Nkarta, Inc. (Nkarta) announced the appointments of Laura K. Shawver, Ph.D. and Leone Patterson to its Board of Directors. Laura K. Shawver, Ph.D. is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Silverback Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company advancing a pipeline of therapies that are systemically delivered, but locally active and target fundamental disease pathways in cancer, fibrosis and virology. Previously she served as President, CEO and Director of Synthorx, Inc. until its acquisition by Sanofi in January 2020 for $2.5 billion. Leone Patterson is President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc., a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on ocular and rare diseases. Prior to Adverum, Ms. Patterson served as the Chief Financial Officer of Diadexus, Inc. Earlier, Ms. Patterson was Vice President and CFO of Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. until its acquisition by Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In addition, she served in financial leadership roles at NetApp, Inc., Exelixis, Inc., Novartis AG and Chiron. With these two appointments, the Nkarta Board of Directors increased from seven to nine members. On joining the Board, Ms. Patterson becomes Chair of the Audit Committee of Nkarta’s Board.