Who We Are

Rahul has served as Imara’s President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors since June 2018. He has more than 15 years of life sciences experience in business development, strategic partnerships, venture capital, and company financing. Rahul joined Imara from Northern Biologics and Versant Ventures, where he served as Chief Business Officer and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, respectively. At Northern Biologics, he built a first-in-class immuno-oncology portfolio, led a broad strategic partnership with Celgene, and managed several key functional roles at the executive level. At Versant, he negotiated foundational assets for existing portfolio and new companies, sourced several new deals, and participated in investment team activities.

Rahul was previously Vice President, Business Development at Flexion Therapeutics, where he led several business development transactions, supported multiple functions during Flexion’s initial public offering, and completed a key $175 million strategic partnership with Patheon UK. Prior to Flexion, he held business development and leadership positions at Novartis Venture Fund, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Redmind Inc. Rahul earned a B.S. in biology from Brown University, a M.S. in bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Georgetown University. He is also a Kauffman Fellow.

Mike has served as Imara’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer since April 2019. He brings nearly two decades of experience to Imara at both public and private biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies, where he developed strong investment community relationships and an in-depth understanding of capital markets with a background in business operations, strategic corporate finance, business development and investor relations. He most recently served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Arsanis, a public global biotechnology company, leading a strategic process that consummated with a merger between Arsanis and X4 Pharmaceuticals. Mike previously served as Arsanis’ Chief Operating and Chief Financial Officer.  In that capacity, he built the business and finance infrastructure of Arsanis’ U.S. global headquarters and successfully raised over $130 million, including the completion of two private financings and an initial public offering.

Prior to Arsanis, Mike spent over a decade at Curis, Inc., a publicly traded oncology company, including 13 years as its Chief Financial Officer, while also holding dual roles as either Chief Operating Officer or Chief Business Officer during most of his tenure. Previously, Mike was Controller and Interim Chief Financial Officer at Reprogenesis, Inc., where he participated in various financings and managed all preclinical and clinical development financial activities. He began his career as an audit professional with Ernst & Young, LLP.

Mike serves on the board of directors of Therapeutics Acquisition Corp. (RACA), a special purpose acquisition corporation sponsored by RA Capital Management, and SMILE Mass, a non-profit organization.  Mike earned his B.S. in business administration with an accounting concentration from Bryant College and his MBA, with a finance and entrepreneurial management concentration, from Babson College.

Steve has served as Imara’s Senior Vice President, Legal and General Counsel since May 2020.  Steve has more than a decade of experience leading corporate legal and governance teams. Prior to joining Imara, he served as General Counsel at ArQule, Inc., a publicly traded oncology company, where he led the legal and compliance function up through ArQule’s acquisition by Merck for $2.7 billion. Steve previously served in roles of increasing responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for SEC reporting and led negotiation of multiple business development transactions. Steve began his legal career as a corporate attorney at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. He earned a B.A. in economics and history from Colby College and his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Yaysie has served as Imara’s Executive Director of Clinical Operations since March 2021, and Vice President of Clinical Operations since October 2021, bringing over 20 years of clinical research and development experience to the company. Prior to joining Imara, Yaysie served as Director, Clinical Program Management, Global Clinical Operations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Previously, she was Executive Director in Clinical Operations at Bioverativ, a Sanofi Company, where she oversaw programs in hemophilia, sickle cell disease, and beta-thalassemia. Yaysie has also held roles of increasing responsibility at a variety of leading companies such as Biogen, Millennium, Alnylam and Genzyme, heading programs and teams focused on oncology and rare diseases. Yaysie has a B.A. in neuroscience from Colgate University.

Ashley has served as Imara’s Vice President of People since December 2020. Prior to joining Imara, Ashley ran an independent Human Resources consulting practice providing human resources leadership, strategy, talent acquisition, operations, and engagement solutions to emerging biotech companies. Previously she served as the Head of Culture & People at SQZ Biotech where she built the human resources department and led the overall organizational development as the company transitioned from an early-stage research focused organization to an early-stage clinical development company. Earlier in her career, Ashley also held roles of increasing responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in talent acquisition and business partnerships where she developed and implemented talent initiatives across multiple departments. She earned a B.A. in Psychology & English from Ohio Wesleyan University and is a graduate of Northeastern University’s Human Resources Management program.

David M. Mott has served as a member of Imara’s board of directors since January 2016. Mr. Mott is a private investor through Mott Family Capital. From September 2008 to February 2020, Mr. Mott was general partner at New Enterprise Associates (“NEA”) and led the healthcare investing practice.

Prior to joining NEA, Mr. Mott was President and Chief Executive Officer of MedImmune, a biotechnology company. He joined MedImmune in 1992 and served in various roles, including president and chief executive officer from October 2000 through July 2008 and previously Chief Financial Officer and President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Mott led the sale of MedImmune to AstraZeneca in June 2007 for $15.6 billion. Earlier in his career, he was a Vice President in healthcare investment banking at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc.

Mr. Mott currently serves on the boards of several public biotechnology companies, including Adaptimmune (ADAP), Ardelyx (ARDX), Epizyme (EPZM), Novavax (NVAX) and Mersana (MRSN). Mr. Mott earned a B.A. in government and economics from Dartmouth College.

