Unit Split
Research Alliance Corp. II
- Registration2021-03-02 Filed S1
- IPO2021-03-19 IPO, search begins
- Definitive AgreementNo merger agreement yet
- CompletedNot yet completed
- Raised
- $130M
- CIK
- 1819724
- SPAC Ticker
- RACB
- Focus
- Healthcare, Biotech
SPAC Team
Leadership
Peter Kolchinsky, Ph.D., 44, has been our Chief Executive Officer and board Chairman since July 2020. Mr. Kolchinsky has served as a Portfolio Manager and Managing Partner of RA Capital Management, L.P. since September 2004. Mr. Kolchinsky is active in both public and private investments in companies developing drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, and research tools. He serves as a member of the board of directors of Therapeutics Acquisition Corp., Sojournix, Inc., Freenome Holdings, Inc., Wave Life Sciences Ltd. and Forma Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. He previously served as a member of the board of directors of Synthorx, Inc. and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He served on the Board of Global Science and Technology for the National Academy of Sciences, is the author of “The Great American Drug Deal” and “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to a Biotech Startup.” He founded the non-profit No Patient Left Behind to advocate for healthcare reforms that would solve affordability and promote continued biomedical innovation. Mr. Kolchinsky holds a B.A. in Biology from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Virology from Harvard University. We believe that Mr. Kolchinsky’s experience in the healthcare industry makes him well qualified to serve as the Chairman of our board of directors.
Tess Cameron, 35, has been our Chief Financial Officer and a Director since July 2020. Ms. Cameron is a Principal on the Investment Team at RA Capital Management and has been with RA Capital since June 2020. Prior to RA Capital, Ms. Cameron was at Foghorn Therapeutics from January 2018 to May 2020, where she was Head of Finance. Prior to Foghorn, Ms. Cameron held finance leadership roles at Wave Life Sciences Ltd. from January 2017 to January 2018 and at Biogen from March 2014 to January 2017. Prior to joining biotech/pharma, she was a specialist on the corporate finance team at McKinsey & Co. Ms. Cameron has an HBA with a double major in Economics and Peace & Conflict studies from the University of Toronto, Canada. We believe that Ms. Cameron’s financial expertise and experience in the healthcare industry makes her well qualified to serve on our board of directors.
Matthew Hammond, Ph.D., 32, has been our Chief Investment Officer and a Director since July 2020. Dr. Hammond is a Principal on the Investment Team at RA Capital Management and has been with RA Capital since December 2014. He works on both public and private healthcare companies. Dr. Hammond serves as a member of the board of directors of Therapeutics Acquisition Corp., Cerebral Therapeutics, Inc., Kira Pharmaceuticals, and DTx Pharma. Dr. Hammond holds a B.S. in Environmental Health Science from the University of Georgia and both a Ph.D. in Biomedical Science and an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the University of Connecticut. His graduate research investigated innate immune responses after intracerebral hemorrhage. We believe that Dr. Hammond’s experience in the healthcare industry makes him well qualified to serve on our board of directors.
Stephen J. Hoffman, M.D., Ph.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors since March 2021. Dr. Hoffman also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRNA) AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACRX), Danforth Advisors and is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Apic-Bio, Inc. Dr. Hoffman served as Chief Executive Officer and director of Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARPO) from December 2017 until October 2019. Prior to that, he served as a senior advisor to PDL BioPharma, Inc. from February 2014 until November 2017. Previously he was a managing director at Skyline Ventures, a venture capital firm, from May 2007 until February 2014. From January 2003 to March 2007, Dr. Hoffman was a general partner at TVM Capital, a venture capital firm. From 1994 to 2002, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Allos Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, where he remained as Chairman of the Board of Directors until it was acquired by Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in September 2012. From 1990 to 1994, Dr. Hoffman completed a fellowship in clinical oncology and a residency/fellowship in dermatology, both at the University of Colorado. Dr. Hoffman was the scientific founder of Somatogen Inc., a biotechnology company that was acquired by Baxter International, Inc. in 1998, where he held the position of Vice President of Science and Technology from 1987 until 1990. Previously, Dr. Hoffman also served on the Boards of Directors of Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNCA), which he resigned from effective April 11, 2017, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company that was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) in 2008 and Palleon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which he resigned effective November 2020. Dr. Hoffman holds a Ph.D. in bio-organic chemistry from Northwestern University and an M.D. from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. We believe that Dr. Hoffman’s scientific and business experience, including his diversified background as an executive officer, director, and venture capital investor in biopharmaceutical companies, provide him with the qualifications and skills to serve as a member of our Board of Directors.
Thomas Leggett has served as a member of our Board of Directors since March 2021. Mr. Leggett has served as the chief financial officer of Black Diamond Therapeutics since September 2019. Prior to joining Black Diamond, Mr. Leggett served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Axcella Health Inc., a biotechnology company, from January 2017 to August 2019. Prior to joining Axcella, Mr. Leggett served as the Treasurer and Head of Business Development Finance at Purdue Pharma L.P., a pharmaceutical company, from May 2016 to December 2017. From November 2009 to April 2016, Mr. Leggett was an Executive Director at UBS Securities LLC, an investment bank, in the Global Healthcare Group with a primary focus in the biopharmaceutical sector. Prior to UBS Securities, Mr. Leggett worked in the Global Healthcare investment banking groups at J.P. Morgan Securities and Lazard Frères & Company. Mr. Leggett holds an M.B.A. in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University. We believe that Mr. Leggett is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his considerable qualifications, attributes and skills, including his distinguished financial background and experience in leadership roles in the biopharmaceutical industry.