Haru Morita

President, CEO, Chairman of the board and co-founder

Haru is the exuberant entrepreneur as well as the dynamic investor whose leadership and strategic vision drives Modalis toward success from its co-foundation in 2016. He brings more than 25 years of biotech industry leadership experience, most recently serving 8 years as president and CEO of REGiMMUNE Corporation, a company he founded to leverage the power of regulatory T cells to manage difficult-to-treat immune conditions such as GVHD (now in clinical trials). Before that he took a leading role in business development at Y’s Therapeutics Inc. that aspired for a novel biotherapeutics using antibody technology. As a scientist, Haru played a pioneering role in the research and development of thrombopoietin (aka TPO or MGDF) at KIRIN (merged into Kyowa-Kirin Co ., Ltd.(TSE:4151)). He acquired extensive business and consulting experience at Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. (merged into Strategy & of PwC) where he engaged in numerous projects across various industry sectors.

Tetsuya Yamagata, MD, Ph.D

CSO

Tetsuya leads research at Modalis to transform CRISPR technology into innovative medicine. He is an accomplished scientist who has an extensive biomedical expertise in academic, clinic and bioindustry settings. He joined Modalis in 2016 from GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) where he had a leadership role in developing medicine against immune-mediated disorders. Prior to GSK, he led a high-throughput biology team in the target discovery technology platform at Tempero Pharmaceuticals (later acquired by GSK). Prior to Tempero, he was an Associate Professor in Medicine at Dokkyo Medical University in Japan. He received his MD and PhD from the University of Tokyo. He completed his internship and fellowship in hematology and oncology at Tokyo University Hospital. He did his post-doctoral research at the University of Tokyo and was an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Yosuke Nakashima, MBA

VP, Operations and Business Development

Yosuke joined Modalis in 2023 to oversee business development and manage the U.S. office, the center of the company’s R&D efforts, as the site controller. Prior to joining Modalis, he contributed to establishing and managing Sumitomo Chemical’s Corporate Venturing Innovation Office in the US, where he executed numerous partnerships and investment projects across a wide range of life sciences, possessing extensive knowledge, experience, and networks in research, manufacturing, sales, and investment. Yosuke also played a leading role in corporate research in the life sciences field at the Corporate Planning Office after engaging in research and development in the agribio field. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in agribio from Nagoya University and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Hideki Takeda

Board Member

Hideki is a partner at Medical Patent Research, where he assists early and established biotech companies to develop and execute intellectual property strategies. He co-founded Retina Institute Japan which merged into Healios K.K. (TSE:4593), where he served as a board member. He has held operational roles that include the development of intellectual property strategies at Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
which merged into Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE:4503), and the foundation for biomedical research and innovation.

Joseph S. McCracken, DVM

Board Member

Dr. McCracken is the former Vice President of Business Development at Genentech, and previously held similar positions at Aventis Pharma and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (merged into Sanofi). He was the General Manager of Roche Pharma Japan & Asia Regional Head and Roche Partnering. In his role as VP and Global Head of Business Development & Licensing for Roche Pharma, he was responsible for global in-licensing and out-licensing activities. He currently advises biopharmaceutical companies on the design and implementation of corporate strategy and business development initiatives and serves on the Boards of REGiMMUNE Corporation, Savara Pharmaceuticals and Lumos Pharma.
He holds a BS in Microbiology, a MS in Pharmacology and a DVM from The Ohio State University.

Miyuki Shimane

Board Member (Audit committee member)

Miyuki engaged in research and development of new bioproducts for more than 40 years at Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (TSE:4519) notably development of the first biopharmaceutical product in Japan. She led a study group of disease-related gene searches by the genome analysis and has experiences in drug discovery and development based on cell and genome biology.

Teruhisa Tajima, CPA

Board Member (Audit committee)

Director, representing Tajima CPA office
Teruhisa has over 20 years of experience in accounting and corporate finance. He worked at ChuoAoyama Audit Corporation (a member firm of PwC) as a consultant for start-ups, supporting their growth and successful exit via M&A or IPOs. He has also served as external auditor for Longreach Group and CYBIRD Holdings Co., Ltd. and has supported many biotech start-ups.

Toshio Furuta, Attorney at law

Board Member (Audit committee)

Attorney in private practice at Clair Law Firm
Toshio is an experienced attorney with 30 years of practice. He brings broad expertise in corporate and commercial law to Modalis. His practice focuses on startup companies, not only in lifescience/biotech but in other technology sectors. He currently serves as a board member or external auditor at CanBas Co.,Ltd.(TSE:4575) and Netyear Group Corporation (TSE:3622).