ABOUT US
Jesse Shefferman
Co-founder, Director, Chief Executive Officer
Jesse Shefferman is a co-founder of Protara and has led the Company since its inception through the addition of two late-stage assets, the establishment of multiple late-stage development programs and its listing on NASDAQ in early 2020…
JESSE SHEFFERMAN
Co-founder, Director, Chief Executive Officer
Jesse Shefferman is a co-founder of Protara and has led the Company since its inception through the addition of two late-stage assets, the establishment of multiple late-stage development programs and its listing on NASDAQ in early 2020. Mr. Shefferman has spent over twenty years in the biopharma industry holding several strategic leadership and financial roles.
Prior to co-founding Protara, Mr. Shefferman was Vice President and Head of Business Development at Retrophin Inc., a leading rare diseases company where Jesse was a member of the executive leadership team and executed a number of company-defining transactions.
Prior to Retrophin, Mr. Shefferman served as Director, Strategy and Business Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he focused on hepatology and rare disease programs. Mr. Shefferman previously served as an investment banker with Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers Inc., where he focused on providing strategic and financial advice to the management teams and boards of directors of numerous biopharmaceutical companies.
Mr. Shefferman holds an MBA and Certificate in Health Sector Management from Duke University and a B.A. in Accounting from Gordon College.
JACQUELINE ZUMMO, PhD, MPH, MBA
Co-founder, Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Operations Officer
Dr. Jacqueline Zummo is a co-founder of Protara and has served as Senior Vice President, R&D Operations since March 2019 and previously served as the Company’s Vice President, Research Operations since November 2017…
JACQUELINE ZUMMO, PhD, MPH, MBA
Co-founder, Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Operations Officer
Dr. Jacqueline Zummo is a co-founder of Protara and has served as Senior Vice President, R&D Operations since March 2019 and previously served as the Company’s Vice President, Clinical Research and Medical Affairs since November 2017. Dr. Zummo has over 15 years of experience in senior leadership roles in the biopharma industry, with a strong track record of streamlining clinical development programs and driving successful regulatory outcomes. In addition to her work in clinical development, Dr. Zummo has been instrumental in the launch and commercialization of multiple products through strategic relationship building with KOLs, generating HEOR analytics, and communicating real-world value to managed care organizations.
Prior to joining Protara, Dr. Zummo was Assistant Vice President, Medical Affairs at Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC, with prior clinical development, operations and medical affairs roles at Alkermes, Inc., Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. (later acquired by Pfizer, Inc.).
Dr. Zummo holds a BA from Penn State University, an MBA in Healthcare Marketing from Benedictine University, an MPH in Epidemiology from Benedictine University, and a PhD in Global Health Sciences from Nova Southeastern University.
Patrick Fabbio
Chief Financial Officer
Pat Fabbio is the Chief Financial Officer at Protara. Mr. Fabbio joined Protara in 2023 and brings more than 30 years of experience in financial, operational and transactional leadership in both publicly traded and privately held life science and pharmaceutical companies…
Patrick Fabbio
Chief Financial Officer
Pat Fabbio is the Chief Financial Officer at Protara. Mr. Fabbio joined Protara in 2023 and brings more than 30 years of experience in financial, operational and transactional leadership in both publicly traded and privately held life science and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Protara, he served as President and Chief Financial Officer at Rafael Holdings, Inc. Previously Mr. Fabbio was Chief Financial Officer at WindMIL Therapeutics Inc., Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., electroCore Medical, LLC, and Ikano Therapeutics, Inc. Vice President of Finance at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Vice President of Finance, Innovation and Growth at Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc. He also held roles in financial positions at Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, UniPath Diagnostics Co., BioMatrix, Inc. and Coopers & Lybrand LLP. Mr. Fabbio is a board member of BeyondSpring Therapeutics, Inc.
Mr. Fabbio holds a BBA in Accounting from Pace University and an MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Mary Grendell
General Counsel, Corporate Secretary
Mary Grendell is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Protara. Ms. Grendell joined Protara in October 2021 and brings over 15 years of experience on a range of strategic legal matters, including advising senior management and board of directors at life sciences…
Mary Grendell
General Counsel, Corporate Secretary
Mary Grendell is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Protara. Ms. Grendell joined Protara in October 2021 and brings over 15 years of experience on a range of strategic legal matters, including advising senior management and board of directors at life sciences companies. Previously, Mary served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Intercept Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Intercept, Mary served as Senior Counsel, Global Business Development, and Securities Group at Mylan (now part of Viatris) and as Senior Counsel, Transactions Group, in the Law Department at Amgen. She began her legal career at law firms Sullivan & Cromwell and Covington & Burling specializing in mergers and acquisitions.
Mary holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a BA from Yale University.
Justine O’Malley
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs
Justine O’Malley is the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs at Protara. Ms. O’Malley joined Protara in 2020 and brings over 20 years of experience in investor, advocacy, and media relations as well as global, corporate, and internal communications…
JUSTINE O’MALLEY
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs
Justine O’Malley is the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs at Protara. Ms. O’Malley joined Protara in 2020 and brings over 20 years of experience in investor, advocacy, and media relations as well as global, corporate, and internal communications at life sciences companies. Prior to joining Protara, Justine served as Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Intercept Pharmaceuticals; Vice President, Corporate Communications at G&W Laboratories; Vice President, Global Corporate Communications at PTC Therapeutics, and Head, Global Corporate Communications at NPS Pharmaceuticals (now Shire). Prior to joining NPS, Justine held roles of increasing responsibility at Merck.
Justine holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from Northwestern University.