Archives: Team

Dr Christian Dombrowski is Senior Vice President, Platform, at Averna Therapeutics and a distinguished research leader with over 20 years of scientific innovation across multiple modalities and platform development. He has played a key role in advancing the development of cutting-edge gene-editing technologies and brings extensive experience from both pharma and small biotech. Prior to Averna, he led the CRISPR platform at Intellia Therapeutics for nearly a decade.

He received a BSc in biochemistry, an MSc in molecular genetics, and a PhD in molecular and cell biology from Laval University.

Henry founded Delos Capital in 2015 and continues to serve as its managing partner, supporting life sciences leaders in turning bold ideas into medical breakthroughs. Previously, he was a partner and cohead of Asia at Permira and a managing director at Goldman Sachs, where he coled the General Industrials Group (Asia, excluding Japan). A former corporate finance attorney at Davis Polk, he also cofounded Curamir Therapeutics and Tulavi Therapeutics and currently serves as chairman and CEO of Tanvex Biopharma. Today, he brings this expertise to Averna Therapeutics as a board member.

He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Summer is a seasoned HR leader with a multi-decade career spanning executive roles at venture-backed companies as well as healthcare leaders, including Biogen, Cardinal Health, and Bayer. She specializes in HR strategies that drive growth, elevate performance, and strengthen organizational culture. She is a trusted advisor across the life sciences industry.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in management and society from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She also serves as a guest lecturer at Cornell and MIT and mentors emerging entrepreneurs through a range of accelerator programs.

Dr Thomas M. Barnes has served as CEO and board member of Averna Therapeutics since 2025. He was previously CEO of Orna Therapeutics, where he led Series A and B financings, a major Merck collaboration, and the acquisition of ReNAgade. From 2020 to 2024, he was also an Entrepreneur Partner at MPM Bioimpact. As a founding CSO of Intellia Therapeutics, he helped build the company, including IPO and follow-on financings, and helped advance the CRISPR platform into ex vivo therapeutics.

He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and completed fellowships at Harvard Medical School and McGill University.

Roy is a board member at Averna Therapeutics and has served as a principal on the Private Equity team at OrbiMed since 2016. He previously led the merger, acquisition, and licensing efforts at Bayer HealthCare and Life Technologies (now Thermo Fisher Scientific).

He holds a PhD in molecular genetics from the Weizmann Institute and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.