# Jorge Dimartino

> Jorge F. DiMartino, M.D., Ph.D., is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Clinical and Translational Development at Plexium, a San Diego-based biotech pioneering targeted protein degradation. A physician-scientist trained in genetics, immunology, and pediatric oncology across UC Berkeley, Cornell, UC San Diego, and Stanford, DiMartino has spent over two decades advancing cancer drugs from bench to bedside. His fingerprints are on three now-marketed therapies: vismodegib, venetoclax, and enasidenib - each a breakthrough in its own right. At Plexium, he oversees clinical programs targeting SMARCA2, IKZF2, CDK2, and CRAF using the company's DELTA Discovery platform, a novel approach to degrading proteins previously considered undruggable.

- **Role:** Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Clinical and Translational Development at Plexium
- **Organizations:** Plexium, Kronos Bio, Celgene, Genentech, Stanford University, UC San Diego, Cornell University, UC Berkeley
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A. in Genetics, University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D. in Immunology, Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, M.D., University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, Residency in Pediatrics, Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Post-doctoral Fellowship, Stanford University, Department of Pathology
- **Known for:** Played a key role in the early development of vismodegib (Erivedge), the first FDA-approved hedgehog pathway inhibitor, Led BCL-2 inhibitor programs at Genentech including venetoclax (Venclexta), now a standard-of-care for CLL and AML, Helped advance enasidenib (Idhifa), a first-in-class IDH2 inhibitor for AML, through early clinical development at Celgene

## Career timeline

- **Pre-2005** — Academic physician-scientist at Stanford and Cincinnati Children's Hospital after completing pediatric oncology training
- **~2005** — Joined Genentech as founding member of Exploratory Clinical Development group; led BCL-2 programs navitoclax and venetoclax; played key role in hedgehog pathway inhibitor vismodegib
- **2011** — Joined Celgene as Vice President, Translational Development; later appointed Head of Protein Homeostasis and Epigenetics Thematic Center of Excellence (TCoE); collaborated with Agios on IDH2 inhibitor enasidenib and Epizyme on DOT1L inhibitor pinometostat
- **2019-12** — Joined Kronos Bio as Chief Medical Officer and EVP, Clinical Development; built clinical and translational development group from scratch; led advancement of three clinical-stage programs including KB-0742 and lanraplenib
- **2024-10** — Joined Plexium as Chief Medical Officer and EVP of Clinical and Translational Development; overseeing clinical programs targeting SMARCA2, IKZF2, CDK2, CRAF, and others using DELTA Discovery platform

## Achievements

- Played a key role in the early development of vismodegib (Erivedge), the first FDA-approved hedgehog pathway inhibitor
- Led BCL-2 inhibitor programs at Genentech including venetoclax (Venclexta), now a standard-of-care for CLL and AML
- Helped advance enasidenib (Idhifa), a first-in-class IDH2 inhibitor for AML, through early clinical development at Celgene
- Built Kronos Bio's clinical and translational development group from the ground up
- Led three clinical-stage programs simultaneously at Kronos Bio
- Joined Plexium to lead its first-in-human studies including PLX-4545, a molecular glue degrader of IKZF2
- Represented at AACR 2025 with two oral presentations on selective monovalent degrader programs

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Plexium closes latest funding round bringing total to $225M, supporting ongoing clinical development under DiMartino's leadership
- **2025-04** — Plexium presents two oral presentations and multiple posters at AACR 2025, including first-in-human data on PLX-4545, a molecular glue degrader of IKZF2
- **2024-10** — Jorge DiMartino officially joins Plexium as Chief Medical Officer and EVP of Clinical and Translational Development

## Links

- Website: https://plexium.com/team/jorge-f-dimartino-md-phd/
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jorge-dimartino-m-d-ph-d-8a0b184

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jorge-dimartino
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-14