Leadership
Management
Compugen’s leadership team is comprised of seasoned executives with deep knowledge and expertise in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag has over 25 years of experience in the biotech industry, both in R&D and executive leadership roles. Anat joined Compugen in 2002, and has held various senior managerial positions, including VP R&D, before being appointed President and CEO in 2010. Under her leadership, Compugen transformed from a service provider in the field of computational biology to a therapeutic discovery and development company advancing an innovative immuno-oncology pipeline originating from the company’s computational discovery platforms. Anat joined Compugen’s Board of Directors in 2014. Prior to Compugen, Anat was the Head of R&D and was a member of the executive management team of Mindsense Biosystems Ltd. Anat holds a B.Sc. in Biology from Ben-Gurion University, and an M.Sc. in Chemical Immunology and a Ph.D. in Cellular Biology, both from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Alberto Sessa
Alberto Sessa
Alberto joined Compugen November 1, 2022, as Chief Financial Officer. Alberto brings more than 30 years of industry experience to Compugen by serving in public and private companies. Throughout his career he has gained vast experience in leading financing, investor relations, M&A, and business development transactions. He most recently served as acting CFO at several startup companies in the high-tech industry. Prior to this, as CFO at Nasdaq and TASE listed Allot, he was instrumental in helping turn around the company to reach a path of sustained growth. Previously, Alberto spent seven years as Worldwide Group CFO at Nasdaq listed Amdocs with responsibility for the global financial business activities. Alberto holds a Master of Business Administration and bachelor’s in economics and statistics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Henry Adewoye, M.D.
Henry Adewoye, M.D.
Dr. Adewoye joined Compugen in 2018 as Chief Medical Officer, bringing over 20 years of extensive experience in leading multiple clinical trials in oncology and hematology in both the biopharmaceutical industry and academia. Before Compugen, Dr. Adewoye was with Gilead Sciences Inc., as Clinical Director in Oncology Clinical Research and was on the Oncology Leadership Team. At Gilead, he served as Project Team and Clinical Lead for Zydelig® (idelalisib) and andecaliximab. Previously, he was Clinical Research Medical Director in Oncology at Amgen Inc. Dr. Adewoye was the Global Medical Monitor for the initial registrational trial of the bispecific antibody, blinatumomab (Blincyto®) and several Phase 2 and 3 studies evaluating VEGF inhibitors (motesanib, trebananib) in patients with solid tumors. Dr. Adewoye received his medical degree at the University of Jos, Nigeria and post graduate fellowship training in hematology and laboratory medicine at the University College Hospital Ibadan. Dr. Adewoye completed his residency in internal medicine at Meharry Medical College and completed his fellowship in the combined hematology/medical oncology program at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Adewoye has initial board certifications by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, medical oncology and hematology.
Anat Cohen-Dayag, Ph.D.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag has over 25 years of experience in the biotech industry, both in R&D and executive leadership roles. Anat joined Compugen in 2002, and has held various senior managerial positions, including VP R&D, before being appointed President and CEO in 2010. Under her leadership, Compugen transformed from a service provider in the field of computational biology to a therapeutic discovery and development company advancing an innovative immuno-oncology pipeline originating from the company’s computational discovery platforms. Anat joined Compugen’s Board of Directors in 2014. Prior to Compugen, Anat was the Head of R&D and was a member of the executive management team of Mindsense Biosystems Ltd. Anat holds a B.Sc. in Biology from Ben-Gurion University, and an M.Sc. in Chemical Immunology and a Ph.D. in Cellular Biology, both from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Alberto Sessa
Alberto joined Compugen November 1, 2022, as Chief Financial Officer. Alberto brings more than 30 years of industry experience to Compugen by serving in public and private companies. Throughout his career he has gained vast experience in leading financing, investor relations, M&A, and business development transactions. He most recently served as acting CFO at several startup companies in the high-tech industry. Prior to this, as CFO at Nasdaq and TASE listed Allot, he was instrumental in helping turn around the company to reach a path of sustained growth. Previously, Alberto spent seven years as Worldwide Group CFO at Nasdaq listed Amdocs with responsibility for the global financial business activities. Alberto holds a Master of Business Administration and bachelor’s in economics and statistics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Henry Adewoye, M.D.
