Our Team

Leadership
BOD Dave Greenwald

Dave Greenwald, PhD

Executive Chairman of the Board

Andrew steinsapir headshot

Andrew Steinsapir, MBA

Acting Chief Technology Officer

Leadership Diego Garzon

Diego Garzón, PhD

Chief Business Officer

Leadership Jorge Santiago Ortiz

Jorge Santiago-Ortiz, PhD

Vice President of Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) and Regulatory Affairs

Leadership Christopher Davis

Christopher Davis, PhD

Director, Nonclinical and Translational Research

Leadership Von Wiltman

Von Wiltman

Associate Director, Technical Operations

Key Institutional Founders

Apertura was founded in 2022 based on two platform technologies developed by investigators at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Harvard Medical School. With support from the world-class investor Deerfield Management Company, the company aims to overcome key limitations in the delivery and expression of genetic medicines.

Our team logo broad institute web
Our team logo deerfield web
Our team logo harvard medical school web

Scientific
Founder

Collaborators Ben Deverman

Ben Deverman, PhD

Senior Director of Vector Engineering at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Board of
Managers

BOD Dave Greenwald

Dave Greenwald, PhD

BOD Jonathan Leff

Jonathan Leff, MBA

Leadership Joseph La Barge web

Joseph La Barge, JD

BOD William Kubasek

William (Bill) Kubasek, PhD

BOD Juliana Leung

Juliana Leung, PhD

Scroll to Top
BOD Dave Greenwald

David Greenwald, PhD

Deerfield Management Company

Dave serves as Executive Chairman of the Board of Apertura Gene Therapy.

Dr. Greenwald was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute research fellow while earning a BS in Cellular Biology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Maryland, College Park and earned his PhD in Genetics from Tufts University. Dr. Greenwald currently serves on the Boards of Jaguar Gene Therapy, Axovia Therapeutics, and Apertura Gene Therapy, and has worked at Deerfield Management since 2018.

Andrew steinsapir headshot

Andrew Steinsapir, MBA

Acting Chief Technology Officer

Andrew Steinsapir is the Acting Chief Technology Officer of Apertura Gene Therapy and Director, Gene Therapy Program Lead of Deerfield Management’s Discovery and Development team. Prior to Deerfield, Mr. Steinsapir was a Consultant for over three years at Dark Horse Consulting Group, where he provided strategic and tactical support for more than 30 cell and gene therapy firms, pharma, and investment firms. Previous to Dark Horse, Mr. Steinsapir worked at 4D Molecular Therapeutics, in several research and process development roles. Mr. Steinsapir holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis on Biotechnology and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. Andrew is on the scientific advisory board for Jack’s Tomorrow, a foundation whose mission is to fund research to develop a treatment – and ultimately a cure – for PURA Syndrome.

Leadership Diego Garzon

Diego Garzón, PhD

Chief Business Officer

Dr. Diego Garzón is Chief Business Officer at Apertura Gene Therapy and has more than 16 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical sector experience within the U.S. and internationally, with a background spanning commercial R&D and Business Development. Dr. Garzón brings extensive knowledge of multiple therapeutic areas and provides leadership in the areas of managing teams and portfolio execution, having previously brought seven medicines to the market. Prior to joining Apertura, Dr. Garzón held roles at Exicure, Allergan, BMS and Schering-Plough. He most recently served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy at Exicure. Dr. Garzón received his BSc in Biology at the University of Waterloo, PhD in Neuroscience at McMaster University and MBA degrees from Queen’s University and Cornell University.

