Skip to content Skip to footer
About Us

Meet Our Team

We're a team of scientists, clinicians, and communicators working to close the gap between genetic testing and effective treatment, so a diagnosis leads to real options for rare disease patients.

The Team

Leadership & Team

Nicholas Schafer
Nicholas Schafer, Ph.D.
Co-Founder & CEO
Daniel Goldman
Daniel Goldman, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and CSO
Norman Ong
Norman Ong, Ph.D, CLP
Co-Founder & CCO
Nicole Persky
Nicole Persky, Ph.D.
Director, Functional Genomics
Zainab Waseem
Zainab Waseem, M.S.
Marketing & Comms Strategist
Advisors

Advisors & Consultants

Frederick Roth
Frederick Roth, Ph.D.
Founding Scientific Advisor
University of Pittsburgh
Eric J. Evans
Eric J. Evans, M.B.A.
Business Advisor
Harvard Kennedy School
Victoria Parikh
Victoria Parikh, M.D.
Clinical Advisor
Stanford University
Jeanne Morin-Leisk
Jeanne Morin-Leisk, Ph.D.
Product Advisor
Emil Pedersen
Emil Pedersen, M.S.
Engineering Advisor
Frank Feenstra
Frank Feenstra, M.B.A.
Sales Advisor
Brian Shirts
Brian Shirts, M.D., Ph.D.
Clinical Consultant
Interns

Interns

Andy Negrut
Andy Negrut
Machine Learning Intern
About Us

Meet Our Team

We're a team of scientists, clinicians, and communicators working to close the gap between genetic testing and effective treatment, so a diagnosis leads to real options for rare disease patients.

The Team

Leadership & Team

Nicholas Schafer
Nicholas Schafer, Ph.D.
Co-Founder & CEO

Nicholas is a biophysicist with expertise in computational and experimental methods. His past academic work focused on several areas of protein biophysics including molecular mechanisms of disease, membrane proteins, misfolding and aggregation, and evolution and design. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Rice University, was a Postdoc at Aarhus University, and is a visiting scientist at the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics. As CEO and co-founder of Constantiam Biosciences.

Daniel Goldman
Daniel Goldman, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and CSO

Daniel is a biochemist with broad expertise in the biomedical sciences, including gene therapies, gene editing, RNA biology, and protein folding. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research fellow at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. As CSO and co-founder of Constantiam Biosciences, Daniel is focused on developing core technologies to advance genomic medicine.

Norman Ong
Norman Ong, Ph.D, CLP
Co-Founder & CCO

As a scientist by training, he has held multiple technology transfer and business development roles in academic, venture, incubator and large corporation settings. He holds a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and was doctoral dissertation and Larry L. Hillblom Foundation fellow. He is also a certified licensing professional (CLP) and has closed over $90M worth of licenses and service contracts.

Nicholas Schafer
Ethan Elmwood
Principal Research Associate

Ethan is a Master's-level scientist with four years of industry experience in virus and Cas9-related virus-like particle (VLP) production, screening, and qualification. Ethan has led a collaborative vector core unit and driven digital, data, and technology (DD&T) development initiatives. Ethan's academic background includes two years of research in gene editing, with a thesis on CRISPR-Cas9 knock-in mutations in cancer, including BRCA1 characterization.

Zainab Waseem
Zainab Waseem, M.S.
Marketing & Comms Strategist

Zainab is a Marketing and Communications Strategist at Constantiam Biosciences. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and a Master's degree in Public Health. She is also a Meta Certified Creative Strategist with a Digital Health certification from Harvard Business School.

Advisors

Advisors & Consultants

Frederick Roth
Frederick Roth, Ph.D.
Founding Scientific Advisor
University of Pittsburgh

Frederick (Fritz) Roth is Professor and Chair of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and a pioneer in massively-multiplexed functional assays and computational variant effect predictors. He works directly with the co-founders on technology, research goals, and product direction.

Eric J. Evans
Eric J. Evans, M.B.A.
Business Advisor
Harvard Kennedy School

Eric is an experienced life sciences senior executive, beginning at Procter & Gamble and Boston Consulting Group before serving as CEO for several biomedical companies, including Targeted Cell Therapies, Abazyme, Lumos Catheter Systems, and Follica Biosciences.

Victoria Parikh
Victoria Parikh, M.D.
Clinical Advisor
Stanford University

Victoria (Vicki) Parikh directs the Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease and is an Assistant Professor at Stanford, splitting her time between clinic and lab. She works with the co-founders to ensure maximum positive clinical impact.

Jeanne Morin-Leisk
Jeanne Morin-Leisk, Ph.D.
Product Advisor

Jeanne is a trained Clinical Genomic Scientist and experienced Product Manager who has led product development and technology integration for multiple genetic testing companies, ensuring the roadmap aligns with industry needs.

Emil Pedersen
Emil Pedersen, M.S.
Engineering Advisor

Emil is a data scientist and engineering leader who has built four teams from the ground up across multiple industries. He holds a B.S. in Physics and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Aarhus University.

Frank Feenstra
Frank Feenstra, M.B.A.
Sales Advisor

Frank is Managing Director at FHF Ventures, holding an MBA from the University of Chicago. He brings decades of experience selling high-value data assets in a B2B setting and advising executive teams.

Brian Shirts
Brian Shirts, M.D., Ph.D.
Clinical Consultant

Brian is a board-certified physician and Assistant Director of UW Medicine Genetics and Solid Tumor Informatics at UW Laboratory Medicine, specializing in genetic testing for hereditary cancer risk and rare variant classification.

Interns

Interns

Andy Negrut
Andy Negrut
Machine Learning Intern

Andy is a student majoring in computer science with a primary interest in machine learning and AI, working on Constantiam's systems for understanding genetic variants. He is currently pursuing a degree at Rice University.