ACTINIUM PHARMACEUTICALS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
- Industry Executive
Dr. Shetty is a pharmaceutical industry executive with 36 years of experience at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary Janssen. Most recently Dr. Shetty served as the Head of Enterprise Supply Chain at J&J where he was responsible for the transformation and optimization of J&J's global supply chain.
Dr. Shetty joined Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc. in 1976 ultimately rising to the position of President in 1986 where he led the establishment of Janssen's business in the U.S. From 1999 to 2008 he was Managing Director of Janssen Pharmaceutica, during this time the Janssen Group of companies' global sales grew from $1 billion to $8 billion, and from 2004 until 2012 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors. In Dr. Shetty's most recent role at Johnson & Johnson he was head of Enterprise Supply Chain, where he reported to the CEO and was responsible for the transformation and optimization of Johnson & Johnson's supply chain. Dr. Shetty earned a Ph.D. in Metallurgy and B.A. Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge University and a Master of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University.
In 2007, Dr. Shetty was bestowed the title of Baron by King Albert II of Belgium for his exceptional merits. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Mellon University, serves on the Board of Governors for GS1 (Global Standards) in Belgium and formerly served on the Corporate Advisory Board of the John Hopkins Carey Business School. In 2016, Dr. Shetty was named as Chairperson of the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB), a Belgium based life sciences research institute focused on translating scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications. In addition, he was elected Manager of the Year in 2004 in Flanders and received a Life-Time Achievement Award in India in 2010.
Avinash is an industry veteran in the hematology and oncology field, most recently serving as Vice President, Head of U.S. Medical Affairs - Oncology at Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK). Over the course of his twenty-five-year career, Avinash successfully designed and implemented clinical development, U.S. and global medical affairs, and life cycle management plans for a variety of pharmaceutical products. This has included participation in multiple INDs, NDAs, and sNDA submissions and efficiently managing the product Scientific Advisory Boards (SAB) and Data and Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMB) for hematology, oncology and therapeutic candidates. At GSK, he established the U.S. medical affairs oncology team that oversaw the launch readiness plans for three novel oncology products-Blenrep® in multiple myeloma, Zejula® in ovarian cancer, and dostarlimab in endometrial cancer. In addition to GSK, Avinash has overseen the clinical development, implementation and delivery of oncology life cycle management plans for various oncology therapies at several leading global pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly & Company (Lilly), Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Takeda, Inc. Prior to GSK, he was the VP of Global Medical Affairs at Lilly, during which time he oversaw the global medical affairs team for Lilly's GI Oncology portfolio. Earlier in his career, Avinash contributed to the approval of Janssen's myeloma drug Darzalex® (daratumumab) and leading and strategically executing medical affairs activities globally for Velcade® (bortezomib). Prior to Janssen, Avinash was responsible for the international development of oncology products in solid tumors and hematological malignancies at Sanofi, where he successfully executed pivotal trials that led to NDA submission for Jevtana® (cabazitaxel).
Job Titles:
- Lead Independent Director
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Compensation Committee
- Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
C. David Nicholson, BS, PhD., is lead Independent Director of Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc. He is Chief R&D Officer at Allergan and has served in this role since March 2015. Dr. Nicholson joined Allergan (then Actavis) in August 2014 as Senior Vice President, Global Brands R&D. Previously he was on the Executive Committee of Bayer CropScience as Head of Research & Development responsible for the integration of the company's R&D activities into one global organization. Dr. Nicholson graduated in pharmacology, earning his B.Sc. from the University of Manchester (1975) and his Ph.D. from the University of Wales (1980). Between 1978 and 1988, Dr. Nicholson worked in the pharmaceutical industry for the British company Beecham-Wülfing in Gronau, Germany. The main emphasis of his activities as group leader in a multidisciplinary project group was the development of cardiovascular drugs. From 1988-2007, Dr. Nicholson held various positions of increasing seniority in the UK, the Netherlands and the USA with Organon a Business Unit of Akzo Nobel. Ultimately he became Executive Vice President, Research & Development, and member of the Organon Executive Management Committee. He implemented change programs, leading to maximizing effectiveness in research & development, ensuring customer focus and the establishment of a competitive pipeline of innovative drugs. In 2007, Dr. Nicholson transferred to Schering-Plough, Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA, as Senior Vice President, responsible for Global Project Management and Drug Safety. From 2009 to December 2011, he was Vice President Licensing and Knowledge Management at Merck in Rahway, New Jersey, USA, reporting to the President of Merck R&D. As an integration team member, David Nicholson played a role in the strategic mergers of Organon BioSciences, the human and animal health business of Dutch chemical giant Akzo-Nobel, and Schering-Plough in 2007 as well as of Schering-Plough and Merck in 2009. C. David Nicholson is presently on the Board of multiple biotechnology companies, including Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Clinical Development
Mary leads clinical development programs in hematological malignancies and solid tumors at Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining Actinium, she led multiple clinical trials including the global pivotal Phase 3 study of Uproleselan in AML as well as Phase 1 through Phase 3 clinical trials in patients with multiple myeloma, and solid tumors. She successfully led multidisciplinary teams in the submission of multiple INDs/Clinical Trial Application and participate multiple NDA applications in the US, EU, and other regions at Takeda Inc and Pfizer (Wyeth). She received training in both hematology (M.D.) and immunology (Ph.D.) followed by over twenty years of hematology oncology experience from academics and industry. Before moving her career to industry, she was a faculty, Instructor in Medicine, at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital. Mary received her Doctor of Medicine degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine. and her Ph.D. in Immunology from Chiba University, Graduate School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Harvard Medical School, Boston. Over the course of her career, she has authored over 60 peer reviewed publications in high impact journals.
