Our team.
Nazli Azimi, Co-Founder & CEO
Nazli Azimi is a seasoned biotech entrepreneur and thought leader with a proven track record of building and leading successful life sciences companies. As the Founder and former CEO of Bioniz Therapeutics, she spearheaded the development of first-in-class immune modulators and led the company through multiple clinical milestones, culminating in a successful acquisition. Building on that momentum, she recently co-founded Therna Biosciences, a next-generation biotech company focused on developing AI-empowered RNA-based medicines. Dr. Azimi is recognized for her leadership in translating scientific innovation into transformative treatments and high-impact business outcomes.
Hani Goodarzi, Scientific Co-Founder
Sasan Amini, Co-Founder
Kevin Kipp, Sr. Director of Preclinical and Translational Research
Amir Moarefi, Director of Business Development
Timo Hagen, Director of RNA Research, Founding Scientist
Timo Hagen is a founding scientist and Director of RNA Research at Therna Biosciences, where he leads the RNA research team focused on optimizing RNA molecules and designing high-throughput assays to advance next-generation RNA therapeutics. He earned his PhD at ETH Zurich, studying RNA structure–function relationships, including G-quadruplexes. Timo continued his research on inducible RNA switches at Weill Cornell Medicine and explored RNA biology using functional genomics and massively parallel reporter assays (MPRAs) at the Arc Institute. With over 10 years of experience in RNA chemical and molecular biology, Timo has significantly contributed to RNA design principles and functional regulation. His work has been published in leading journals, showcasing discoveries in RNA structural biology, inducible RNA systems, and RNA functional screens.
Kian Yousefi, Director of Translational Research, Founding Scientist
Amir Momen-Roknabadi, Director of AI
Amir Momen-Roknabadi is the Director of Artificial Intelligence at Therna Bio. With training at Princeton University and Columbia University, he has a proven record of developing and applying computational and statistical methods to advance biology. Prior to joining Therna, Amir worked at Exai Bio, where he trained RNA models to uncover cancer signals in liquid biopsy and supported the development of novel diagnostic approaches. At Therna, he leads efforts to harness artificial intelligence to accelerate the RNA design.