About

Lyn Baranowski is the Chief Executive Officer of Avalyn Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing targeted medicines for patients with rare lung diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis and other interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Currently approved therapeutic options slow pulmonary fibrosis progression but are associated with significant toxicities that restrict their use and dosing. Avalyn is developing a pipeline of new inhaled formulations of approved medicines designed to reduce systemic exposure and deliver medication directly to the site of disease.

Lyn has more than two decades of experience leading a vast array of functions in biotech, big pharma, and venture capital firms with a focus in the immunology and respiratory therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Avalyn, Ms. Baranowski served as Chief Operating Officer at Altavant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that successfully built and developed a portfolio of therapies for rare respiratory diseases prior to its 2019 acquisition by Sumitomo Dainippon. Earlier in her career, she served in senior-level corporate development and commercial roles, including Vice President of Commercial Development at Pearl Therapeutics, which successfully developed a portfolio of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) medicines prior to its sale to AstraZeneca for $1.15B in 2013; and Vice President at a healthcare-focused venture capital firm based in New York. She previously held roles in business development, marketing and public affairs with Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland and the U.S.

She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from American University. In addition to her role at Avalyn, Ms. Baranowski serves on the Board of Advisors for Life Science Cares and the planning committee for the American Thoracic Society’s Respiratory Innovation Summit, an annual meeting that unites the innovators, investors, and clinicians who are leading the fight to create powerful new treatments for deadly and crippling diseases of the lungs and airways. She was recognized as the 2024 PharmaVoice 100 recipient for her commitment to innovation, respiratory medicine, and patients.

Doug Carlson is the chief financial officer and chief business officer of Avalyn Pharma. Mr. Carlson brings over 23 years of experience with a multi-disciplinary background in corporate finance, venture capital, M&A, business development and commercial roles with both large and emerging growth biopharma companies.

Prior to Avalyn, Mr. Carlson served as the CFO and COO of Avenge Bio, a clinical-stage, biotech company focused on developing cell-based immunotherapies. Prior to Avenge, he was the CFO and COO of Ikena Oncology (NASDAQ: IKNA) where he led the company’s $120 million Series B and $144 million initial public offering (IPO). Mr. Carlson previously worked at Collegium Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: COLL) and held numerous roles during his tenure as Vice President of Corporate Development, Business Development and Commercial Operations. At Collegium, he was a member of the management team that led its transformation from a private, clinical-stage company with approximately 15 employees to a publicly traded, commercial business with over 300 employees.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Carlson held senior corporate and business development roles with BTG plc (LSE: BTG, acquired by Boston Scientific), Lundbeck, Inc. (US HQ of H. Lundeck A/S) and Ovation Pharmaceuticals (acquired by H. Lundbeck A/S). Prior to Ovation, Mr. Carlson was an Associate in the healthcare group at Pequot Ventures, the venture capital arm of Pequot Capital Management, Inc. He started his career in the healthcare investing banking group of Cowen & Co. Mr. Carlson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.

Melissa Rhodes, Ph.D., D.A.B.T is a business operations leader with extensive operational and clinical development expertise in a variety of indications, including respiratory medicines. Dr. Rhodes most recently led metabolic and neurology product development efforts at Kriya Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, she held the position of chief development officer at Aerami Therapeutics and Altavant Sciences, both of which were focused on the delivery of inhaled medicines. Previously Dr. Rhodes managed nonclinical development programs during tenures at Roivant, GlaxoSmithKline and Erimos Pharmaceuticals, where she became adept at evaluating early stage compounds being considered for clinical development. She holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from Duke University Medical Center and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology.

Howard M. Lazarus, MD, FCCP joined Avalyn Pharma as chief medical officer in 2023, prior to which he was chief medical officer of Altavant Sciences (acquired by Enzyvant). In this role, he was responsible for developing and implementing the clinical development plans for candidates addressing pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome. Earlier, he was a key member of the clinical development and medical affairs team at Boehringer Ingelheim where he worked on the nintedanib idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) program and at Gilead Sciences where he worked on their IPF and PAH portfolios. Prior to his work at Gilead, Dr. Lazarus practiced as a pulmonary and critical care physician at several health facilities, including Oregon Pulmonary Associates in Portland, OR. In that role, he diagnosed and treated patients with complex pulmonary vascular and interstitial diseases such as IPF and PAH.

