Our Team

Bhawanjit Brar Ph.D.

Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Brar founded Jaan Biotherapeutics in 2015, following 7 years at Zensun USA, where she held various positions including the Vice President of Clinical Research, managing a United States Phase 2 clinical trial for a first in class therapeutic for the treatment of heart failure. Dr. Brar completed her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Swansea University in Wales and a Ph.D. in Physiology/Endocrinology from the University of Reading U.K. Dr. Brar has served as a consultant for many years helping companies to develop therapeutics through to clinical testing before founding Jaan Biotherapeutics. Dr. Brar is an inventor/co-inventor of numerous patents. 

Kirk L. Peterson, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.C.

Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Director Emeritus, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, Director, Seaweed Canyon Physiology Laboratory

Kirk L. Peterson, MD, FACP, FACC, is a Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine where he held the Perlman Chair of Cardiology for more than 25 years. During his 50-year professional career at UCSD, he also served as a cardiology consultant to the Naval Regional Medical Center and the Veteran’s Hospital in San Diego. He served as the Director of the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, UC San Diego Health System, from its opening in 2011 until 2015. During his academic career he sat on the editorial board of the Journal American College of Cardiology and was also President of the Medical Education Research Foundation. Between 2005 and 2020, Professor Peterson served as the Director of the Seaweed Canyon Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory, University of California at San Diego School of Medicine, the site where the murine investigations of Jaan Biotherapeutics drugs were conducted in double-blind studies. He has authored over 180 papers in cardiology, numerous book chapters, and served as the senior author of a text book on Cardiac Catheterization and Angiography. Professor Peterson received his medical degree from the Cornell University Medical College in New York, New York,completed two years of post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, and received fellowship training in Cardiovascular Medicine at The Baylor College of Medicine before coming to UC San Diego.

Curtis A. Monnig Ph.D.

Consultant and Acting Senior Vice President of Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls/Quality

Curtis A. Monnig is a pharmaceutical development executive with 30 years of experience leading oligonucleotide, biologics, and small molecule Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) programs from preclinical development through commercialization. Most recently, he served as Vice President of CMC at Regulus Therapeutics, where he led the CMC program for farabursen, an antisense oligonucleotide therapy for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Prior to Regulus, Dr. Monnig was Vice President of CMC at January Therapeutics and held CMC leadership positions at Allergan, Cardinal Health, and Amylin Pharmaceuticals. He holds a bachelors degree in biochemistry and masters and doctoral degrees in chemistry.

Edmund Lee Ph.D.

Consultant and Acting Senior Vice President of Science and Technology

Dr. Edmund Lee is an independent consultant on science and technology for Jaan Therapeutics. Ed was recently the Vice President and Head of Translational Medicine at Regulus Therapeutics, where he has led discovery and translational programs since 2013. Ed has been instrumental in the discovery and clinical development of both the first generation anti-miR-17 oligonucleotide (RGLS4326) and next-generation anti-miR- 17 (RGLS8429; farabursen) for treatment of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). His contributions and recent positive data from Phase 1b study of farabursen has led to the acquisition of Regulus by Novartis for $1.7B. Before Regulus, Ed worked at Hoffmann-La Roche and Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda Oncology), where he contributed to the discovery of ixazomib (MLN9708), a proteasome inhibitor for multiple myeloma. He holds a B.Sc. (Honors) in Biochemistry from Queens University , a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Notre Dame, and completed postdoctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Ed published numerous papers and hold multiple patents relating to oligonucleotide therapeutics.

Joseph Hansen

Advisor

Joseph Hansen, CPA/Attorney, is Chief Financial Officer of JaanBiotherapeutics LLC and a member of the City of Oceanside Citizen Oversight Investment Committee. He formerly was CFO for a number of public and private companies including Zensun Science and Technology Co., Ltd Shanghai, PRC, Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (Nasdaq), National RV Holdings, Inc. (formerly NYSE), Zacky Foods/Farms Companies, Avis Enterprises/Intervest (holding companies of Warren Avis, Avis Rent a Car founder), among others. He is co-founder of 4 companies and a former board member of private companies. His early background consisted of employment with Big 4 accounting firms, the practice of law, and editing for the Journal of Taxation. He holds degrees from New York University Graduate School of Law-LLM-Tax, Tulane University School of Law-JD, and University of Wisconsin-Madison-BBA accounting. He also holds a Wisconsin Bar license-inactive and an inactive CPA license.

Neil A. Jauffret-Opilka

Student Scientist Intern

Neil A. Jauffret-Opilka is a second-year undergraduate studying towards a degree in Human Biology.

Barry H. Greenberg, MD

Distinguished Professor of Medicine- Director, Advanced Heart Failure Treatment Program-UCSD Medical Center

Barry H. Greenberg, MD, is Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Director of the Advanced Heart Failure Treatment Program at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). After an internal medicine residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, research training at the Lipid Metabolism Branch of the NHLBI and a fellowship in cardiology at UCSF, he joined the faculty of Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine. Dr. Greenberg has been a visiting professor in residence at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, England and at the Laboratoire de MédicineExpérimentale of the Collège de France in Paris.  Dr. Greenberg’s research focuses on mechanisms of cardiac dysfunction and developing new heart failure therapies. He has served in the leadership of numerous international multicenter heart failure trials. In addition, Dr. Greenberg directs a laboratory that studies the molecular basis of cardiac remodeling and myocardial fibrosis. Dr. Greenberg is co-editor of Congestive Heart Failure: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Comprehensive Approach to Management, the first comprehensive text in this field and he is a member of the editorial boards of several cardiology and subspecialty journals including JACC: Heart Failure and the European Journal of Heart Failure. Dr. Greenberg is a founding member and past President of the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA). He has been recognized for many years as being one of the “Best Doctors in America” and “Best Doctors in San Diego.” Dr. Greenberg received the HFSA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

Jing Liu Ph.D., JD.

Patent Attorney

Experienced Life Science Technologies and IP Attorney and Partner at Dickinson Wright RLLP at the firms San Diego office.

• Contact:  JLiu@dickinsonwright.com

Jim Krenn, JD

Corporate Attorney

Jim is a partner at Morrison & Foerster and has extensive experience representing private and public companies and investors in significant business transactions from formation through liquidity. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing, and emerging company counseling.  Jim received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and his JD from Harvard University.

Meghan Edgar

Partnership and Collaborations Advisor

Meghan is a start-up, biotech and pharmaceutical professional with 15+ years of experience across drug discovery, translational science, and clinical development, with deep expertise in building and managing strategic alliances. In her previous roles at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Rarebase, and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals she directly oversaw relationships with scientific and medical advisors, academic
collaborators and strategic partners focused on discovery to Ph3 clinical studies. Meghan has deep scientific expertise across multiple therapy areas and modalities in early clinical development, as a former Clinical Biomarker Lead at Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Clinical Development Program Lead at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and has achieved 4 IND filings, Ph2 early proof of concepts, and Ph2 to Ph3 program advancement. Her cross-functional fluency spanning research and clinical teams, combined with hands-on startup experience at Rarebase and early-stage VC diligence in her current role at Aquillus Ventures have been instrumental in securing and managing collaborations and relationships. Meghan has a B.S. in Biology at University of Nebraska and holds a PMP certification.