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Magenta Therapeutics Strengthens Leadership Team with Promotions, New Hires
[March 08, 2018]

Magenta Therapeutics Strengthens Leadership Team with Promotions, New Hires


Magenta Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to improve and extend the use of curative bone marrow transplant for more patients, today announced the promotion of Christina Isacson, Ph.D. to chief business officer, and Tony Boitano, Ph.D. to vice president, stem cell biology. Additionally, the company announced the appointment of Meg Woods to head of culture and people and Catherine Monaghan to head of clinical development operations.

"Christina and Tony have been crucial members of the Magenta team since its early days. They have both played an integral role in building Magenta into a clinical-stage company with a broad portfolio of therapeutics aimed at allowing more patients to benefit from the curative power of a bone marrow transplant," said Jason Gardner, D.Phil., chief executive officer, president and co-founder, Magenta Therapeutics. "As we continue to grow as a company and progress our pipeline, we are pleased to welcome Meg and Catherine to the Magenta leadership team. We believe that Meg's background in building and enabling employee cultures focused on innovation and Catherine's significant experience in planning, executing and overseeing clinical trials will be invaluable as we work to build what we expect to be the world's leading transplant medicine company."

Christina Isacson has over 13 years of experience in senior business development in biotechnology companies and in company creation. She most recently served as vice president of business development at Magenta, with responsibility for Magenta's business and corporate development, and the establishment and management of partnerships. Christina was a key member of the founding team for Magenta while at Third Rock Ventures, whom she joined as a Principal in 2013. While at Third Rock, she was part of the founding management team for Decibel Therapeutics and Interim Head of Business Development for Edimer Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Third Rock Ventures, Christina was a senior member of the busness development team at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals for over 6 years. Christina earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Tufts School of Medicine's Sackler School.



Tony Boitano joined Magenta Therapeutics as senior director, stem cell biology, in 2016 after 10 years of stem cell research at Novartis where he was responsible for the discovery and development of therapies to improve hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. His research focused on identifying novel regulators of hematopoiesis and led to 7 papers in top journals. Tony's most advanced project identified compounds that expand hematopoietic stem cells ex vivo. This technology, which Magenta licensed from Novartis, is currently used to manufacture MGTA-456, a Magenta cell therapy for cord blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Tony earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Schultz Lab at The Scripps Research Institute, where he studied hematopoietic stem cell biology.

Meg Woods brings more than 15 years of experience in developing people and culture strategies and programs to Magenta. Before joining the Company, Meg served as Executive Director, Human Resources, at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), where she spent nearly 9 years playing a key role in the organization's collaborative engagement efforts with global teams across multiple research areas. Meg's primary focus was in identifying and enabling a culture that encouraged innovation as well as organization and talent development. Prior to NIBR, Meg spent 8 years in various human resources roles at HP Hood. Meg earned her undergraduate degree in Education and History from Simmons College and holds an MBA from University of Phoenix.


Catherine Monaghan joined Magenta with more than 15 years of experience as a clinical research consultant for small and large biotechnology companies as well as major pharmaceutical companies. She has deep expertise in planning, starting up and managing Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical studies, as well as large, global Phase 3 studies in multiple indications. Earlier in her career, Catherine served as a therapeutic area manager at Antigenics, where she managed the direction, planning, execution and interpretation of oncology, immunology and infectious disease clinical trials. Catherine earned her B.A. from Emory University.

About Bone Marrow Transplant
Healthy bone marrow stem cells and the blood cells they create are crucial for survival, but certain diseases can affect the bone marrow, interfering with its ability to function properly. A bone marrow transplant is a process to replace unhealthy bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells. Bone marrow transplant can save the lives of patients with blood cancers and genetic diseases and is a potential cure for patients with severe refractory autoimmune diseases. Currently bone marrow transplant is still associated with risk, toxic side effects, and complexity for patients that could benefit from the procedure. Magenta is working to address these challenges through its integrated portfolio of therapeutics.

About Magenta Therapeutics
Magenta Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing therapeutics to revolutionize bone marrow transplant for patients with autoimmune diseases, blood cancers and genetic diseases. By creating a platform focused on critical areas of unmet need, Magenta Therapeutics is pioneering an integrated approach to extend the curative power of bone marrow transplant to more patients, by making the process more effective, safer, and easier. Founded by internationally recognized leaders in bone marrow transplant medicine, Magenta Therapeutics was launched in 2016 by Third Rock Ventures and Atlas Venture and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.magentatx.com.


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