Dr. Lazarus earned both a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and a Doctor of Medicine from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His residency in internal medicine was at Boston University Medical Center, and he completed a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of California, San Diego. He is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and a member of the American Thoracic and European Respiratory Societies.

Jim Bishop joined Avalyn as senior vice president, business operations in 2023, prior to which he was senior vice president, business operations of Enzyvant Therapeutics. Mr. Bishop previously held the role of senior vice president, business operations at Altavant Sciences where he led the integration and restructuring of the combination of Enzyvant and Altavant Sciences. 

Earlier in his career, Mr. Bishop served in business development, operations and project management roles at multiple biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies including Roivant Sciences, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Cabernet Pharmaceuticals and Oxygen Biotherapeutics. He began his career as a scientist at GlaxoSmithKline. Mr. Bishop earned an MBA from Meredith College and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University.

Craig Conoscenti, M.D., FCCP, ATSF joined Avalyn Pharma as senior vice president, clinical development in 2023, prior to which he was executive director and therapeutic area head, interstitial lung disease clinical development and medical affairs of Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Conoscenti held roles of increasing responsibility within ILD clinical research during his time at Boehringer Ingelheim and was a key contributor to the development and launch of oral nintedanib for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), scleroderma associated ILD (SSc-ILD), and the other progressive fibrosing ILDs (PFILD). Prior to joining Boehringer Ingelheim, Dr. Conoscenti held various titles and senior pulmonary critical care consultant over 17 years at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, CT.

Dr. Conoscenti earned a Doctor of Medicine from St George’s University and a Bachelor of Science in Physiology from Fordham University. He completed his residency at Hackensack University Medical Center, where he additionally served one year as Chief Medical Resident. Following this, he completed his Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship at Norwalk Hospital/Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Conoscenti is a Fellow of the American Thoracic Society, the American College of Chest Physicians and the European Respiratory Society. He received the Norman S Brady Fellowship where he served sabbatical time at the Brompton Chest Hospital in London.

Michelle Patterson, MBA, PMP is the SVP of program management at Avalyn.  Ms. Patterson brings over 25 years of industry experience, spanning multiple therapeutic areas, product classes, and markets.  Most recently, she served as VP of Program Management and NASH program team leader at Intercept Pharmaceuticals where she led the resubmission of the NASH NDA. Prior to Intercept, Ms. Patterson served in senior project leadership roles at both large and small biotech companies including Novan, Roivant Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, and Eli Lilly.

She has led six new drug applications over the last decade and has contributed to three product approvals: Taltz®, Gemtesa®, and Rapivab®.  In parallel with these major milestones, she has developed fit-for-purpose portfolio and program management processes and tools to improve the quality and reliability of delivery of drug development programs. She is widely recognized in the industry for her drug development expertise and team leadership. Ms. Patterson expertly manages the delivery of key product portfolio milestones by integrating work across multiple functions including regulatory, pre-clinical, clinical, manufacturing and product development.

Ms. Patterson earned a Bachelor of Science in biology from Cornell University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. She is also a certified Project Management Professional.

Stephen Pham, Ph.D. is the SVP of product development of Avalyn Pharma. Dr. Pham has 25 years of industry experience in inhalation and ophthalmic products, ranging from product concept through approval and launch.

Prior to joining Avalyn, Dr. Pham served as a full-time consultant for Sunovion Pharmaceuticals where from Phase 2 through NDA submission and review, Dr. Pham was responsible for Lonhala^® Magnair^® (glycopyrrolate inhalation solution for use with eFlow^® Closed System nebulizer) product development for the treatment of COPD. Prior to Sunovion, he was senior director of product development at Elevation Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for Lonhala Magnair CMC until the Sunovion acquisition in 2012. Previously and while at Dey Laboratories (now Mylan), Dr. Pham was an inventor of Perforomist^® (formoterol fumarate inhalation solution) for the treatment of COPD and it’s lead scientist through approval and product launch. Dr. Pham was also an inventor of Bromsite^® (brofenac ophthalmic solution) for post-operative ocular inflammation and pain.

Dr. Pham is well-published and holds over 20 published patents in formulation and drug delivery. Dr. Pham has a Ph.D. in pharmaceutics, an M.S. in theoretical chemistry, and a B.S. in chemistry, all from the University of Minnesota.

