LA JOLLA, CA—La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) is pleased to announce that shipping entrepreneur Rob Martinez, DLP, global pharmaceutical research leader Takashi Shimada, Ph.D., biotechnology executive Daniel D. Shoemaker, Ph.D., and business and non-profit pioneer Eric Thomas, MS, have joined the Institute’s Board of Directors.
“The LJI Board of Directors is where great minds across many disciplines come together to advance medical science,” says LJI Professor, President and CEO Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., MBA. “Our newest Board members are ready to share their expertise, their experience, and their passion for expanding the impact of LJI’s work.”
Rob Martinez, DLP, is a leading authority in parcel economics and carrier negotiations. He is Founder and CEO of Transult, Inc., a San Diego–based transportation consulting firm that advises private equity sponsors, portfolio companies, and enterprise shippers. Martinez is also the Founder and former CEO of Shipware, LLC, a consulting and technology platform for large shippers. Under his leadership, Shipware scaled rapidly, earning multiple Inc. 5000 designations and national recognition as a Best Place to Work, before being successfully acquired by a private equity-backed strategic buyer. Martinez also serves on the Board of SIB Holdings and is a member of Tiger 21, a global network of entrepreneurs and investors.
Takashi Shimada, Ph.D., is a pioneering research scientist and the Global Head of Research at Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd., a Japan-based global specialty pharmaceutical company. Shimada’s scientific achievements include the cloning of FGF23 from an ultra-rare bone metabolic disorder, tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO). Shimada demonstrated that FGF23 is a key physiological regulator of phosphate and vitamin D metabolism, as well as a causative factor in several phosphate-wasting disorders. This work contributed to the development of Crysvita, a monoclonal antibody targeting FGF23. In his leadership positions at Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd., Shimada successfully initiated multiple collaborations with major Japanese pharmaceutical companies to co-develop novel therapeutic assets. In 2025, Shimada was appointed Head of the company’s Innovation Center, an early-stage drug development laboratory based in Tokyo. In 2026, he assumed the additional role of Global Head of Research.
Daniel D. Shoemaker, Ph.D., is a biotechnology executive with a distinguished career spanning cell therapy, immuno-oncology, and systems biology. For 12 years, Shoemaker served as Chief Scientific Officer at Fate Therapeutics, where his team achieved several first-of-kind landmarks in the field of cell therapy, including the first-ever treatment of patients with iPSC-derived, cell-based, cancer immunotherapies. He also held the role of CSO at GHC Technologies and senior leadership positions at Merck and Rosetta Inpharmatics.
Eric Thomas, MS, is a long-time leader in the San Diego business community. In 1996, Thomas started FreedomVoice Systems (FVS), which provided small business voice services to help companies start, run, and grow. He grew FVS to over 90 employees and nearly $20M in revenue, and the company was eventually sold to GoDaddy in 2016. More recently, Thomas served as CFO for Rancho Biosciences—the leading firm for data curation for pharmaceutical companies (now primarily owned by private equity.). Thomas currently runs two companies focused on real estate investments, and a non-profit company (Art for Your Home) focused on art photography as a way to raise money for Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