Leadership Jorge Santiago Ortiz

Jorge Santiago-Ortiz, PhD

Vice President, Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) and Regulatory Affairs

Dr. Jorge Santiago-Ortiz is the Vice President of Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) and Regulatory Affairs at Apertura Gene Therapy. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, graduating with maximum honors, and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. His doctoral research in Dr. David Schaffer’s laboratory focused on the engineering of lentiviral and adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for gene therapy applications. Dr. Santiago-Ortiz began his industry career at BioConsortia Inc., where he directed the fermentation, scale-up, and technology transfer of beneficial plant-associated microbes to enhance crop yields and plant health. He later served as Senior Director of Process R&D at BioCentriq, a cell and gene therapy CDMO, where he led the Process R&D group and oversaw technology transfer and process development for gene and cell therapy clinical products, contributions that directly supported the CDMO’s eventual acquisition. At Apertura, Dr. Santiago-Ortiz oversees internal and outsourced manufacturing operations and drives CMC and regulatory strategy, ensuring alignment with preclinical and operational priorities. Beyond his role at Apertura, he serves as the Co-Chair of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy’s Workforce Development Committee.

Leadership Christopher Davis

Christopher Davis, PhD

Director, Nonclinical and Translational Research

Dr. Christopher Davis is Director of Nonclinical and Translational Research at Apertura Gene Therapy. Prior to joining Apertura, Dr. Davis performed postdoctoral research with Dr. Michael Greenberg at Harvard Medical School, where his research focused on the impact of sensory experience on gene regulatory programs and the development of diverse cell types in the brain. Over his research career, Dr. Davis has been supported by competitive fellowships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Beckman Scholars Program, National Science Foundation, and National Institutes of Health. Dr. Davis earned his B.S. in Molecular Biology summa cum laude with departmental honors from the University of Pittsburgh and Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics from Harvard University.

Leadership Von Wiltman

Von Wiltman

Associate Director, Technical Operations

Von Wiltman is the Associate Director of Technical Operations at Apertura Gene Therapy. He has almost a decade of experience in the AAV therapeutic development, clinical readiness, and commercialization sectors with expertise spanning chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC), preclinical research operations, and regulatory strategy. At Apertura, he provides leadership in driving and strategizing process development, manufacturing, and analytics, while also supporting coordination of technical and corporate strategy. Prior to joining Apertura, Mr. Wiltman worked as a process development and process engineering consultant, supporting leading gene therapy companies including AveXis (now Novartis Gene Therapies) and Jaguar Gene Therapy. Mr. Wiltman holds a BS in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis on pharmaceutical engineering from Purdue University.

Collaborators Ben Deverman

Ben Deverman, PhD

Senior Director of Vector Engineering at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Ben Deverman is the Senior Director of Vector Engineering and an Institute Scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Ben’s laboratory in the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute develops and applies novel high-throughput screens and data-driven protein and genome engineering techniques to create more efficient and targeted AAV vectors to advance gene therapy and support scientific discovery. In prior work at the California Institute of Technology, Ben and colleagues identified numerous capsids, including AAV-PHP.B and an enhanced variant, AAV-PHP.eB, that made efficient brain-wide gene delivery possible for the first time. Ben earned a PhD in Molecular Cell Biology from Washington University and was trained as a postdoc in neuroscience at the California Institute of Technology.
BOD Jonathan Leff

Jonathan Leff, MBA

Deerfield Management Company

Mr. Leff is a Partner on the Therapeutics team at Deerfield Management since 2013 and Chairman of the Deerfield Institute. He focuses on venture capital and structured investments in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Prior to Deerfield, for more than sixteen years, Mr. Leff was with Warburg Pincus, where he led the firm’s investment efforts in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. He is a member of the Boards of several private healthcare companies as well as several not-for-profit Boards, including the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, Friends of Cancer Research, Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration and the Columbia University Medical Center Board of Advisors. Mr. Leff has also been active in public policy discussions related to healthcare and medical innovation. He previously served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), where he led NVCA’s life sciences industry efforts as Chair of NVCA’s Medical Innovation and Competitiveness Coalition (NVCA-MedIC), and also previously served on the Board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Mr. Leff holds an AB from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Leadership Joseph La Barge web

