Leadership

Daniel A. de Boer - Founding CEO

Daniel is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ProQR Therapeutics and has served in this role since the company’s incorporation in 2012. He is also an executive director on the ProQR Board of Directors. A serial entrepreneur and passionate advocate for rare disease patients, Daniel founded ProQR after one of his children was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, with the objective to develop RNA therapies for rare diseases.

Prior to founding ProQR, Daniel was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of several technology companies. In his capacity as ProQR’s CEO, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the leading global association representing the biotechnology industry. He also serves on the Board of the Termeer Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on developing the next generation of leaders in biopharma.

Gerard Platenburg, PhD - Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder

Gerard is our co-founder and has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since 2022, following his tenure as our Chief Innovation Officer from 2014 to 2022, and joined our board as an executive director in May 2024. Gerard has an extensive background in RNA modulation and orphan drug discovery and development and is currently in charge of our R&D. Gerard has more than 25 years of senior managerial experience in growing biotech companies. Prior to joining our company, Gerard worked at Isa Pharmaceuticals B.V. as its Chief Executive Officer. Gerard co-founded Prosensa Holding N.V., growing it to become a well-known clinical stage RNA modulation company, and held various positions during his tenure including as its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Development Officer. Gerard also worked at Pharming B.V. Gerard is a passionate and driven pioneer of early-stage technologies. Gerard has a master’s degree in Chemistry and Molecular Biology from Leiden University and a Ph.D. from Leiden University.

Dennis Hom - Chief Financial Officer

Dennis joined ProQR in 2025 and oversees all corporate development functions, including corporate finance, investor relations, and business development.  He was most recently CFO at Sagimet Biosciences, bringing to ProQR over 25 years of financial leadership across public and private biotech companies. He has raised more than $4.5 billion in capital and executed transactions totaling over $57 billion in disclosed value. At Sagimet, he led multiple financings, including its IPO, and executed a transformational licensing transaction. Earlier in his career, Mr. Hom held roles in business development and M&A at Amgen and Novartis, following investment banking experience at Hambrecht & Quist and its mergers with Chase and JP Morgan, where he advised biotech companies on capital strategy and M&A. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he conducted research in the lab of Nobel Laureate H. Robert Horvitz. 

Dr. Cristina Lopez Lopez, MD, PhD -  Chief Medical Officer

Cristina joined ProQR in 2025 and leads all preclinical, translational, clinical, and regulatory activities. She brings to ProQR over 20 years of global leadership in translational R&D, spanning early discovery to late-stage clinical development. She has deep expertise in translational science, including the integration of biomarker strategies, precision medicine, and patient-centric approaches in therapeutic development. Most recently, she served as Global Head of Neurodegeneration at Johnson & Johnson, where she led therapeutic development across a portfolio of high unmet need conditions. Prior to that, she held senior roles at Roche as Vice President, Global Head of Biomarkers & Translational Technologies, and at Novartis as Vice President, Global Head of Neurodegeneration and Neuromuscular. She holds an MD from Universidad de Santiago de Compostela and a PhD in Neuroscience from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Cajal Institute). A recognized leader in her field, she has authored numerous publications, holds several patents, and is known for her strategic vision and collaborative leadership. 

Sheila Sponselee - Chief People and Operations Officer

Sheila became Chief People and Operations Officer in 2023.  In this role she leads Human Resources, Recruitment, Information Technology, Facilities, CMC, and the Project Management Office. Sheila joined ProQR in 2020 as VP of Human Resources and was then promoted to VP, Head of People and Operations in 2022. She has more than 15 years of experience in human resources, recruitment, and operations across varied industries, including information technology and biopharma. Prior to joining ProQR, she most recently led Human Resources at MyTomorrows in the Netherlands. She studied human resource management at the University of Applied Science (BSc) and completed leadership programs at IMD Business School for Management and Leadership.

Peter Beal, PhD

Peter was appointed as ProQR's Chief ADAR Scientist in December 2024. Peter is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Davis and Director of the NIH-funded UC Davis Chemical Biology Graduate Program. For over 25 years, work in the Beal laboratory has advanced understanding of the structures and mechanism of action for the ADAR enzymes responsible for adenosine to inosine RNA editing in humans. In addition, his group has led in the development of structure-guided methods for optimizing chemically modified oligonucleotides for recruitment of RNA-binding proteins including ADARs. Beal teaches organic chemistry at the undergraduate level and several classes in nucleic acids chemistry and chemical biology at the graduate level. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications in the field of RNA chemical biology and mentored over 50 Ph.D. and M.S. degree students.

