Skip to contentLeadership Team
Kelsey Moody, PhD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Moody is a process-oriented drug developer and executive who has specialized in the study of aging and aging mechanisms for over a decade. Since 2013, Dr. Moody has raised over $30 million in venture capital and successfully built Ichor Life Sciences (formerly Ichor Therapeutics) from a living room start-up into a premier, vertically integrated research organization.
R&D initiatives that constitute Ichor's portfolio companies span enzyme therapy, small molecule, antibody mimetics, contract research services, and a strategic investment fund.
Dr. Moody holds a PhD from University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and an MBA from Concordia University Wisconsin.
Kelsey Moody, PhD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Aaron Wolfe, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Dr. Wolfe holds a PhD in Structural Biology, Biochemistry, and Biophysics (SB3) from Syracuse University. During his graduate work, Dr. Wolfe progressed from single molecule biophysics to high throughput assay development in detergent membrane protein complex interactions to fill the lack of quantification that plagues the field.
In this time, Aaron also raised $300,000 and founded the boutique protein engineering firm Finger Lakes Bio, LLC, which developed a proprietary expression tag that enables the scaled manufacturing of complex proteins in E.coli. Dr. Wolfe took on the role of Chief Science Officer and Partner at Ichor Life Sciences after Finger Lakes Bio was acquired by Ichor in 2017.
In this role, he took part in over $14 million in fundraising across Ichor's portfolio of companies. As a biophysicist with over 15 years of experience, Dr. Wolfe continues to look at the world and ask how we can illuminate scientific black boxes as fast as possible.
Aaron Wolfe, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Danique Wortel, DVM
Attending Veterinarian
Dr. Wortel is a veterinarian that specializes in laboratory animal medicine and small animal general medicine. She founded the pharmacology department and continues to serve as Attending Veterinarian at Ichor Life Sciences.
She also serves as Attending Veterinarian at Trudeau Institute. Dr. Wortel has extensive technical experience in laboratory animal husbandry, xenograft models, genetic models, and microsurgery. She has developed policies for NYS Department of Health, USDA, OLAW, IACUC, and AAALAC compliance de novo.
Dr. Wortel also works at LaFayette Veterinary Clinic and Spay and Neuter Syracuse in small animal general practice. Dr. Wortel holds a DVM from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University and a certificate in laboratory animal medicine from University of Guelph.
Danique Wortel, DVM
Attending Veterinarian
Lisa Sonneborn, MA, LMHC
President of Clinical Trial Services
Lisa Sonneborn is a master’s level clinician who began her career in clinical trials over a decade ago. Starting her career at a premier clinical trial site in Florida, Lisa explored as many roles as was possible before she independently founded and oversaw the growth of Clarity Clinical Research in Upstate NY, a dedicated Alzheimer’s and NASH clinical trial facility.
Clarity conducted clinical trials for some of the world's largest industry biotech and Pharma companies, often out-enrolling some of the country’s most pronounced research facilities. During her time at the helm of the clinic, Lisa was awarded the Health Care Innovator of the Year award in 2019 by the Central New York Business Journal for her work in establishing no-cost memory screening and preventative baseline cognitive testing for her community.
In 2021, Clarity was acquired by the world’s largest research site network. With a deep understanding of the operations of research sites, Lisa brings a unique perspective to Ichor Clinical with a focus on real-world preventative measures to reduce operational burdens for the sites and subjects as they engage in clinical trial protocols.
Lisa Sonneborn, MA, LMHC
President of Clinical Trial Services
Meet our leadership team.
Meet Our Leadership Team.
Ichor, founded on principles of scientific integrity and innovation, was established in our founder's living room and expanded through the strategic acquisitions of Finger Lakes Bio. Ichor emphasizes owning facilities to control experiments and encourages a culture where team members can grow into significant roles, regardless of their initial qualifications, fostering a hands-on and visionary approach to scientific research.
About Ichor Life Sciences
Since its founding in 2013 in the Finger Lakes higher education corridor, Ichor has studied fundamental mechanisms of aging to develop new classes of drugs dedicated to helping people live longer, healthier lives.
Building a successful company is a consequence of what we do in the pursuit of our vision. We are intrinsically motivated to create positive change in the world because we believe we can.