CIRCIO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate Governance Committee
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Member of the Corporate Governance Committee
- Non - Executive Director, Corporate Advisor and Life Science Executive
Damian Marron is an experienced non-executive director, corporate advisor and life science executive with a successful track record of value creation through public and venture capital financing, portfolio planning, M&A, licensing agreements as well as R&D collaborations, both as an executive and in advisory roles. He has notably specialized in immuno-oncology, cell therapy and orphan diseases. Mr. Marron is currently Non-Executive Chair of the Board at Imophoron Ltd,a private UK start-up, Non-Executive Director at Bone Therapeutics a clinical stage, regenerative medicine company listed on Euronext and Resolys Bio, a private, late pre-clinical U.S. startup. He is also Head of Biopharma with Treehill Partners, a global pure-play healthcare advisory firm. Mr. Marron has formerly been chair of the board of directors of PepGen Ltd and the CEO at Agalimmune Ltd, TxCell SA, Cytheris SA, and Trophos SA. Mr Marron is a British and Irish citizen, and he resides in France.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Corporate Governance Committee
Diane Mellett is a consultant to a number of biotech and medical device companies. She has qualified in both US and UK law and advises biotechnology companies in commercial contract and intellectual property matters. She was formerly General Counsel for Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) (LSE: NASDAQ) and led the secondary NASDAQ listing of that company as well as serving on the board of directors. During her time at CAT, she led a successful defense of a contractual dispute with Abbott Pharmaceuticals (now Abbvie) covering the company's major collaboration partnership regarding Humira®, the most successful revenue generating antibody therapy in the pharmaceutical industry to date. Ms. Mellett is a UK citizen, and resides in France.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Executive Officer / Former Consultant in the Pharma & Healthcare Practice of McKinsey & Company, Combined With a PhD in Cancer Research
Erik Digman Wiklund was hired as the Company's CFO in April 2017, and transitioned into the CBO role in October 2018. In October 2021 he was appointed CEO of Circio. Dr Wiklund previously worked for the Norwegian cancer biotechnology company Algeta ASA and the nutraceutical company Aker Biomarine Antarctic AS. He also has management consulting experience from the Pharma & Health Care practice of McKinsey & Company. Dr Wiklund holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from Aarhus University, Denmark, and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- CFO & Head of BD
- Industry Executive
Dr Lubor Gaal is a seasoned industry executive with 25 years of experience working in large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in Europe and the USA.
Most recently, he served as Managing Director and Head of Europe at Locust Walk, a global life science boutique investment bank. At Locust Walk, Dr Gaal was responsible for overseeing all European strategic transactions, including financings, M&A and licensing. Before Locust Walk, he was Head of External Innovation and Licensing and a member of the R&D Management Committee at Almirall and Head of Europe Search and Evaluation for oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prior to that, Dr Gaal held executive management positions at Neuro3d and Vectron Therapeutics, and global business development roles in Bayer. Dr Gaal has a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, USA.
In Circio, Dr Gaal´s core responsibilities will be to oversee all financial, investor relations and business development activities, as well as playing an integral role in defining and executing the corporate strategy.
Dr Thomas Hansen has over 15 years' experience in academic research. Before joining Circio he worked as assistant professor at Aarhus University where he led a research team focusing on RNA biology and bioinformatics. In 2011, Dr Hansen pioneered the discovery of circular RNA in human cells, and later in 2013 published the first functional characterization of circular RNA in Nature. Dr Hansen holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics from Aarhus University, Denmark.
Dr Levitsky is a seasoned internationally recognized expert in immunology, oncology, T-cell immunotherapy and immuno-oncology with in-depth knowledge of preclinical, translational and early stage clinical drug development. He brings extensive experience in pre-clinical drug development of protein-based biologics and small molecules. Dr Levitsky is a medical doctor with a PhD in Virology and post-doctoral training in tumor biology at Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He spent the first 20 years of his career as an academic research scientist, including Associate Professor positions at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the USA. Before joining Circio Dr Levitsky served as Tumor Immunology Leader and Senior Principal Scientist with Roche in Zurich, and his most recent position has been VP, Head of Oncology Research at Molecular Partners, Zurich, Switzerland.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Corporate Governance Committee
Ola Melin joins Circio with over 25 years' experience in Biologics development, manufacturing, and supply, most recently as Director of Technical Operations at OxThera AB, where he was responsible for clinical supply and for establishing a commercially ready manufacturing process and supply chain. Prior to that he spent eighteen years at Biovitrum and Sobi AB, where Melin held senior leadership roles as Head of External Manufacturing and Head of Product Supply, as well as other CMC positions. He started his career with manufacturing process development at Pharmacia. Melin has studied Biochemical engineering at Mälardalen University.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Corporate Governance Committee
Robert Burns is an advisor to companies developing immune based therapies in cancer and autoimmune indications. He has been involved for more than 30 years in building biotechnology companies focused on immuno-oncology. Dr. Burns is currently Chairman of Affibody AB in Sweden, a company developing novel therapies in autoimmune and inflammation indications. Dr. Burns was a member of the board of directors of Oncos Therapeutics OY prior to the Company's acquisition of Targovax Oy. He was previously chairman of the board of directors of Haemostatix Limited before it was acquired by Ergomed plc. He was also previously CEO at 4-Antibody AG, Affitech A/S (NASDAQ/OMX) and Celldex Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ), each an immuno-oncology vaccine and antibody discovery company. Prior to Celldex Therapeutics, Dr. Burns was Director of Technology Licensing at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, an international independently financed not-for-profit research group focused on cancer vaccines and antibody based cancer immunotherapies. He holds a PhD in Chemistry and is a UK citizen, residing in Oxford, United Kingdom.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Corporate Governance Committee
- CEO, CFO, Board Chair and Non - Executive Director
Mr Falck is an experienced CEO, CFO, Board Chair and Non-Executive Director, Venture Capitalist & Growth Investor with demonstrated success in defining and delivering profitable growth while undertaking strategic and organizational change. He has broad experience with Private Equity, Venture Capital, Stock Listed, Family and Government owned entities.
Mr Falck holds an MBA from The Darden School at the University of Virginia and is a graduate of the Norwegian Naval Academy and the Norwegian Defense University College. In addition, Mr Falck has attended Executive Programs at Singularity University and Harvard Business School.