Sarah Kiely

Sarah is Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs and has 20 years of healthcare-related and communications experience. She joined ProQR in 2019 as Vice President Investor Relations and Corporate Communications from ImmunoGen, Inc. where she was Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Prior to ImmunoGen, Sarah developed marketing strategies and managed communications at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. There she was responsible for internal and external communications related to the hematologic oncology treatment center and stem cell transplant programs, spanning referring physician outreach, donor communications, community outreach, and patient education. Earlier in her career Sarah also spent a number of years working with an agency that focused on pharmaceutical sales training.  Sarah received an MBA from Boston University and holds a Bachelor’s degree from Boston College.

James Shannon, MD
Non-Executive Director

Dr. Shannon has served on our board since June 2016 and has been Chair of our Scientific Advisory Board since 2020 and was elected Chair of our board in May 2024. Dr. Shannon has had an extensive career in drug development and pharma. From 2012 until his retirement in 2015, he was Chief Medical Officer at GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to that he was Global Head of Pharma Development at Novartis and Senior Vice-President, Clinical Development at Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals. He previously held board positions at several companies including Biotie, Circassia, Crucell, Endocyte and Cerimon Pharmaceuticals. More recently Dr. Shannon also served on the boards of Immodulon Therapeutics Limited and Horizon Therapeutics. Dr. Shannon currently serves as chairman of the boards at MannKind Corp., a public biopharmaceutical company, and Kyowa Kirin NA, a private biopharmaceutical company and subsidiary of Kyowa Kirin, and and holds board positions at myTomorrows, Xilio Therapeutics, a public clinical-stage biotechnology company, and Leyden Labaratories. He received his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Queen’s University of Belfast and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians.

Dinko Valerio
Non-Executive Director

Dr. Valerio is one of our founders and joined our board in 2014. Dr. Valerio chaired our board since its inception until May 2024. As a scientist and an experienced biotech entrepreneur Dr. Valerio is founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Crucell N.V., and one of the founders of its spinout, Galapagos Genomics. He was the founder and former general partner of Aescap Venture, a life sciences venture capital firm and co-founder and current board member of Leyden Laboratories. In 1992 Dr. Valerio was appointed professor of gene therapy at the University of Leiden, where he also received his Ph.D. with honors. Dr. Valerio was a visiting scientific specialist at Genentech, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute.

Alison Lawton
Non-Executive Director

Alison F. Lawton (non-executive director) has served on our board since 2014. Ms. Lawton is an executive leader with more than 35 years of experience in biopharma. Most recently, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kaleido Biosciences, Inc. from 2018 to 2020, and prior to that, as its President and Chief Operating Officer from 2017 to 2018. Ms. Lawton previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Aura Biosciences, from 2015 until 2017, and prior to that, as its consultant. Before that, Ms. Lawton served as Chief Operating Officer at OvaScience and as a biotech consultant for various companies, including as a part-time Chief Operating Officer consultant at X4 Pharmaceuticals from 2014 to 2016. Earlier in her career, Ms. Lawton worked at various positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme, and subsequently at Sanofi-Aventis, including as head of Genzyme Biosurgery and Global Market Access. Ms. Lawton currently serves on the boards of directors of public pharmaceutical companies including X4 Pharmaceuticals and Dianthus Therapeutics, and on the board of directors of BlueRock Therapeutics, a private biotech company. She previously served on the boards of directors of Spyre Therapeutics, Verastem, CoLucid until its acquisition by Merck & Co. She is past President and Chair of the board of Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and is a member of the FDA's Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee. She earned her BSc in Pharmacoogy, with honors, from King's College London.  

Theresa Heggie
Non-Executive Director

Theresa Heggie was reappointed to our board in 2023. Previously, Ms. Heggie served as our Chief Operating Officer, after originally joining the Management Team in 2021 as our Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to joining us, she served as Chief Executive Officer of Freeline Therapeutics from 2020 to 2021. Previously, she held senior commercial and operating roles at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals as Senior Vice President, Head of CEMEA from 2017 to 2020. Before that, Ms. Heggie had roles at Bupa Group until 2016 and at Shire plc, where she built the EMEA rare disease business. Earlier in her career, Ms. Heggie held increasingly senior positions in the commercial organizations at Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Baxter Healthcare. She previously served as a member of the boards of directors at SOBI (Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB) and Freeline Therapeutics, and currently serves on the board of BioCryst Pharamceuticals, a public pharmaceutical company. Ms. Heggie previously served on our board from 2019 to 2021. She earned her BSc from Cornell University.

