Dr. Jay Backstrom, MD, MPH
President & CEO
Dr. Jay Backstrom joined Scholar Rock in October 2022 as President & CEO. He is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in clinical research and development. Prior to Scholar Rock, he served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Acceleron Pharma, from December 2019 through its acquisition by Merck in 2021. Previously, he served as the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Regulatory Affairs for Celgene Corporation and spent more than a decade at the company during a time of significant pipeline expansion and revenue growth. Prior to Celgene, Jay served as the Vice President, Global Medical Affairs and Safety at Pharmion and held industry roles at Quintiles, Hoechst Marion Roussel and Marion Merrell Dow. Prior to joining industry, he served as staff physician and medical director of the Samuel U. Rodgers Community Health Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Jay holds an M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine, received post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at Temple University Hospital, and holds an MPH from St. Louis University School of Public Health.
Srini Akkaraju, MD, PhD
Founder & Managing Partner, Samsara BioCapital
Dr. Srinivas Akkaraju has served as a member of our board of directors since July 2022. Dr. Akkaraju is the Founder and Managing General Partner at Samsara BioCapital. Previously, from 2013 to 2016, he served as a General Partner of Sofinnova Ventures. Prior to that, he served as Managing Director of New Leaf Venture Partners. Earlier, he served as a Managing Director and Co-Founder at Panorama Capital, LLC, a private equity firm. Dr. Akkaraju was with J.P. Morgan Partners, which he joined in 2001 and of which he became a Partner in 2005. From October 1998 to April 2001, he was in Business and Corporate Development at Genentech, Inc. (now a wholly owned member of The Roche Group. Dr. Akkaraju received a M.D. and Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University. He received his undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Computer Science from Rice University.