Tariq Kassum brings 20 years of experience in corporate development, strategy and business leadership to Celsius. He joined the company in 2019 from Obsidian Therapeutics, where he was a co-founder and served as chief operating officer and head of corporate development. During this time, Tariq helped build Obsidian into a leading platform technology company and played a central role in the company’s strategic partnership with Celgene. Prior to Obsidian, Tariq spent seven years with Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Takeda, most recently as vice president, business development and strategy for Takeda Oncology, responsible for transactions, collaborations, alliance management and strategic planning. Before that, he led Takeda’s global corporate development efforts, where he managed multiple acquisitions and divestitures in the U.S. and internationally. He was also part of the business development team at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to Takeda, Tariq was an analyst covering healthcare equities for institutional investment firms, where he led scientific due diligence and investment decisions on numerous companies and pharmaceutical compounds across multiple therapeutic areas. He began his career as an investment banker with CIBC World Markets, serving clients in the biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals industries.

Tariq holds an MD from the University of Toronto and a BA in biology and French literature from Cornell University.