Leadership
Operations
Bek Madjidov
Vice President of Finance and Operations
Bek Madjidov is the Head of Finance and Operations at Juvena Therapeutics, responsible for administrative and operational functions (finance, human resources, information technology, and facilities).
Bek is a transformational leader who brings strong business acumen and over 15 years of finance and operations experience in the biotech and high-tech industries. His areas of expertise are strategic planning, business analysis, management reporting, process improvement, and organizational transformation.
Bek previously served as Finance Director at Genentech (Roche), supporting Product Development and Manufacturing Operations organizations. He provided finance leadership to global product and functional teams and led transformational efforts in business and finance organizations. Prior to Genentech, Bek held a variety of finance and leadership roles at Autodesk and Bio-Rad Laboratories by successfully building and leading teams that built strong, cross-functional business partnerships in complex, matrix organizations.
Bek holds a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in Business Administration from the University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY). Bek is pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Jamie Romero
Senior Biotech Operations Manager
Jamie Romero has over 14 years of biotech industry experience, starting as a Research Associate and growing into a Biotech Operations Manager. She brings to Juvena years of experience within the biotech industry, from her earlier days of working at the bench to managing biotech operations in scaling companies. Jamie has significant experience across facilities operations, office management, HR, accounting, and more. Jamie Romero’s career has fed her need to learn through the field of biomedical research while experiencing the excitement of the biotech start-up world. Jamie earned her Bachelors of Science in molecular biology and minor in Chemistry from SJSU.
Jamie is detail oriented, an effective multi-tasker and used to fast-paced, changing and uncertain environments. Having the ability to prioritize in deadline driven environments, Jamie excels when challenged, wearing multiple hats. She learned by dedicating 12 years to Omniox, Inc., where she was the first employee and grew with the company, taking on multiple diverse tasks to support their growth and needs, followed by Catalyst Biosciences. Many exciting opportunities opened up for her as she had the great opportunity to grow and learn in many different roles, being the “go-to” person; point-of-contact for, if, and, when anything came up through most if not all departments of the company – from lab to office, from finance to HR, from coordinating team-building and company events to providing EA support for the CEO and Executive team.
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Natalie Ploof
Lab Manager
Natalie joined Juvena Therapeutics as a Lab Manager to support, implement and optimize laboratory operations to meet the needs of the growing R&D team.
Before joining Juvena, Natalie worked as a Senior Research Associate at GOOD Meat, where she supported cell line development efforts to identify lead cell lines for their cultivated meat projects. Throughout her tenure at GOOD Meat, Natalie focused her efforts on cell bank management, overseeing all operations related to Master and Master Working Cell Banks. This involved creation of large-scale banks, conducting release and stability testing, managing vial inventories, and overseeing transfers to manufacturing partners. In addition to cell bank management, Natalie managed her department’s controlled document system, working to build-out and standardize relevant quality documents. Through her work, Natalie played a key role in the company’s preparation for the recent FDA/USDA clearances for their cultivated chicken product.
Natalie obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Bioengineering from Santa Clara University. In her free time, she enjoys reading, amateur baking, playing board games with friends, and exploring new neighborhoods in the Bay Area.
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Corporate Development
Matt Gross
Alliance Management & BD Consultant
Matt Gross brings over 20 years of broad biotech experience in Business Development, Alliance Management and Drug Development. Most recently he served as Vice President of Business Development at Rapafusyn Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he closed a multi-target Research Collaboration with a top tier Pharma company. Prior to Rapafusyn, he served as VP of Business Development at Calithera Biosciences where he led BD, alliance management, and strategic planning functions. During his time at Calithera he was responsible for closing multiple transactions including an acquisition of clinical stage oncology assets from Takeda. Prior to his role in Business Development, he served as the Director of Pharmacology at Calithera.
Mr. Gross has a diverse scientific background in pharmacology, toxicology and translational medicine. Prior to Calithera, he served as Scientist II at Adamas Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Gross has held scientific positions with increasing responsibility at Adamas Pharmaceuticals, Avigen Inc., Xoma Corporation and GeneSoft Inc. He received his Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Dasom (Christine) Yoo, PhD
Senior Corporate Development Manager
Christine Yoo, PhD, joined Juvena Therapeutics in May 2025 as Senior Corporate Development Manager. Prior to joining Juvena, she was a Senior Associate at Propel Bio Partners, a life sciences venture capital firm. As the fund’s first hire, Christine played a key role in building internal operations and led due diligence efforts on private therapeutics and biotech companies from Seed through Series B stages.
Before her time in venture capital, Christine served as a Business Development Manager at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, where she supported strategic partnerships and commercialization initiatives.
Christine earned both her B.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, where her research focused on cardiac regeneration using stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring the outdoors with her husband and their two golden retrievers.
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