Management

Dr. Yerxa currently serves as Opus Genetics’ President since October, 2024. Dr. Yerxa was Chief Executive Officer and President of Opus from September, 2021. Dr. Yerxa previously served as Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (“FFB”) starting in October 2017, a foundation that drives research to provide treatments and cures for people affected by retinal degenerative diseases, where he established the Retinal Degeneration Fund, a venture philanthropy investment fund. Prior to joining FFB, Dr. Yerxa served as President and Co-Founder of Envisia Therapeutics, Inc., a company focused on developing novel ocular sustained delivery therapies for the front and back of the eye. He also has previously held founding and executive positions in several ophthalmology-based research organizations, including Liquidia Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of products in pulmonary hypertension, Clearside Biomedical, Inc. (“Clearside”), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the delivery of therapies to the back of the eye through the suprachoroidal space, Parion Sciences, Inc., a company that develops therapies to treat defects of the innate mucosal defense system in respiratory diseases, and Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing ophthalmic products. Dr. Yerxa has also served on the boards of directors of Clearside since March 2022 and Nacuity Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage leader in innovative treatments for oxidative stress since October 2019. Dr. Yerxa holds 60 U.S. patents. Dr. Yerxa earned his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and his B.A. in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.

Mr. Schachle brings more than 30 years of experience in life sciences to his role as Chief Operating Officer of Opus, with specific expertise in strategic and operational planning, business development, marketing and sales, and business intelligence. Before joining Opus, Mr. Schachle served as vice president of Customer Experience Enablement and vice president of global commercial services and controlling at Grifols, where he led multiple commercial departments across business units, managed key cross-divisional initiatives and directed strategic brand planning process. Previously, Mr. Schachle was the COO for Parion Sciences, and part of the team that secured partners for the company’s lead programs, which exceeded $1 billion in deal value. Mr. Schachle has also served as chief commercial officer for Inspire Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw multiple partnering deals and promoted three eye care brands, including AzaSite®, Elestate®, and Restasis®. In addition, he’s held multiple sales and marketing leadership positions at GlaxoSmithKline, where he managed several billion-dollar brands including Advair®, Imitrex®, Wellbutrin SR®, Epivir® / Retrovir® and Combivir®. He also served on the Board of Directors for the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) and North Carolina State University College of Management Industry Advisory Board. Mr. Schachle earned his undergraduate degree from James Madison University and his MBA from Old Dominion University.

Dr. Jayagopal is a bioengineer by training with over 15 years of experience leading multidisciplinary research teams focused on therapeutic research and development, drug delivery platforms, and biomarkers for retinal diseases in industry and academia. Ash oversees research and development strategy for Opus, including the execution of IRD clinical trials and pipeline development for retinal diseases. Prior to the acquisition of Opus Genetics by Ocuphire Pharma, he served as the Chief Scientific Officer of Opus Genetics. In this role he had scientific and clinical leadership responsibility for Opus’ retinal gene therapy portfolio, including management of discovery, manufacturing, nonclinical development, and clinical development functions. Prior to Opus, he was Executive Director of Discovery Medicine at Kodiak Sciences where he supervised early-stage portfolio development, and the Head of Molecular Pharmacology and Biomarkers in Ophthalmology at Roche. His accomplishments at Roche included leadership of teams conducting discovery and IND-enabling studies for over 16 programs, including the FDA-approved therapeutic for retinal vascular disease, Vabysmo® (trademark of Genentech, Inc.), the first bispecific antibody in ophthalmology.

Prior to his career in industry, he was an Assistant Professor and NIH-funded Principal Investigator at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Ash holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an M.B.A. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. An author on over 40 peer-reviewed publications, he has been awarded the Roche Key Contributor Award, Dolly Green Special Scholar Award from Research to Prevent Blindness, and a Junior Faculty Award from the American Diabetes Association. He is a Fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), and a Fellow and President of the Association for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (AOPT). He serves on the Innovation Advisory Council for Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Editorial Board of Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Mr. Jhaveri served as Chief Financial Officer of Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage, AI-based biotech, where he oversaw finance, corporate strategy and investor relations, with the company raising $110 million and securing over $100 million from business development transactions during his tenure. Previously, Mr. Jhaveri served as Chief Financial Officer of Journey Medical Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, where he led business development, corporate strategy and capital raising. Earlier in his career, he held roles in business development at Fortress Biotech, equity research at Citigroup and investment banking at Bank of America. He earned his B.A. in Chemistry and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Mr. Jhaveri is a CFA charterholder.

Dr. Chung is the Chief Medical Officer of SparingVision where he spearheads the clinical development of new therapies and leads medical affairs, educational, and patient advocacy efforts. He has extensive experience in medical strategy and gene therapy, previously serving as the Ophthalmology Lead at Spark Therapeutics, where he played a pivotal role in the approval of Luxturna™ for RPE65-associated inherited retinal generation, the first gene therapy to be approved in the US for a genetic disease.

Prior to Spark, Dr. Chung worked for 11 years at the Scheie Eye Institute within the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in pre-clinical and translational research of gene-based therapies for inherited retinal diseases.

Dr. Chung received his medical degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1994 and completed postgraduate training at the National Eye Institute, Summa Health Systems and Cole Eye Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Dr. Élise Héon is the Henry Brent Chair in Innovative Pediatric Ophthalmology Research at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, where she also serves as the Director of the Ocular Genetics Program and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Toronto. She also serves on the Scientific, Medical and Ethical Advisory Board (SMEAB) of the European Networks for Rare Diseases (ERNs).

She is a renowned clinician in the field of pediatric inherited retinal degenerations with a particular interest in genetic characterization of disease as well as in patient reported outcome measures.

