Team

Sherry joined Belharra Therapeutics in November 2021 as Head of Platform & Proteomics. The Proteomics group is focused on ligand discovery in cells and enhancing understanding of the mechanism of action of small molecules. She has 15+ years of experience in chemical biology and proteomics. Prior to joining Belharra, she was at Pfizer in La Jolla, leading a Chemoproteomics group focused on oncology drug discovery with an emphasis on target engagement, biomarker discovery and mechanism of action of proteins and small molecules. Prior to that, Sherry, together with Dr. Ben Cravatt and Dr. John Yates, started the Center of Physiology Proteomics affiliated with The Scripps Research Institute. Sherry completed her PhD at The Scripps Research Institute in the laboratory of Dr. Ben Cravatt. She received an MS in Experimental Medicine from McGill University and a BS in Biochemistry from Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Justin Ernst joined Belharra Therapeutics in 2021 and serves as Senior Vice President, Head of Chemistry. Justin has over 20 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry, working for both small and large biotech companies in the areas of inflammation, virology, neurodegeneration and oncology. Most recently he was Vice President, Head of Chemistry for Inception Therapeutics, where he helped to launch several biotech companies including Belharra. Prior to Inception he was Head of Chemistry for Effector Therapeutics, leading chemistry efforts that contributed to delivering several first in class development candidates targeting dysregulated translation. Before Effector, Justin held senior chemistry positions at Vertex and Kemia Pharmaceuticals, advancing multiple preclinical and clinical assets. Justin received a BS in Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Yale University. He is the author or inventor on over 40 publications and patents.

Jess joined Belharra in 2022 and serves as Senior Director, Program & Alliance Management, a group focused on advancing molecules and biomarkers from the bench into the clinic. She has over 15 years of experience in pharma and biotech advancing small molecules from target validation to drug candidates.

Jess received her Ph.D. in Chemical Biology from the University of Michigan and continued to build on her interests in chemical biology with a focus on understanding selectivity of covalent inhibitors in vivo through a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute with Professor Ben Cravatt. Jess then applied this to drug discovery with a focus on defining the mechanism of action of small molecule drugs using biochemical, in vivo PD, efficacy and translational biomarkers at Merck Research Laboratories in the areas of inflammation and immunology. Jess then joined Abide Therapeutics, a small biotech with a covalent chemoproteomic platform, in 2013. She led teams that delivered several drug candidates for neurological conditions during her time at Abide and then at Lundbeck following their 2019 acquisition of Abide. At Belharra, she is fulfilling her goal to create a more hopeful future for patients through scientific discovery.

Gary served as Belharra’s CSO from September 2021 until his retirement in January 2025. Gary is a seasoned biotech executive and talented people leader with a successful track record across several accomplished research-driven organizations.

Prior to joining Belharra, Gary was at the Lundbeck La Jolla Research Center where he served as Site Head. Prior to Lundbeck, Gary served as the Chief Scientific Officer at Abide Therapeutics, which was acquired by Lundbeck in 2019. Before joining Abide in 2013, Gary served as the VP and Site Head of Merck Research Laboratories. He spent the early part of his career at Merck Frosst and Merck Sharp & Dohme where he held various scientific leadership roles.

Gary completed his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of British Columbia. He did his postdoctoral research in biochemistry at Yale University and received a Master of Science in Immunology from McGill University.

Benjamin F. Cravatt, Ph.D., is a the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. His research group develops and applies chemical proteomic technologies for protein and drug discovery on a global scale and has particular interest in studying biochemical pathways in the nervous system and cancer.  Dr. Cravatt is a co-founder of Belharra Therapeutics, Activx Biosciences (acquired by Kyorin Pharmaceuticals), Abide Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals), and Vividion Therapeutics. His honors include a Searle Scholar Award, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, a Cope Scholar Award, the ASBMB Merck Award, the Royal Society of Chemistry Jeremy Knowles Award, The Wolf Prize, and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Ben obtained his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a B.S. in the Biological Sciences and a B.A. in History.  He then received a Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in 1996, and joined the faculty at TSRI in 1997.

