Mobius Care is a precision medicine company dedicated to transforming inflammatory bowel disease treatment
Founded by world-renowned IBD researcher Dr. Thaddeus Stappenbeck at Cleveland Clinic, we are pioneering innovative diagnostics and therapeutics that address the critical unmet needs in IBD. By leveraging advanced AI, multimodal patient data, and breakthrough scientific discoveries, we aim to shift standard of care from a one-size-fits-all approach to personalized, targeted care that improves patient outcomes and quality of life.
Our Vision
A future free from the burden of immunological and inflammatory diseases through precision medicine and technological innovations.
Our Mission
Our mission is to usher in a new era of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care through precision medicine. Grounded in clinical and scientific evidence, we are developing novel diagnostics and therapeutics precisely tailored to each patient’s unique biology. Driven by innovation and our unwavering commitment to improving patient lives, we aspire to deliver solutions that outperform current standard of care.
Leadership Team
Thaddeus Stappenbeck, MD, Ph.D.
Dr. Stappenbeck is the Founder of Mobius and serves as the Chair of the Department of Inflammation and Immunity in the Lerner Research Institute at Cleveland Clinic. His previous leadership experience at his former institution, Washington University, includes leading the Division of Lab and Genomic Medicine, that Physician Scientist Training Program, promotions committee chair for Pathology and Immunology. He has also been a study section chair for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Senior Research Awards review panel. He is the author of more than 190 peer reviewed publication in high impact journals with support from the NIH, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, Helmsley Trust, American Asthma Foundation, Rainin Foundation, Broad Medical Research Program, the Gates Foundation, the Pew foundation and has worked with multiple pharmaceutical companies including Genentech, Pfizer, Janssen and Boehringer-Ingelheim. He has been awarded prizes from the Crohn’s & Colitis and Sherman Foundations for outstanding contributions to IBD.
THADDEUS STAPPENBECK, MD, Ph.D.
Founder
Cristina Larkin
Ms. Larkin has over 25 years of experience in senior leadership roles in the biopharmaceutical industry. Most recently, she served as the Chief Operating Officer and a member of the executive team at Spero Therapeutics, a publicly traded biotech company. In this capacity, she was instrumental in guiding the company through its transition from a preclinical private entity to a public firm with three late-stage clinical assets.
Before joining Spero Therapeutics, Ms. Larkin held the position of Assistant Vice President at Allergan (formerly known as Actavis/Forest Labs) from 2004 to 2015, where she occupied various senior leadership roles. From 1994 to 2004, she worked at Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson company, taking on several senior leadership positions in marketing, market access, sales, and sales management.
In addition to her role on the board of directors for Mobius Care, Ms. Larkin serves as a director for Revagenix and FlightPath, as well as being a member of the board of advisors for the non-profit organization Life Science Cares Boston, and serving on the Board of Directors for both APUA (Alliance for Prudent Use of Antibiotics) and Florida State College of Business, BAISSC. Ms. Larkin is also an Executive in Residence (EIR) for the Cleveland Clinic Innovations Fund and Columbia Technology Ventures. She earned her B.S. from Florida State University.
CRISTINA LARKIN
CEO
Hardik Patel, MBA, MS, MSc
Mr. Patel has over 15 years of experience driving innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry, bridging life sciences and technology. He excels in AI/ML-based diagnostics, digital pathology, early drug discovery, and translational research, with a proven track record of bringing groundbreaking ideas from concept to reality.
Prior to Mobius, Hardik held key positions at Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google [X] Life Sciences), an Alphabet company. He led cross-functional efforts to develop novel AI/ML and digital pathology-based diagnostic products and research platforms for oncology and metabolic diseases while forging strategic partnerships. He contributed to securing $25M+ in revenue-generating partnerships. Additionally, he was an integral part of the team that launched Verily’s COVID-19 testing program, helping to establish a CLIA-certified lab during the height of the pandemic.
Earlier in his career, Hardik worked as a scientist at Biogen, contributing to early drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease, and managed a neonatal research lab at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at Northwell Health. His scientific work has been published in over 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.