Dr. Héon received her medical degree at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (Québec), where she subsequently completed her Ophthalmology residency and served as chief resident. Dr. Héon continued her training as a Clinical & Research Fellow in Pediatric Ophthalmology and Ocular Genetics at The Hospital for Sick Children, a Fellowship in Molecular Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and a specialized Fellowship at Hôpital ophtalmique Jules-Gonin, Switzerland.

Dr. Héon was the Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at SickKids from December 2002 to July 2014. She has been on staff at Sickkids since 1996, focusing on Inherited retinal diseases.

Dr. Leroy is professor of Ophthalmology, Ophthalmic Genetics and Visual Electrophysiology at Ghent University and the Head of the Ophthalmology department at Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.

Dr. Leroy completed his medical degree (MD), PhD in medical sciences, residencies in clinical genetics and Ophthalmology and a fellowship in medical retina and visual electrophysiology at Ghent University in Belgium. He also completed a fellowship in medical retina, inherited retinal diseases, visual electrophysiology, and molecular genetics at Moorfields Eye Hospital & Institute of Ophthalmology in London, UK.

Dr. Leroy’s focus is diagnosis and detailed clinical phenotyping of inherited retinal degenerations as well as in the development of innovative treatments, including serving as a clinical investigator on therapies for RPE65-IRD and CEP290-IRD. He served as past president for the European Organization for Vision & Eye Research and is a board member of the International Society for Genetic Eye Disease & Retinoblastoma, the Société de la Génétique Ophtalmologique Francophone, and the Belgian Society of Ophthalmology. He is also co-opted board member for ophthalmic genetics of the European Society of Retina Specialists (EURETINA).

Dr. José-Alain Sahel is the chair and Distinguished Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, director of the UPMC Eye Center, and the Eye and Ear Foundation Endowed Chair of Ophthalmology.  He is also a Professor of the Sorbonne Medical School.

Dr. Sahel studied medicine at University Denis Diderot and completed a residency in Ophthalmology at the Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Strasbourg. He also was a research fellow at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and a visiting scholar in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University.

Dr. Sahel is world renowned for his work in vision restoration techniques including stem cell implantation, gene therapy, retinal prostheses, and optogenetics. He has also developed novel high resolution imaging technologies for retinal and optic nerve conditions. Dr. Sahel is a co-inventor on more than 40 patents and a member of 11 editorial boards.

He previously served as chairman of the Departments of Ophthalmology at the Quinze-Vingts National Eye Hospital, the Rothschild Ophthalmology Foundation, the Vision Institute, and the French National Reference Center for Retinal Dystrophies. He has supervised dozens of clinical trials and directed a network of more than 90 European clinical trial centers focused on retinal diseases.

Dr. Adrienne Graves is a visual scientist by training and a global industry leader in ophthalmology. Dr. Graves was CEO of Santen Inc (2002-2010) following 7 years there as Sr VP of Worldwide Clinical Development. She previously spent 9 years at Alcon, where she built a Retinal Electrophysiology Lab, directed clinical development and served as Director of International Ophthalmology. Dr. Graves was Chairman of the Board at Iveric Bio until their 2023 acquisition by Astellas, and is currently on the Board of Directors at Ocular Therapeutix, Harrow, Qlaris Bio, Surface phthalmics, NVasc, JelliSee, and Implandata. She previously held board positions at Nicox (2014-2024), Encore Vision (acquired by Novartis), Envisia (assets acquired by Aerie), TearLab (now Trukera), Aerpio, and Akorn. Dr. Graves also serves on the boards of the following Foundations: American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS), Glaucoma Research Foundation (GRF), American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO; Emeritus), Retina Global, Himalayan Cataract Project, Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), and was a founding board member of OWL (Ophthalmic World Leaders, formerly Ophthalmic Women Leaders). She is Chairman of the RD (Retinal Degeneration) Fund, the venture arm of FFB, and she Co-founded Glaucoma 360. Her recent honors include the Visionary Award (FFB), Catalyst Award (GRF), Visionary Award (OWL), Bernice Brown Memorial Lecture Award (Women in phthalmology), and The Ophthalmologist 2021 and 2023 Power Lists. Dr. Graves received an AB with Honors in Psychology from Brown University, a Ph.D. in Pyschobiology/Neuroscience from the University of Michigan, and she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Visual Neuroscience at the University of Paris. She is a Visionary Innovation Mentor for the Ophthalmic Innovation Program at Stanford.

Caroline R. Baumal, MD is a Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center and co-director of the retina service and medical retina fellowship at New England Eye Center in Boston, MA. She specializes in medical and surgical diseases of the retina and vitreous. Her research interests include novel retinal imaging and drug development, which are a continuation from her research background with the prototype OCT and working with drug implants and photodynamic therapy. Her clinical interests include age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, retinal circulatory disorders, complex vitreoretinal surgery, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
Dr. Baumal completed medical school and ophthalmology residency at the University of Toronto after undergraduate studies at McGill University. She completed two fellowships: one at New England Eye Center, Boston in Medical Retina and Lasers and another in Vitreoretinal Diseases and Surgery at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Baumal is Board Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. She has received multiple awards from various societies including the American Academy of Ophthalmology, The American Society of Retinal Surgeons, The Retinal Hall of Fame, the Donald J. Gass Beacon of Sight Award from the Florida Ophthalmologic Society, the ASRS Crystal Apple award and was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement award from the Vit-Buckle Society. She is on the editorial board for Retina Cases and Brief Reports and Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers, and Imaging (OSLI) Retina. Dr. Baumal has authored over 170 publications, 33 book chapters on retinal diseases and edited the book Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy. She is actively involved in mentoring and teaching vitreoretinal fellows and residents and was previously Director of Education and the Residency program at New England Eye Center.