Christopher Kirk, PhD
President and Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder Kezar Life Sciences
Dr. Kirk is the is co-founder and current President and Chief Scientific Officer at Kezar Life Sciences. Prior to founding Kezar, Dr. Kirk was the Vice President of Research at Onyx Pharmaceuticals from April 2010 to April 2014. Dr. Kirk previously served as Director of Pharmacology and Biology at Onyx and at Proteolix, Inc. which was acquired by Onyx in 2009. At Proteolix, Dr. Kirk played a key role in the discovery and early development of the proteasome inhibitor, carfilzomib (Kyprolis®). Dr. Kirk received his B.S. degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Davis, and his Ph.D. degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan.