IONCTURA - Key Persons
Professor Andrew Biankin is the Regius Chair of Surgery at the University of Glasgow, a Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist, a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is the Director of the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre which is focused on precision oncology and established the Glasgow Precision Oncology Laboratory which he directs. He plays leadership roles in national and international consortia in cancer genomics and therapeutic development including the Chair of Precision-Panc and Executive Director of the International Cancer Genome Consortium. He has authored over 200 articles in major journals including seminal works on cancer, genomics and precision medicine.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Cell Signalling at the University College London Cancer Institute
Professor Bart Vanhaesebroeck is Professor of Cell Signalling at the University College London Cancer Institute. Following a PhD in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Ghent University (Belgium), Prof Vanhaesebroeck carried out postdoctoral studies at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, London. He was the first to isolate the PI3Kδ gene and identified this PI3K isoform as a therapeutic target in immunity and cancer.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Leadership Team
Catherine holds a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and an MBA. During her career she has held various licensing and business development positions in pharma and biotech.
Before founding and building iOnctura, she led the global oncology and immuno-oncology licensing and business development function at Merck. During her time at Merck she was also an integral member of the oncology franchise leadership team, a cross functional team responsible for creating the strategy and managing the oncology business.
David joined iOnctura as VP Finance in 2021 and has extensive experience in publicly-listed growth-oriented biotech and medtech companies.
Before taking charge of global finance operations at iOnctura, he served as VP Head of Finance Europe at NASDAQ listed bluebird bio, and held senior financial positions at Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, InterMune Corporation and Stryker Corporation.
Job Titles:
- Director of Biology at Cancer Research UK 's Therapeutic Discovery Laboratories
Dr Stuart Farrow is the Director of Biology at Cancer Research UK's Therapeutic Discovery Laboratories (TDL) since April 2015, where he leads the discovery team responsible for oncology target validation and disease positioning. Before joining TDL, he spent more than 20 years in drug discovery and leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry.
Job Titles:
- ESSA 's President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Parkinson has been ESSA's President and Chief Executive Officer since 2016 and has been a member of ESSA's Board of Directors since 2015. He currently serves as Director on the Boards of CTI Biopharma and Angiocrine Biosciences. Dr. Parkinson has more than 30 years of experience in clinical oncology development. Prior to joining ESSA, Dr. Parkinson was a Venture Partner at New Enterprise Associates, Inc. and served as the President and CEO of Nodality, Inc., a biotechnology company developing human cell-based translational diagnostic tools. Throughout his career, Dr. Parkinson has held senior roles in clinical oncology development at a number of pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including Biogen, Amgen and Novartis, and has overseen the successful clinical development of a series of cancer therapeutics, including Gleevec, Zometa, Femara, and Vectibix. Dr. Parkinson has held academic positions at Tufts and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and is a recipient of the FDA's Cody Medal. Dr. Parkinson received an M.D. from the University of Toronto.
Dr Arkenau joined Sarah Canon in 2000 and serves as the Executive Medical Director for Sarah Cannon Research Institute, UK. He leads Sarah Cannon's UK drug development program of early clinical and tumour specific trials and supports the molecular profiling initiative of Sarah Cannon. He received his MD in 2000 at the Medical School Hanover, Germany, and completed his internship and specialist training in oncology in 2007. Before joining Sarah Cannon, he was senior clinical fellow at the Royal Marsden Hospital and team leader for early drug development at the Prince of Wales Clinical School at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Dr Rodón received his MD and PhD from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and pursued postgraduate medical training at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital. Dr Rodón spent two years at the Advanced Drug Development program at the Institute for Drug Development (IDD) in San Antonio, Texas, and completed his training in drug development in ICT as a senior clinical research fellow. He joined the MD Anderson faculty in 2016 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (ICT) with a joint appointment in the Department of Genomic Medicine. Dr Rodón also serves as Associate Medical Director for the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy and Clinical Co-Director of the Precision Oncology Decision Support Group.
Giusy holds a PhD in endocrinological cancers. She joined iOnctura as Head of Research in 2022 with over 12 years of experience in onco-immunology and tumor-stroma interactions.
During her career, Giusy has furthered understanding of the molecular and biological interactions that occur within the tumor microenvironment, has uncovered novel preclinical targets, and published over 20 research articles. She is passionate about developing promising cancer therapies that aim to have direct impacts on patients' lives.
Job Titles:
- Board Member of Asceneuron
Hakan Goker (Ph.D.) is a senior investment director at Merck Ventures, corporate venture arm of the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Hakan joined Merck Ventures in 2013 and previously was investing as a partner at Aescap Venture and prior to that at Atlas Venture.