Dr. Adewoye joined Compugen in 2018 as Chief Medical Officer, bringing over 20 years of extensive experience in leading multiple clinical trials in oncology and hematology in both the biopharmaceutical industry and academia. Before Compugen, Dr. Adewoye was with Gilead Sciences Inc., as Clinical Director in Oncology Clinical Research and was on the Oncology Leadership Team. At Gilead, he served as Project Team and Clinical Lead for Zydelig® (idelalisib) and andecaliximab. Previously, he was Clinical Research Medical Director in Oncology at Amgen Inc. Dr. Adewoye was the Global Medical Monitor for the initial registrational trial of the bispecific antibody, blinatumomab (Blincyto®) and several Phase 2 and 3 studies evaluating VEGF inhibitors (motesanib, trebananib) in patients with solid tumors. Dr. Adewoye received his medical degree at the University of Jos, Nigeria and post graduate fellowship training in hematology and laboratory medicine at the University College Hospital Ibadan. Dr. Adewoye completed his residency in internal medicine at Meharry Medical College and completed his fellowship in the combined hematology/medical oncology program at Boston Medical Center. Dr. Adewoye has initial board certifications by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, medical oncology and hematology.
Eran Ophir, Ph.D.
Eran Ophir, Ph.D.
Dr. Eran Ophir serves as Chief Scientific Officer, responsible for the company’s scientific, translational medicine and biomarker strategy, underlying the Company’s innovative portfolio of product candidates, overseeing computational discovery and the research and drug discovery activities. Eran brings significant expertise in immunology and immuno-oncology from his research work at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland. Eran joined Compugen in 2015 as a senior scientist and has since held various positions in the R&D department, with increasing responsibilities including appointment to the management team in March 2020 and Senior Vice President of Research and Drug Discovery in April 2022. Eran received a B.Sc. in Bioinformatics from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Zurit Levine, Ph.D.
Zurit Levine, Ph.D.
Dr. Levine was appointed as Senior Vice President, Technology Innovation in 2018, responsible for leading and advancing the company’s computational innovation towards new discovery fields and areas. In this capacity, Dr. Levine is also responsible for Compugen’s IP strategy and portfolio. Dr. Levine joined Compugen in 1999 and has held several positions in Compugen’s Research & Development department. In 2004, she was appointed as Director of Therapeutic Selection & Validation, a position she held until 2007 when she was appointed as Director of Therapeutic Discovery. In 2009, she was appointed as Executive Director of Research & Development. From January 2010 to August 2011, she held the position of Vice President, Research and Development. In August 2011, she was appointed as Vice President, Research and Discovery. Dr. Levine holds a B.Sc. in Biology, an M.Sc. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, all from the Tel Aviv University.
Pierre Ferre, Ph.D., Dr. Vet. Med.
Pierre Ferre, Ph.D., Dr. Vet. Med.
Dr. Ferre joined Compugen in April 2021 as Vice President Preclinical Development. Dr. Ferre has two decades of experience in all aspects of clinical and non-clinical drug development in oncology and immuno-oncology. Dr. Ferre joined Compugen from Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals, France, where he spent most of his career in multiple positions, most recently as Director of Oncology Programs in which he led the development strategy of a portfolio of R&D programs in oncology from initiation and discovery, through preclinical and clinical development. Previously, at Pierre Fabre Oncology R&D, he acted as Director, Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics, overseeing also translational, biomarker-related activities. Before that Dr. Ferre was in charge of oncology preclinical pharmacokinetics. Dr. Ferre holds a PhD in biology, from Toulouse INP (Institut National Polytechnique), and a MSc from Aix-Marseille University and Paris INA-PG (Institut National Agronomique) for his research work conducted in experimental pathophysiology and toxicology.
Eran Ophir, Ph.D.
Dr. Eran Ophir serves as Chief Scientific Officer, responsible for the company’s scientific, translational medicine and biomarker strategy, underlying the Company’s innovative portfolio of product candidates, overseeing computational discovery and the research and drug discovery activities. Eran brings significant expertise in immunology and immuno-oncology from his research work at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland. Eran joined Compugen in 2015 as a senior scientist and has since held various positions in the R&D department, with increasing responsibilities including appointment to the management team in March 2020 and Senior Vice President of Research and Drug Discovery in April 2022. Eran received a B.Sc. in Bioinformatics from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. in Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Zurit Levine, Ph.D.