Ms. Turner was President and CEO of Carmot Therapeutics from January 2023 to June 2024. From September 2022 to December 2022 she was COO. As CEO she completed a $150 million cross over round of financing and well as successfully orchestrated a dual track IPO/strategic transaction process which ultimately resulted in the acquisition of Carmot by Roche for $3.1 billion. In addition to the transactions, Ms. Turner also built a very successful team growing Carmot from approximately 35 people to approximately 70 people which included leadership in key functions such as CMC, Quality, Finance, Legal and HR. Before Carmot, Ms. Turner served as Chief General Counsel and Secretary at Lyell Immunopharma, Inc. Notably, she oversaw the execution of the company’s $400 million Series C financing and the fourth largest Nasdaq IPO which raised gross proceeds of approximately $425 million. In addition, Ms. Turner oversaw numerous strategic partnerships including the Company’s development and commercialization partnership with GSK which included a $200 million investment. Prior to Lyell, Ms. Turner served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. a publicly traded gene therapy and gene editing company. Ms. Turner served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Head of Portfolio Strategy at Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc., a publicly-traded allogeneic cell therapy company. At Atara, in addition to legal and portfolio strategy, Ms. Turner oversaw human resources as well as medical affairs. Prior to Atara, Ms. Turner served as General Counsel and Secretary at Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. a publicly-traded company focused on metabolic diseases. During her tenure at Orexigen, Ms. Turner oversaw the legal, human resources, government affairs and facilities functions. Ms. Turner started her career at Cooley as a corporate securities associate. Ms. Turner received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law and her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Tiba joined Norwest advisors in 2021 as a biotech investor with 20+ years of research and investment experience.

Based in the San Francisco office, she invests in healthcare with a focus on early to mid-stage companies within the therapeutics sector.

Prior to joining Norwest, Tiba spent over ten years at Novo Holdings A/S, one of the top life sciences investment firms, with offices in the US and Europe. In her previous role, she was responsible for the deployment of ~280M of capital in private biotech, MedTech and HCIT companies. Earlier in her career Tiba was a banker focused on M&A, licensing, and financing transactions involving biotech/pharma.

Tiba attended the University of California Irvine where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with a Biomedical concentration. She also holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California San Francisco, where she also did her Postdoctoral Fellowship. Tiba is also a published author of scientific articles and book chapters in rational drug design.

Scott joined Venture Investments (US) Inc. in San Francisco, California in 2012. Previously, he was a board member of Aerocrine AB.

From 2009-2012, Scott was part of Novo A/S’ Growth Equity team. Prior to joining Novo A/S he was a Managing Director at JP Morgan in San Francisco, heading the firm’s West Coast biopharmaceuticals effort. Previous to that, Scott led Piper Jaffray’s US biopharmaceuticals investment banking practice and was a member of the Health Care Group at Montgomery Securities. During his tenure as an investment banker, Scott originated and executed numerous transactions.

Scott holds an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management and a BS from Colorado State University.

Jill is a Partner with SR One based on the East Coast.  Jill’s educational background is in biochemistry and her career has spanned 20 years in various facets of the biotechnology industry.  Initially, she spent time in strategy consulting focusing on commercial projects with pharma, then migrated to operating roles in corporate development, particularly at Dynavax Technologies (DVAX), where she completed multiple pharma partnerships and private and public financings. Jill started her investing career at SR One in 2011 and has been involved in marquee investments including Alios Biopharma, Progyny (PGNY) and Principia Biopharma (PRNB), among others. Jill received a BS in chemistry from Duke University and a MS in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University.

Gianna is a Principal at Xontogeny and Perceptive Advisors, where she assists in the management of Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds’ investments in life sciences companies, including investments in companies seeded and incubated at Xontogeny. Previously, Gianna built the competitive intelligence capabilities for gene therapy company Solid Biosciences and began her industry career as a patent agent with Choate, Hall & Stewart, LLP., servicing pharma and academic clients. Gianna earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed her M.S. and B.S. degrees at the University of California, Santa Cruz in Chemistry.

