Dean joined Frontera Therapeutics in 2022 as the Chief Scientific Officer. He has over 25 years of experience in building and leading research and development teams in early-stage platform biotechnology companies.

Most recently, he was the Chief Scientific Officer at PlateletBio, an allogeneic engineered iPSC cell therapy company focused on rare autoimmune diseases. Prior to PlateletBio, he was the CSO at LogicBio (NASDAQ: LOGC), an AAV gene therapy/gene editing company focused on rare genetic diseases. In 2012, Dean was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Atlas Ventures, where he founded Synlogic Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SYBX) and served as its Chief Technology Officer until 2018. During his tenure there, he oversaw the company’s filing of INDs in oncology and several rare disease indications including phenylketonuria and urea cycle disorders.

Dean began his career as a scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TAK) at the company’s inception in 1993, and founded and led its program in the genomics and genetics of cardiovascular diseases until 1998. There he also led the company’s partnership with Eli Lilly. Following Millennium, Dean served as SVP of Research and Development at Praecis Pharmaceuticals (GSK), focused on oncology, and was VP of Research at Stryker’s Regenerative Medicine Division (NYSE: SYK) where he was responsible for leading its programs in osteoarthritis and tissue fibrosis.

Dean received his B.S. in chemistry from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University.