Editas Medicine Appoints John D. Mendlein, Ph.D., to Board of Directors

Cambridge, Mass., January 28, 2016 – Editas Medicine, a leading genome editing company, today announced the appointment of John D. Mendlein, Ph.D., CEO of aTyr Pharma, to its board of directors.

"I am delighted to welcome Dr. Mendlein to our board," said Katrine Bosley, CEO, Editas Medicine. “His proven track record of building early, dynamic companies and developing new therapeutics for serious diseases will serve as a critical resource for us.”

Dr. Mendlein has served as CEO of aTyr Pharma since 2011, as well as executive chairman for the company from July 2010 to January 2016. He is also vice chairman of the board for Fate Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, and holds board positions with Moderna Therapeutics, Pronutria Biosciences and the emerging companies board of BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization).

Dr. Mendlein previously served as CEO of Adnexus Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, from 2005 to 2008, which was purchased by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in 2008. Dr. Mendlein has also served on the board of directors for Monogram Biosciences, which was acquired by Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings in 2009. Before that, he served as chairman and CEO of Affinium Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Debiopharm Group) from 2000 to 2005, and as a board member, general counsel and chief knowledge officer at Aurora Bioscience Corporation (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals) from August 1996 to September 2001.

Dr. Mendlein holds a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of California, Los Angeles, a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a B.S. in biology from the University of Miami.

About Editas Medicine

Editas Medicine is a leading genome editing company dedicated to treating patients with genetically defined diseases by correcting their disease-causing genes. The company was founded by world leaders in genome editing, and its mission is to translate the promise of genome editing science into a broad class of transformative genomic medicines to benefit the greatest number of patients.