Gary is responsible for the preparation of the Company's financial reporting, including reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Gary has many years of experience working for public companies. Prior to joining Actinium, he was Controller at Bellerophon Therapeutics, Inc., a public medical device company, and prior to that, he was Vice President Finance of Cogentix Medical, Inc., a public medical device company. From 2003 to 2013, Gary was with Genta Incorporated, a public biopharmaceutical company, where he progressed to be Vice President-Finance and Principal Financial Officer. Earlier in his career, Gary had a number of positions at Pfizer Inc. Gary has an MBA from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Translational Research & Preclinical Development
Helen oversees preclinical research and drug development at Actinium. She brings more than 25 years of Oncology R&D experience from Eli Lilly and ImClone Systems. Prior to joining Actinium, Helen held multiple positions at Eli Lilly culminating as Senior Research Advisor in Cancer Immunobiology. During her career, she focused on preclinical discovery and development of oncology biologic drugs, having led several preclinical programs including the advancement of immune checkpoint therapies and targeted therapies. Helen holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a M.S in Biology from New York University and B.A in Biology from Clark University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Compensation Committee
Jeffrey W. Chell, M.D., became the National Marrow Donor Program's Chief Executive Officer in 2000 where he led the NMDP through transformational growth as the Be The Match Registry tripled to more than 12 million donors, the number of transplants facilitated has grown five fold to over 6,400 annually, and blood transplants and revenue more than tripled to nearly $400 million per year. Dr. Chell is the co-founder and served as Executive Director of CIBMTR ®, the leading research program in the field contributing over 70 research publications per year in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, he served as co-chair of Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW) during its IT transformation project, improving revenues and reducing costs. He then oversaw the merger of BMDW with World Marrow Donor Association and EuroCord. Dr. Chell currently serves as Chair of CLR Insurance, a captive insurance company domiciled in the Cayman Islands. Prior to joining the NMDP, he served as president, Allina Medical Clinics, a 450-physician multi-specialty medical group from 1994 to 1999. Prior to that he practiced Internal Medicine in Minneapolis and in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps.
Dr. Chell received his M.D. from the University of Minnesota and his training in Internal Medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Chell is a member of the American Society of Hematology and a member of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He has received multiple honors including the 2018 Public Service award of the ASBMT, 2017 Most Admired CEO by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, 2010 Healthcare Executive of the Year by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, 2017 Bone Marrow Foundation Service Award.
