Dr. Polu is a nephrologist and clinical development executive who has extensive experience in developing drugs in kidney diseases and in complications of kidney failure. He most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Equillium (NASDAQ: EQ), a company focused on developing novel therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, and has served as a member of the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI), a joint initiative between the FDA, American Society of Nephrology, and leaders in academia, industry, and the kidney community. Previously, he was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Frazier Healthcare, a life science-focused venture capital firm, and founded Expedition Therapeutics, a search company focused on identifying and in-licensing assets in the kidney and autoimmune therapeutic areas. Dr. Polu has also served in executive and management level roles at Raptor Pharmaceuticals, CytomX Therapeutics, Affymax, and Amgen. Currently he serves as a Principal at Red Tree Venture Capital and is a Board Director at Frazier Life Sciences Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:FLACU). Dr. Polu received his B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. He completed his residency at the University of Colorado followed by a clinical and research fellowship in nephrology at Harvard Medical School at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.