr. Vice President Toxicology and Pharmacology. In these positions he has led global organizations in safety and efficacy, lead optimization, investigative and regulatory toxicology, discovery and late phase pathology, animal welfare, molecular and anatomical imaging, in vivo pharmacology (oncology, neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, inflammation, renal, bone, receptor occupancy), developmental and reproductive toxicology, and model development. Dr. Dorato has led drug development decisions in various phases of pharmaceutical research and development, organizational growth initiatives, and development of leaders. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences, a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology, an Emeritus member of the Society of Toxicology and a full member of the American College of Toxicology.

Matt Gambino has over 30 years of commercial pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience. Mr. Gambino serves as our Vice President of Marketing.

Mr. Gambino has extensive experience across a variety of therapeutic areas and treatment modalities – transforming new and existing products into market-leading, well-differentiated brands. Most recently, he served as Executive Director at G2 Life Sciences, a privately held consulting firm focused on the development of US commercialization and launch strategies for new chemical entities, biologics, and medical devices seeking to enter the US market. Prior to this, Mr. Gambino held numerous leadership positions across marketing, strategy, operations, and sales – leading teams at Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, UCB, and Galderma. He received his MBA from Butler University and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Troy University.

Dr. Shah has 10 years of broad pharmaceutical experience. Prior to joining MBX, Dr. Shah served as a Director of regulatory affairs at AstraZeneca and various regulatory roles at Johnson & Johnson and Janssen. Her experiences include developing regulatory strategy and executing health authority consultations for consumer products, dietary and food supplements, and all phases of pharmaceutical development in a multitude of therapeutic areas including respiratory, immunology, and gastroenterology both in rare and large diseases. Her regulatory career is complimented with experience in external policy engagement and scientific publication.

Dr. Shah obtained her PharmD from Northeastern University and completed a post graduate fellowship at Johnson & Johnson Consumer with a faculty position at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Paul B. Wright, PhD, has 25 years of experience in drug development. Dr. Wright is our Vice President for Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC).

He has served in various technical leadership and management roles throughout his pharma career, most recently within the Product R&D organization at Eli Lilly and Company. At Lilly, Dr. Wright supported programs from early phase through commercialization, contributing to many successful regulatory approvals. Dr. Wright received his bachelor’s degree with college honors from Knox College and his PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Cincinnati.