Dr. Katz is an experienced transplant surgeon and a leader in clinical development in the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, Dr. Katz is the chief medical officer of Eledon Pharmaceutical. Before joining Eledon, Dr. Katz was CMO of eGenesis, a company in the xenotransplantation field. Previously, Dr. Katz served as Vice President and clinical development lead at Viela Bio and Horizon Therapeutics, where he was responsible for developing novel medications for autoimmune-related diseases and organ transplantation.
Dr. Katz earned his MD degree from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel.
Dr. Katz joined Viela Bio/Horizon following 30 years of combined academic and pharmaceutical career in the areas of organ transplantation, immunology, and immune-induced diseases.
His academic career as a transplant surgeon spanned 20 years, including directorship of two transplantation programs. The director of the abdominal transplantation division at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, and an associate professor of surgery and the director of the liver transplantation division at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Worcester, MA. During his tenure as a transplant surgeon, Dr. Katz implemented techniques for split liver and living donor liver transplantation, was actively involved in policy making related to organ donation and allocation and led efforts to increase organ donation.
After joining the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Katz served as the vice president at CTI clinical trial and consulting services, as senior director in transplantation at Medicine Development Group, Pfizer Inc., and at Medimmune/AstraZeneca as a senior director at RIA (respiratory, inflammation, and autoimmunity), where he oversaw clinical development in neuro-inflammation, inflammatory bowel disease, and myositis.
Dr. Katz is an author of more than 60 peer-reviewed publications.