Jenny Hsieh - Chief Strategy Officer
Jenny has nearly two decades of experience in leading and developing corporate strategies across the healthcare and life sciences industries. Prior to joining Actinium, Jenny was the Head of Corporate Strategy at Immunomedics and helped transform the clinical-stage company into a commercial organization. Following its FDA approval of Trodelvy®, Immunomedics was acquired by Gilead Sciences for $21 billion. Previously, she was the Director of Corporate Strategy at Quest Diagnostics and a management consultant at several firms, where she advised healthcare and life sciences companies on their strategic plans to drive innovation and meaningful change in the industry. She has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business and an MPA from NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Job Titles:
- Chief Business Officer
- Senior Leader With a Proven Track Record
Lynn is a senior leader with a proven track record of executing business development and licensing transactions totaling $5 billion at multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Prior to Actinium, Lynn was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Business Development & Operations at HiFiBiO Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing immunotherapies for oncology and autoimmune diseases. At HiFiBiO, she advanced strategic initiatives with Novartis and Kite Pharma. Prior to HiFiBiO, she was Vice President, Business Development at Geron Corporation, a company focused on developing treatments for hematologic malignancies and Intrexon Corporation, which focused on developing therapies for oncology, rare diseases, and neuroscience. Lynn held senior roles focused on vaccines and corporate affairs Wyeth and then Pfizer, following Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth. Previously, she was Vice President of Marketing at Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she focused on the launch of Relistor, a first-in-class product that Progenics licensed to Wyeth in a transaction totaling more than $400 million. Earlier at Progenics, she served as Vice President, Business Development & Licensing, and led the acquisition of a PSMA targeting antibody for prostate cancer and secured a license for related linker and toxin technology from Seattle Genetics to create a PSMA antibody-drug conjugate. Earlier in her career she held roles at Pharmacia Corporation and Merck & Co. Lynn holds an MBA in finance and international business from Columbia Business School and a BS in accounting from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Clinical Development BMT and Cellular Therapy
Madhuri is an accomplished bone marrow transplant physician and hematologist with over 20 years of clinical experience. She is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and oncology. Madhuri joins Actinium from UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, where she has been a Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Medical Director of the Adult Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant Program. She specialized in managing a variety of hematologic malignancies and performing allogeneic bone marrow transplants for these patients when indicated. She also served as primary investigator for most of the clinical trials at UT Southwestern related to BMT. Madhuri earned her medical degree (M.B.B.S.) at India's Lady Hardinge Medical College before completing an internal medicine internship at Maulana Azad Medical College-Delhi University and an internal medicine internship and residency at The State University of New York, Syracuse. She also completed a hematology and oncology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh and an advanced fellowship in bone marrow transplantation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Madhuri is a member of the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy. She serves as a member on the NCCN panels for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia committees.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Corporate Development - R & D
Monideepa leads corporate development initiatives at Actinium, driving business outcomes around R&D efforts. Before joining Actinium, she was Founder and interim CEO of Akamara Therapeutics, Inc., an early-stage oncology drug development company. Prior to Akamara, she was a founding member of Invictus Oncology, developing novel I/O and conjugated antibody therapies. Before moving to industry, Monideepa was a Lecturer at Harvard University, a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Special Fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School where she was funded by the US Department of Defense and was awarded the first Thomas Gill Prize for Research Excellence. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Master's in Biophysics and Molecular Biology from the University College of Science and Bachelor's degree in Human Physiology (Honors) from Presidency College, Calcutta.
Job Titles:
- Certified Medical Physicist
- Vice President, Head of Radiation Sciences
Patrik is a board certified Medical Physicist, and a Diplomat of the American Board of Radiology in the discipline of Therapeutic Medical Physics, and previously, was an Assistant Professor and Senior Physicist at the department of Radiation Oncology at Montefiore/Einstein. By combining his expertise in radiation physics and data analysis with biology-based research methods, he spearheaded the development of new approaches in radiation-driven immunotherapy, and solutions for reducing the risk of severe treatment complications associated with receiving high-dose radiation therapy. Patrik has experience and expertise in clinical medical physics, biostatistics and advanced analytical methods including quantitative image analysis, and novel experimental design. He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and presented at national and international meetings including oral presentations at the ESTRO, ASTRO, AAPM and PTCOG annual meetings. Patrik trained in Medical Physics at Lund University, Sweden, followed by a PhD at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and received his M.Sc. in Clinical Research Methods from Yeshiva University upon coming to the United States.
Job Titles:
- Vice President
- Vice President, Patent and Legal Counsel
Paul Diamond was appointed Vice President, Patent and Legal Counsel in July 2021. He brings over twenty years of experience counseling life science companies on complex patent and commercial matters. Prior to joining Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Paul led the in-house legal team at a publicly traded clinical diagnostics company. He has practiced with the intellectual property group of global law firm White & Case LLP and at a number of nationally recognized law firms. Paul received a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, a Ph.D. (Molecular and Cellular Biology) from Harvard University, and a B.A. (Biology) from the Johns Hopkins University.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Audit Committee
- Member of the Board of Directors
