
About Us
Design Therapeutics is pioneering novel small-molecule therapeutic candidates, called GeneTAC™ molecules (Gene Targeted Chimera), that are designed to be disease-modifying and target the underlying cause of inherited nucleotide repeat expansion diseases.
Our GeneTAC™ molecules are designed to selectively bind to genetic repeat sequences, modulate gene expression either by restoring or blocking transcription, and restore cellular health. As a platform, we believe that GeneTAC™ molecules have broad potential applicability across monogenic nucleotide repeat expansion diseases.
Board of Directors
Founders

Pratik Shah, Ph.D.
Chairperson and CEO
Pratik Shah, Ph.D., is co-founder, chairperson and chief executive officer of Design Therapeutics. In addition, Dr. Shah serves as chairperson of the board at ARS Pharmaceuticals. Until February of 2020, he served as chairperson of Synthorx, Inc., a biotechnology company developing innovative protein therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune disorders that was acquired by Sanofi for $2.5 billion. Before that, Dr. Shah was president and chief executive officer of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines for people with movement disorders, including AUSTEDO® (deutetrabenazine). He became involved in Auspex as an investor in 2007 and served as its chairperson until he took over as its chief executive officer in 2013, after which he took the company public and oversaw its growth until its acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals for $3.5 billion in 2015. Before that, Dr. Shah was a partner in the healthcare venture capital firm Thomas, McNerney & Partners for nearly a decade, and prior to that, he co-founded two biotechnology companies and was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco. Dr. Shah obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as his MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.

Sean Jeffries, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer
Sean Jeffries, Ph.D., is the chief operating officer at Design Therapeutics. Dr. Jeffries brings over twenty years of experience in biopharma with extensive experience in strategy and R&D. Prior to Design, Dr. Jeffries led projects to develop R&D and therapeutic strategies for biopharma at the Boston Consulting Group. He was instrumental in pioneering miniPCR, which performed the first PCR on the international space station. Prior to that, Dr. Jeffries established and led the informatics group at Kalypsys. Dr. Jeffries completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in epigenetics as an NIH-Cambridge scholar.
Heather Berger, Ph.D.
Director
Heather Berger, Ph.D., has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2021. From September 2020 through December 2022, Dr. Berger was a principal at SR One, concentrating on early-stage innovative therapeutic opportunities. Prior to SR One, she was with Sofinnova Investments, and prior to that, was an equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities and an associate at JMP Securities, focused primarily on therapies for rare disease. Dr. Berger previously served on the boards of Second Genome and Entasis Therapeutics (ETTX). Dr. Berger was formerly a chemist at the Astellas Research Institute and adjunct faculty at the Feinberg Northwestern School of Medicine. Dr. Berger received her Ph.D. in chemistry at Northwestern University, MSc. in organic chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science and her B.S. from Tufts University.
Simeon George, M.D.
Director
Simeon George, M.D. is CEO of SR One. Previously, Dr. George worked in management consulting (Bain & Co.) and investment banking (Goldman Sachs). Dr. George is a co-founder and board member of Nkarta and currently serves on the board of CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP). Dr. George previously served of the boards of Turning Point Therapeutics (TPTX), Principia Biopharma (PRNB), Progyny (PGNY), HTG Molecular (HTGM) and Genocea Biosciences (GNCA). Dr. George received a B.A. in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an MBA (Mayer Scholar) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Rodney Lappe, Ph.D.
Director
Rodney Lappe, Ph.D., has had a distinguished career as a biopharmaceutical scientist and executive. Most recently, Dr. Lappe served as executive chairman of the board of directors for Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX), a role he had served at until he resigned in February 2019, after becoming a member of the board in June 2012 and chairman of the board in July 2013. Previously, Dr. Lappe was group senior vice president, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development and chief scientific officer for CovX in San Diego. Dr. Lappe has also served as vice president for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases at Pharmacia where he was also site leader for Pharmacia in St. Louis. Prior to joining Pharmacia, he held positions with Wyeth, Rorer Central Research, CIBA Geigy and Searle Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Lappe received his B.A. from Blackburn College and his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Indiana University.
Deepa Prasad
Director
Deepa Prasad serves as an independent advisor to Équilibre Biopharmaceuticals Corp. and Graviton Biosciences. Ms. Prasad most recently served as president/CEO and a board member of vTv. Prior to vTv, Ms. Prasad was managing director at WestRiver Group, where she led investments in healthcare innovation across biotech and digital health/AI. Ms. Prasad has held various healthcare operational roles as chief of staff at Blue Shield of California, regional vice president for Optum, head of managed care at the California Hospital Association, and vice president, financial strategy and business development at Coherus Biosciences (CHRS). She began her career in investment banking working with biotech and pharma companies on private placements and buyside and sellside mergers and acquisitions, including cross-border M&A with several Japanese pharma. She currently serves on the grant funding committee for UC Davis and as a charter member for TiE, a non-profit global network of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Ms. Prasad earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of California, Berkeley and her M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University with emphasis in finance and health industry management.