Joseph La Barge, JD

Apertura Gene Therapy

Joseph La Barge serves on the Board of Managers of Apertura Gene Therapy. Previously, Mr. La Barge was an executive at Spark Therapeutics, Inc., serving as Chief Business Officer from 2019 to 2021 and as Chief Legal Officer from 2013 to 2019. In these roles, he oversaw many areas of company growth, including business development, patient advocacy, quality assurance, legal affairs, compliance, finance, public policy and global pricing and reimbursement, growing the company to 830 employees over eight years. He led the negotiation of Spark’s acquisition by Roche, raised more than $1 billion in capital from private and public financings and oversaw the in-license of numerous product candidates and platform technologies. Mr. La Barge also managed the acquisition and construction of Spark’s initial 180,000 square feet office and laboratory space, including GMP suites, to manufacture the global supply of Luxturna. Prior to Spark, Mr. La Barge served as Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Chief Compliance Officer at Tengion, Inc., where he was responsible for managing legal affairs, compliance and quality assurance. Mr. La Barge has served as a Member of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Government Affairs Committee. He earned his BA in Education and Psychology at Bucknell University and his JD at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law.

BOD William Kubasek.png

William (Bill) Kubasek, PhD

The Broad Institute

William (Bill) Kubasek, Ph.D. has over 30 years of experience in drug discovery and development, business development, program leadership and alliance management. Since 2018 he has been Director of Strategic Alliances at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Previously, he was Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management at HiFiBiO where he led the companies partnering and therapeutic evaluation efforts. He was a Vice President at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals from 2008 to 2016 where in collaboration with Sanofi he led the company’s anti-Her3 program through multiple clinical studies in several cancer indications.  Prior to Merrimack, Dr. Kubasek joined Praecis Pharmaceuticals as a start-up scientist and over his over 10 years there held positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of business development, program management, and program leadership. At Praecis, he led multiple programs through Phase 2 clinical studies and played a key role in Praecis’ fund raising and partnering activities. In addition, he contributed to the approval of Plenaxis (abarelix) for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Dr. Kubasek received a B.A. in Biochemistry from the University of California at Davis and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Biophysics from the University of Oregon. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Ludwig–Maximilian-Universität München and at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. 

BOD Juliana Leung

Juliana Leung, PhD

The Broad Institute

Juliana Leung, PhD, is the Senior Director of Business Development and Licensing Transactions at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she leads Broad’s business development and licensing team. She has more than 15 years of business development and transactional experience. Juliana provides expertise to build collaborations with industry as well as partnerships with pharma, biotech, and venture groups that are eager to translate technologies into products that can benefit patients, the research community, and improve human health.

Before joining the Broad in 2012, Juliana was Senior Business Strategy and Licensing Manager for Research Ventures and Licensing at Partners Healthcare, now referred to as Innovation at MassGeneral Brigham. She received her SB in Biology from MIT and her PhD in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies from Columbia University in New York.

Leadership Joseph La Barge web

Joseph La Barge

Chief Executive Officer

Joseph La Barge is CEO and serves on the Board of Managers of Apertura Gene Therapy. Previously, Mr. La Barge was an executive at Spark Therapeutics, Inc., serving as Chief Business Officer from 2019 to 2021 and as Chief Legal Officer from 2013 to 2019. In these roles, he oversaw many areas of company growth, including business development, patient advocacy, quality assurance, legal affairs, compliance, finance, public policy and global pricing and reimbursement, growing the company to 830 employees over eight years. He led the negotiation of Spark’s acquisition by Roche, raised more than $1 billion in capital from private and public financings and oversaw the in-license of numerous product candidates and platform technologies. Mr. La Barge also managed the acquisition and construction of Spark’s initial 180,000 square feet office and laboratory space, including GMP suites, to manufacture the global supply of Luxturna. Prior to Spark, Mr. La Barge served as Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Chief Compliance Officer at Tengion, Inc., where he was responsible for managing legal affairs, compliance and quality assurance. Mr. La Barge has served as a Member of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Government Affairs Committee. He earned his BA in Education and Psychology at Bucknell University and his JD at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law.