Rahul Ballal, Ph.D., has served as Imara’s President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the board of directors since June 2018. He has more than 15 years of life sciences experience in business development, strategic partnerships, venture capital, and company financing. Rahul joined Imara from Northern Biologics and Versant Ventures, where he served as Chief Business Officer and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, respectively. At Northern Biologics, he built a first-in-class immuno-oncology portfolio, led a broad strategic partnership with Celgene, and managed several key functional roles at the executive level. At Versant, he negotiated foundational assets for existing portfolio and new companies, sourced several new deals, and participated in investment team activities.

Rahul was previously Vice President, Business Development at Flexion Therapeutics, where he led several business development transactions, supported multiple functions during Flexion’s initial public offering, and completed a key $175 million strategic partnership with Patheon UK. Prior to Flexion, he held business development and leadership positions at Novartis Venture Fund, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Redmind Inc. Rahul earned a B.S. in biology from Brown University, a M.S. in bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Georgetown University. He is also a Kauffman Fellow.

David Bonita, M.D., has served as a member of Imara’s board of directors since March 2019. Dr. Bonita has more than 15 years of investment and financial experience with private equity and investment banking companies. He is currently a General Partner at OrbiMed Advisors. Prior to OrbiMed, Dr. Bonita worked as a corporate finance analyst in the healthcare investment banking groups of Morgan Stanley and UBS.

Dr. Bonita currently serves on the board of Acutus Medical (AFIB), Prelude Therapeutics (PRLD), Repare Therapeutics (RPTX), and Tricida (TCDA), as well as several private companies. Dr. Bonita received his B.A. in biology from Harvard University and his joint M.D./MBA from Columbia University.

Mark Chin has served as a member of Imara’s board of directors since March 2019. Mr. Chin is currently a Managing Director at Arix Bioscience. Prior to Arix, Mr Chin worked as a principal at Longitude Capital, where he focused on investments in both private and public biotechnology and medical technology companies. Prior to Longitude, Chin was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was responsible for strategy and corporate development projects for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Before BCG, he worked in corporate development at Gilead Sciences and market planning at Genentech.

Mr. Chin currently serves on the boards of director of the publicly traded biotechnology companies, Iterum Therapeutics (ITRM) and Harpoon Therapeutics (HARP). Mr. Chin holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. in Management Science from the University of California at San Diego.

Edward Conner, M.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2020. Dr. Conner currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer at Locanabio, where he is responsible for the clinical strategy and oversight of clinical programs derived from Locanabio’s CORRECTX^TM platform.  Previously, Dr. Conner served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Audentes Therapeutics, an Astellas Company, where he was responsible for leading the global clinical development strategy and oversees clinical development, clinical operations, regulatory affairs, medical affairs and patient advocacy. Prior to Audentes, he served in senior clinical and medical leadership positions at Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc., Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., and Genentech, Inc.

Dr. Conner earned his B.S. in Biology from Duke University and his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco.

Barbara J. Dalton, Ph.D., has served as a member of Imara’s board of directors since January 2016. Dr. Dalton is the Vice President of Venture Capital for Pfizer Ventures. She is responsible for growing their corporate venture activities, managing the corporation's private equity portfolio, advising on structured equity transactions and driving novel transactions to achieve corporate objectives. Dr. Dalton began her pharmaceutical career as a research scientist in immunology at SmithKline Beecham Ltd. (formerly SmithKline and French Laboratories) and joined their venture capital group, SR One, Limited in the early 1990's. She was also a founding member and General Partner with EuclidSR Partners, a private venture capital firm, where SmithKline (now GSK) was a leading limited partner.

Dr. Dalton serves on the board of several private biopharmaceutical companies. She received her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from The Medical College of Pennsylvania (now the Drexel University College of Medicine) and received her B.S. in General Science from Pennsylvania State University.

Carl Goldfischer, M.D., has served as a member of Imara’s board of directors since January 2016.  Dr. Goldfischer is an Investment Partner, Managing Director, member of the board of directors and member of the executive committee of Bay City Capital LLC, a life sciences investment firm, and has been with the firm since 2000.  Prior to joining Bay City Capital, Dr. Goldfischer was Chief Financial Officer and VP of Finance and Strategic Planning of ImClone Systems, Inc.   He began his career as a radiation oncologist at Montefiore Hospital, part of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Goldfischer currently serves on the board of directors of Epizyme (EPZM), a publicly traded biotechnology company. Dr. Goldfischer received his B.A. in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and his M.D. with honors in scientific research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University

Laura A. Williams, M.D., MPH has served as a member of Imara’s Board of Directors since June 2021. Dr. Williams has been the Senior Vice President of Global Therapeutic Strategies and Patient Advocacy at Ardelyx since November 2020, where she is also a member of the Executive Leadership Team. In this role, she seeks to enhance the credibility of patient advocacy as a life science function and is also charged with developing the company’s portfolio strategy, prioritizing the access of novel therapies to patients in areas of unmet need. Prior to Ardelyx, Dr. Williams was Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development and Biostatistics at AMAG Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for investigational-stage assets, on-market compounds and late-stage development activities. Previously, she was Vice President of Clinical Development at Myovant Sciences, overseeing early-stage clinical development and co-leading business development activities. Ahead of this role, Dr. Williams spent 18 years at Abbott/AbbVie managing clinical development programs across several therapeutic areas in multiple roles of increasing responsibility.

Dr. Williams received a Bachelor of Science degree from Mississippi State University, a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Iowa, and a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the University of Washington, where she also completed a clinical fellowship in Infectious Diseases. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at the University of Michigan, where she also served as Chief Resident and Junior Faculty.