Dr. Levine was appointed as Senior Vice President, Technology Innovation in 2018, responsible for leading and advancing the company’s computational innovation towards new discovery fields and areas. In this capacity, Dr. Levine is also responsible for Compugen’s IP strategy and portfolio. Dr. Levine joined Compugen in 1999 and has held several positions in Compugen’s Research & Development department. In 2004, she was appointed as Director of Therapeutic Selection & Validation, a position she held until 2007 when she was appointed as Director of Therapeutic Discovery. In 2009, she was appointed as Executive Director of Research & Development. From January 2010 to August 2011, she held the position of Vice President, Research and Development. In August 2011, she was appointed as Vice President, Research and Discovery. Dr. Levine holds a B.Sc. in Biology, an M.Sc. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, all from the Tel Aviv University.
Pierre Ferre, Ph.D., Dr. Vet. Med.
Dr. Ferre joined Compugen in April 2021 as Vice President Preclinical Development. Dr. Ferre has two decades of experience in all aspects of clinical and non-clinical drug development in oncology and immuno-oncology. Dr. Ferre joined Compugen from Pierre Fabre Pharmaceuticals, France, where he spent most of his career in multiple positions, most recently as Director of Oncology Programs in which he led the development strategy of a portfolio of R&D programs in oncology from initiation and discovery, through preclinical and clinical development. Previously, at Pierre Fabre Oncology R&D, he acted as Director, Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics, overseeing also translational, biomarker-related activities. Before that Dr. Ferre was in charge of oncology preclinical pharmacokinetics. Dr. Ferre holds a PhD in biology, from Toulouse INP (Institut National Polytechnique), and a MSc from Aix-Marseille University and Paris INA-PG (Institut National Agronomique) for his research work conducted in experimental pathophysiology and toxicology.
Yaron Turpaz, Ph.D.
Yaron Turpaz, Ph.D.
Yaron was appointed as Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor, Data and Informatics Solutions in May 2023. In his role Yaron is responsible for the overall data flow inside and outside the organization. Yaron supports the Computational Discovery unit in the ongoing development of the computational platforms, and also oversees the establishment of systems for data analytics across the organization. Yaron joined Compugen in 2019 as Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor, Computational Discovery. Yaron has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of research and development informatics, data sciences and technology in the biotech and pharma space with hands-on experience using cloud-based high throughput computational, machine learning and genomics platforms for drug discovery and development applications in precision medicine. In his extensive pharma and biotech career, he has held senior R&D Informatics roles at Human Longevity, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Global Gene Corp. and Affymetrix. Yaron continues to serve as Chief Information Officer and Senior Advisor at Engine Biosciences. Yaron received a B.Sc. in Biology from Tel Aviv University, a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He also held an Adjunct Assistant Professor position at the Centre for Quantitative Medicine of Duke-National University of Singapore, Graduate Medical School.
Dorit Amitay
Dorit Amitay
Dorit Amitay joined Compugen’s human resources department in 2000, after spending over 10 years at the Nisha Group, where she was part of the original team that built one of Israel’s leading headhunting and placement agencies, and subsequently specialized in executive recruitment. At Compugen, Ms. Amitay took on increasingly greater responsibilities until assuming her current position as Vice President, Human Resources in 2007. Ms. Amitay holds a B.A. in Social Sciences and an MBA, both from Ben Gurion University and an M.A. in Organizational Consulting and Development from The College of Management Academic Studies.
Eran Ben Dor
Eran Ben Dor
Eran Ben Dor joined Compugen in 2019, as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Eran brings over 20 years of international legal experience representing private and public companies traded on NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, in various legal matters such as financing transactions, M&As, licensing, and other strategic transactions. Eran served as a senior partner in the international firm ZAG/SW (currently Sullivan & Worcester) and spent years in the firm’s offices in the U.S.. In his most recent position at ZAG/SW, he served as senior partner and head of the corporate and capital markets department at the Tel Aviv office and worked with clients in the life science and high-tech sectors. Eran is a member of both the New York and Israeli bar. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Laws, LL.B. from Tel Aviv University and a Bachelor of Arts, B.A. in Economy from Tel Aviv University.
Yaron Turpaz, Ph.D.
