About Us

Rob Hershberg, M.D., Ph.D., is a Co-Founder of HilleVax, President, Chief Executive Officer and chairman of the board of directors of HilleVax. Rob is a Venture Partner with Frazier Healthcare Partners and has been working with Frazier and its portfolio companies as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Senior Advisor, and executive for 14 years. He was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of VentiRx Pharmaceuticals, a Frazier-founded company developing a small molecule therapeutic to activate the immune system against solid tumors. Rob cofounded VentiRx while an entrepreneur-in-residence at Frazier and led the company through its transformational partnership with Celgene. He joined Celgene in 2014 to lead their efforts in Immuno-Oncology, was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer in 2016 and was subsequently Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development & Global Alliances and served as a member of the Executive Committee until the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2019.

Prior to VentiRx, Rob served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Dendreon Corporation and led clinical development of Provenge, which was approved for metastatic prostate cancer. Before Dendreon, he was Vice President of Medical Genetics at Corixa, a Frazier portfolio company which was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline. Earlier, Rob was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Rob completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles and received his Ph.D. at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Astrid Borkowski, M.D., Ph.D., is Chief Medical Officer at HilleVax. Astrid has more than 20 years of experience in vaccine development, spanning all development phases, global filing, approval, and post marketing stages, as well as Medical Affairs for pre-and post-marketing activities. Astrid’s most recent role was VP, Head of Clinical Development at the Takeda’s Vaccine Business Unit where she oversaw the clinical development of all vaccine assets, including HIL-214.

Prior to joining Takeda, Astrid was Chief Medical Officer responsible for the European Region and later led early viral and bacterial vaccine development at Novartis Vaccines. In her roles prior to Novartis Vaccines, she was responsible for the pandemic influenza vaccine clinical development at GSK, and worked on meningococcal and seasonal influenza vaccine development during her time at Chiron Vaccines.

Astrid completed her Medical Degree at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, from which she also received her Ph.D. in Immunology. She trained in internal medicine/rheumatology before completing her postdoctoral studies at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Paul Bavier is General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Administrative Officer at HilleVax. Paul has been practicing law for more than 20 years, most of which has been spent as an in-house attorney leading and building legal organizations within the biotechnology industry. Most recently, he led the legal function at VelosBio in preparation for the company’s IPO and through its acquisition by Merck.

Prior to VelosBio, Paul was General Counsel, Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer for Avedro, Inc., where he was responsible for legal, corporate secretary and commercial compliance matters related to the commercial launch of Avedro’s first product, the company’s IPO and its acquisition by Glaukos Corporation. Earlier, Paul was the General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Development at Biodel Inc., where he served from 2007 to 2016. Paul began his legal career as a corporate attorney at Ropes and Gray.

Paul holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. from Middlebury College.

Dr. Anju Chatterji is the Chief Technology Officer at HilleVax. Anju has more than 20 years of experience implementing effective CMC development and manufacturing strategies to drive successful global regulatory filings and approval across multiple therapeutic areas, modalities, and phases of drug development.

Prior to joining HilleVax, Anju served as SVP of Biologics Development and Manufacturing at Catalyst Biosciences where she spearheaded strategic direction and execution of CMC Development and External Manufacturing activities, overseeing process and analytical development as well as Manufacturing of clinical assets. At Catalyst, Anju played a key role in advancing multiple programs into the clinic, including to Phase 3. Prior to this position, Dr. Chatterji served as VP of Biologics Manufacturing at Exelixis leading Biologics Development and Manufacturing. Before joining Catalyst, Anju served as Director of Technical Development at Grifols leading and defining Research and Development programs to strengthen the product pipeline. Prior to Grifols, Anju has held various leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics and at Bayer HealthCare growing her career in Process Sciences, MSAT, Manufacturing and Global Biological Development functions.

Dr. Chatterji received her Ph.D. in Virology at Indian Agricultural Research Institute. Anju was a Commonwealth Fellow at the John Innes Institute, Norwich, and a BOYSCAST fellow at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, where she investigated structural and functional relationship of virus assembly and transition states using thermodynamics and biophysical characterization tools.  Anju has published several research papers in peer reviewed journals and has presented in multiple international forums.