Hardik holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a Master’s in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from New York Medical College, and a Master’s in Biomedical Technology. His unique blend of scientific expertise, technological innovation, and business acumen positions him as a leader who can effectively translate innovative ideas into impactful solutions for patients and healthcare providers.
HARDIK PATEL, MBA, MS, MSc
CBO
Daniel Shenfeld, Ph.D
Dr. Shenfeld leads Mobius’s AI and software development. Dr. Shenfeld is a healthcare data science and AI executive with over a decade of experience leading product-oriented data science teams, executing on multimillion-dollar strategic initiatives, and building alignment from the board level to development teams. He holds a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University and an M.Sc. in biochemistry from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr. Shenfeld is an expert in machine learning, deep learning, data science, and statistics, with multiple academic publications in top journals including Cell and Nature Biotechnology.
In addition to his work at Mobius, Dr. Shenfeld is the founder and principal of Manganese Health Data Solutions, a consultancy specializing in design and implementation of scalable multi-modal data systems integrating clinical, scientific, and operational workflows, coupled with development of targeted state-of-the-art machine learning applications for production use. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Health Policy, where he works on applications of machine learning to healthcare policy and teaches courses on healthcare, and at the Wharton School of Business, where he teaches courses in Healthcare Data and Analytics and Healthcare AI Strategy.
DANIEL SHENFELD, Ph.D.
Head of AI
Ted Espenschied, Ph.D.
Dr. Espenschied leads biomarker research and development for Mobius. He has more than 15 years’ experience in biomedical research and has worked in the gastroenterology and IBD field for over 10 years. He has broad expertise using in vitro, in vivo, and in silico methods, and extensive applied and theoretical knowledge of microscopy and image analysis using both classical and cutting-edge imaging platforms. He has co-authored publications in journals including The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science, Nature Methods, Developmental Cell, and The Journal of Clinical Investigation. He holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology from Duke University.
TED ESPENSCHIED, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Juliana Woda, Ph.D.
Dr. Woda serves as Mobius’ interim COO and brings 25+ years of R&D experience and 20 years in drug discovery development and commercialization. She is a molecular and developmental biologist by training and has worked in the biotechnology industry advancing projects from discovery through lead optimization and IND enabling studies into multiple clinical trials, across multiple disease areas and treatment modalities. She has also worked on biotechnology investments, performing technology reviews across over 30 academic institutions. She is the cofounder of Clarametyx Biosciences, an antimicrobial clinical stage startup and serves as a member of the scientific advisory board. She currently works as Senior Director and Domain Lead for Therapeutics and Diagnostics in Cleveland Clinic Innovations. She holds a PhD in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University.
JULIANA WODA, Ph.D.
Interim COO
Paul Miller, Ph.D.
Dr. Miller has over 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical R&D. He was most recently the Chief Scientific Officer at Artizan Biosciences where he was responsible for all facets of drug discovery and candidate progression. Prior to Artizan, he was Chief Scientific Officer at Synlogic where he established the research team that advanced a novel, engineered, live biotherapeutic platform from idea to first-in-human studies in under 3 years. Previously, Paul was the Vice President of Infection Biology at AstraZeneca, and before that the Chief Scientific Officer for Antibacterial Research at Pfizer, leading discovery teams that produced 8 drug development candidates, provided critical research support for several successful marketed antibiotics including Zithromax and Zyvox. A microbial geneticist by training, he began his professional career at the Warner-Lambert Company where his work led to new insights into the intrinsic mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Paul received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the Albany Medical College and conducted post-doctoral studies in fungal genetics at the National Institutes of Health. He has served as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Microbial Threats and as a scientific advisor to the CARB-X antibacterial funding initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the area of tuberculosis drug discovery.
PAUL MILLER, Ph.D.
