Our team is built with experts in the fields of genetic medicine, manufacturing and drug development. Our driven and compassionate team comes to work each day to make progress towards our goal of delivering cures to patients living with devastating diseases.
Dr. Alexandria Forbes has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since March 2015. Prior to joining MeiraGTx, Dr. Forbes served as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations at Kadmon Holdings, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from September 2013 to April 2015. Prior to Kadmon Holdings, Inc., Dr. Forbes spent eleven years as a healthcare investor at Sivik Global Healthcare, a healthcare hedge fund, from September 2000 to November 2008, and at Meadowvale Asset Management, a healthcare hedge fund, from January 2010 to June 2012. Before entering the hedge fund industry, Dr. Forbes was a Human Frontiers/Howard Hughes postdoctoral fellow at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center from March 1997 to September 2000. Prior to this, Dr. Forbes was a research fellow at Duke University, and also at the Carnegie Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Forbes received an M.A. in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Oxford University.
Richard Giroux has served as our Chief Operating Officer since March 2015 and as Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer since April 2019. Mr. Giroux joined MeiraGTx from Sarissa Capital Management LP, an activist healthcare hedge fund, where he was a partner from March 2014 to March 2015. Prior to Sarissa Capital Management LP, Mr. Giroux was a founding partner and healthcare portfolio manager of Meadowvale Partners, a multi-strategy hedge fund, from January 2010 until June 2012. Prior to Meadowvale Partners, he was a partner at Sivik Global Healthcare (formerly Argus Partners), a healthcare hedge fund, from August 2001 to November 2008. Prior to that, he worked at investment banks Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Giroux received a B.A. in Economics from Yale University.
Dr. Stuart Naylor has served as our Chief Scientific Officer, Ophthalmology since May 2026. From April 2015 to May 2026, Dr. Naylor was Chief Development Officer, MeiraGTx. From April 2015 to April 2016, Dr. Naylor was Chief Executive Officer of Athena Vision, a biotechnology company. From June 2013 to April 2015, Dr. Naylor served as managing director of Coltivare Ltd., a healthcare consulting company. From 2008 to 2013, Dr. Naylor was Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of Oxford BioMedica plc, a gene therapy company. Prior to joining Oxford BioMedica, Dr. Naylor focused on translational cancer research at the Institute of Cancer Research. Dr. Naylor has a B.S.C. in microbiology and virology from the University of Warwick, a M.S. in Immunology from Kings College London, and a Ph.D. from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratory studying ovarian cancer and cytokine biology.
Dr. Robert Zeldin has served as Chief Medical Officer of MeiraGTx since August 2020. A clinical immunologist by training, Dr. Zeldin brings over two decades of clinical, regulatory, and industry experience to MeiraGTx. Previously, Dr. Zeldin was CMO of Acceleron Pharma where he was instrumental in the preparation of the biologics license application for luspatercept which has been approved in the U.S. and Europe for the treatment of anemia associated with myelodysplastic syndromes and anemia associated with beta thalassemia, as well as CMO of Immunovant. Prior to Acceleron, he was CMO of Belgium-based Ablynx NV, where he directed the Phase 3 development program and regulatory filings of caplacizumab, which has been approved for the treatment of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in the U.S. and Europe. Dr. Zeldin also served as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development at Stallergenes SA and Vice President and U.S. Medical Franchise Head – Respiratory and Dermatology at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Dr. Zeldin spent seven years at Merck in increasingly strategic roles in worldwide regulatory affairs and clinical development. Prior to his work in industry, Dr. Zeldin served as a Medical Officer at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He also spent several years in clinical practice.
Dr. Zeldin holds a B.A. with honors from the Johns Hopkins University and a M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. His postdoctoral training included Residency in Internal Medicine at the University Health Center of Pittsburgh and Fellowship in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Robert Wollin joined MeiraGTx in August 2019 and serves as General Counsel and Secretary. Prior to joining MeiraGTx, Mr. Wollin was Director, Associate General Counsel at Investment Technology Group, Inc. (NYSE: ITG), a global financial technology company. Prior to ITG, he was Senior Corporate Counsel in the Corporate Governance and Securities Group at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY). Mr. Wollin began his legal career at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP in New York, where he practiced for nearly a decade as a corporate attorney advising senior management, boards of directors and business clients on a wide range of matters affecting public and private companies. He received a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Penny Fleck, M.T., MBA has served as the Chief Development Officer of MeiraGTx since May 2026. Ms. Fleck brings over two decades of experience leading research and development at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, and ONL Therapeutics. While at Takeda, Ms. Fleck led global development through the approval of multiple assets across several therapeutic areas including gastrointestinal, diabetes, and obesity. Ms. Fleck served as Vice President, Global Head of Specialty Ophthalmology Full Development at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine where she helped create the strategic vision to enter the ophthalmology area, helped to build the portfolio through multiple external partnerships and acquisitions, and led the global development of programs in inherited retinal diseases and geographic atrophy. Prior to joining MeiraGTx, Ms. Fleck served as the Chief Development Officer for ONL Therapeutics where she led the initiation of a global phase 2 program for geographic atrophy. Ms. Fleck received her B.S. in Medical Technology from the University of Cincinnati and her M.B.A from Loyola University Chicago.