Tom Woiwode, Ph.D., has been working with Versant since 2002, and has served in both operational and investment roles during that time. Tom was the start-up CBO for Amira (sale), Synosia (sale) and Flexion (2014 IPO) and was the COO of Okairos where he led the process that culminated in the acquisition by GSK. Since being promoted to Managing Director in 2014, Tom has assumed the lead role in multiple investments that also have reached liquidity including Crispr (2016 IPO), Audentes (2016 IPO), Annapurna (merged to form Adverum), Gritstone (2018 IPO), Crinetics (2018 IPO), Jecure (sale), Therachon (sale), Aligos (2020 IPO), Passage (2020 IPO), Tempest (2021 reverse merger) and Vividion (sale). Prior to joining Versant, Tom was a medicinal chemist at XenoPort, a start-up biotech company that completed an IPO in 2005. Tom earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University.

Dr. Parker is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Scripps Research. His lab’s research focuses on employing chemoproteomic platforms to develop useful small molecules to modulate complex biological processes and illuminate mechanisms of disease, such as cancer and immune conditions. Dr. Parker has made key contributions towards the development powerful chemoproteomic platforms to broadly annotate the druggable proteome in cells as well as heterobifunctional molecules to redirect protein function.

Chris obtained his B.S. in Chemistry at Case Western University in 2007 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Yale University in 2013. He performed postdoctoral work as an American Cancer Society fellow at Scripps Research, and in 2018 he joined the faculty.

John Teijaro, Ph.D. serves on the Faculty of Scripps Research where he heads up The Teijaro Lab. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology.

The focus of the Teijaro Lab is understanding how immune suppressive and pathological environments are generated, maintained and reversed, with a specific focusing on how type 1 interferon (IFN-I) production and signaling regulates these two states. To address these questions, we employ the LCMV clone-13 (Cl13) viral model (immunosuppression) and various acute viral infections such as LCMV Armstrong 53b, Influenza, VSV and more recently SARS-CoV-2 (virus control/Immunopathology) mouse models. Our primary focus has been on understanding how IFN-I signaling promotes both immune suppressive and pathological states following persistent and acute viral infection, respectively. Using genetic, biochemical and small molecule tools we take a global approach to understand how IFN-I and various other cytokines promote both inflammatory and immune suppressive environments.

Recent key advances/publications include research on how the Interferon stimulated genes Usp18/Isg15 regulate immune pathology and virus persistence, the role of JAK inhibition in reversing immune suppression in conjunction with checkpoint blockade in persistent viral infection and cancer and the study and identification of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antivirals, antibodies and immune modulatory treatments to control COVID19 disease.

In 2022, John was honored by Scripps Research for his exceptional contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his laboratory team spearheaded animal studies that have enabled critical Scripps research into SARS-CoV-2. Their contributions are accelerating the understanding of COVID-19 and opening paths to the development of much-needed interventions/therapeutics.

John received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine in 2009.

Benjamin F. Cravatt, Ph.D., is a the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Scripps Research. His research group develops and applies chemical proteomic technologies for protein and drug discovery on a global scale and has particular interest in studying biochemical pathways in the nervous system and cancer.  Dr. Cravatt is a co-founder of Belharra Therapeutics, Activx Biosciences (acquired by Kyorin Pharmaceuticals), Abide Therapeutics (acquired by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals), and Vividion Therapeutics. His honors include a Searle Scholar Award, the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, a Cope Scholar Award, the ASBMB Merck Award, the Royal Society of Chemistry Jeremy Knowles Award, The Wolf Prize, and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Ben obtained his undergraduate education at Stanford University, receiving a B.S. in the Biological Sciences and a B.A. in History. He then received a Ph.D. from Scripps Research in 1997, and joined the faculty at Scripps in 1997.

Stuart Schreiber is the Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, a co-Founder of the Broad Institute, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

His lab integrates chemical biology and human biology to advance the science of therapeutics. He is known for having developed systematic ways to explore biology, especially disease biology, using small molecules and for his role in the development of the field of chemical biology. Key advances include the discovery that small molecules can function as “molecular glues” that promote protein–protein interactions, the co-discovery of mTOR and its role in nutrient-response signaling, and the discovery of histone deacetylases and that chromatin marks regulate gene expression. His approach to therapeutics discovery guided the development of many successful biotechnology companies that he founded, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Ariad Pharmaceuticals. His research has been acknowledged through awards including the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.