Erin Lavelle has over 25 years of strategic and operational leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry.  She most recently served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at ProfoundBio where she led a $112 million Series B and IPO preparation and negotiated a $1.9 billion sale to Genmab in 2024. Prior to her leadership roles at ProfoundBio, she was the COO/CFO at Eliem Therapeutics, a biotechnology firm based in Seattle. She was instrumental in orchestrating Eliem’s Initial Public Offering (IPO). Before Eliem, she was the COO of Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., where she led Alder’s $2.3 billion acquisition by H. Lundbeck A/S. Her extensive tenure in the biopharmaceutical sector also includes 15 years at Amgen, culminating as the General Manager of Amgen’s Taiwan affiliate. Prior to this leadership role, she was based in Hong Kong as an Executive Director for the Japan Asia-Pacific region, spearheading Commercial Excellence and Digital Health initiatives. Her earlier positions at Amgen involved executive leadership in Global Marketing, Global Commercial Finance, and Strategy & Corporate Development. Erin began her career as an investment banker within the healthcare group at Merrill Lynch & Co. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Economics from Yale University and has served on the boards of Neoleukin (NLTX) and Vitaeris, a private company located in Vancouver.

Jonathan Leff is a physician-scientist with a long history of drug development experience in the biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as Executive Partner of Sofinnova Investments, a life science investment firm. Previously he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Ascendis Pharma, a biotechnology company developing medicines for rare endocrine disorders. Prior to Ascendis, Dr. Leff served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at InterMune (acquired by Roche/Genentech in 2014). At InterMune, Dr. Leff oversaw the development and US approval of Esbriet^® (oral pirfenidone) for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Prior to InterMune, Dr. Leff served as Chief Medical Officer at KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, and Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Halozyme Therapeutics. Prior to Halozyme, Dr. Leff was Vice President and Global Head of Inflammation Clinical Development at Roche, where he managed the worldwide clinical development programs for MabThera^®/Rituxan^®, ocrelizumab, and Actemra^®. Dr. Leff also held various positions at Amgen, including Vice President, North American Medical Affairs. Prior to Amgen, Dr. Leff served at Merck developing and commercializing Singulair^®. Dr. Leff trained in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Colorado in Denver and served in various positions, including director of the Outpatient Pulmonary Clinic. Dr. Leff holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, and received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Ketan Patel is a Partner with F-Prime Capital and has worked in the healthcare sector as an investor, consultant, and physician. Prior to joining F-Prime Capital in 2007, Dr. Patel advised biopharmaceutical and medical device companies on brand strategy, clinical development plans, and business development activities in the corporate consulting division of Leerink Swann & Company. Dr. Patel served as a physician at the VA Boston Healthcare System and at Weill Cornell Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he completed his internal medicine training.

Dr. Patel focuses on investing in therapeutics and medical device companies and has served as a director or board observer of Aclaris Therapeutics, Acorn Cardiovascular, Amphora Medical, Bioconnect Systems, Eywa Pharma, Avalyn Pharma, Ivenix, Laurus Labs, Medwell Ventures, Menlo Therapeutics, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NFlection Therapeutics, Vicept Therapeutics, and Xcyton Diagnostics.

Dr. Patel is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine, where he received both his MD and MBA as part of that institution’s Healthcare Management Program and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his undergraduate studies in biology and economics with highest honors at Rutgers University.

Lyn Baranowski is the Chief Executive Officer of Avalyn Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing targeted medicines for patients with rare lung diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis and other interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). Currently approved therapeutic options slow pulmonary fibrosis progression but are associated with significant toxicities that restrict their use and dosing. Avalyn is developing a pipeline of new inhaled formulations of approved medicines designed to reduce systemic exposure and deliver medication directly to the site of disease.

Lyn has more than two decades of experience leading a vast array of functions in biotech, big pharma, and venture capital firms with a focus in the immunology and respiratory therapeutic areas. Prior to joining Avalyn, Ms. Baranowski served as Chief Operating Officer at Altavant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that successfully built and developed a portfolio of therapies for rare respiratory diseases prior to its 2019 acquisition by Sumitomo Dainippon. Earlier in her career, she served in senior-level corporate development and commercial roles, including Vice President of Commercial Development at Pearl Therapeutics, which successfully developed a portfolio of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) medicines prior to its sale to AstraZeneca for $1.15B in 2013; and Vice President at a healthcare-focused venture capital firm based in New York. She previously held roles in business development, marketing and public affairs with Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland and the U.S.

She earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from American University. In addition to her role at Avalyn, Ms. Baranowski serves on the Board of Advisors for Life Science Cares and the planning committee for the American Thoracic Society’s Respiratory Innovation Summit, an annual meeting that unites the innovators, investors, and clinicians who are leading the fight to create powerful new treatments for deadly and crippling diseases of the lungs and airways. She was recognized as the 2024 PharmaVoice 100 recipient for her commitment to innovation, respiratory medicine, and patients.