Management Team

Raul R. Rodriguez was appointed President and Chief Executive Office and a member of the Board of Directors in November 2014. Until then, he had served as our President and Chief Operating Officer since 2024. He joined us as Vice President, Business Development in April 2000, became our Senior Vice President, Business Development and Commercial Operations in December 2002 and became our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in June 2004. From 1997 to March 2000, he served as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Operations for Ontogeny, Inc. (now Curis), a biotechnology company. From 1994 to 1997, he served as the Executive Director, Business Development and Market Planning for Scios, Inc. (now J&J). At these companies, Mr. Rodriguez held positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of business development and planning. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, Mr. Rodriguez went on to earn his Master of Public Health at the University of Illinois and subsequently received his M.B.A. at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dean Schorno was appointed as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in May 2018. Mr. Schorno joined Rigel from 23andMe, Inc., the leading consumer genetics and research company, where he had been CFO since 2015. Before joining 23andMe, Mr. Schorno was CFO of Adaptive Biotechnologies (Seattle, WA) and Genomic Health (Redwood City, CA). During this time, he led financial operations through periods of significant business and commercial growth which included significant financing and commercial transaction activity. Mr. Schorno began his career in finance at an international accounting firm in San Francisco, CA before starting his own consultancy in 1991. A certified public accountant, Mr. Schorno is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (BS, Business Administration) and Golden Gate University (MS, Taxation).

David A. Santos was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer in August 2020. Mr. Santos joined Rigel from Jazz Pharmaceuticals, where he held the role of hematology/oncology business unit head, responsible for leading US Commercialization of the oncology portfolio from January 2016 to July 2020. During his tenure at Jazz, he successfully grew the business unit through three launches to eventually have four promoted products in the leukemia, transplant and lung cancer markets. Prior to joining Jazz, from January 2014 to May 2015, Mr. Santos served as Vice President of sales and marketing for Medivation (now Pfizer), responsible for commercializing Xtandi for metastatic prostate cancer, and Vice President, kinase inhibitor franchise for Onyx (now Amgen), responsible for leading sales and marketing efforts with Nexavar and Stivarga. Before his work at Onyx, Mr. Santos served for nearly 9 years in roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech, Inc., where he launched and held key commercial leadership roles on several successful brands, including Avastin, Herceptin and Tarceva. Mr. Santos also held marketing and sales roles at Lilly Oncology and Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he started his pharmaceutical sales career. He received his BS in chemistry from St. Louis University.

Lisa Rojkjaer, M.D. was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer in March 2024. Dr. Rojkjaer is an industry veteran with over 20 years of clinical development, regulatory, and medical affairs experience with a focus on hematology and oncology. Prior to joining Rigel, she held several leadership positions in clinical development and medical affairs at biotechnology and global pharmaceutical companies, having most recently served as Chief Medical Officer of Sangamo Therapeutics. Prior to Sangamo, she held the role of Chief Medical Officer at both Viracta Therapeutics and Nordic Nanovector, where she led clinical and regulatory strategies across a broad range of hematology and oncology programs. Dr. Rojkjaer also served as Global Clinical Program Head at Novartis Pharmaceuticals where she led development and supported the regulatory approval of Rydapt®, a multikinase inhibitor for the treatment of FLT3 mutation-positive AML. Other previous roles include Chief Medical Officer at Molecular Partners, Vice President, Head of Clinical Development at MorphoSys AG, and Director of Clinical Development and Head, Global Medical Affairs, Biopharmaceuticals at Novo Nordisk. Dr. Rojkjaer holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Toronto, where she also completed her internal medicine and hematology fellowships.

Raymond J. Furey was appointed Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in December 2022. In his prior positions, Mr. Furey oversaw various companies’ legal affairs and managed their in-house legal teams. Mr. Furey joined Rigel from Turning Point Pharmaceutics, where he held the role of Senior Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer from March 2021 to August 2022 and served as Interim General Counsel in 2022. Prior to joining Turning Point Pharmaceutics, Mr. Furey held various positions including Chief Operating Officer at Ara Pharmaceuticals from September 2020 to March 2021. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Portola Pharmaceuticals from August 2017 to September 2020. He has held other senior level positions at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and Questor Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, Mr. Furey held the position of Corporate Compliance Officer at OSI Pharmaceuticals, and various other positions at Genentech. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, an MBA from San Francisco State University, and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Joseph Lasaga was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer in January 2024. He is responsible for business development, alliance management, program management and portfolio strategy. Mr. Lasaga has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience with a strong background in R&D, corporate development, and strategy. He rejoined Rigel as Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management in 2016 and has since served as Senior Vice President and then Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. Prior to rejoining Rigel, Mr. Lasaga was Vice President, Business Development and Alliance Management at Galena Biopharma, Inc., where he was responsible for managing corporate and business development strategy and activities. From 2010 until 2014, Mr. Lasaga was Director, and later named Senior Director, Business Development at Nektar Therapeutics, where he led licensing activities, managed key alliances and structured research collaborations. He began his career at Rigel in 1998, working as a molecular biologist in discovery research before transitioning into business development in 2005, most recently as Associate Director of Business Development. In that role, he served as the alliance manager for all of Rigel’s partners, led various out-licensing initiatives and managed all other aspects of business development. Mr. Lasaga graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Molecular Biology. He earned his M.B.A. in Marketing from San Francisco State University.

Esteban S. Masuda, Ph.D. was appointed Executive Vice President, Research in January 2020. Before being named to that position, Dr. Masuda held the title of Senior Vice President, Research since 2016. He joined Rigel in 1998, and he has worked on and led numerous drug discovery projects in inflammatory and allergic diseases. Dr. Masuda served as the project leader of the program that led to the discovery of TAVALISSE^®(fostamatinib), Rigel’s oral SYK kinase inhibitor. His work has resulted in moving multiple product candidates into clinical development, establishing various corporate partnerships, producing over 50 publications, and issuing over 50 U.S. patents. Prior to joining Rigel, he carried out his postdoctoral work on cytokine biology and gene regulation at DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (now Merck) in Palo Alto, CA. Dr. Masuda received his B.S. in biochemistry from University of California, Riverside and his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Hiroshima University, Japan.

Julie Patel was appointed Senior Vice President, Human Resources in April 2022. Ms. Patel is a Human Resource leader with 25+ years of progressive experience in life sciences: biotech, medical device, drug delivery, and pharmaceutical companies. Ms. Patel joined Rigel from IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc., where she held the role of Vice President, Human Resources, responsible for organizational planning, talent management, leadership development, compensation and benefits, diversity, equality and inclusion. From 2013 until 2020, Ms. Patel was with Jazz Pharmaceuticals where she most recently held the role of Sr. Director, HR Business Partner: US Commercial/Legal/Compliance, responsible for integrating business and people objectives for a 450+ US Commercial, Sales/Marketing, Market Access and Operations teams. As a key member of the Commercial leadership team, she supported operational change efforts related to growth and transformation, supported engagement and culture initiatives, and directed workforce and compensation planning. Prior to joining Jazz, Ms. Patel was Senior Director, Strategic HR: Global Development at Elan and she previously held roles of increasing responsibility at both ALZA and Scios Incorporated, formerly Johnson & Johnson Companies. Ms. Patel graduated from California State University, Chico, with a B.A. in Information and Communication Studies.