John Knighton has served as our Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain since July 2026, leading global manufacturing, process development, and supply chain across the portfolio.
Prior to joining MeiraGTx, Dr. Knighton held senior leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson, most recently as Vice President of Cell Therapy Development and previously as Vice President of Cell and Gene Therapy API Development. He has extensive CMC experience in biologics and advanced cell and gene therapies, including process development, manufacturing, technology transfer and commercialization. Earlier in his career, Dr. Knighton held leadership roles at Centocor R&D, GlaxoSmithKline and SmithKline Beecham.
Dr. Knighton received a Doctorate of Business Administration from Temple University, an MBA from Villanova University, and a B.S. in Microbiology from The Pennsylvania State University
Christine Sheehy is SVP Global Integration of MeiraGTx. Ms. Sheehy is a pharmaceutical business leader with over 25 years of experience in designing and executing operational, financial and organizational infrastructure. Most recently, Ms. Sheehy was SVP of Operations for Kadmon Pharmaceuticals leading the global supply chain, distribution, and IT organizations. Ms. Sheehy was a founding member of start-up pharmaceutical company, Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Kadmon in 2010. During that time, she launched branded and generic products in the U.S. leading the operational business. Globally, she executed international supply and distribution partnerships in Europe and Asia. Prior to Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Sheehy was in a business consulting/finance role for Schneider Downs, specializing in finance and technology in various industries. She also held various finance management roles for Ametek, Inc. Ms. Sheehy was on the board of directors of GPhA from 2006-2008 and also served on various Oracle organizations, Oracle Leaders’ circle- 2010 and 2014, Oracle Women’s Leadership (OWL) program – 2014 and the Oracle Customer Advisory Board.
Tim Randall has served as our SVP of Risk and Internal Controls since April 2019, with responsibility for various corporate programs, including financial reporting compliance, information technology, data privacy, cyber security, internal audit, and operational resilience. Mr. Randall began his career in public accounting, and then spent 20 years at Sony Corporation in management roles that encompassed business risk management, business process optimization, enterprise-wide technology, information security, corporate controls and compliance, and internal audit. Mr. Randall received a B.A. in Mathematics from Oxford University.
Dr. David Rubinstein has served as SVP, Business Development since 2021. Prior to joining MeiraGTx, Dr. Rubinstein spent seven years at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where he held roles of increasing responsibility across commercial, finance, and business development – providing strategy and partnering leadership in support of Regeneron’s genetic medicine, immunology and oncology pipelines. Dr. Rubinstein began his career as a doctoral scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, studying systems biology of cell death and survival.
Dr. Rubinstein received a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the Weizmann Institute of Science and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Prof. Michel Michaelides (BSc MB BS MD(Res) FRCOphth FACS) is a Founding Member of MeiraGTx and Head of Clinical Ophthalmology. He is a Professor of Ophthalmology at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology in the Department of Genetics and Molecular Therapy. He is a Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH) in the Departments of Inherited Eye Disease, Medical Retina, and Paediatric Ophthalmology. He was awarded a Medical Retina and Genetics clinical fellowship at MEH (2008-2009) and a combined Ophthalmic Genetics and Paediatric Ophthalmology Clinical & Research fellowship at Casey Eye Institute, USA (2009-2010).
He is a recipient of a career development award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness (USA) – an award which is rarely given to non-US applicants; and has gained membership of the highly prestigious Macula Society and Retina Society in the USA. He is the International investigator on the Foundation Fighting Blindness Executive Committee – the largest global private funder of research into inherited retinal disease and dry age-related macular degeneration.
He has made notable contributions to the literature and improved understanding and treatment of both inherited and acquired retinal diseases, with over 450 peer-reviewed publications, an H-index of 75, and over 20,500 citations. He is currently the Principal Investigator of 5 active interventional clinical trials and has 10 on-going ethically approved studies, including in-house natural history studies and multi-center international natural history studies.
Dr. Tassos Georgiadis, serves as our SVP, Discovery & Preclinical Development. Dr. Georgiadis has been developing gene therapies for over 20 years, and has been leading AAV vector development and disease modelling spanning various platforms from animal models to cutting-edge technologies such as human retinal organoids. Prior to joining MeiraGTx, Dr. Georgiadis worked at the UCL Institute of Child Health and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology where he focused on ocular disorders and regulation of gene expression. Dr. Georgiadis served on the UK Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee and on the Board of the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy.
Dr. Georgiadis received a PhD in Molecular Genetics from University College London.