Yaron was appointed as Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor, Data and Informatics Solutions in May 2023. In his role Yaron is responsible for the overall data flow inside and outside the organization. Yaron supports the Computational Discovery unit in the ongoing development of the computational platforms, and also oversees the establishment of systems for data analytics across the organization. Yaron joined Compugen in 2019 as Senior Vice President and Senior Advisor, Computational Discovery. Yaron has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of research and development informatics, data sciences and technology in the biotech and pharma space with hands-on experience using cloud-based high throughput computational, machine learning and genomics platforms for drug discovery and development applications in precision medicine. In his extensive pharma and biotech career, he has held senior R&D Informatics roles at Human Longevity, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Global Gene Corp. and Affymetrix. Yaron continues to serve as Chief Information Officer and Senior Advisor at Engine Biosciences. Yaron received a B.Sc. in Biology from Tel Aviv University, a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. He also held an Adjunct Assistant Professor position at the Centre for Quantitative Medicine of Duke-National University of Singapore, Graduate Medical School.
Dorit Amitay
Dorit Amitay joined Compugen’s human resources department in 2000, after spending over 10 years at the Nisha Group, where she was part of the original team that built one of Israel’s leading headhunting and placement agencies, and subsequently specialized in executive recruitment. At Compugen, Ms. Amitay took on increasingly greater responsibilities until assuming her current position as Vice President, Human Resources in 2007. Ms. Amitay holds a B.A. in Social Sciences and an MBA, both from Ben Gurion University and an M.A. in Organizational Consulting and Development from The College of Management Academic Studies.
Eran Ben Dor
Eran Ben Dor joined Compugen in 2019, as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Eran brings over 20 years of international legal experience representing private and public companies traded on NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, in various legal matters such as financing transactions, M&As, licensing, and other strategic transactions. Eran served as a senior partner in the international firm ZAG/SW (currently Sullivan & Worcester) and spent years in the firm’s offices in the U.S.. In his most recent position at ZAG/SW, he served as senior partner and head of the corporate and capital markets department at the Tel Aviv office and worked with clients in the life science and high-tech sectors. Eran is a member of both the New York and Israeli bar. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Laws, LL.B. from Tel Aviv University and a Bachelor of Arts, B.A. in Economy from Tel Aviv University.
Board of Directors
Paul Sekhri joined Compugen’s Board of Directors as its Chairman in October 2017. Paul has extensive experience both as a leader and a Board member in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industry including those with a focus on immunology. Paul has been a director on more than thirty private and public company, and non-profit Boards. Paul currently holds positions as President and CEO, vTv Therapeutics, Inc., Chairman of the Board at Longboard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Pharming N.V. and is a Board Director at Oryn Therapeutics, Spring Discovery, eGenesis Inc., Ipsen S.A., and Veeva Systems Inc. Paul held the position of President and CEO at eGenesis Inc., Lycera Corp., Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which he also founded and ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc. Paul was previously Senior VP of Integrated Care at Sanofi, Group Executive VP, Global Business Development, and Chief Strategy Officer at Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., and served as SVP Global Strategy and Search and Evaluation, Business Development and Licensing at Novartis. Paul also served as Operating Partner and Head of the Biotechnology Operating Group at TPG Biotech, the life sciences venture capital arm of TPGCapital. Paul received his BS degree in Zoology from the University of Maryland and completed post-graduate studies at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag has over 25 years of experience in the biotech industry, both in R&D and executive leadership roles. Anat joined Compugen in 2002, and has held various senior managerial positions, including VP R&D, before being appointed President and CEO in 2010. Under her leadership, Compugen transformed from a service provider in the field of computational biology to a therapeutic discovery and development company advancing an innovative immuno-oncology pipeline originating from the company’s computational discovery platforms. Anat joined Compugen’s Board of Directors in 2014 and Gamida Cell’s Board of Directors in January 2022. Prior to Compugen, Anat was the Head of R&D and was a member of the executive management team of Mindsense Biosystems Ltd. Anat holds a B.Sc. in Biology from Ben-Gurion University, and an M.Sc. in Chemical Immunology and a Ph.D. in Cellular Biology, both from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Dr. Mathias Hukkelhoven joined Compugen’s Board of Directors on 01 March 2022. Dr. Hukkelhoven