Akouos announced the company has raised $50 million in Series A financing. In conjunction with the financing, the company expanded its board of directors with two independent directors: Arthur Tzianabos, Ph.D., president and CEO of Homology Medicines, and Christopher Smith, former CEO of Cochlear Ltd. Dr. Tzianabos and Mr. Smith join existing board members Dr. Simons, Dr. Parmar and Ed Mathers, partner at NEA. The company also announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Michael McKenna, M.D., as chief medical officer and Jennifer Wellman as senior vice president, regulatory. Dr. McKenna, a scientific co-founder of Akouos. He holds the Joseph B. Nadol, Jr. Chair and is the most recent director of the Division of Otology and Neurotology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and has been professor of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School since 2006. Ms. Wellman is a veteran in AAV gene therapy development, with broad translational experience across multiple therapeutic areas over the past two decades. She was a co-founder of Spark Therapeutics, Inc., where she led regulatory strategy from pre-IND through BLA acceptance for Luxturna, the first in vivo gene therapy approved in the United States. Formation of Scientific Advisory Board Akouos announced the formation of its scientific advisory board, comprised of experts and physicians in gene therapy and hearing loss: Luk Vandenberghe, Ph.D., chair and founder director of the Grousbeck Gene Therapy Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear; assistant professor of ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School. Jean Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. F.M. Kirby Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania Michael McKenna, M.D., founder chief medical officer, Akouos, and the Joseph B. Nadol, Jr. Chair at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. William Sewell, Ph.D., founder professor of otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School. Richard Smith, M.D., founder founding director of the Iowa Institute of Human Genetics and the Molecular Otolaryngology and Renal Research Laboratories; professor of otolaryngology, pediatrics, medicine and molecular physiology & biophysics, University of Iowa. Aaron Tward, M.D., Ph.D. assistant professor in residence, department of otolaryngology - head and neck surgery, University of California at San Francisco.