Board Committees

Arvind Kush, the Chief Financial and Chief Business Officer of Candid Therapeutics, has over 15 years of finance and investment banking experience. Prior to Candid, Arvind was Chief Financial Officer at RayzeBio, where he helped the company raise over $160 million in a private financing in 2022, complete its $350+ million IPO in 2023 and close its $4.1B acquisition Bristol Meyers Squibb in February 2024. Arvind holds a Bachelor in Engineering in Computer Science from Visvesvaraya Technological University and an MBA from Goizueta Business School, Emory University.

Mr. Aurentz brings decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical sector, having held key leadership positions across industry-leading organizations. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer at Arena Pharmaceuticals, where he played a pivotal role in shaping corporate strategy and business development. Arena was acquired by Pfizer for $6.7 billion in 2022. Mr. Aurentz also played a significant role in the formation of Arena's spinout and served on the Board of Longboard Pharmaceuticals, which was recently acquired by Lundbeck A/S for approximately $2.6 billion.

Roberto Bellini is currently a Managing Partner at BSQUARED Capital, a family office biotech fund. He previously served as President and CEO of BELLUS Health between January 2010 and July 2023. Under his leadership BELLUS Health developed camlipixant, a P2X3 antagonist for chronic cough from preclinical to Phase 3. BELLUS Health was subsequently acquired by GSK plc in 2023. Mr. Bellini holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from McGill University.

Dennis Berman has been a co-founder, board member, and seed investor in many private biotechnology and technology companies, five of which have gone public. Currently, Mr. Berman is President of Molino Ventures, a Board advisory and venture capital firm focused on privately held and publicly held health care and technology companies in all stages of development.  Previously, he was Co-founder and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development of Tocagen, a publicly traded gene therapy company utilizing a replicating retrovirus and prodrug to activate patients’ immune systems against their cancers.

Other public companies for which Mr. Berman has served as a seed investor, co-founder, and/or board member include Intervu (one of the first software-as-a-service companies), which was acquired by Akamai; Kintera (online fundraising pioneer), which was acquired by Blackbaud; Gensia (focused on purine/pyrimidine metabolism compounds), which was acquired by Teva; and Viagene (the first U.S. gene therapy company, which utilized a non- replicating retrovirus), which was acquired by Chiron/Novartis. In addition, he was co- founder of Genovo (a private gene therapy company founded by James Wilson at University of Pennsylvania). Mr. Berman also was a seed investor in Calabrian (a private water treatment company), which was acquired by SK Capital.

Earlier, Mr. Berman was a corporate law partner at several large law firms, including Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons) and Reavis & McGrath (now Norton Rose Fulbright.

Mr. Berman holds a Bachelor of Science from Wharton School in Accounting/ Economics, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in Economics and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He has been an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard’s Innovation Lab (i-lab) and a guest speaker at Harvard School of Public Health.

Arvind Kush, the Chief Financial and Chief Business Officer of Candid Therapeutics, has over 15 years of finance and investment banking experience. Prior to Candid, Arvind was Chief Financial Officer at RayzeBio, where he helped the company raise over $160 million in a private financing in 2022, complete its $350+ million IPO in 2023 and close its $4.1B acquisition Bristol Meyers Squibb in February 2024. Arvind holds a Bachelor in Engineering in Computer Science from Visvesvaraya Technological University and an MBA from Goizueta Business School, Emory University.

Amit Munshi is a 30-year industry veteran who is currently Chief Executive Officer of Orna Therapeutics and former President, Chief Executive Officer and board member of ReNAgade Therapeutics. Previously Mr. Munshi served as President and CEO of Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was subsequently sold to Pfizer, Inc.

Roberto Bellini is currently a Managing Partner at BSQUARED Capital, a family office biotech fund. He previously served as President and CEO of BELLUS Health between January 2010 and July 2023. Under his leadership BELLUS Health developed camlipixant, a P2X3 antagonist for chronic cough from preclinical to Phase 3. BELLUS Health was subsequently acquired by GSK plc in 2023. Mr. Bellini holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from McGill University.

David Canner is a Partner at Soleus Capital. David has served on the board for a number of companies. Prior to joining Soleus in 2018, David completed his PhD at MIT in Biology after finishing his undergraduate studies at Princeton University where he received a BA in Chemistry.

Mr. Aurentz brings decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical sector, having held key leadership positions across industry-leading organizations. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer at Arena Pharmaceuticals, where he played a pivotal role in shaping corporate strategy and business development. Arena was acquired by Pfizer for $6.7 billion in 2022. Mr. Aurentz also played a significant role in the formation of Arena's spinout and served on the Board of Longboard Pharmaceuticals, which was recently acquired by Lundbeck A/S for approximately $2.6 billion.