MEET THE LEADERSHIP TEAM
Dr. Patel has served as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of Protagonist Therapeutics since 2008. He brings 40 years of executive, entrepreneurial, and scientific experience across the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and biopharmaceutical sectors. Under his leadership, Protagonist has emerged as an industry leader in peptide therapeutics. Most notably, in 2026, the company achieved FDA approval for two internally discovered peptides: ICOTYDE™ (partnered with JNJ for plaque psoriasis) and MIMRYLO™ (partnered with Takeda for erythrocytosis in polycythemia vera).
Before driving Protagonist's discovery, clinical, and commercial success, Dr. Patel built a distinguished track record of establishing and successfully exiting high-value biotech companies. He began this executive chapter by serving as the President and CEO of Arête Therapeutics from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, he co-founded Miikana Therapeutics and served as its CEO from 2003 until its strategic acquisition by CASI Pharmaceuticals in 2005. His leadership was also instrumental at Versicor (later Vicuron), where he held roles of increasing responsibility from 1996 to 2003, culminating in his position as Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery and Licensing. His research and development efforts there directly led to two marketed drugs—anidulafungin (Eraxis®) and dalbavancin (Dalvance®)—prior to Pfizer acquiring the company in a $1.9 billion transaction in 2005.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Patel built a strong foundation in scientific leadership and research. He served as the Director of Chemistry at Affymax from 1993 to 1996, which was subsequently acquired by Glaxo Wellcome in 1995, and he initially began his industry journey as a medicinal chemist at Bristol-Myers Squibb from 1985 to 1993.
In addition to his executive roles, Dr. Patel has served on the Board of Directors of Sai Life Sciences, Limited (BSE: SAILIFE), a publicly traded global Contract Research, Development & Manufacturing Organization, since March 2025. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Rutgers University, New Jersey, as well as an M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Chemistry from S. P. University in Vallabh Vidyanagar, India.
Dr. Molina joined Protagonist in November 2022 after five years as Chief Medical Officer at Sutro Biopharma. Prior to Sutro, Dr. Molina was Vice President, Oncology Scientific Innovation at Johnson & Johnson. Earlier in his career, Dr. Molina was Chief Medical Officer at Cougar Biotechnology, acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2009. From 1991 to 2002, Dr. Molina was a faculty staff physician in the Department of Hematology/Bone Marrow Transplantation and Department of Medical Oncology/Therapeutics Research at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center and Adjunct Professor from 2002 to 2004. Dr. Molina earned his M.D. and M.S. in physiology degrees from Stanford University Medical Center, and a B.A. in psychology and B.S. in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Molina maintains an Adjunct Clinical Faculty appointment in the Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Saks serves as our Clinical Development Advisor. His leadership in drug development spans decades. Prior to his work with Protagonist, Dr. Saks served as Chief Development Officer and board member at Auspex Pharmaceuticals until the time of its acquisition by Teva Pharmaceuticals. Before his tenure at Auspex, Dr. Saks was a co-founder of Jazz Pharmaceuticals where he also served as Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in his career, Dr. Saks held positions as company group chairman of ALZA Corporation and member of the Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Operating Committee. Dr. Saks has also held leadership and management positions at Schering-Plough, Xoma and Genentech. Dr. Saks serves on the boards of directors of Quanta Therapeutics and Hinge Bio. Dr. Saks received a B.S. in Biology and his M.D. from the University of Illinois.
Mr. Ali joined as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in April 2022. Mr. Ali previously VP Finance and Chief Accounting Officer, overseeing various departments including FP&A, taxation, accounting and financial reporting, strategic sourcing, and finance operations. Among other notable achievements while at Theravance, he was part of the team that successfully raised $130 million in equity financing in February 2020, and a further $115 million in June 2021. Before that, he was Vice President and Corporate Controller at Depomed, where he supported five product launches and four successful product acquisitions. Mr. Ali is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, a qualification that he obtained in conjunction with studying accounting at the University of North London, UK, the US equivalent of a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting.
Mr. Gosling joined Protagonist as Executive Vice President, General Counsel in September 2020. He has more than 20 years of legal expertise advising Bay Area life sciences and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to Protagonist, Mr. Gosling served as General Counsel of Depomed, a commercial stage specialty pharmaceutical company, for 12 years. Prior to Depomed, he was a partner in the global law firm of Heller Ehrman, where his practice focused on general corporate, securities, M&A and collaboration matters for public life science companies. Mr. Gosling holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Economics from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Dr. Bhandari has served as Executive Vice President & Chief Discovery Officer since January 2022 and has served as Senior Vice President and Vice President of Chemistry and Process Research from 2017 to 2021. Ashok joined Protagonist in 2011 as Director of Chemistry and focused on the discovery of novel peptide therapeutics leading to Protagonist's clinical pipeline. Prior to joining Protagonist, Dr. Bhandari worked at Affymax for 14 years, from 1994 to 2008, where he worked on a variety of peptide drug discovery, preclinical and clinical development programs on targets of protein-protein interactions. Dr. Bhandari received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and conducted his post-doctoral work also at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Thalladi joined Protagonist in April 2026, bringing more than 20 years of experience across pharmaceutical development, drug delivery technologies, and technical operations supporting both early- and late-stage programs. Prior to Protagonist, he held senior leadership roles at DICE Therapeutics and Eli Lilly and Company, most recently serving as Chief Technical Officer. As a member of the DICE executive leadership team, he played a pivotal role in the company’s initial public offering and its subsequent acquisition by Lilly in a $2.4 billion all-cash transaction.
Previously, Dr. Thalladi spent 12 years at Theravance Biopharma, most recently as Vice President and Head of Pharmaceutical Development, where he led drug product development across a broad range of delivery modalities, including oral, injectable, inhalation, ocular, and topical platforms. Earlier in his career, he served as a Principal Investigator in formulation development at XenoPort and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Dr. Thalladi holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Hyderabad and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Essen and Harvard University.
Abha Bommireddi is a seasoned leader with more than 20 years of experience in project, portfolio, and budget management across all phases of drug development and life cycle management.
As Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff, Abha excels in strategic planning, risk management, and alliance management, particularly in oncology and immunology. She holds a Master’s in Pharmaceutics from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Kundnani College of Pharmacy.
Carter King has more than 25 years of experience across a broad range of business roles in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical device development and commercialization. Prior to joining Protagonist in September 2018, he was a Business Development Consultant for Achaogen, Inc. Previously, he was Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development at Omniox, Inc, and held several senior management roles, including Vice President of Corporate Development for AcelRx Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, he worked in strategic planning and finance roles at ALZA Corporation and Coulter Pharmaceutical. He received an M.B.A. with honors from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in Business Economics from U.C. Santa Barbara.
Carena Spivey brings more than 18 years of HR leadership experience in the biotech and start-up sectors to Protagonist Therapeutics. As Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, she leads strategic HR initiatives for the company’s growing, multi-location team.
Carena joined Protagonist in 2016 as Director of Human Resources and has since advanced through senior HR leadership roles. She has been instrumental in aligning HR practices with the company’s mission, fostering an inclusive and innovative workplace culture. She holds a B.S. in Public Administration from the University of Southern California, is SHRM-CP and PHR certified, and completed the Chief Human Resources Officer Program at The Wharton School’s Aresty Institute of Executive Education.