Management
Adam Rogers, MD
Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer
Adam H. Rogers, MD, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of NervGen Pharma and has served as Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors since July 2025.
Dr. Rogers has more than fifteen years of experience advancing novel therapies for diseases with significant unmet medical need. He is the Principal of Boston-based PFP Biosciences Holdings and previously co-founded Hemera Biosciences in 2010, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a one-time investigational gene therapy administered via outpatient intravitreal injection to preserve vision in patients with geographic atrophy, a late-stage and severe form of age-related macular degeneration. He served as Hemera’s Chief Executive Officer from 2017 until December 2020, when the rights to its lead program were acquired by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Rogers served as an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the New England Eye Center at Tufts Medical Center and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications.
Dr. Rogers is a board-certified ophthalmologist specializing in diseases and surgery of the retina and vitreous and holds an MD from Emory University School of Medicine
Keith Vendola, MD, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Keith Vendola, MD, MBA, serves as Chief Financial Officer of NervGen Pharma, bringing more than two decades of financial and strategic leadership experience across clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companies, healthcare investment banking, corporate strategy, and scientific research.
Dr. Vendola most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Wugen, a clinical-stage cell therapy company. Prior to Wugen, he was CFO of IO Biotech, where he led the company through its initial public offering. Earlier in his career, he served as CFO and Chief Strategy Officer of Rezolute, leading the company through financial transformation and its Nasdaq listing. He also held the role of Chief of Staff to the CEO and Vice President of Competitive Strategy and Investor Relations at Coherus BioSciences, where his responsibilities spanned corporate development, strategy, and operations.
Dr. Vendola began his corporate finance career as a healthcare investment banker at BofA Securities and JPMorgan Chase.
Dr. Vendola earned his MBA in finance from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, his MD from Dartmouth Medical School, and his BA in psychology, with honors, from the College of the Holy Cross. He completed an executive education program in strategic negotiations at Harvard Business School and was a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health.
Shamim Ruff
Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer
Shamim Ruff serves as Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer of NervGen Pharma and is an industry leader with more than 30 years of strategic leadership in regulatory affairs.
Ms. Ruff most recently, Ms. Ruff served as Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer and SVP, Head of Quality Assurance at Stoke Therapeutics, leading regulatory strategy for the company’s RNA medicine platform. Prior to Stoke, Ms. Ruff served as Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer at Sarepta Therapeutics, where she built the company’s regulatory affairs and quality organizations and led regulatory strategy for its rare and infectious disease pipelines. She also served as Chair of the Development Advisory Board and Strategic Regulatory Advisor to the CEO and NDA Submissions Team at Soleno Therapeutics and on the Board of Directors of Reata Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Biogen.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Ruff held leadership roles at Sanofi-Genzyme, Amgen, Abott, and AstraZeneca.
Ms. Ruff holds a master’s degree in analytical chemistry from the University of Loughborough, U.K., and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology from the University of Leicester, U.K.
Randall Kaye, MD
Chief Medical Advisor
Randall Kaye, MD, serves as Chief Medical Advisor of NervGen Pharma and is a highly experienced physician-executive with extensive leadership experience across neuroscience and central nervous system drug development.
Dr. Kaye most recently served as Chief Medical Officer of Longboard Pharmaceuticals, where he led clinical and medical strategy and played a key role in the company’s $2.6 billion acquisition by Lundbeck A/S. Prior to Longboard, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Neurana Pharmaceuticals, Click Therapeutics, Axsome Therapeutics, and Avanir Pharmaceuticals, where he contributed to the advancement of multiple clinical programs across a range of neurological and neuropsychiatric indications.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Kaye held leadership positions at Scios, InterMune, and Pfizer, gaining broad experience across clinical development, regulatory strategy, and medical affairs.
Dr. Kaye earned his MD, MPH, and Bachelor of Science degrees from George Washington University and completed a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School.