Management

Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., has served as President of Nurix since June 2020, and as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company’s board of directors since September 2014. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Sands was the co-founder and served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and as a member of the board of directors of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on target validation and pharmaceutical development, from 1995 to July 2014. Before founding Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Sands served as an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Sands holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale University and an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Baylor College of Medicine.

Hans van Houte has served as Chief Financial Officer of Nurix since June 2020 and has led the company’s finance team since 2015. Prior to joining Nurix, Mr. van Houte was a managing partner at Bionation LLC, a financial consulting firm, and served as acting CFO for multiple new biotechnology companies formed with investments totaling over $150 million from Third Rock Ventures and The Column Group. Mr. van Houte previously held senior financial roles in biotechnology companies including Vice President, Finance and Operations at Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was part of the team that took Trubion public in October 2006. Prior to Trubion, Mr. van Houte was the Controller, Treasurer, and Principal Accounting Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he helped build the financial and accounting organization post-IPO to support growth from a $100 million to a multibillion market capitalization. Mr. van Houte holds a B.S. in Business Administration, Finance and Accounting from Babson College.

Gwenn M. Hansen, Ph.D., has served as Chief Scientific Officer of Nurix since June 2020 and served as the company’s Senior Vice President, Research from July 2019 through May 2020. Since joining Nurix in 2015, Dr. Hansen has focused on establishing the company’s DNA encoded library technology platform for small molecule discovery and leading the company’s discovery organization. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Hansen was an Associate Professor in the Center for Drug Discovery at Baylor College of Medicine and served in a variety of discovery-focused roles at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Hansen holds a B.A. in Biology from Gustavus Adolphus College and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Christine Ring, Ph.D., J.D., has served as Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Nurix since October 2023, and has served as the company’s Secretary since March 2020. Dr. Ring served as Nurix’s General Counsel from September 2019 to October 2023. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Ring held multiple positions assisting companies protect intellectual property, engage in licensing transactions, raise capital, and transition from private companies into public companies. Her most recent corporate positions were as Senior Vice President, Legal at Dermira, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on medical dermatology, and as Senior Vice President of Technology, Strategy & Licensing at Amyris, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on renewable fuels and specialty chemicals. Dr. Ring has served on the board of directors of BIOMILQ, Inc. since February 2022, and has served as board chair since March 2023. Dr. Ring holds an A.B. in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, San Francisco, and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. 

Eric Schlezinger, J.D., has served as Chief People Officer of Nurix since August 2022. Mr. Schlezinger has over 25 years of industry experience and has led and developed human resources and legal functions at high-growth private and public biopharma and technology companies. Most recently, he served as Head of Human Resources at Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial stage pharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Adamas, Mr. Schlezinger served as Senior Vice President, Head of Human Resources at Vir Biotechnology, Inc., where he developed the infrastructure and HR functions that supported the organization’s rapid growth and transition to a public company. Prior to his tenure at Vir, he served as Senior Vice President, Global Business Strategy and Human Resources at Tessera Technologies, Inc., where he managed HR, Facilities, Administration, and Safety for all U.S. and international locations. Earlier in his career, he held leadership positions at Dialogic Inc., Tumbleweed Communications, and Roche Bioscience. Mr. Schlezinger holds an Honors Degree from Beijing Normal University, an A.B. from Dartmouth College, and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Jason Kantor, Ph.D., has served as Chief Business Officer of Nurix since October 2023, and served in various finance and business strategy roles since joining the company in July 2020. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Kantor served as a Senior Biopharma Analyst at Artisan Partners, where he covered industry trends for both large and small cap biotech and pharma companies globally. He also served as Board President at Biotech Partners, meeting the non-profit’s goals of increasing corporate sponsorship and gaining support from local government. Dr. Kantor previously served as Managing Director, Biotechnology Analyst at Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets and WR Hambrecht + Co, focusing on innovative biotech companies and building successful healthcare and research franchises. Prior to that, he held a position as Vice President, Biotechnology Analyst at JP Morgan Chase & Co. Dr. Kantor holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of California, San Diego and a Ph.D. in Cell and Development Biology from Harvard University.

Pasit Phiasivongsa, Ph.D., has served as Executive Vice President, Technical Operations since February 2024 and previously as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations since August 2022. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Phiasivongsa served as Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing at Kronos Bio, where he led all CMC development, manufacturing, and supply chain-related activities. Before Kronos, Dr. Phiasivongsa served as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations at Principia Biopharma, where he incorporated key innovations into CMC development and manufacturing. Prior to Principia, he was Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development at Tobira Therapeutics, where he was responsible for CMC-related activities and led the intellectual property strategy and development for the company’s core assets. Early in his career, he held positions in drug discovery, development, and manufacturing. He is listed on 28 U.S.-issued patents and more than 30 patent applications. Dr. Phiasivongsa earned his B.S. in Biochemistry and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences from the University of the Pacific, Stockton.