Bart Filius
Non-Executive Director

Bart Filius has served on our board since 2019. He is the former President and Chief Operating Officer of Galapagos, a position he held from 2021 to 2023. He joined Galapagos in 2014 as Chief Financial Officer and added the role of Chief Operating Officer in 2017. Prior to joining Galapagos, Mr. Filius held a variety of executive positions at Sanofi, where he was Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Europe, Country manager for The Netherlands and Vice President for Mergers & Acquisitions. Prior to joining Sanofi, Mr. Filius was a strategy consultant at Arthur D. Little. Mr. Filius currently holds a board position at Idorsia Ltd.. Mr. Filius has an MBA degree from INSEAD and a bachelor’s degree in Business from Nyenrode University.

Begoña Carreño PhD
Non-Executive Director

Begoña Carreño, PhD, joined our board in 2023. Dr. Carreño is currently the Chief Business Development Officer at Aspeya Switzerland SA (formerly known as Vectura Fertin Pharma). Prior to this, she spent 18 years at Novartis Pharma AG in its Business Development and Licensing (“BD&L”) group, her last role being World Wide BD&L Head in the Ophthalmology Franchise, based in Basel, Switzerland. Dr. Carreño has over 20 years Pharmaceutical Development experience. She is a seasoned and energetic BD&L professional that has led the BD&L efforts at Novartis across five different therapeutic franchises in the last 15 years. She has a proven track record in licensing deals, M&A as well as developing collaborations within cross functional, multi-cultural, matrix environment at global, regional and country level. Before joining Novartis, she was the Head of External Pharmaceutical projects at Almirall (Barcelona, Spain). Dr. Carreño holds a Ph.D. in Drug Delivery from the London School of Pharmacy (UK) and a BSc in Biochemistry from Keele University (UK). 

Martin Maier, PhD 
Non-Executive Director

Martin Maier, PhD, joined our board in 2024. Dr. Maier currently serves as Senior Vice President, Oncology at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Maier joined Alnylam in 2006 and has contributed to the development of lipid nanoparticles and GalNAc conjugates, two clinically validated platforms for siRNA delivery, and the advancement of multiple therapeutic programs to development, which has resulted in the approval of five RNAi therapeutic to date. After receiving his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1997 at the University of Tübingen, Germany, Dr. Maier moved to the U.S. for his postdoctoral research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals (“Ionis”), where he assumed a permanent position working on novel chemistries and delivery systems for antisense oligonucleotides (“AONs”). Dr. Maier currently serves on various additional boards including the board of directors of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Gene and RNA Therapy Center Tübingen, Germany. During his 25 years of experience in the field of oligonucleotide therapeutics in both, ASO and RNAi platforms, Dr. Maier authored more than 90 peer-reviewed scientific publications, reviews and book chapters and is the inventor on more than 40 issued patents.

Daniel A. de Boer
Executive Director

Founding CEO

Gerard Platenburg
Executive Director

Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder

Henri Termeer - In Memoriam

Henri was our co-founder and vice chairman of our Board of Directors until he passed away in 2017. Henri served as chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer of Genzyme Corporation until the acquisition by Sanofi. Prior to Genzyme, Henri worked for Baxter International Laboratories. He was a member of the board for  each of Massachusetts General Hospital, Partners HealthCare, fellows of Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Biotechnology Industry Organization. He was chairman emeritus of the New England Healthcare Institute. Henri further served as board member of Abiomed, Aveo Pharmaceuticals, Verastem, Moderna Therapeutics, Medical Simulation and Allergan. He was appointed to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Council of Economic Advisors and was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s board of directors. Henri studied economics at the Economische Hogeschool at the Erasmus University and earned an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.
Henri was a visionary rare disease leader that pioneered rare disease drug development. In 2017 Henri unexpectedly passed away. ProQR will continue to honor his legacy through completing the mission we set out together. Learn more on termeertribute.org

James Shannon, MD 

Dr. Shannon has served on our board since June 2016 and has been Chair of our Scientific Advisory Board since 2020 and was elected Chair of our board in May 2024. Dr. Shannon has had an extensive career in drug development and pharma. From 2012 until his retirement in 2015, he was Chief Medical Officer at GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to that he was Global Head of Pharma Development at Novartis and Senior Vice-President, Clinical Development at Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals. He previously held board positions at several companies including Biotie, Circassia, Crucell, Endocyte and Cerimon Pharmaceuticals. More recently Dr. Shannon also served on the boards of Immodulon Therapeutics Limited and Horizon Therapeutics. Dr. Shannon currently serves as chairman of the boards at MannKind Corp., a public biopharmaceutical company, and Kyowa Kirin NA, a private biopharmaceutical company and subsidiary of Kyowa Kirin, and and holds board positions at myTomorrows, Xilio Therapeutics, a public clinical-stage biotechnology company, and Leyden Labaratories. He received his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Queen’s University of Belfast and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians.

