Board of Directors

About Tvardi

Sujal Shah

Chairman of the Board
CEO, CymaBay Therapeutics

Sujal Shah has been President and Chief Executive Officer at CymaBay Therapeutics since 2017 stewarding the company through the NDA filing of its lead compound which ultimately led to the acquisition of CymaBay by Gilead for $4.3 Billion in 2024. Prior to 2017, he served as Chief Financial Officer taking CymaBay public in 2014. Before joining CymaBay in 2012, Mr. Shah served as Director, Health Care Investment Banking for Citigroup Inc., where he was responsible for managing client relationships and executing strategic and financing related transactions for clients focused in life sciences. From 2004 to 2010, Mr. Shah was employed with Credit-Suisse, last serving in the capacity as Vice President, Health Care Investment Banking Group. Mr. Shah received an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business and MS and BS degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University.

Michael Wyzga

Michael Wyzga has spent 30+ years in leadership roles in the biopharma industry. He served as Chief Financial Officer at Genzyme, stewarding the company through a myriad of transactions ultimately culminating in the acquisition of Genzyme by Sanofi for $20 billion. He also served as President, Chief Executive Officer and board member at Radius Health, a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company targeting osteoporosis. Mr. Wyzga received an MBA from Providence College and a BS from Suffolk University.

Cynthia Smith

Cynthia Smith has over 25 years of leadership experience within the healthcare industry. Since 2016, she has served as a board member and strategic advisor to biotechnology companies. Cynthia served as chief commercial officer of ZS Pharma Inc. (acquired by AstraZeneca Plc), where she led efforts to transition the company from the development stage to a commercial enterprise. Prior to joining ZS Pharma, Ms. Smith served as vice president, market access and commercial development at Affymax, Inc. Earlier, she held various senior leadership positions in market access, corporate strategy, government relations and external affairs at Merck & Co. Before beginning her career in the biopharmaceutical industry, Ms. Smith served as a healthcare policy analyst in the White House Office of Management and Budget. Cynthia currently serves on the boards of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Akebia Therapeutics, Protara Therapeutics, and Spero Therapeutics. She has also served on the boards of Dicerna Therapeutics (acquired by Novo Nordisk) and Nivalis Therapeutics. Ms. Smith earned a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and an M.S. in public policy from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

Susan Shiff. Ph.D.

Dr. Susan Shiff has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry as a leader in both the development and implementation of value evidence and access strategies and in health technology pharmaceutical solutions and services. Before joining Huma.ai as the CEO, a company focused on NLP and AI in healthcare, Dr. Shiff was the President/CEO of Ontada, a US provider of technology, real world data and insights, and education company. Prior to her role at Ontada, Dr. Shiff was a Senior Vice President at Merck & Co, and Head of the Center for Observational and Real-World Evidence, an organization that lead the measurement and communication of the value of medicines and vaccines worldwide. Dr. Shiff currently serves on the Boards Synthace Limited and the New Jersey Symphony. Dr. Shiff hold a Ph.D. from the University of California, LA and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.

Wallace Hall

Founder & President, Wetland Partners, LP.

Mr. Hall is founder and president of Wetland Partners, LP., which is primarily engaged in wetland mitigation banking and oil & gas investments. Mr. Hall is also a co-founder of BioMatrix Partners, an investment partnership focused on public and private biotechnology companies, with an emphasis on early-stage opportunities enabled by synthetic biology. Mr. Hall has invested in a wide range of businesses for over 30 years, serving in a variety of leadership capacities. An active member of his community, Mr. Hall has served in multiple leaderships roles with St. Mark’s School of Texas, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and most recently, a six-year term with the University of Texas System Board of Regents. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

Shaheen Wirk, M.D.

Founder and Chief Investment Officer,
Palkon Capital Management

Dr. Shaheen Wirk has 20+ years of investment experience in public and private life science companies. He is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Palkon Capital Management, a healthcare-dedicated investment firm launched in partnership with Julian Robertson and Tiger Management. Formerly, Dr. Wirk was a senior analyst at Bridger Capital. He is the founder of the advisory firm Blue Continga and was an early employee at MercuryMD (acquired by the Thomson Corporation). Dr. Wirk completed research training programs in oncology and trauma surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Rabin Medical Center through the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center, and Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Wirk earned his M.D., M.B.A., and B.S. degrees from Duke University.

Imran Alibhai, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Prior to becoming CEO of Tvardi, Imran Alibhai, Ph.D. was a Senior Vice President and Managing Director of DNAtrix, a clinical stage biotech company developing oncolytic viruses for cancer. Previously, Dr. Alibhai was an investment banker in PJ Solomon’s Healthcare Advisory Group, focused on M&A transactions in science-based markets including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices/diagnostics and life science tools. Formerly, he was the Senior Director at Alexandria Venture Investments, where he was responsible for investments in emerging companies and funds in the healthcare sector. He also directed investments for PIPE’s and long/short positions in MPM Capital’s BioEquities hedge fund. Dr. Alibhai began his career in early stage venture capital at the Accelerator Corp., where he was involved in every facet of company/project formation and management. He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for NASA’s Translational Research Institute for Space Health. Dr. Alibhai holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Neuroscience from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and a BS in Biology from Duke University.