Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., co-founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2004 and has since served as Chief Executive Officer. In addition to leading Sirtris as an independent discovery performance unit within GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Dr. Westphal serves as the Senior Vice President of GSK’s Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD). At the CEEDD, Dr. Westphal and his team are developing a network of external alliances with world-class biotech companies to bring breakthrough medicines into the GSK pipeline. Dr. Westphal is based at Sirtris, which is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Under Dr. Westphal’s leadership, Sirtris has become a recognized pioneer in the research and development of small molecule drugs that target the sirtuins, a family of enzymes that control the aging process. In 2007, Dr. Westphal successfully led the company through its initial public offering, resulting in recognition by the Boston Globe as one of the Globe 100 top companies of 2007. In June 2008, GSK acquired Sirtris for $720 million.

Dr. Westphal was previously co-founder and CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, (NASDAQ: ALNY), Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA) and Acceleron Pharma. He was also co-founder of Concert Pharmaceuticals. Prior to establishing Sirtris, Dr. Westphal was a general partner at a venture fund and a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Dr. Westphal earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University; and he graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University.

Dr. Westphal currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alnara Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School and the Board of Overseers of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Westphal has been the lead or senior author on several patent applications and scientific papers in journals, including Cell, Nature and Nature Genetics.

Dr. Westphal has received a number of industry awards, including a Stevie Award for Executive of the Year from The 2009 American Business Awards; the 2009 E-3 Public Company Science & Technology Company Executive Award at the annual Emerald Investment Forum; 2008 Outstanding Individual of the Year Award at the annual Laguna Biotech CEO Meeting; 2008 Corporate Leader Award of Distinction from the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR); recognition in the Pharmaceutical Executive “45 Under 45” and PharmaVOICE 100 issues, both in 2008; Mass High Tech All Star Award in 2007; and Ernst & Young’s New England Entrepreneur of the Year award in the Biopharmaceutical category in 2006.

In addition to being interviewed for numerous high-profile articles and broadcast segments, Dr. Westphal has been featured on 60 Minutes with Morley Safer, CNN’s Vital Signs with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, an ABC News Special hosted by Barbara Walters, and as the subject of a Fortune cover article.

Dr. Westphal enjoys traveling (he has visited over 130 countries) and playing the cello. He is also fluent in English, German, Spanish and French. Dr. Westphal is married with five young children.

George Vlasuk, Ph.D. joined Sirtris in 2009 as President and Head of Sirtris. In this role, Dr. Vlasuk is charged with leading all research, development, and operations at Sirtris, which is focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging.

Dr. Vlasuk has led numerous R&D efforts in both biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies throughout his career. Prior to joining Sirtris, Dr. Vlasuk served as Vice President of Metabolic Disease and Hemophilia Research at Wyeth, where he led teams focused on developing new therapeutic approaches for Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, diabetic complications, hemophilia, heart failure, dyslipidemia/atherosclerosis and cardiac arrhythmia. Prior to joining Wyeth in 2003, Dr. Vlasuk spent 12 years at Corvas International (now Dendreon) where he was Chief Scientific Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. Dr Vlasuk also spent seven years at Merck and two years at California Biotechnology Inc. (now Scios).

Dr. Vlasuk holds a B.S. in Clinical Chemistry, a Ph.D. in Chemistry/Biochemistry, and did postdoctoral work in Molecular Biology. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews, and is an inventor on 38 issued U.S. and foreign patents.

Garen Bohlin has served as Chief Operating Officer since 2006. Prior to Sirtris, Mr. Bohlin served as Chief Executive Officer of Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for six years from its inception in 1998. Prior to Syntonix, which was acquired by Biogen Idec in 2006, Mr. Bohlin spent 14 years in executive management at Genetics Institute, Inc. In his last role at Genetics Institute, Mr. Bohlin served as Executive Vice President with responsibility for most of the non-scientific areas of the company that comprised approximately half of the company's then 1,600 employees. Mr. Bohlin played a leading role in structuring and implementing a strategic alliance with American Home Products (now Wyeth) that resulted in the eventual acquisition of Genetics Institute at an implied valuation of approximately $3 billion. Prior to Mr. Bohlin's tenure at Genetics Institute, he was a partner at Arthur Andersen & Co., where he spent 13 years. Mr. Bohlin serves as a director of Acusphere, Inc. and Targanta Therapeutics Corporation.

Peter Elliott, Ph.D. has served as Senior Vice President of Research & Development since 2005. Prior to joining Sirtris, from 2001 through 2005, Dr. Elliott held various positions at CombinatoRx, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, including Executive Vice President of Product Development. Dr. Elliott was Vice President of Pharmacology and Drug Development at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 1998 to 2001. Dr. Elliott co-developed Velcade while at ProScript which was bought by Millennium.  Prior to Millennium, Dr. Elliott spent four years at Alkermes, Inc. and five years at Glaxo in the UK. Dr. Elliott holds a B.S. in Pharmacology from London University and a Ph.D. in Psychopharmacology from Cambridge University.

Brian Gallagher, Jr., Ph.D. joined Sirtris in 2008 and serves as Senior Director of Corporate Development. In this role Dr. Gallagher leads licensing, post-merger integration, and other corporate development and business operations activities. Prior to Sirtris, he was Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry with Alantos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he played key roles in the R&D efforts in metabolic and inflammatory diseases, and led many aspects of the post-merger integration following the $300 million acquisition of Alantos by Amgen in 2007. From 1998 to 2005, Dr. Gallagher led multiple programs in both oncology and inflammation/immunology at the Japanese pharma Eisai. Dr. Gallagher received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Organic Chemistry from The University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Chemistry from The University of Massachusetts, where he was awarded a full scholarship. He is an inventor on nearly twenty patents and patent applications and the lead author of a number of scientific papers.