Meet the Team

M4K Pharma's leadership team is dedicated to advancing affordable treatments for childhood diseases often overlooked by conventional pharmaceutical models. With expertise spanning drug discovery, clinical development, communications, and strategic planning, the team fosters collaboration among academia, foundations, and industry to drive scientific innovation and extend the global impact of our open science approach.

  • Max is the CEO of M4K’s parent, Agora Open Science Trust, and leads implementation of M4K’s business and intellectual property strategy. Max is also the General Counsel of the Structural Genomics Consortium, where he leads legal, operational, and governance matters. Prior to joining SGC, Max worked as an intellectual property litigator and pharmaceutical regulatory lawyer, and more recently served as in-house counsel with Grand Challenges Canada. Max holds a B.Sc. from McGill University, a J.D. from the University of Toronto, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the New York State Bar.


  • Peter is VP, Drug Discovery and Development of M4K’s parent, Agora Open Science Trust, and leads M4K’s DIPG drug discovery program. With over 20 years of drug discovery and development experience, Peter began his career as a medicinal chemist at Albany Molecular Research Inc. (Curia) and then assumed various R&D leadership roles of increasing responsibility at GlycoDesign Inc, Affinium Pharmaceuticals, the University Health Network (UHN), and Scientus Pharma. While at UHN, he led the CMC development programs for three small molecule kinase inhibitors. Most recently, Peter was the founder of IntrinsiChem Consulting Inc. where he assisted several startup biotechnology companies develop their research and business strategies. Peter holds a BSc in Chemistry from St. Mary's University and MSc and PhD degrees in Organic Chemistry from the University of Waterloo. He is the co-author of over 20 peer-reviewed publications and an inventor on over 20 patents.


  • Sofia is the Structural Genomic’s Consortium’s Research Communications Specialist and leads M4K’s communications strategy. She is a passionate science communicator who loves transforming complex scientific ideas into captivating content. Sofia has BSc and Master’s degrees in chemistry from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Toronto.


  • David is a Principal Research Scientist in the drug discovery program at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and has been involved with the development of all small molecule assets currently in the M4K Pharma DIPG therapeutics portfolio. Beginning his career in biotech as a medicinal chemist at MethyGene Inc., David subsequently moved into the field of chemical probe development when he joined the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), and most recently has come full circle with his role at the OICR where he’s worked on a number of projects focused on the development of cancer therapeutics. David holds a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Manitoba and MSc and PhD degrees in Organic Chemistry from the University of Toronto. Over his 20+ years of professional experience, he has appeared as a co-author on over 45 peer-reviewed publications and an inventor on over 15 patents.


  • David is a Professor in the Structural Genomics Consortium site housed in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at UNC Chapel Hill. David is an expert in the medicinal chemistry of kinases, and his lab designs and synthesizes small molecule chemical probes for kinases and has created and shared kinase chemogenomic sets that allow for the identification of kinase vulnerabilities. Before moving to his current role, David enjoyed more than 24 years as a medicinal chemist with GlaxoSmithKline and legacy companies, where he led teams working across the preclinical spectrum of drug discovery. David holds a BS in chemistry from Yale University and a PhD in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to his love of kinases and medicinal chemistry, David is passionate about drug discovery for rare cancers, and believes that open science will facilitate discoveries that drive progress.


  • Charlotte is a Chemistry Director in the Small Molecule Drug Discovery Division at Charles River Laboratories, one of the UK’s leading Drug Discovery Contract Research Organisations. Charlotte has 23 years’ experience working in Drug Discovery, having spent 18 years at GSK prior to joining Charles River. During her career she has worked across a range of target classes, with projects ranging from early target validation to candidate nomination, making a significant contribution to the discovery of three candidates which have progressed into clinical trials. Charlotte was awarded the RSC Young Industrialist of the Year Award and in 2013 and most meritorious runner-up for the EFMC Young Medicinal Chemist in Industry Award in 2011. She is a co-author on 12 publications and 14 patents. Charlotte received her 1st Class MChem in Chemistry with Industrial Experience from the University of Bristol and her PhD in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde.


  • Alex is a Professor of Structural and Chemical Biology at the Centre for Medicines Discovery, University of Oxford. Alex completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge before gaining a Wellcome fellowship for postdoctoral training with Nobel Prize winners David Baker (Seattle) and Peter Ratcliffe (Oxford). He then spent 15 years with the SGC at the University of Oxford where his group solved the first crystal structures of the ALK2/ACVR1 kinase and identified numerous ALK2 inhibitors, including the current pyridine-series pursued by M4K. His team has assisted further development of this series with cellular nanoBRET assay and crystallography support.