Meet the Team

Confluence Discovery Technologies brings together a talented, diverse team of scientists and professionals with extensive experience in pharma, biotechnology and drug discovery.

Roland Kolbeck, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

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Roland Kolbeck, Ph.D., has served as Aclaris’ Chief Scientific Officer since July 2025, bringing nearly three decades of senior R&D leadership in small and large biopharmaceutical companies and a proven track record of successful drug development to Aclaris. He most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer for Spirovant Sciences, where he directed the company’s strategy related to new indications, targets, and investments.

Previously, Dr. Kolbeck was Vice President, Head of Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmune Research (RIA) at MedImmune, AstraZeneca’s global biologics organization; six monoclonal antibodies originating from the RIA portfolio have since been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Prior to Medimmune, he served in senior scientific roles at Peptimmune and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Kolbeck has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and earned his M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Regensburg and Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology (now the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence), in Munich, Germany.

Shaun Selness, PhD

Senior Vice President,

Head of Discovery and Preclinical Sciences

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Shaun Selness has served as Senior Vice President and Head of Discovery and Preclinical Sciences since November 2025, leading a team focused on the discovery of novel therapeutics targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. He brings over 30 years of leadership experience across the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries to Aclaris.

Prior to his current role, Shaun led the Analytical Sciences team within Bayer Crop Sciences with a focus on supporting formulation development and process optimization. Prior to that role, he led an Emerging Technologies discovery team at Bayer, assessing novel screening technologies to identify molecules for crop protection targets. Prior, Shaun was a Research Fellow in Pfizer's Medicinal Chemistry Department for over a decade, specializing in inflammation/immunology targets and leading interdisciplinary teams that delivered multiple clinical candidates. His early career included a senior scientist role at Sandoz, focusing on process optimization of herbicides.

Shaun earned a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. in Chemistry from Pomona College.

Joseph Monahan, PhD

Special Scientific Advisor

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Dr. Monahan is the site leader of Confluence Discovery Technologies, headquartered at the CORTEX bioscience district adjacent to Washing

Joseph Monahan, Ph.D., Aclaris’ Special Scientific Advisor, served as Aclaris’ Chief Scientific Officer from January 2021 through July 2025, and has more than 35 years of pharmaceutical research experience. Previously, Joseph served as Aclaris’ Executive Vice President, Research and Development.

Prior to joining Aclaris, Joseph founded the biotechnology company, Confluence Life Sciences, Inc. in 2010 and functioned as the Chief Scientific Officer. He has also held multiple research leadership positions at Pfizer Inc., including Executive Director, Inflammation Research, global kinase platform leadership team lead, site head of enzymology and biophysics, and inflammation research and development lead. Throughout his career, he led the advancement of project portfolios from early discovery through phase 1 and 2 clinical development. He has held adjunct and visiting professor positions at Washington University Medical School, University of Missouri and University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. He has published over 85 peer-reviewed publications and is listed as co-inventor on 14 patents.

Joseph received his Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of New York at Buffalo and Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry from the University of South Carolina.

Jon Jacobsen, PhD

Senior Vice President, Chemistry, St. Louis Site Head

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Jon brings more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

Prior to joining Confluence, Jon served as Director of Chemistry at Confluence Life Sciences, Inc. since 2011. He has also held multiple science and leadership positions at Pfizer and legacy companies including that of a senior fellow, chemistry director, as well as in project and chemistry team leadership roles for drug discovery projects. Over his career, Jon worked on multiple projects within CNS, cancer, cardiovascular and inflammation disease areas. He successfully led teams that advanced a number of compounds from discovery to clinical development and worked closely with development teams to advance candidates. During the last twelve years, his research has focused on the inhibition of multiple kinase targets involved in cancer and inflammation pathways. He has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and is listed as a co-inventor on more than 50 patents.

Jon received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and Doctor of Philosophy in synthetic chemistry from the University of California, Irvine. He also carried out post-doctoral studies at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.

David Anderson, PhD

Vice President, Translational Sciences

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Dave brings more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has been a Research Project Leader in Pfizer and legacy companies leading projects targeting autoimmune diseases. Dave has also worked in small biotech companies such as Luc Therapeutics focusing on neuropsychiatric disorders. These efforts resulted in two clinical programs: MIJ821 for depression and CAD-9303 for schizophrenia. Dave is a medicinal chemist by training and has experience across disciplines in discovery and early development, leading programs from early discovery and screening to preclinical development. Dave joined Confluence in 2017 and presently leads the ATI-2138 program.

Dave received his Bachelor of Arts from Lawrence University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois.

William Taylor, PhD

Senior Director, Biochemistry

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William brings 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery.

William joined Confluence in 2018 following seventeen years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he gained extensive experience in bringing small molecules forward from initial screen through hit-to-lead and lead optimization, with expertise in assay development, screening, and mechanism-of-action studies. He has a history of providing strategic leadership and critical analyses across multiple target classes and disease areas.

William completed his undergraduate work at Case Western Reserve University before
training as a mechanistic enzymologist at Indiana University and the University of
Michigan.

Jeff Hirsch

Senior Director, Operations

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John Springer, MS, MBA

Senior Director, Pharmaceutical Development and R&D Project Management

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John brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical experience in drug discovery and drug development.

John manages drug substance chemical development across the portfolio including, Chemical, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC), process development, non-GMP and cGMP manufacture, IND submission, CMC QA/QC integrated activities, and clinical trial API supply. Previously John held scientific and leadership positions at Confluence serving as Senior Principle Scientist in medicinal chemistry and Outsourcing Manager for Confluence Discovery Technologies since 2012 delivering irreversible covalent kinase inhibitors across the portfolio and compound generation for clients. Prior to Confluence John was a principal scientist in medicinal chemistry, chemistry outsourcing manager, and process chemist at Pfizer delivering clinical candidates in Inflammation/Immunology, cardiovascular, and oncology research therapeutic areas. He has co-authored peer-reviewed publications and is listed as an inventor on more than 17 patents.

John received his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry with minor in Biological Sciences and a Master of Science in chemistry from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. John also received his Master of Business Administration from Maryville University-St. Louis.

Meet the Team

Roland Kolbeck, PhD

Shaun Selness, PhD

Joseph Monahan, PhD

Jon Jacobsen, PhD

David Anderson, PhD

William Taylor, PhD

Jeff Hirsch

John Springer, MS, MBA

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