John Schmid
Director
John Schmid has served as a member of our board of directors since November 2020. Mr. Schmid has served as a member of the boards of directors of AnaptysBio, Inc. (ANAB) since June 2015, Forge Therapeutics, Inc. since May 2017, Poseida Therapeutics Inc. (PSTX) since July 2018 and Xeris Pharmaceuticals (XERS) since September 2017. In addition, Mr. Schmid serves as chairman of the board of directors of Speak, Inc., a speakers bureau, which he helped found in 1989. Mr. Schmid also served as a member of the boards of directors of Neos Therapeutics from June 2015 to March 2021 and Helix Acquisition Corporation from October 2020 to April 2022. From September 2013 to June 2015, Mr. Schmid served as chief financial officer of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until its sale to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. From June 2004 to September 2013, Mr. Schmid co-founded Trius Therapeutics where he served as the chief financial officer until its merger with Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From 1998 to 2003, Mr. Schmid served as the chief financial officer of GeneFormatics, Inc. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Schmid served as the chief financial officer of Endonetics Inc. Mr. Schmid received a B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. from the University of San Diego.
Pratik Shah, Ph.D.
Chairperson and CEO, Design Therapeutics
Pratik Shah, Ph.D., is co-founder, chairperson and chief executive officer of Design Therapeutics. In addition, Dr. Shah serves as chairperson of the board at ARS Pharmaceuticals. Until February of 2020, he served as chairperson of Synthorx, Inc., a biotechnology company developing innovative protein therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune disorders that was acquired by Sanofi for $2.5 billion. Before that, Dr. Shah was president and chief executive officer of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines for people with movement disorders, including AUSTEDO® (deutetrabenazine). He became involved in Auspex as an investor in 2007 and served as its chairperson until he took over as its chief executive officer in 2013, after which he took the company public and oversaw its growth until its acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals for $3.5 billion in 2015. Before that, Dr. Shah was a partner in the healthcare venture capital firm Thomas, McNerney & Partners for nearly a decade, and prior to that, he co-founded two biotechnology companies and was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco. Dr. Shah obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as his MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.
Arsani William, M.D.
Director
Arsani William, M.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since January 2021. Dr. William has served as Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Logos Capital since its founding in 2019. Prior to founding Logos, Dr. Williams served as an investment professional at Farallon Capital Management. Dr. Williams holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School where he was a Gerald S. Foster Scholar, an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and a BS with Honors in Biology from Stanford University.
Stella Xu, Ph.D.
Director
Stella Xu, Ph.D. is managing director of Quan Capital, a life science venture fund with deep expertise and broad experiences in cross-border value creation and global investments. Prior to Quan, Dr. Xu was corporate vice president/site head of Roche R&D Center China and a core member of the global management team of Roche’s Immunology, Inflammation & Infectious Diseases Division. From 2012 to 2017, she led the fully integrated team of approximately 200 scientists to deliver an innovative pipeline from discovery to global clinical development. She also had extensive global business development experience with Roche Partnering. Dr. Xu joined Roche from McKinsey US and worked in biotech R&D earlier in her career. Dr. Xu currently serves on the boards of Walking Fish Therapeutics, Zidan Medical, HBM Healthcare Investments AG and Therorna Inc. She was also previously a board member of ARMO BioSciences (ARMO), NextCure (NXTC), Centrexion Therapeutics and Tempest Therapeutics. Dr. Xu received her Ph.D. in immunology from Northwestern University and B.S. in biophysics from Peking University.
Aseem Ansari, Ph.D.
Co-Founder/Scientific Advisor
Aseem Z. Ansari, Ph.D. is a co-founder and scientific advisor of Design Therapeutics. Dr. Ansari pioneered the development of synthetic transcription factors, and over the past 25 years, performed the foundational research that led to Design Therapeutics. Dr. Ansari is the chair of the Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in chemical biology from Northwestern University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard and MIT. Dr. Ansari’s research has produced important new insights into cellular processes that govern gene expression and has developed novel small molecules that can influence gene regulatory networks and cell fate.
Pratik Shah, Ph.D.
Co-Founder, Chairperson and CEO, Design Therapeutics
Pratik Shah, Ph.D., is co-founder, chairperson and chief executive officer of Design Therapeutics. In addition, Dr. Shah serves as chairperson of the board at ARS Pharmaceuticals. Until February of 2020, he served as chairperson of Synthorx, Inc., a biotechnology company developing innovative protein therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune disorders that was acquired by Sanofi for $2.5 billion. Before that, Dr. Shah was president and chief executive officer of Auspex Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines for people with movement disorders, including AUSTEDO® (deutetrabenazine). He became involved in Auspex as an investor in 2007 and served as its chairperson until he took over as its chief executive officer in 2013, after which he took the company public and oversaw its growth until its acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals for $3.5 billion in 2015. Before that, Dr. Shah was a partner in the healthcare venture capital firm Thomas, McNerney & Partners for nearly a decade, and prior to that, he co-founded two biotechnology companies and was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco. Dr. Shah obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology as well as his MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.