Phillip D. Zamore, PhD

Phillip is the Gretchen Stone Cook Chair of Biomedical Sciences and Chair of the RNA Therapeutics Institute at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. He earned his AB and PhD degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University before pursuing postdoctoral studies at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. The Zamore laboratory studies Argonaute proteins and small RNA silencing pathways, including the RNA interference (RNAi), microRNA, and PIWI-interacting RNA pathways. The laboratory is especially interested the diversity of molecular mechanisms that enable Argonaute proteins to fulfill a panoply of biological tasks in cell division, anti-viral defense, transposon silencing, regulation of mRNA stability and translation, and epigenetic repression of transcription. Zamore and his collaborators seek to use the fundamental insights gained from studies in model and non-model bacteria, insects, and mammals to design therapies for human diseases. Phillip is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors. A recipient of the RNA Society/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2024 Distinguished Research Mentor Award, he has mentored 60 current and former MS, PhD, and post-doctoral trainees, 19 of whom now lead their own academic laboratories. He is a co-founder of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Voyager Therapeutics, and City Therapeutics.

Peter Beal, PhD

Peter is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California at Davis and Director of the NIH-funded UC Davis Chemical Biology Graduate Program. For over 25 years, work in the Beal laboratory has advanced understanding of the structures and mechanism of action for the ADAR enzymes responsible for adenosine to inosine RNA editing in humans. In addition, his group has led in the development of structure-guided methods for optimizing chemically modified oligonucleotides for recruitment of RNA-binding proteins including ADARs. Beal teaches organic chemistry at the undergraduate level and several classes in nucleic acids chemistry and chemical biology at the graduate level. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications in the field of RNA chemical biology and mentored over 50 Ph.D. and M.S. degree students.

Martin Maier, PhD 

Martin Maier, PhD, joined our board in 2024. Dr. Maier currently serves as Senior Vice President, Oncology at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Maier joined Alnylam in 2006 and has contributed to the development of lipid nanoparticles and GalNAc conjugates, two clinically validated platforms for siRNA delivery, and the advancement of multiple therapeutic programs to development, which has resulted in the approval of five RNAi therapeutic to date. After receiving his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1997 at the University of Tübingen, Germany, Dr. Maier moved to the U.S. for his postdoctoral research at Ionis Pharmaceuticals (“Ionis”), where he assumed a permanent position working on novel chemistries and delivery systems for antisense oligonucleotides (“AONs”). Dr. Maier currently serves on various additional boards including the board of directors of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Gene and RNA Therapy Center Tübingen, Germany. During his 25 years of experience in the field of oligonucleotide therapeutics in both, ASO and RNAi platforms, Dr. Maier authored more than 90 peer-reviewed scientific publications, reviews and book chapters and is the inventor on more than 40 issued patents.

John Maraganore, PhD

John Maraganore, PhD, joined as a strategic advisor to our Board in March 2022. He served as the founding Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Alnylam from 2002 to 2021, where he built the company from early platform research on RNA interference through global approval and commercialization of the first four RNAi therapeutic medicines, ONPATTRO®, GIVLAARI®, OXLUMO®, and Leqvio®. At Alnylam, he also led the company’s value creation strategy, building $ 25.0 billion in market capitalization, and forming over 20 major pharmaceutical alliances. He continues to serve on the Alnylam Scientific Advisory Board. Prior to Alnylam, he served as an officer and a member of the management team for Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was responsible for the company’s product franchises in oncology, and cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases, in addition to leadership of M&A, strategy, and biotherapeutics functions. Before Millennium, he served as Director of Molecular Biology and Director of Market and Business Development at Biogen, Inc. where he invented and led the discovery and development of ANGIOMAX® (bivalirudin) for injection. Previously, he was a scientist at ZymoGenetics, Inc. and the Upjohn Company. Mr. Maraganore received his M.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Chicago. He is currently a Venture Partner at ARCH Venture Partners, a Venture Advisor at Atlas Ventures, and an Executive Partner at RTW Investments. He is also Chair of the Board of Directors of Hemab Therapeutics and a member of the Board of Directors of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Beam Therapeutics, Kymera Therapeutics, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization, where he was Chair from 2017-2019. In addition, he serves on the Board of the Termeer Foundation, as Chair of the n-Lorem Foundation Advisory Council, on the Advisory Board of Ariadne Labs, and as a strategic advisor to several innovative companies.