Paula G. O’Connor, M.D., has served as Executive Vice President and Head of Clinical Development since February 2024 and previously as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development since September 2022. Dr. O’Connor is trained as a hematologist-oncologist with more than 15 years of drug development expertise. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. O’Connor held senior level positions in Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Protagonist Therapeutics, Oncopeptides, Inc., Coherus Biosciences, Medivation, Onyx, and Genentech. Dr. O’Connor completed her fellowships in Hematology, Oncology, and AIDS Oncology at the combined programs of the Massachusetts General, Brigham and Women’s, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She holds a B.A. in Psychology-Biology from Yale University and an M.D. from Stanford University.

Buckley Kohlhauff has served as Senior Vice President of Information Technology of Nurix since September 2021. He has over 15 years of experience as an IT executive in the biopharmaceutical industry, leading teams responsible for driving innovation through the secure use of technology. He previously served as Chief Technology Advisor at TeamLogic IT, assisting companies in developing their digital strategy. Prior leadership positions also include Senior IT Director at FivePrime Therapeutics and Senior Director of Information Systems at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. He has extensive experience optimizing IT infrastructure, ensuring system compliance, improving systems performance, and introducing new levels of business intelligence. As a result of his lifelong work and commitment to innovation and excellence, Buckley has received the RedHat Innovation Award and the Ernst & Young Computerworld Honors Award. He studied IT Management and Cybersecurity at Western Governors University and Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Christopher B. Phelps, Ph.D., has served as Vice President and Head of Early Discovery at Nurix since January 2021. Dr. Phelps has more than 10 years of experience in small molecule discovery, with a focus on DNA encoded library technology. Prior to joining Nurix, he served in multiple roles at GSK, most recently as Director of DNA Encoded Library Screening. He earned his B.S. in Biology from St. Lawrence University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego, and he completed his post-doctoral training at Harvard University.

Frederick Cohen, Ph.D., joined Nurix in 2017 and has served as Head of Medicinal Chemistry since April 2020. He has more than 20 years of experience in small molecule drug discovery, spanning multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, neurodegeneration and antibiotics. Prior to joining Nurix, he served at Achaogen, Genentech, and Tularik. Dr. Cohen earned his B.A. in Chemistry from Occidental College and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine.

Bev Benson, Ph.D., has served as Vice President and Head of Clinical Science at Nurix since January 2022. Dr. Benson has over 22 years of experience in drug development across numerous indications and has worked on five drugs that have received FDA approval. During her career, she has worked as a Clinical Scientist serving in positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, BeiGene, CytomX Therapeutics and most recently at Principia Biopharma. Dr. Benson holds a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology & Toxicology from the University of Kansas, and she completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.

Elizabeth Bosch, Ph.D., has served as Vice President, Alliance and Program Management at Nurix since January 2023 and served as the company’s Head of Alliance Management and Research Program Management from June 2018 through December 2022. Prior to joining Nurix, she worked at Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., Incyte Corporation and Sentinel Biosciences, Inc. Dr. Bosch earned an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and completed her postdoctoral work at the Cell Signaling Dept, DNAX/Schering Plough Biopharma and the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. 

Eren Demirhan, Ph.D., has served as Vice President and Head of Biometrics at Nurix since March 2021, leading the Company’s Biostatistics and Clinical Data Science efforts. Dr. Demirhan brings over 17 years of experience in drug pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, championing data-driven drug development ideology and implementation. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Demirhan served in a variety of roles at Allogene Therapeutics, Medivation, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Biogen, and GSK. Dr. Demirhan holds a B.A. in Statistics from Middle East Technical University, a Ph.D. in Statistics from North Carolina State University and an M.B.A from Kenan Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

Joseph D. Robinson has served as Vice President, Facilities Operations at Nurix since July 2023. Mr. Robinson has been responsible for developing the facilities, real estate, lab services and operations functions at Nurix since he joined the company in January 2016. Prior to Nurix, Mr. Robinson served in positions of increasing responsibility developing and growing administrative and operational functions for early-stage companies, including Presidio Pharmaceuticals, a developer of anti-viral therapeutics, and VaxGen, a vaccine company. Mr. Robinson began his career at the Conant Medical Group. Mr. Robinson studied Communications at San Francisco State University and Management at St. Mary’s College of California.  

Marine Champsaur, Ph.D., has served as Vice President and Head of Medical Affairs since August 2022. Prior to joining Nurix, Dr. Champsaur provided scientific strategy and communications consulting services to early-stage biotech companies across a range of treatment modalities spanning the autoimmune and inflammatory disease, vaccine, and oncology space. Before that, Dr. Champsaur played a pivotal role in building the medical affairs function at Dermira, Inc., where she led the medical strategy and communications team. Early in her career, she held roles of increasing responsibility at UCB Pharma within immunology global medical affairs. Dr. Champsaur holds a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of California, San Francisco.