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.
President and Chief Medical Officer
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
David S. Snyder brings to Coya Therapeutics over 25 years’ experience as the CFO of public and high growth companies. Prior to joining Coya, Mr. Snyder served as the CFO of DisperSol Technologies, LLC and its wholly owned subsidiary Austhera BioSciences, Inc. DisperSol and Austhera are currently advancing two late-stage, small molecule drugs through the clinic and are using their proprietary KinetiSol platform to build a pipeline of NCEs. Prior to joining DisperSol/Austhera, from 2014-2020 Snyder was the CFO of Exicure, Inc. (Nasdaq: XCUR) a company developing nucleic acid therapeutics. From 2008 to 2014, he was the CFO of Cellular Dynamics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICEL) a company developing ipsc-based stem cell tools and primary cell therapeutics. From 2007-2008, Mr. Snyder served as Senior Vice President of Finance, Site Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Roche NimbleGen. Prior to 2007, Snyder was CFO of companies in real estate, software, and manufacturing. Early in his career Mr. Snyder worked for financial and real estate investor Sam Zell. He received his BA summa cum laude from Ottawa University and his M.B.A. with high honors from the Harvard Business School, where he was designated a George Fisher Baker Scholar.
Senior VP of Regulatory
Head of Neuroinflammation Platform
Aaron joins Coya to lead its Neuroinflammation Program and is responsible for developing and testing novel therapeutics that target inflammatory mechanisms which lead to disease pathogenesis. Aaron retains his position as Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Neurology at the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Johnson Center for Cellular Therapeutics, working closely with Dr. Stanley Appel (Coya Scientific Advisory Board), who is renowned for his discovery of Tregs as a treatment for inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases. Aaron’s transformational work includes elucidating neuroinflammatory mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease (ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc.) and developing therapeutic approaches to modulate or halt the progression of these devastating diseases. He completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Appel at the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, having received his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham at the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics. Aaron received his B.S. in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University.
Karen brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Coya with over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, specializing in clinical trials for rare and neurodegenerative diseases. As the head of Program Management and Clinical Operations, Karen will play a significant role in driving the clinical development of potentially transformative therapies in ALS, FTD, and other neurodegenerative
diseases. She is passionate about finding cures for rare diseases and improving clinical outcomes for patients and their families. Her dedication extends to her volunteer work with the nonprofit Genetic ALS and FTD: End the Legacy, further demonstrating her commitment to advancing treatments and cures for these challenging conditions.
Karen holds a master’s degree in biotechnology from Northwestern University and has a strong background in research project management, clinical development, and team leadership. Her previous roles include Vice President of Clinical Operations at Recursion, where she led the design and execution of a rare disease portfolio, and Chief Operating Officer at the Institute for Advanced Clinical Trials for Children, where she maximized clinical program operations efficiency and expanded the company significantly.
VP of Operations and Patient Advocacy
Daniel Barvin joined Coya Therapeutics in 2021, helping to launch the company alongside founder Howard Berman. As Vice President of Operations and Patient Advocacy, Daniel focuses on advancing new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and ensuring patients receive meaningful support throughout their care.
Motivated by personal experience, Daniel co-founded Genetic ALS and FTD: End the Legacy, a non-profit dedicated to supporting individuals affected by or at risk of genetic ALS and FTD. The organization provides resources to help ease the burden on patients and families facing these challenges.
Daniel holds an MBA from Rice University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.
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.
Chief Technical Officer at Prime Medicine
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.
Chief Financial Officer at BioAge
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.
Member – National Academy of Sciences
Director of the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute
Professor in Residence at UCLA
Consulting Professor at Stanford Univeristy
Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and Professor at Baylor College of Medicine
Peggy and Gary Edwards Distinguished Endowed Chair for the Treatment and Research of ALS, Co-Director of the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute
Dr. Stanley Appel is the Peggy and Gary Edwards Distinguished Endowed Chair for the Treatment and Research of ALS, Co-Director of the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Chair of the Stanley H. Appel Department of Neurology, Houston Methodist Hospital and Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also Director of the MDA/ALSA ALS Research and Clinical Center at the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute. Dr Appel’s seminal research documented the intimate relationship of neurodegeneration and ALS progression with dysfunctional and decreased levels of Tregs. He is also renowned for his discovery of cryopreservation of Tregs, demonstrating the ability to expand, freeze and re-thaw Tregs, while maintaining viability and suppressive function. Dr. Appel is a member of numerous professional societies and committees and has authored 15 books and over 440 articles on topics such as ALS, neuromuscular disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease.
