Shawn Iadonato, Ph.D., serves as Kineta's chief executive officer. He is a co-founder of Kineta and previously served as chief scientific officer. Under his leadership as CSO, the Kineta pipeline expanded to include the AviiD^™ Screening Platform and five novel drug and vaccine programs with a focus on autoimmune diseases, antivirals, and chronic pain.

Prior to founding Kineta, Shawn co-founded and served as CSO of Illumigen Biosciences Inc. At Illumigen Biosciences, he pioneered its patented drug discovery platform, which relied upon recruitment and screening of healthy populations and elucidation of their shared "wellness" genes. Shawn also led the successful discovery and preclinical development of Illumigen's anti-hepatitis C drug, which ultimately led to the sale of the company in December 2007 to Cubist Pharmaceuticals (now part of Merck & Co.).

Before Illumigen, Shawn managed the Human Genome Center at the University of Washington. He is co-inventor on more than 35 US patents or patent applications. He is principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous ongoing government grants and contracts.

Shawn received a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Washington and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.