Shane is Chief Financial Officer at HilleVax.  Shane was previously Vice President of Finance at HilleVax and has two decades of experience in finance operations, including building and leading multiple finance organizations.  Shane has been influential in raising over $700 million in capital for various life sciences companies through debt and equity financing and was an important contributor in the HilleVax IPO.  Prior to joining HilleVax, Shane was the Vice President of Finance at TScan Therapeutics (Nasdaq: TCRX), and prior to that the Vice President of Finance at Axcella (Nasdaq: AXLA) where he was instrumental at both companies in building the finance and accounting organizations and executing their IPOs.  Prior to Axcella, Shane was the Director of Technical Accounting at Parexel.  Shane started his career at Deloitte in the audit practice where he served a variety of large multinational companies for almost a decade. 

 Shane received his BS in Business Management and Accounting from Hartwick College and his MSA from Northeastern University.  He is a certified public accountant in the commonwealth of Massachusetts (inactive license).

Dr. Shelley Chu joined Lightspeed Venture Partners as a Partner in 2020 to lead biotech investing. To date, her investments across all stages, from seed to growth, have led to seven New Drug Approvals (NDAs) by the FDA, nine drug candidates in active clinical development, and 16 exits through M&As, IPOs, or partnerships. During her time at Gilead, where Shelley led R&D strategy across all therapeutic areas and business development in immuno-oncology and HBV, three NDAs were approved and launched. She is a current or former member of the Board of Directors at Enlaza Therapeutics, Abata Therapeutics, 3T Biosciences, Medikine, Adanate, Scorpion Therapeutics, Tizona Therapeutics (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Trishula Therapeutics (partnered with AbbVie), SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Phathom Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAT), IFM Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb), IFM Tre (acquired by Novartis), IFM Due (partnered with Novartis), IFM Quattro, Q32, and Venatorx Pharmaceuticals. Shelley holds an MD and a PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and a BA in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, where she serves as Co-Chair for Princeton ASC. She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for BioCentury.

Dr. Cocero is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with over 25 years of experience in diverse leadership positions. Most recently, Dr. Cocero was the Global President of Pfizer Vaccines where she led an over $30B global business and managed a diverse vaccines portfolio aimed at protecting lives at all stages, from infants to older adults. Dr. Cocero was responsible for the development, global commercialization, and delivery of >2B doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to 152 countries and territories around the world. Throughout her 21-year tenure at Pfizer, she held a number of senior positions touching every market of the world, from United States, Europe and Japan to emerging markets. Before joining Pfizer, Nanette was a management consultant in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Nanette earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Cornell University, a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from The Wharton Business School.

Dr. Gary Dubin is President of Takeda’s Global Vaccine Business Unit (VBU). Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Gary joined Takeda in September 2015 as Head of the VBU’s Global Medical Office where he led the Clinical Development, Regulatory Affairs, Medical Affairs and Pharmacovigilance functions.

Gary has more than 31 years of experience in vaccine research and development. Prior to joining Takeda, he spent 20 years at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines where he held the role of Vice President and Head, Global Late Clinical Development. During his career at GSK, Gary led global teams responsible for the clinical development and licensure of a broad range of vaccines addressing important unmet medical needs.

Gary received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his Adult Internal Medicine residency training at the University of Colorado. He also completed a fellowship in Clinical Infectious Diseases and a postdoctoral research fellowship in Molecular Virology at the University of Pennsylvania and served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania through 2019. Gary holds numerous patents in the vaccine field and has co-authored more than 90 scientific publications.

Dr. Julie Gerberding is Chief Patient Officer and Executive Vice President, Population Health & Sustainability at Merck. Formerly, she was President of Vaccines at Merck and subsequently oversaw global public policy and strategic communications for the company. Prior to Merck, Dr. Gerberding was Director of the United States CDC, where she led the agency through SARS and over 40 emergency responses to public health crises. She serves on the Boards of Cerner Corporation and MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories and co-chairs the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security. She is also an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Gerberding received her undergraduate and M.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University and a Master of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco, where she is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine.

