About Dragonfly
We harness the power of the immune system to fight disease
Our Mission
Our mission is to revolutionize disease treatment by inventing therapies that harness the body's immune system for vastly improved patient outcomes.
Dragonfly's therapies are designed to be potent as single agents as well as in treatment combinations with existing disease-targeting therapies – such as T cell treatments for cancer.
Our founders and Scientific Advisory Board are major figures in disease biology and immunology, and launched Dragonfly to harness the power of the immune system to provide breakthrough treatments for patients.
Tyler Jacks, Ph.D.
Dragonfly Co-founder | Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research | Professor of Biology at MIT | Chair of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Prof. Tyler Jacks is the founding Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT – a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Cancer Center. His lab uses cutting-edge technologies to study cancer genetics and cancer immunology, with discoveries that led to the founding of Dragonfly. Prof. Jacks has pioneered the use of gene targeting technology to study cancer-associated genes and to construct mouse models of many human cancer types, closely recapitulating human disease and yielding novel insights into tumor development as well as new strategies for cancer detection and treatment. Jacks was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the inaugural class of Fellows of the AACR Academy. Jacks served as Chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), was co-chair of the White House's Cancer "Moonshot" Blue Ribbon Panel. was a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Board of Directors, and was elected President of the AACR in 2009. He is the president of Break Through Cancer Foundation. Jacks has a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Harvard, and a Ph.D. from UC San Francisco.
Bill Haney
Dragonfly Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board of Directors
An inventor and entrepreneur, Bill Haney started his first company as a college freshman, inventing and building air pollution control systems for power plants. Since then he has started or helped start more than a dozen technology companies. Bill was a founding member of the national environmental advisory board for the US Environmental Protection Agency, the President's Circle for the National Academy of Sciences, has won a Humanitarian Award from Harvard Medical School, an Achievement Award from the ACLU and serves or has served on boards for Harvard, MIT, State and Federal Government agencies, and the World Resources Institute. Bill holds a BA from Harvard College and was a Kennedy School Fellow from 1997-2001.
David Raulet, Ph.D.
Dragonfly Co-founder | Schekman Chair of Cancer Biology at UC Berkeley | Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. David Raulet is the Esther and Wendy Schekman Chair in Basic Cancer Biology at UC Berkeley, Professor, Faculty Director, Immunotherapeutics and Vaccine Research Initiative, and one of the world's leading NK cell researchers. Dr. Raulet directs a research laboratory at UC Berkeley, focused on breakthrough research on how Natural Killer cells and T cells recognize and destroy cancer cells, and how this information can be used for therapy or prevention of disease. Dr. Raulet received his Ph.D. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jim Allison, Ph.D.
Nobel Laureate | Professor & Chair of the Department of Immunology | Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Jim Allison, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 for his groundbreaking work in cancer immunotherapy. Allison's research focuses on the mechanisms that govern T cell responses and applying that basic understanding to overcome cancer's evasion of attack by the immune system. His fundamental discoveries led him to pioneer immune checkpoint blockade as a cancer treatment, working with pharmaceutical companies to develop Yervoy. Dr. Allison's work has led to new treatments that have revolutionized cancer care for hundreds of thousands of patients, worldwide. He currently explores combinations of immunological therapies and targeted drugs to more effectively treat a variety of cancers, and continues basic research on immune stimulatory and inhibiting molecules.
Heidi Cerwenka, Ph.D.
Professor, Heidelberg University | Vice Dean for Research, Medical Faculty | Acting Director, Mannheim Institute for Innate Immunoscience | Head of the Department of Immunobiochemistry at the CBTM and ECAS | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Adelheid (Heidi) Cerwenka, Ph.D., is a world leading scientist in NK cell biology and the innate immune system. After postdoctoral research at the Trudeau Institute New York and at UCSF, she became group-leader at the Novartis Research Institute before being appointed as group-leader at the DKFZ. Cerwenka is head of the Department of Immunobiochemistry at the Centrum für Biomedizin und Medizintechnik Mannheim (CBTM) and European Center for Angioscience (ECAS). She has a Ph.D. from the Institute of Immunology at the University of Vienna, Austria, and the Venia Legendi for Immunology from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Heidelberg.
Chris Garcia, Ph.D.
