David Happel
Chief Executive Officer & Director
David Happel joined Sagimet as chief executive officer in October 2022, bringing extensive industry experience, and a strong track record of developing and executing corporate business strategies, raising private and public capital, negotiating M&A transactions, scaling operations and commercializing products. He was most recently president and chief executive officer of Cognoa, a pediatric behavioral health company developing AI-based technologies for developmental and behavioral health conditions, including the first FDA-authorized diagnostic aid, Canvas Dx, for autism. Mr. Happel was previously CEO of Chrono Therapeutics and has held several executive and commercial positions at Horizon Therapeutics, Raptor Pharmaceuticals, Dynavax Technologies and Chiron. Mr. Happel has a BA in chemistry from Indiana University and an MBA from Indiana State University.
Eduardo Bruno Martins, MD, DPhil
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Martins joined Sagimet in February 2021, bringing more than 20 years of experience as a widely known leader in the US and global biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Martins has worked in various therapeutic areas, including hepatology, vaccines, allergy and immunology, orphan diseases, and oncology, from translational research to Phase 4 clinical studies. He possesses a broad multicultural and academic background in clinical development and medical affairs. His previous experience includes leadership of large-scale multinational clinical trials as well as building and leading multifunctional global teams in large pharmaceutical and small biotechnology companies. Most recently at AbbVie, Dr. Martins was vice president of clinical development and led the clinical development of cenicriviroc for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and a collaboration with Verily (an Alphabet company) on artificial intelligence and virtual staining applied to liver biopsy. Prior to joining AbbVie, Dr. Martins served as vice president of clinical development at Allergan. Previously, he was a member of the executive leadership team as senior vice president of liver and infectious disease drug development at Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on development of therapies for the treatment of chronic hepatitis D and orphan diseases. Prior to that, he held leadership positions at Gilead Sciences; Genentech; Dynavax Technologies; Intermune; SciClone Pharmaceuticals; University Hospital, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the Organisation Mondiale d’Endoscopie Digestive. He holds a doctorate (DPhil) degree from the University of Oxford in the UK and an MD from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Joe Oriti
Interim Principal Financial Officer & Interim Principal Accounting Officer
Joe Oriti was appointed by Sagimet’s Board of Directors to serve as Interim Principal Financial Officer and Interim Principal Accounting Officer on February 1, 2024 through Stout, a global advisory firm. Mr. Oriti has over 20 years of experience within healthcare operations and finance, with specialization in cash management and treasury, corporate financial planning and analysis, corporate financial and transaction due diligence, business valuation, and mergers and acquisitions, and has served in leadership roles within the healthcare space, including tenures as chief financial officer, vice president of finance, and president. Mr. Oriti held investment banking, restructuring, and management consulting positions at Conway MacKenzie (Riveron), SOLIC Capital Advisors, Navigant Consulting, Mesirow Financial Consulting, and KPMG Corporate Recovery. Mr. Oriti earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Kent State University.
Marie O’Farrell (PhD)
Senior Vice President of Research and Development
Marie O’Farrell (PhD) is senior vice president of research and development at Sagimet and previously served as senior director of translational sciences from 2013 to 2016. Dr. O’Farrell started her career in drug development in 1998 at Systemix (Novartis) working on stem cell based gene therapy. Since then she has taken positions of increasing responsibility at several companies, primarily in the areas of metabolic disease and oncology. Dr. O’Farrell has had a successful track record using innovative translational and biomarker strategies to guide clinical development. At Sugen, she led the clinical oncology biomarker team for the kinase inhibitor sunitinib (SUTENT™). At Phenomix, she led the nonclinical and clinical pharmacology teams for the DPP4 inhibitor dutogliptin to late Phase 3 trials in Type 2 diabetes and was a member of joint drug development teams with Plexxikon, Forest and Chiesi. Dr. O’Farrell has also led drug development programs at Pathway Therapeutics and Revitope.
Dr. O’Farrell has authored or co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed research articles. She holds a PhD in biochemistry from University of Manchester (England), an Honors B.Sc. degree from University College Cork (Ireland) and did postdoctoral research at the DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto.
Elizabeth Rozek
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Elizabeth Rozek joined Sagimet in April 2023, bringing more than 20 years of legal and corporate experience. From December 2020 to December 2022, Ms. Rozek served as general counsel and chief compliance officer of pediatric behavioral digital health company Cognoa, Inc. From January 2010 to December 2020, she served in roles of increasing responsibility at Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd., a Swiss-listed biopharmaceutical company with global operations developing and commercializing anti-infective and oncology products, where she was ultimately named general counsel and corporate secretary. From 2001 to 2006, Ms. Rozek served as a US Department of Justice civil prosecutor on the team that successfully prosecuted the tobacco industry under RICO. As general counsel and chief compliance officer of Sagimet, Ms. Rozek serves as an internal strategic business partner and leads the legal organization, including corporate governance, IP and compliance functions. Ms. Rozek received her JD from the University of California Berkeley, MA from University of California San Diego, and BA from Brown University.