CSO
Sarah Gjimaraj
Ms. Gjimaraj is a versatile and strategic Chief of Staff with over 15 years of experience in leading financial institutions across New York City. She has a proven track record of success in executive partnership roles within both startups and established organizations. Throughout her career, Ms. Gjimaraj has made impactful contributions at notable companies, including Angelo Gordon, TPG, Two Sigma, and Roc Capital. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Opera Performance from Westminster Choir College, showcasing her diverse skill set and unique background.
SARAH GJIMARAJ
Chief of Staff
Scientific Advisory Board
Bruce Sands
Dr. Sands is the Dr. Burrill B. Crohn Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Dr. Sands was awarded his BA and MD from Boston University, and trained in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. After completing GI fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School and served as the Acting Chief of the Gastrointestinal Unit at MGH before moving to Mount Sinai in 2010 as Chief of the Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology. Dr. Sands is widely recognized for his clinical investigations of new therapeutics for the inflammatory bowel diseases and has published over 250 original manuscripts. He was the lead investigator of the landmark studies ACCENT 2, UNIFI and VARSITY, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
BRUCE SANDS, MD, MS
Brian Feagan
Dr. Feagan is Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Division of General Internal Medicine at Western University (Formerly The University of Western Ontario), London, Ontario, Canada. He became the Director of Robarts Clinical Trials at the Robarts Research Institute in 1997 and in 2020, the Senior Scientific Director of Alimentiv Inc. (formerly Robarts Clinical Trials). He completed his medical degree at Western University. His postdoctoral training included a residency in internal medicine and a clinical fellowship in gastroenterology in the Department of Medicine at Western University, and postgraduate training in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
Dr Feagan’s research efforts focus on the design and implementation of randomized controlled trials of therapy for IBD. He has authored more than 500 articles and book chapters and has given over 1000 invited presentations at local, national, and international scientific meetings. He has also been the principal investigator on numerous large-scale randomized clinical trials.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Dr Feagan holds membership in the Canadian and American Association of Gastroenterology, the American College of Gastroenterology, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada (CCC), and the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO).
BRIAN FEAGAN, MD
Florian Rieder
Dr. Rieder is Vice Chair, Co-Director of the IBD section, Director Cleveland Clinic Program for Global Translational Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Director of IBD research and Director of the Advanced IBD Fellowship program at the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. His clinical focus is patients with IBD with a special emphasis on the field of pathogenesis, prediction and therapy of intestinal fibrosis. Dr. Rieder has published more than 150 articles (h-index 52) and book chapters and has been recognized for his expertise as indicated through invitations to clinical guideline steering committees of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO). He is the senior author of the 3rd ECCO guidelines on the ‘Diagnosis and Management of Ulcerative colitis’ and lead author of the first ECCO clinical consensus on ‘Diagnosis and Management of Fibrostenosing Crohn’s Disease. He received multiple international invitations as a speaker, session chair or conference faculty. Dr. Rieder serves as an abstract reviewer for all major GI conferences, he is past associate editor (Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology) and on several editorial boards of medical journals. He is proud of his significant ties to the ECCO, which he served as the chair of Y-ECCO, member of the ECCO operational board, prior Y-ECCO committee member and member of the scientific committee. He is past chair of REACH-IBD and Co-Chair of the Professional Education Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Dr. Rieder is the leading PI on the international Stenosis Therapy and Research (STAR) Consortium with the goal to build a pathway to test anti-fibrotic medications in stricturing Crohn’s disease and was recently awarded the Sherman Emerging Leaders award.
FLORIAN RIEDER, MD
Board of Directors
Linda Li
Ms. Li is a Partner in Digital Health with Cleveland Clinic Ventures, responsible for artificial intelligence and machine learning-enabled clinical breakthrough technologies.
Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic, she has been a veteran health tech venture investor with international market network and experiences for 17 years.
LINDA LI
Todd Schwarzinger
Mr. Schwarzinger is a partner at Cleveland Clinic Ventures, with 16 years of experience in investment banking (Silicon Valley Bank and Morgan Stanley) and consulting experience with healthcare and life-sciences companies. He holds an MBA from Duke University.
TODD SCHWARZINGER, MBA