Professor, Stanford University | Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. K. Christopher Garcia, Ph.D., is Professor of molecular and cellular physiology and of structural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine, and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Garcia studies the structural, mechanistic, and functional aspects of receptor-ligand interactions that play important roles in mammalian biology and human disease. To do this, he blends traditional structural approaches with ligand engineering and discovery. His goal is to paint a detailed mechanistic picture – from the outside to the inside of a cell – of how ligand binding is structurally coupled to receptor activation, and to exploit this information to manipulate signaling with engineered ligands, potentially resulting in therapeutics. Dr. Garcia is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Sciences.
Rob Hershberg, M.D.-Ph.D.
Venture Partner, Frazier Life Sciences Team | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Rob Hershberg M.D.-Ph.D. began his career as an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Later, Dr. Hershberg co-founded VentiRx Pharmaceuticals and, as President and Chief Executive Officer, led the company through its transformational partnership with Celgene. Dr. Hershberg joined Celgene in 2014 to lead their efforts in Immuno-Oncology, was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer in 2016, and was subsequently Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development & Global Alliances and served as a member of the Executive Committee until the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2019. Rob is currently a Venture Partner on the Frazier Life Sciences team. He completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles and received his Ph.D. at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Patrick Hwu, M.D.
President and CEO, Moffit Cancer Center | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Patrick Hwu, M.D., is one of the leading tumor immunologists in the country, and a primary force in the development of novel vaccine and adoptive T-cell therapies. His laboratory and clinical work have led to insights and advances in the understanding of the interactions between tumors and the immune system, and the development of cellular immunotherapies. Prior to joining Moffitt as President and CEO, Dr. Hwu was the head of the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he held various leadership roles for 17 years. In 2003, he was recruited as the first chairman of the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology. He was also the associate director of the Center for Cancer Immunology Research (2004) and chair of the Department of Sarcoma Medical Oncology (2012). Dr. Hwu received his M.D. degree from The Medical College of Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth M. Jaffee, M.D.
Deputy Director, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center | Prof. of Oncology, Immunology and Pathology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine | Deputy Director Institute of Clinical & Translational Research | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Jaffee is the Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Dana and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli Professor of Oncology and Professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is a past President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Dr. Jaffe has received numerous awards and accolades as an international leader in the development of immune based therapies for pancreatic and breast cancers. Dr. Jaffee graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University and received her medical degree from New York Medical College. Jaffee is the chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and co-chair of the NCI "Blue Ribbon Panel" for the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative and nd is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. She was recently appointed chair of President Biden’s Cancer Cabinet.
Alan Korman, Ph.D.
SVP, Human Immunology at Vir Biotechnology, Inc. | Member of Dragonfly Advisory Board
Dr. Alan Korman is a world-leading pioneer in developing cancer immunotherapies. As Vice President for Immuno-Oncology Discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), he led the development of biologics for tumor immunotherapy. Prior to BMS, Dr. Korman held various positions at Medarex. His tenure at BMS and Medarex led to the development of two approved drugs for oncology, ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4) and nivolumab (anti-PD-1) and their combination, which initiated the approach of checkpoint blockade. Dr. Korman received his PhD in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University and was a Whitehead Fellow at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also a staff scientist at the Institut Pasteur prior to moving to the biotechnology sector.
Lewis L. Lanier, Ph.D.
American Cancer Society Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCSF | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Lanier is the American Cancer Society Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCSF, and Leader of the Cancer Immunology Program, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also the J. Michael Bishop, MD,Distinguished Professor in Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF. Dr. Lanier is an internationally-recognized expert in natural killer (NK) cells and has received numerous awards for his pioneering work in this area. Since the early 1980s, his lab has investigated how NK cells distinguish between normal healthy cells and cells that are transformed or infected with viruses. Dr. Lanier earned his BS from Virginia Tech and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ron Levy, M.D.
Professor, Stanford University | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Ronald Levy M.D., is a scientist at Stanford University, where he specializes in lymphoma, including Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Burkitt's Lymphoma and Hodgkin's Disease. His research investigates how the immune system can be harnessed to fight lymphoma. His work has led to the concept that antibodies can be used as personalized anticancer drugs and to the development of an antibody-based drug, Rituxan, that is widely used to treat lymphoma. Dr. Levy's work has been recognized with the American Cancer Society's Medal of Honor, the Karnofsky Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and others. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the Institute of Medicine.
