Charles Kaplan, PhD

Charles Kaplan, PhD is the Senior Vice President of Research at Bitterroot Bio. Dr. Kaplan is a seasoned leader with more than 20 years of drug discovery and development experience spanning multiple therapeutic areas, including autoimmunity, inflammation and immuno-oncology. He brings extensive operational and strategic expertise and has led multiple programs from early discovery through IND-enabling studies and into early Phase 1 clinical trials.  Dr. Kaplan has held multiple leadership roles prior to joining Bitterroot, including most recently the Vice President of Cell Therapy and Preclinical Research at Metagenomi, the Vice President of Discovery Biology and Preclinical Development at Kyverna Therapeutics, the Senior Director of Scientific Strategy at Exelixis and the Director of Immuno-Oncology Research at Five Prime Therapeutics.  During this time, he provided scientific and strategic input into the overall R&D effort as well as the scientific strategy underlying the discovery pipeline for biologics and engineered cell therapies.

Dr. Kaplan holds a BS in Medical Technology from Michigan State University and earned a PhD in Immunology from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. He then went on to a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.