Dominique (Domi) Stickens, Ph.D, has 15 years of drug discovery and translational research experience. Prior to Mitobridge, he led and contributed to programs at Merck across drug discovery & development from early stages of basic research to clinical development. His drug discovery experience include multiple therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases and inflammation, immuno-oncology, sarcopenia, urology and hematological disorders. Domi initiated his career in healthcare during his academic research, which focused on rare diseases, principally disorders of dysregulated bone development. Connecting with patients and patient advocacy groups catalyzed a long-term passion and career commitment to the advancement of treatments for diseases with a high unmet medical need. Domi received his BS degree in Biology from Antwerp University, Belgium and his Ph.D. in developmental genetics from UTSW medical center, Dallas (TX). After his thesis research, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Zena Werb at UCSF, San Francisco (CA).