has a wealth of experience in global regulatory affairs and drug development, evidenced by his contribution to more than 50 NCEs and hundreds of new indications and line extensions over his career to date. Dr. Hukkelhoven has participated in activities that have shaped health authority interactions for the industry, including serving as chairperson of the Regulatory Affairs Coordinating Committee at PhRMA, and recently as a PhRMA negotiator for the PDUFA VII negotiations with the FDA. Since his retirement from Bristol Myers Squibb in July 2021, Math has been a consultant for several biotech companies, R&D Strategy Advisor for LianBio and Senior Advisor for McKinsey. Math is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc. Math joined Bristol Myers Squibb in March 2010 as the Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory, Safety & Biometrics and was also responsible for the R&D group in BMS China and the Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics group. As such, he had responsibility for a large part of the global Bristol Myers Squibb development organization. Since the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol Myers Squibb, he was responsible for Global Regulatory and Safety Sciences at Bristol Myers Squibb. He was accountable for setting regulatory strategy and driving execution of global regulatory and pharmacovigilance plans for Bristol Myers Squibb. He led the regulatory and development efforts across the product development and commercialization process to ensure optimal regulatory strategy and interactions at each step of the process – research and development, manufacturing, and commercialization. Prior to joining Bristol Myers Squibb, Math held the role of Chairman Portfolio Stewardship Board at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. From 2001 to 2009, he was the Senior Vice President, Global Head Drug Regulatory Affairs at Novartis. Math received his B.S. and Ph.D. honors degrees in Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Gilead Halevy joined Compugen’s Board of Directors in 2018. Mr. Halevy brings to Compugen extensive experience in complex cross-border transactions, deal-making and finance. He is a founding member and general partner of Kedma Capital Partners, a leading Israeli private equity fund since 2006. Prior to establishing Kedma Mr. Halevy was with Giza Venture Capital, where he led investments in communication and information technology companies and directed Giza’s European business activities. Previously, Mr. Halevy practiced law at White & Case LLP, where he was also a founding member of the firm’s Israel practice. Mr. Halevy currently serves as chairman of Brand Industries Ltd., Iskoor Finance Ltd., Carmel Wineries, Continuity Software Ltd. and S. AL Holdings. Mr. Halevy holds a B.A. in Humanities (a multidisciplinary program for exceptional students) and an LL.B. (Magna Cum Laude) both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dr. Kinneret Livnat Savitzky joined Compugen’s Board of Directors in 2018. Dr. Livnat Savitzky brings to Compugen significant experience in the life sciences industry, including drug discovery and development, corporate partnering and capital raising. She currently serves as the CEO and a board member of FutuRx Ltd., an Israeli biotechnology accelerator established by OrbiMed Israel Partners, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Takeda Ventures Inc. (the venture group of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company). As part of her role at FutuRx she also serves as a chairperson or board member in several of the FutuRx portfolio companies. Dr. Livnat Savitzky also serves as an active chairperson in KAHR Medical and as a director in Hadasit Medical Research and Development, DreaMed Diabetes and Biomica. Previously, Dr. Livnat Savitzky served as CEO of BioLineRx Ltd. a drug development company focused on oncology. Previously, Dr. Livnat Savitzky held various R&D management positions at BioLineRx and Compugen. Dr. Livnat Savitzky holds a B.Sc. in Biology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an M.S.c and Ph.D. with distinction in Human Genetics from Tel Aviv University.
Eran Perry brings to Compugen over 20 years of diverse experience across various segments of the healthcare industry as an entrepreneur and venture capital investor, as well as in general management and strategy. In 2018, Mr. Perry co-founded MII Fund & Labs, a dermatology-focused venture capital fund where he also serves as Managing Director and Chairman of the Investment Committee. Since 2017, Mr. Perry has been a co-founder and active board member of ICD Pharma, a developer of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals. Mr. Perry is also the co-founder and board member of several pharmaceutical companies, including Musli Thyropeutics, Seanergy Dermatology, and Follicle Pharma. Previously, he served as Managing Director and Partner of Israel Healthcare Ventures (IHCV) and represented IHCV in numerous portfolio companies. Prior to IHCV, Mr. Perry was a consultant in McKinsey & Company, serving clients worldwide in the pharmaceutical industry, among others. Prior to that, he was a member of the Global Marketing group at Novartis Oncology. Before moving to the private sector, Mr. Perry served in the Israeli Ministry of Justice. Mr. Perry holds an MBA from Columbia University, and an LL.B. in Law and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science, both from Tel Aviv University.
