Scholar Rock Holding Corporation announced that Dr. Srinivas Akkaraju, Founder and Managing General Partner at Samsara BioCapital, has been appointed to Scholar Rock's Board of Directors as an independent director. With over two decades of fundamentals-based, long term investment experience in the biotechnology sector, Dr. Akkaraju will add valuable experience and insight to Scholar Rock's Board of Directors as the company advances its late stage development pipeline and also invests in its robust discovery programs. In 2017, Dr. Akkaraju founded Samsara BioCapital, where he currently serves as Managing General Partner. A biotech investment fund that recently invested in Scholar Rock's completed registered direct offering, Samsara is focused on translating cutting-edge biology into new therapies to treat patients with unmet medical needs.

Prior to Samara, Dr. Akkaraju held key strategic, leadership, operational, and advisory roles at various venture capital firms focusing on the biopharmaceutical and life science industries, including Sofinnova Investment Inc., New Leaf Venture Partners, and Panorama Capital, LLC. Prior to co-founding Panorama Capital in 2005, he served as a Partner with J.P. Morgan Partners and advised on Business and Corporate Development at Genentech Inc. Dr. Akkaraju received his M.D. and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University and his undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Computer Science from Rice University. He also serves as a director of Chinook Therapeutics, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Syros Pharmaceuticals, and Jiya Acquisition Corp.

Previously, Dr. Akkaraju served as a director on the Boards of Seattle Genetics, Barrier Therapeutics, Eyetech Pharmaceuticals, ZS Pharma, Synageva Biopharma Corp., aTyr Pharma, and Amarin Corporation plc.