Leadership team
Pheon has a very strong leadership team of specialists, bringing together the best of clinical and managerial expertise with a proven track record in targeted oncology therapies and ADCs.
Leigh Zawel
Chief Scientific Officer
Leigh Zawel is Chief Scientific Officer at Pheon and an EIR at Atlas Venture. Prior to joining Pheon, Leigh was the CSO Small Molecules at Cullinan Oncology and an Executive Partner at MPM Capital and a Senior Investment Partner at Burrage Capital.
Prior to joining Cullinan Oncology and MPM Capital, Leigh was the East Coast Site Head lead at Pfizer’s Center for Therapeutic Innovation. Prior to Pfizer, Leigh was the oncology site lead at Merck Research Laboratories Boston, where he was responsible for drug discovery efforts focused on the identification of development candidates for programs in the oncology franchise. Leigh also worked previously at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research/Oncology, where he was an Oncology Group Leader. Leigh has a deep background in identifying and validating oncology drug targets and in transitioning drug discovery programs through lead optimization to Phase 1 clinical trials.
Leigh earned his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Danny Reinberg where he identified and characterized components of the RNA Polymerase II basal transcription machinery. Leigh’s postdoctoral training was in the laboratory of Bert Vogelstein and Ken Kinzler and focused on dysregulation of TGFB signaling in cancer. He has published more than 35 scientific publications. He is also an author on 45 patents covering chemical matter, drug combinations, biomarker utility and gene function in areas of apoptosis, inflammation and TGFB signaling.
