The Monticola Team
A seasoned, cohesive team with deep experience across the biotech deal spectrum.
Alex Szidon, PhD
Alex is the Founder and President of Monticola LLC. Prior to Monticola, Alex was the Chief Business Officer for National Resilience, VP and Head of Pharma Partnering at Genentech and held multiple BD leadership roles at Merck (MSD) and Novartis. In all of these roles, Alex built teams and organizations to access innovation and transact across all therapeutic areas, technology platforms, and treatment modalities with significant transactions in therapeutics, diagnostics, digital, and vaccine health spaces. Earlier in his career, Alex founded Zafgen and was on the Founding team of Dara Biosciences. Alex worked as a Venture Partner at GreatPoint Ventures and as Director of Business Development at Harvard Medical School. As a management consultant at L.E.K. Alex earned a Ph.D in Biochemistry & Cell Biology from UCSF and was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. Alex continues to be active as an entrepreneur in the neurodegeneration space.
Lior Sahaf
Lior is a business development executive with experience in biopharma dealmaking and fundraising. In addition to supporting Monticola clients, Lior serves as VP and Head of Business Development at Syremis Therapeutics, a $165 million Series A company focused on developing novel medicines in neuropsychiatry. At Syremis, he leads strategic dealmaking and works closely with the CEO and CFO on fundraising efforts. Previously, Lior was VP and Head of BD at Clexio Biosciences where he led sell-side and buy-side activities, as well as strategic initiatives which supported the building of the company's early-stage pipeline. Prior to Clexio, Lior led multiple strategic transactions at Genentech-Roche, including the acquisition of Enterprise Therapeutics’ CF program ($100 million in upfront payments) and significant agreements with companies, medical institutions, and government organizations in the fields of data and computational biology. Prior to his career in biopharma, Lior served as an instructor and pilot in the Israeli Air Force. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Ben-Gurion University.
Alice Hsieh
Alice is an experienced business development & licensing professional with a background in law & management consulting. As former VP and Head of Business Development at Octant – an a16z-backed small molecule drug discovery platform with assets in rare disease and oncology – Alice was an integral part of the executive management team, leading business development and IP strategy in coordination with corporate strategy and investor relations as the company prepared for its next series raise. Prior to Octant, Alice was at Genentech/Roche as a Business Development Project Leader in Pharma Partnering, leading strategic opportunities and collaborations with biotech. Prior, Alice worked as a transactions attorney in Genentech and law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and supported key partnerships and mergers and acquisitions for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Alice received her B.A. from Stanford University in Human Biology and J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