Patrick Heron is a Managing General Partner of Frazier Healthcare Partner’s Life Sciences team and HilleVax’s Lead Independent Director. He joined the firm in 1999 and opened Frazier’s Menlo Park office in 2003. Throughout his 14 years as a General Partner, Patrick has led or co-led investments across over 30 companies. Patrick has also been active in company formation around both early- and later-stage assets. He has led and served as director for many successful Frazier Life Sciences investments, including ARMO (acquired by Eli Lilly), Ignyta (acquired by Roche), Tobira Therapeutics (acquired by Allergan), Marcadia (acquired by Roche), Calixa (acquired by Cubist), Cerexa (acquired by Forest), PreCision Dermatology (acquired by Valeant), MedPointe (acquired by Meda), and Collegium (NASDAQ: COLL). He currently serves on the boards of Amunix, Arcutis (NASDAQ: ARQT), Imago BioSciences (NASDAQ: IMGO), Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MIRM), ScoutBio, and SutroVax (NASDAQ: PCVX). Prior to joining Frazier, Patrick helped develop McKinsey & Company’s West Coast biotechnology consulting practice, where he led projects involving mergers and acquisitions, product launches, sales force optimization, corporate partnering, and research prioritization. Patrick received his MBA from Harvard Business School. He also holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate and Morehead Scholar.

Dr. Rob Hershberg is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of HilleVax. Rob is a Venture Partner with Frazier Healthcare Partners and has been working with Frazier and its portfolio companies as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Senior Advisor, and executive for 14 years. He was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer of VentiRx Pharmaceuticals, a Frazier-founded company developing a small molecule therapeutic to activate the immune system against solid tumors. Rob cofounded VentiRx while an entrepreneur-in-residence at Frazier and led the company through its transformational partnership with Celgene. He joined Celgene in 2014 to lead their efforts in Immuno-Oncology, was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer in 2016 and was subsequently Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development & Global Alliances and served as a member of the Executive Committee until the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2019. Prior to VentiRx, Rob served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Dendreon Corporation and led clinical development of Provenge, which was approved for metastatic prostate cancer. Before Dendreon, he was Vice President of Medical Genetics at Corixa, a Frazier portfolio company which was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline. Earlier, Rob was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Rob completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles and received his PhD at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Jeri Hilleman is the former Chief Financial Officer of multiple public life sciences companies, including Intersect ENT, Amyris and Symyx Technologies. Ms. Hilleman is currently Chair of the Board of Omada Health and director and audit chair of companies including Novocure, SI-Bone, and Talis Biomedical. She also previously served as a director and audit chair of Xenoport and Cardiva Medical through their acquisition. Ms. Hilleman holds an AB from Brown University and an MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of Business. She is a Henry Crown Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

Aditya Kohli, Ph.D., is the former Chief Operating Officer at HilleVax. Aditya is a Venture Partner with Frazier Healthcare Partners, where he focuses on company creation. In addition to HilleVax, he has co-founded Scout Bio, Passage Bio (NASDAQ: PASG) and Phathom Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAT). He is the former Chief Business Officer at Phathom and serves on the board of Scout Bio. Prior to Frazier, Aditya was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he led engagements advising global biopharmaceutical companies on business development, research and development, and marketing and sales strategy. Aditya received his Ph.D. from the UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco joint graduate program in bioengineering and holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in biological engineering from MIT.

Dr. Jaime Sepulveda, the Haile T. Debas Distinguished Professor of Global Health, is the Executive Director of the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences. Prior to UCSF, he was a member of the Foundation Leadership Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he served as Director of Integrated Health Solutions, Director of Special Initiatives, and Senior Fellow in the Global Health Program. During this time, Dr. Sepulveda also served as executive committee Chair and board Vice Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Previously, he served in the government of Mexico as Director General of the National Institute of Public Health, Dean of the National School of Public Health, Director of the National Institutes of Health, and Vice Minister of Health. Dr. Sepulveda obtained two masters and a doctoral degree from Harvard University. He received the Harvard Alumni Award of Merit and was elected to serve at the Harvard Board of Overseers. He is also an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.