Pankaj Mohan, Ph.D.

Founder, CEO & Chairman


Dr. Pankaj Mohan founded Sonnet in 2015 and currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Outlook Therapeutics, Inc. which he also founded (formerly known as Oncobiologics). From January 2011 to June 2018, he served as Oncobiologics’ President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman. Previously, Dr. Mohan served as head of Business Operations and Portfolio Management of Biologics Process and Product Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and as a Director of Bioprocess Engineering at Genentech, Inc. Prior to that Dr. Mohan served as a senior manager at Eli Lilly and Company. From May 1993 to April 1996, Dr. Mohan served as Assistant Professor (Lecturer/Fellow) at the Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom.

Dr. Mohan received a Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemical Engineering from the School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom, a master’s in financial management from Middlesex University Business School, London, United Kingdom, and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee, India. Dr. Mohan also attended an Executive Management Program (AMP) from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Jay Cross

Chief Financial Officer


Jay Cross joined Sonnet BioTherapeutics in May 2019 and serves as the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Sonnet, Mr. Cross was a Managing Director with Chardan Capital’s healthcare investment banking team, where he focused on biopharmaceuticals. From 2002 to 2014, Mr. Cross worked as an analyst and portfolio manager specializing in therapeutics for several global institutional investment firms. He launched his career in finance in 1999 as an associate analyst covering biotechnology on the healthcare equity research team at Hambrecht & Quist.

Mr. Cross earned a Master of Public Health from the Yale University School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Washington & Lee University.

John K. Cini, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder

Dr. John Cini is Chief Scientific Officer and a Co-Founder of Sonnet BioTherapeutics, where he oversees and directs the company’s discovery and development programs. His role includes the oversight of the selection process of cancer and immune-oncology targets and proof-of-concept testing.

Prior to joining Sonnet, he was Vice President of Discovery and Development Sciences at Oncobiologics. He has successfully advanced more than 20 novel monoclonal antibody products from discovery to IND. He is the holder of several novel product and formulation patents and applications. He has been directly involved in several successful novel biologics through early discovery research into development and manufacturing through clinical trials and commercialization.

Previous positions include Executive Director at Mederex (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2010), lead discovery scientific roles at Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon, OrthoBioTech & Pharmaceutical Research), and Bayer. Dr. Cini’s therapeutic areas of expertise in system biology include-oncology, immune-oncology, inflammation, osteoporosis, wound healing, surgical adhesion, and cellular aging.

Susan Dexter

Chief Technical Officer

Susan Dexter serves as Sonnet’s Chief Technical Officer.  She comes to Sonnet with more than twenty-five years in biotechnology science, manufacturing and business development. Susan’s experience includes management of biotechnology contract manufacturing services ranging from process development through commercial manufacturing, and strategic consulting related services. Her prior roles include Managing Director, Latham Biopharm Group; Chief Business Officer at Xcellerex, Inc.; VP of Business Development at The Dow Chemical Company; Assoc. Director of Business Development, Celltech and Lonza.

Ms. Dexter holds a double major with Honors in Immunology and Marketing from American University, Washington, D.C.

Richard Kenney, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Kenney has more than 20 years of experience in translational-stage development of biologics, as well as the commercialization strategy and corporate management of preclinical, clinical-stage and commercialized vaccines and immunotherapies. As President of ClinReg Biologics, he has provided strategic consulting in clinical and regulatory affairs of biologics, medical monitoring and pharmacovigilance in several capacities. Dr. Kenney most recently served as Chief Development Officer at X-VAX Technology and previously held Chief Medical Officer roles at Immune Design and Crucell Holland, where he led the clinical development and regulatory affairs groups. Dr. Kenney was a researcher/reviewer for the FDA for over six years and did post-graduate training at Duke and NIH. Dr. Kenney received a B.S. in Chemistry from George Washington University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.