Sanford Zweifach joined Compugen’s Board of Directors in June 2018. Sandy is a senior executive with over 28 years of experience in the life sciences industry. He has extensive experience in corporate partnering, business development, operations, private and public investing, and capital raising. Sandy served as a Venture Partner at Medicxi, an international investment firm focused on the life sciences sector. He founded and served as CEO of both Nuvelution Pharma, Inc. and Ascendancy Healthcare, Inc. He was also a Partner at Reedland Capital Partners, a boutique investment bank, where he headed its life sciences M&A and advisory efforts. Prior to this, he was CEO of Pathways Diagnostics, a biomarker development company. Sandy was a Managing Director/CFO of Bay City Capital, a venture capital/merchant banking firm, specializing in the biotech and the life science industry, where he was President of the firm’s M&A and financing division and was also responsible for oversight of the firm’s finance department. Prior to this, he was President and CFO of Epoch Biosciences, which was acquired by Nanogen. Currently, he is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Carisma Therapeutics, a Chair of the Business Advisory Board of IMIDomics Inc. an Executive Chairman of Kaerus Bioscience Ltd., and a member of the Board of Directors of Essa Pharma, Inc. Earlier in his career, Sandy was a Certified Public Accountant (US) for Coopers & Lybrand and held various investment banking positions focusing on biotech. He received his B.A. in Biology from UC San Diego and an M.S. in Human Physiology from UC Davis.
Scientific and Strategic Advisors
Prof. Drew Pardoll, is the Abeloff Professor of Oncology, Medicine, Pathology, and Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, and Director of the Bloomberg Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins. For the past two decades, Prof. Pardoll has studied molecular aspects of immune regulation, particularly related to mechanisms by which cancer cells evade the immune system and has made seminal advances in immunology, including the discovery of new types of immune cells and regulatory mechanisms. He was the first to propose blockade of PD-1 for cancer therapy, and his research led the clinical development of the first anti-PD-1 antibody. Prof. Pardoll is the inventor of a number of immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines, and was a scientific founder of Amplimmune Inc. Prof. Pardoll completed his M.D., Ph.D., Medical Residency and Oncology Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Nils Lonberg is a pioneer in the field of immuno-oncology with 30 years of experience in leading drug discovery and platform development teams in biotech and pharma. Currently, Dr. Lonberg serves as Executive in Residence at Canaan Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm. Prior to joining Canaan Partners, Dr. Lonberg spent 10 years with Bristol Myers Squibb, leading drug discovery efforts for immuno-oncology, most recently as Senior Vice President, Oncology Discovery Biology. Under his leadership, Yervoy® (ipilimumab) was the first checkpoint blockade therapy to receive FDA regulatory approval in 2011 as cancer immunotherapy treatment, followed by Opdivo® (nivolumab), the first anti-PD-1 antibody to enter clinical development, which was approved by the FDA in 2014. Previously, Dr. Lonberg was Scientific Director at Genpharm International and Medarex, where his research contributed significantly to the discovery of 10 FDA-approved antibody therapeutics. Dr. Lonberg received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2015.
Prof. McInnes is a global leader in the field of arthritis research. He currently serves as Vice Principal and Head of College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences in the University of Glasgow. For over two decades he has led numerous clinical trials and pathogenesis investigation programs in inflammatory arthritis at the international level. His work has focused upon the biology of inflammatory cytokines in arthritis and extended to other inflammatory diseases. More recently he has worked on the mechanisms of co-morbidities in chronic diseases. He has in addition pioneered the area of precision medicine in inflammatory arthritis. For the last 5 years, he has served as the Director of the ARUK Centre of Excellence for Rheumatoid Arthritis, now renewed as the UK Centre for Inflammatory Arthritis through to 2024. He is Chief Investigator of the IMID-Bio-UK meta-consortium leading the UK effort to discover precision medicine tractable biomarkers for application in immune diseases. He is immediate past chairman of the Foreum (Foundation for European Rheumatology Research) Scientific Committee, leads the European Roadmap programme that is defining the research agenda for European rheumatology for the next decade and in 2019 became President of EULAR, the leading trans-national society for rheumatology across Europe. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. He has been recipient of a number of prizes recognizing his work including e.g. the Sir James Black Medal, 2017, The Heberden Medal from BSR in 2018 and most recently the Carol Nachmann Prize in 2019.
