SAN DIEGO, April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- aTyr Pharma ("aTyr"), a biotherapeutics company engaged in the discovery and development of Physiocrine-based therapeutics to address rare diseases, announced today that it has named Marcy Graham as Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Ms. Graham was previously Executive Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Ambit Biosciences, where she built the company's investor relations program from their initial public offering to their eventual acquisition. In her role at aTyr, Ms. Graham will spearhead investor relationship management while positioning the company as a global leader in the development of first-in-class, Physiocrine-based medicines to address severe, rare diseases.

"We are thrilled that Marcy has come on board during such an important and exciting time for our company," said John Mendlein, Ph.D., CEO and executive chairman of aTyr Pharma. "We continue to explore the potential benefits of our first-in-class, Physiocrine-based medicines for patients suffering from severe genetic diseases, and her counsel will be invaluable in communicating the results of Resolaris, our naturally occurring immuno-modulator to treat severe rare diseases."

About Marcy Graham

Marcy Graham currently serves as our Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications and is the former Executive Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for Ambit Biosciences, a small cap biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for patients with an acute form of leukemia. During her tenure at both Ambit and Genoptix, Ms. Graham built and managed investor relations programs for each company as they entered the public markets through initial public offerings. She has served in investor relations and communications roles of increasing responsibility, including Senior Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Sequenom, Inc.; Executive Director, Investor Relations at Genoptix, Inc.; and Director of Investor Relations at Novatel Wireless, beginning her career in the investor relations role at Leap Wireless, home of wireless telecommunications provider Cricket Communications. Ms. Graham is active in local business organizations, currently serving as an advisor in the Springboard program, a UCSD CONNECT incubator developed to assist entrepreneurs in their start-up endeavors; and was local president of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), contributing to leadership initiatives at both the local and national levels. Ms. Graham earned a Certification in Investor Relations from the University of California, Irvine an M.B.A. and a B.A. degree in journalism from the University of New Mexico.

About aTyr Pharma

aTyr Pharma is engaged in the discovery and clinical development of innovative medicines for patients suffering from severe rare diseases using its knowledge of Physiocrine biology, a newly discovered set of physiological modulators. To protect this pipeline, aTyr built an intellectual property estate comprising 24 patents and over 200 pending patent applications that are solely owned or exclusively licensed by aTyr. aTyr's key programs are currently focused on severe, rare diseases characterized by immune dysregulation, for which there are currently limited or no treatment options. The Company was founded by Professors Paul Schimmel and Xiang-Lei Yang, two leading aminoacyl tRNA synthetase scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

For more information, please visit http://www.atyrpharma.com.

SOURCE aTyr Pharma