Emil Kuriakose, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer

Emil Kuriakose, M.D. has served as our Chief Medical Officer since May 2023. Dr. Kuriakose joins Terns with more than a decade of biopharmaceutical industry experience, leading clinical development strategy and execution of therapeutics across multiple indications. In his most recent role as chief medical officer at Calithera Biosciences, Inc. Dr. Kuriakose led the transition of two mid-stage clinical programs with subsequent rapid initiation of two phase 2 studies.

Previously, Dr. Kuriakose served as global clinical program lead at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), where he was the global head of early development for MDM2 inhibitor (targeted therapy) and adenosine inhibitor programs in solid and hematologic malignancies. In this role, he was responsible for the development and execution of the clinical development for new oncology agents from the candidate selection process to clinical proof-of-concept stage and integrated development plan including design and execution of phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of novel compounds in the oncology and immuno-oncology portfolio. 

Before that, he served as medical director at Novartis Oncology, where he led a cross-functional team in the design and execution of trials exploring novel immune-oncology and targeted therapy combinations and oversaw late-stage clinical development, strategy, and medical affairs program for farydak (HDACi), sonidegib (Hh inhibitor), and afuresertib (AKTi) in the United States. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kuriakose served as a hematology/oncology fellow at Weill Cornell Medical College and as a research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.