Eric Morand, M.B.;B.S.-Ph.D
Professor, Monash University | Dean of the Sub-Faculty of Clinical and Molecular Medicine | Head of the Monash Health Rheumatology Unit | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Professor Eric Morand is a physician-scientist and a clinical rheumatologist who specializes in the study of autoimmune disease. He is Head of Rheumatology at Monash Health, founder of the Monash Lupus Clinic, a founding member of the Australian Lupus Registry & Biobank, and Chair of the Asia-Pacific Lupus Collaboration. He works clinically in lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and complex rheumatology and his lab research focuses on glucocorticoid biology and Tregs. Prof. Morand also serves as a Board member of Rare Voices Australia, and has served on the board of the Australian Rheumatology Association.
Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Departments of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology | Scientific Director, Immunotherapy Platform | Chair, Dragonfly Medical Advisory Board
Dr. Pam Sharma is Professor in the Departments of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology, Scientific Director of the Immunotherapy Platform and holds the T.C. and Jeanette D. Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology at MD Anderson. Dr. Sharma is an internationally renowned physician-scientist, with expertise in both medical oncology and immunology. She designed and conducted the first pre-surgical trial, also known as a window-of-opportunity trial, with immune checkpoint therapy (anti-CTLA-4) in 2004, which allowed her to study the impact of immune checkpoint therapy on human tumors, with subsequent identification of the ICOS/ICOSL pathway as a novel target for cancer immunotherapy strategies. Her translational research work laid the foundation for the Immunotherapy Platform to be established at MD Anderson. Dr. Sharma is also the Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson. Recent awards include the 2016 Emil Frei III Award for Excellence in Translational Research and the 2018 Coley Award for Distinguished Research for Tumor Immunology. Dr. Sharma obtained a BA and MA from Boston University and her M.D.-Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University.
Nan Shen, M.D.-Ph.D
Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University | Director of the Shanghai Institute of Rheumatology & Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Nan Shen is a distinguished professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Director of the Shanghai Institute of Rheumatology & Shanghai Clinical Research Center for Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases, and Co-Director of the China–Australia Centre for Personalized Immunology. His research primarily focuses on understanding the molecular pathways involved in systemic autoimmune diseases. Dr. Shen is an editorial board member for the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, Clinical Immunology, and Scientific Reports. He received the Science and Technology Progress Award from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and the ACR Rheumatology Research Foundation Edmund L. Dubois, MD, Memorial Lectureship.
Suzanne Louise Topalian, M.D.
Associate Director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy | Prof. of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University | Member Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Topalian is Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As the Director of the Melanoma Program, Dr. Topalian's current work focuses on modulating immune checkpoints such as PD-1 in cancer therapy, and discovering biomarkers predicting clinical outcomes following treatment. Her pioneering efforts have opened new avenues of scientific interest and clinical investigation in cancer immunology, and have helped to establish immunotherapy as a treatment modality for cancer. Dr. Topalian received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College and her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine.
Harold Varmus, M.D.
Nobel Laureate | Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine | Member Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Harold Eliot Varmus, M.D. is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Dr. Varmus has served as Director of the National Institutes of Health from 1993 to 1999, as President and CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2000 to 2010, and as the 14th Director of the National Cancer Institute from 2010 to 2015, a post to which he was appointed by President Barack Obama. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a Senior Associate at the New York Genome Center. He serves as a member of the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board, the Global Health Advisory Board at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lasker Foundation Prize Jury, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Broad Institute at Harvard and MIT. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Varmus is the author of more than 300 scientific papers and five books, including a memoir, The Art and Politics of Science. His honors and awards include the National Medal of Science and the Vannevar Bush Award.
K. Dane Wittrup, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering, Koch Institute, MIT | Member of Dragonfly Scientific Advisory Board
Professor K. Dane Wittrup, Ph.D. is a pioneer in protein engineering technologies and an expert in the science of targeting cancer with antibodies. Dr. Wittrup is the C.P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering at MIT. He is co-founder and acting Chief Scientific Officer at Adimab and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Institute of Biomedical Engineers. He served as an Associate Director of MIT’s Koch Institute until 2017. Prof. Wittrup holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.