Dr. Merad is the Mount Sinai Endowed professor in Cancer Immunology and the Director of the Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr. Merad also co-leads the Cancer Immunology program at The Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Institute and is the Director of the Mount Sinai Human Immune Monitoring Center (HIMC). Dr. Merad’s laboratory made seminal discoveries to the understanding of the mechanisms that control the development and functional identity of tissue resident dendritic cells and macrophages during homeostasis and examining how these regulations are changed in cancer and inflammatory diseases. The overarching goal of her laboratory is to identify dysregulated pathways in macrophages and dendritic cells that can be harnessed to treat cancer using both genetically engineered mouse models and human lesions to address these questions. To expand the understanding of immune cells contribution to human lesions, she founded in 2009, the human immune monitoring center at Mount Sinai to implement technology platforms to maximize information obtained from limited biological samples. In 2016, she took the leadership of the Precision Immunology Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine (PrIISM) to continue to lead initiatives to enhance human immunology science. PrIISM integrates immunological research programs with synergistic expertise in biology, medicine, technology, physics, mathematics and computational biology which come together to frame novel questions to understand the contribution of immune cells to disease initiation, progression and response to treatment, to implement cutting edge technologies and to develop novel immunotherapy strategies for the treatment of human diseases. Dr. Merad trained as an oncologist in France and obtained her Ph.D. in immunology at Stanford University and the University of Paris VII. She is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the recipient of the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology.
Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine, Professor of Surgery, and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC), Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) Center at UCLA. Dr Ribas is a physician-scientist who conducts laboratory and clinical research in malignant melanoma, focusing on gene engineered T cells, PD-1 blockade and BRAF targeted therapies. His National Cancer Institute (NCI), State of California and foundation-supported research laboratory develops models of disease to test new therapeutic options, studies mechanism of action of treatments in patients and the molecular mechanisms of therapy resistance. He has been instrumental in the clinical development of several agents approved by the FDA, including pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), vemurafenib (Zelboraf®), cobimetinib (Cotellic®), dabrafenib (Tafinlar®) and trametinib (Mekinist®). Dr. Ribas currently serves as President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine of the US, of the Fellows of the AACR Academy (FAACR) and the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), has a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Buenos Aires, co-led the Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C)-Cancer Research Institute (CRI)-AACR Immunotherapy Dream Team with the Nobel Laureate James Allison, is the recipient of a NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, was profiled as one of the five Visionaries in Medicine by the New York Times on May 27, 2018, was acknowledged as Great Immigrant by the Carnegie Foundation in the New York Times on July 4, 2018, and is the recipient of the 2014 AACR Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award, the 2018 AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology, the 2019 William B. Coley Award in Basic and Tumor Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), and the 2020 ESMO Award for Translational Research. Dr. Ribas studied medicine at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and has undergone postdoctoral training at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego and at UCLA.
Dr. Howard Soule is a world leader in the field of prostate cancer. As Chief Science Officer at the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Dr. Soule coordinates global academic, government and biopharmaceutical sector research activity and is responsible for the implementation of Prostate Cancer Foundation global research strategies. He is also a member of the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program Integration Panel. Dr. Soule received his Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in virology and epidemiology and was a postdoctoral fellow in immunology and vascular biology at the Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Soule has substantial R&D and business development experience in the biopharmaceutical and diagnostics industries.
Dr. Elliot Sigal is a former Executive Vice President and Director of Bristol Myers Squibb. He served as Chief Scientific Officer and President of R&D for Bristol Myers Squibb from 2004 until 2013. Under his leadership, fourteen new medicines came to market including Baraclude® (Hepatitis B), Orencia® (Rheumatoid Arthritis), Sprycel® (Leukemia), Eliquis® (Stroke), and Yervoy®, the first checkpoint inhibitor (Melanoma). Dr. Sigal was instrumental in developing the Bristol Myers Squibb’s initial strategy in biologics and helping to build the company’s research into a lead position in immuno-oncology, which has revolutionized the practice of medicine in cancer. In 2012, Dr. Sigal was named the best R&D chief in the pharmaceutical industry by Scrip Intelligence. Dr. Sigal joined Bristol Myers Squibb in 1997 and held roles in both discovery and development before ascending to chief scientific officer. Positions prior to Bristol Myers Squibb included a faculty appointment at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), senior executive roles at Syntex/Roche and CEO of the genomics firm, Mercator Genetics. Dr. Sigal currently serves as a senior advisor to the healthcare team of New Enterprise Associates and also consults for select biotechnology companies. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Adaptimmune, Surface Oncology and Affinia. He co-chairs the Scientific Advisory Board for Amgen and is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee for the Sean Parker Institute for Cancer Immunology. Dr. Sigal received his M.D. from the University of Chicago in 1981 and trained in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Medicine at UCSF. Prior to medical school he received a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Purdue University.