Since 2006, Hakan was instrumental in the creation, financing, and strategy of multiple biotechnology companies globally including Asceneuron (CH), Orphazyme (DK), Nimbus Discovery (US), F Star (NL), Bicycle Therapeutics (UK) and Nitec now Horizon Pharma (CH/US). Hakan received his PhD in cancer biology from the Institute of Cancer Research/ University of London and continued his scientific career with post-doctoral work at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Centre/Royal Marsden Hospital.
He gained his BSc Honours, from University College London. Hakan is a board member of Asceneuron, Forendo Pharma, Raze Therapeutics, Tocopherx, Synaffix, and Storm Therapeutics.
Professor James Larkin is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital specialising in the treatment of melanoma and cancers of the kidney. Dr Larkin took a first in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and undertook clinical training at Oxford University, qualifying in 1996. He completed specialist training at The Royal Marsden and was appointed a Consultant in 2008. He is currently Vice Chair of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Research Committee and Lead of the Uncommon Cancers Theme at the Royal Marsden/ICR Biomedical Research Centre for Cancer.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
Joanna Horobin M.B., Ch.B. is an accomplished drug developer and biotech leader with over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector. Dr. Horobin serves as a Non-Executive Director on the boards of Kymera Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ, KYMR), Nordic Nanovector ASA (Oslo, NANO) and Vyant Bio (NASDAQ, VYNT). Joanna has held multiple C-suite roles in biotech companies in the USA, most recently as the Chief Medical Officer at Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ, IDRA) and was also the CEO of Syndax Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ, SNDX).
Joanna entered the pharma industry in 1982, initially in clinical development roles resulting in the development and launch of 8 products in the anti-infective, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory categories. Moving to general management roles of increasing responsibility in the UK, France and USA, she shifted to cancer drug development which has been her major career focus. She led a joint venture between Rhone Poulenc and Chugai to develop and launch Chugai's gCSF product Granocyte in Europe and, as VP Oncology, launched Rhone Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi) as a major player in oncology with the global launch of Taxotere.
After gaining her medical qualifications from the University of Manchester Medical School in the United Kingdom Dr. Horobin initially pursued a career as a General Practitioner, gained membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners and practiced as a GP in London.
Kiran Roest - Chief Commercial Officer
Kiran holds a PhD in viral-induced oncogenesis and has 15 years experience in life-sciences commercialisation, business development, strategy, consulting and project and team management.
In her career Kiran has led teams within a number of organisations to get new products to market. At iOnctura she leads on commercial efforts including strategic planning, commercial forecasting, launch strategies and market research.
Lars holds a PhD in chemistry. He is a medicinal chemist with over 20 years of experience in biopharma R&D and delivered multiple clinical candidates and lead compounds for different therapeutic areas including oncology.
Prior to founding iOnctura he has held various positions in project management and project leadership spanning early discovery up to commercial products and dealing with both biologics and small molecules. Lars has previously worked at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Organon, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Merck.
Michael joined iOnctura as Chief Medical Officer in 2019 after 20 years of industry experience at Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca and Incyte Corporation.
In his career Michael contributed to the development of several new molecular entities, such as small molecule inhibitors (including the ALK5 inhibitor galunisertib and the registration of osimertinib in NSCLC), large molecules, antisense oligonucleotides and vaccines. Michael is passionate about developing novel therapies in cancer and mentoring colleagues in clinical drug development.
Rachel C. Chambers (PhD, FRSB) is Professor of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and Director of the Centre for Inflammation and Tissue Repair (CITR) within the Division of Medicine at University College London. CITR currently comprises five principal investigators and a total of 34 staff. Professor Chambers is also Vice-Dean for Innovation and Enterprise within the UCL Faculty of Medical Sciences. She received her undergraduate degree from King's College London and completed her PhD studies at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London in 1995.
Job Titles:
- Medical Doctor
- Tervaert Is a Partner at Inkef and Has Been With Inkef
Thijs Cohen Tervaert is a Partner at Inkef and has been with Inkef since 2016.
Prior to Inkef, Thijs was a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group with a focus on health care and technology. Thijs worked on projects advising clients in the pharmaceutical industry, health insurers and large hospital systems. Thijs helped to establish the Amsterdam Health and Technology Institute in 2014.
Thijs is a medical doctor and graduated at Leiden University. He has also co-authored several scientific papers in the field of diabetes. Thijs currently also serves on the board of TargED BioPharmaceuticals, Calypso Biotech, Audion Therapeutics, ViCentra, Aidence and Castor.