Vedere Bio II Appoints Martina Schinke, Ph.D., as Vice President, Program Leader

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vedere Bio II, Inc., a company developing next-generation therapies for vision restoration and preservation in patients with vision loss due to photoreceptor death, today announced the appointment of Martina Schinke, Ph.D., as Vice President, Program Leader. Dr. Schinke will provide strategic leadership to Vedere's core programs and will be responsible for driving and expanding the company's pipeline of next-generation ocular therapies.

"With nearly 20 years of experience in program leadership, strategic alliances, and program management, we are thrilled to welcome Martina to Vedere," said Cyrus Mozayeni, M.D., Chief Executive Officer & President, Vedere Bio II and Atlas Venture Entrepreneur in Residence. "Martina's expertise leading products from research through clinical development will be essential as we continue to progress our first candidate through IND filing and advance our exciting, discovery-stage pipeline."

Dr. Schinke joins Vedere Bio II from her role as Vice President, Program Management & Leadership at Finch Therapeutics, where she provided program leadership for the development of a novel class of biological drugs aiming to restore microbiome functionality in Autism Spectrum Disorder and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Previously, Dr. Schinke led program management for bluebird bio's oncology franchise (now 2seventy bio) and co-led development of bluebird's lead oncology CAR T cell therapy product ABECMA® from research through clinical development in collaboration with Celgene/BMS. Dr. Schinke was formerly with the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research where she held senior project leadership positions over a nearly 10-year tenure and provided strategic and operational leadership for multiple Novartis early discovery and development programs in several therapeutic areas. Prior to her time at Novartis, she oversaw the microarray facility at the Bauer Center for Genomics Research at Harvard University and was an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Schinke holds a Ph.D. from Heidelberg University, Germany and completed her postdoctoral training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston.

"People with inherited retinal degenerations or dry AMD with geographic atrophy suffer from debilitating vision loss for which currently no treatment options exist," said Martina Schinke, Ph.D. "I'm excited to help restore vision for these patients and improve their quality of life while also charting the path for Vedere's innovative products."

About Vedere Bio II, Inc.
Vedere Bio II is a privately held, emerging biopharmaceutical company leveraging proprietary optogenetics and photoswitch technologies along with novel AAV capsids to restore vision in all patients with vision loss due to photoreceptor cell death. Comprising a diverse team of pioneering scientists, Vedere Bio II is discovering and developing next generation ocular gene therapies to increase the quality of vision restoration and preservation for large, underserved indications. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, MA and is funded by Atlas Ventures, Octagon Capital, Mission BioCapital, Samsara BioCapital, the RD Fund and Casdin Capital. For more information, please visit www.vederebio.com or follow Vedere Bio II on Twitter and LinkedIn.

SOURCE Vedere Bio II, Inc.