Richard I. Steinhart has served as our Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee since November 2013. Mr. Steinhart is also a member of our Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Steinhart has significant financial and strategic experience in the biotechnology and medical device industries. Currently, he is Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of BioXcel Therapeutics. Previously, Richard served as Vice President and CFO at Remedy Pharmaceuticals, Inc., until it sold its only asset, CIRARA, to Biogen for $120M plus earn-outs. Prior to joining Remedy Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Steinhart served as an independent consultant to biotechnology and medical device companies. Previously, Mr. Steinhart was the Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of MELA Sciences. Prior to joining MELA Sciences, Mr. Steinhart held a variety of senior-level positions at Forest Street Capital/SAE Ventures, a boutique investment banking, venture capital, and management consulting firm focused on healthcare and technology companies, Emisphere Technologies, Inc., and CW Group, Inc., a venture capital firm focused on medical technology. He began his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Mr. Steinhart is a member of the Board of Directors of and Atossa Genetics, Inc. He holds B.B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from Pace University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Chief Executive Officer
Sandesh has 25+ years of experience in investment banking (Laidlaw& Co (UK) Ltd., Cowen & Co.), equity research (Bear Stearns, Commonwealth Associates) and in the pharma industry (Pfizer, Warner-Lambert, SmithKline in strategic planning, business development and R&D project management). Sandesh was chairman of Relmada Therapeutics Inc., a specialty pharma company focused on CNS therapeutics, which he helped co-found. Sandesh has an MBA in Finance from New York University; an M.S. in the Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Oklahoma Health Center and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Bombay University. He has published several scientific articles and was awarded the University Regents Award for Research Excellence at the University of Oklahoma. Sandesh was designated as Regulatory Affairs Certified by the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society which signifies proficiency with U.S. FDA regulations. He has several patents related to use of radiopharmaceuticals as conditioning agents for adoptive cell therapies and as therapeutic combinations.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Strategic Finance & Analysis
Steve has nearly 20 years of corporate finance and commercial experience. He joins from Dewpoint Therapeutics, where he was Senior Director, Financial Planning & Analysis responsible for overseeing budgeting, long-term planning and analyses. Previously, he was Senior Director, Head of Corporate Planning & Operations at Akebia Therapeutics, a publicly traded, commercial-stage company that developed and marketed Auryxia®. Steve spent 10 years at Regeneron in finance roles with increasing responsibility rising to Director, Commercial Finance supporting Praulent and EYLEA, a top 5 biologic launch, where he developed and managed 10-year forecasts and $250 million budgets. He transitioned to commercial roles in the cardiometabolic franchise culminating as Director, Market Access Strategy. He began his career at Bio-IB, a life science focused investment bank, where he helped execute financings, M&A, licensing and corporate advisory assignments. Steve has his MBA from Fordham University and BA degree from the University of Colorado.
Steve joined Actinium in October 2015 as Vice President, Finance and Corporate Development and was named Principal Financial Officer in May 2017 and Chief Financial Officer in July 2020. Steve possesses nearly fifteen years of life sciences industry experience gained from previous positions in investment banking and publicly traded life sciences companies. Prior to Actinium, from June 2015 to October 2015, Steve worked at J. Streicher LLC as an investment banker, from August 2012 to June 2015 Steve held the position of Vice President, Corporate Finance and Development and was a corporate officer at Protea Biosciences, Inc., a publicly traded life sciences company developing and commercializing mass spectrometry imaging and bioanalytic technologies and services. Previously, From June 2010 to June 2012, Steve held corporate development positions with Caliber I.D., (formerly Lucid, Inc.) a publicly traded company developing and commercializing VivaScope ®, an FDA cleared diagnostic device for the non-invasive assessment of the skin for skin cancer and other dermatologic conditions. Steve previously worked in investment banking at Jesup & Lamont where he focused on the biotechnology and life sciences industries. Steve has a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in finance from Ramapo College of New Jersey.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, CMC and Product Development
Sunitha is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience and brings to Actinium broad-based technical expertise across biologics, biosimilars, vaccines and cell/gene therapy products. Prior to joining Actinium, Sunitha was at Bristol-Myers Squibb in their Cell Therapy division, most recently as Executive Director, Global Process Engineering. During her tenure at Celgene/BMS, she was responsible for the global licensure of their two autologous cell therapy products, Breyanzi® and Abecma®. Post-approval, she built the teams that provided support for commercial products. She was also responsible for new cell therapy facility build-outs for network expansions, technology transfers, product life-cycle management, new technology commercialization, comparability, and Global MS&T labs. Prior to BMS, Sunitha was at Kashiv BioSciences where she built the process development and technical services teams, led filing activities, and obtained approvals for Releuko® and Fylnetra®. Prior to Kashiv, Sunitha has held various leadership positions at Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Laureate Pharma and BioReliance. Sunitha earned her MBA from Northwestern University, Master's in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University and BS in Chemical Engineering from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, India.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Research & Development
William brings over 15 years of R&D experience in academia and industry focused on immuno-oncology and cell therapy. He joins from Celularity, having led allogeneic CAR-T and NK cell therapy research strategy supporting multiple INDs and Phase I clinical trials in hematology / oncology as Senior Vice President of Translational Research. William previously led exploratory research for Celgene's allogeneic NK cell program. He received his immunology training (Ph.D.) from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai studying regulatory T cell mechanisms in immune tolerance. His postdoctoral training focused on the tumor immune microenvironment reprogramming in collaboration with Pfizer CTI. He received his bachelor's degree (A.B) in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University.