Management

David Beno, PhD

Board Director, Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. David Beno is the CSO of Xeno Biosciences. He brings over 33 years of diverse business and scientific expertise to Xeno Biosciences.  He is a passionate advocate of the importance of the microbiome in health, a steadfast belief seeded in 1984 when he began his graduate degrees in Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola Medical Center of Chicago. Next, David held academic appointments in GI/Nutrition at the University of Chicago and then in Neonatology at Rush Medical Center.  He then joined Abbott Laboratories in drug discovery and development, where he was responsible for facilitating team strategies for program design, pharmacokinetics, and regulatory filings across 5 therapeutic areas including hepatology, GI & metabolism. David later moved to business development roles for the Abbott Nutrition division, where he most recently served as the New Ventures- External Sourcing Lead, before joining Xeno. The combination of successful programs at Abbott combined with David's academic career has resulted in +85 peer-reviewed publications with +1800 citations, numerous grants and successful NDA and IND filings.

Hasan Celiker, PhD

Board Director, Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Hasan Celiker is the founder and CEO of Xeno Biosciences, a pioneering biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics to treat obesity and related metabolic diseases. Hasan initiated and led the development of Xeno's lead product candidate, XEN-101. He earned his doctorate on microbial ecology & evolution working at an MIT Physics department laboratory. Hasan has wide-ranging expertise in fields such as semiconductors, microfluidics, microbial ecology, gut microbiome, metabolic diseases and bariatric surgery. Previously, he worked as a consultant at various start-up companies in technology areas ranging from synthetic biology, nanotechnology to agriculture.

Michael Koeris, PhD

Board Director

Dr. Michael Koeris is the co-founder and CEO of Sample6, a leading food-safety diagnostics provider, using engineered bacteriophages to deliver the world’s first on-site, in-shift bacterial pathogen detection system. Mike ideated and instantiated the company’s synthetic biology engineering platform, protected product lines and manufacturing processes with a patent portfolio of +15 grants and applications, covering key areas of engineering and applications. Sample6’s technology originated in Prof. Jim Collins' Synthetic Biology laboratory at MIT and was expanded to include key new inventions enabling a first-in-class phage genome engineering platform. Mike previously worked at KPMG Consulting and McKinsey & Company in Germany, as well as Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, MA. He is a visiting scholar with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Boston University and MIT.

Clinical Advisory Board

Caroline Apovian, MD, FACP, FACN

Dr. Caroline Apovian is Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition at Boston University School of Medicine, USA. She is also Director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center, USA. Dr. Apovian is a nationally and internationally recognized authority on nutrition and has been in the field of obesity and nutrition since 1990. Her current research interests are in weight loss and its effects on endothelial cell function, adipose cell metabolism and inflammation, research in the bariatric surgery population, and novel pharmacotherapeutic anti-obesity agents. She is also an expert in the technique for subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies, and has been performing these biopsies on research subjects for over 10 years. She was on the expert panel for updating the 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults. Dr. Apovian has been a member of The Obesity Society since 1992, and has served on the Clinical Committee as well as Secretary/Treasurer and the Executive Committee from 2005 to 2008. She has been a faculty speaker and has presented papers at several of the Society's Annual Scientific Meeting and until recently she served as Associate Editor for the Society's journal, Obesity. She currently serves as the president of The Obesity Society.

Carel le Roux, MBChB, MSc, FRCP, FRCPath, PhD

Dr. Carel le Roux graduated from medical school in Pretoria South Africa, completed his Senior House Officer training at Barts and The London Hospital, his SpR training in metabolic medicine at the Hammersmith Hospitals and his PhD at Imperial College London. He was appointed as Senior Lecturer in 2006, promoted to Reader in 2009 at Imperial and accepted a Chair as Head of Pathology at University College Dublin in 2011. He received the President of Ireland Young Researcher Award from science Foundation Ireland, a Clinician Scientist Award from the National Institute Health Research in the UK and a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellowship amongst others. After establishing a successful independent research group he published numerous high impact papers over the years that have influenced his field. Working within the Diabetes Complications Research Centre and the Section of Surgery and Surgical Specialities the focus of his research is primarily concerned with increased mortality and morbidity associated with obesity/diabetes, and understanding the mechanisms by which bariatric surgery affects energy balance. In particular, his translational research on the understanding of the physiological role and pathological changes in appetite control has been widely acknowledged. He has also been able to take up a variety of editorial positions of peer reviewed journals. 

Donna Ryan, MD

Dr. Donna Ryan is a world-renowned obesity researcher and Professor Emerita at the Louisiana State University's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, where she serves as interim executive director.  Dr. Ryan served as an associate professor, professor and associate executive director for clinical research at Pennington Biomedical. She is the president-elect of the World Obesity Federation and associate editor-in-chief of the scientific journals Obesity Research and Obesity. Dr. Ryan is a recognized consultant and advisor on the topic of obesity and chronic disease and was instrumental in a number of landmark nutrition, diabetes, weight loss, and military health research studies. She has been an author on more than 225 original publications, 11 books and nearly 50 scholarly chapters and reviews. Her research includes participation on the teams that developed and executed the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), POUNDS Lost, DPP (Diabetes Prevention Program) and Look AHEAD Studies. Dr. Ryan's continuing research interests focus on translation of effective weight management into primary care practices. Dr. Ryan also served as co-Chair of the Expert Panel that produced the AHA/ACC/TOS 2013 Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Obesity and was a panel member of the 2015 Endocrine Society Systematic Evidence Review and Guidelines for Medications that Affect Body Weight. 

Arya Sharma, MD/PhD, DSc. (h.c.), FRCPC

Dr. Arya M. Sharma is Professor of Medicine & Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He is also the Clinical Co-Chair of the Alberta Health Services Obesity Program. Dr. Sharma is founder and Scientific Director of the Canadian Obesity Network, a network of over 10,000 obesity researchers, health professionals and other stakeholders. He is also the Past-President of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons. His past appointments include positions as Professor of Medicine and Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) at McMaster University (2002-2007), Professor of Medicine at the Franz-Volhard Klinik – Charité, Humboldt University Berlin (2000-2002) and the Free University of Berlin (1994-2000). His research focuses on the evidence-based prevention and management of obesity and its complications. He has authored and co-authored more than 350 scientific articles and has lectured widely on the etiology and management of obesity and related cardiovascular disorders. Dr. Sharma is regularly featured as a medical expert in national and international TV and print media and maintains a widely read obesity blog at www.drsharma.ca.