EXUMA BIOTECHNOLOGY - Key Persons


David Ramsay

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Directors
Mr. Ramsay has been a Director of EXUMA Biotech since January 2017. In 2018, Mr. Ramsay served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bonti, Inc. Mr. Ramsay retired from Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) in July 2015, where he served as Chief Financial Officer since May 2013 and from 2003-2009. He also served as Halozyme's Vice President, Corporate Development from 2009-2013. From 2000-2003, Mr. Ramsay was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Lathian Systems, Inc., a provider of technology-based sales solutions for the life science industry. From 1998-2000, he was with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (formerly ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), where he served as Vice President, Treasurer and Director, Corporate Finance. Mr. Ramsay began his career at Deloitte & Touche, where he obtained his C.P.A. license. Mr. Ramsay also serves on the boards of Savara Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SVRA) and La Jolla Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: LJPC). Mr. Ramsay holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.B.A. with a dual major in finance and strategic management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Frank McCormick

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. McCormick joined EXUMA Biotech as a Director in February 2020 and currently holds the David A. Wood Chair of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research at UCSF where he serves as a Professor at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, after having previously served as the center's director. Prior to joining UCSF, Dr. McCormick pursued cancer-related work with several Bay Area biotechnology firms and held leadership positions with Cetus Corporation and Chiron Corporation. In 1992 he founded Onyx Pharmaceuticals, a company dedicated to developing new cancer therapies, and served as its Chief Scientific Officer until 1996. At Onyx Pharmaceuticals, he initiated drug discovery efforts that led to the approval of Sorafenib for the treatment of renal cell and liver cancer, and the approval of ONYX-015 in China for the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer. In addition, his group's work led to the identification of the CDK4 kinase inhibitor, Palbociclib, approved for treating advanced breast cancer. Having authored over 330 scientific publications and holding over 20 issued patents, Dr. McCormick's current research focuses on ways of targeting Ras proteins and their regulators, whereby he leads the National Cancer Institute's Ras Initiative at the Frederick National Laboratories for Cancer Research to develop therapies against Ras-driven cancer. Dr. McCormick earned his B.Sc. In biochemistry from the University of Birmingham, England and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, England. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and served as president for the American Association for Cancer Research from 2012-2013.

Gregory Frost - CEO, Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Member of the Board of Directors
  • Member of the Leadership Team
Gregory Frost, Ph.D. has served as Chairman and CEO of EXUMA Biotech since 2015. Dr. Frost has over 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, over a decade of which leading public biotechnology companies, where he helped create over $6B worth of shareholder value during his tenure. Dr. Frost was CEO at Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO), an S&P 400 San Diego public biotechnology company he co-founded in 1999 to enable subcutaneous biologics delivery. He served in various operational roles over 15 years through multiple internal and partnered product approvals that are marketed in over 100 countries today. Dr. Frost earned his B.A. in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCSC, his Ph.D. in the Department of Pathology at UCSF and performed postdoctoral research at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. He sits on the Board of Governors at BioCom and is managing director of F1BioVentures, LLC.

Gregory Schreiber

Job Titles:
  • Vice President, Intellectual Property & Licensing
Dr. Schreiber joined EXUMA Biotech in April 2016 and currently serves as its Vice President of Intellectual Property & Licensing. In his previous leadership roles over the past two decades at Intrexon Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Johns Hopkins University, he led the licensing efforts that formed the basis of more than a dozen commercial products. Dr. Schreiber received his B.A. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and his Ph.D. in immunology from Washington University in St. Louis. Additionally, he is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Gregory Wade - CFO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Business Officer
  • Head of Finance
  • Member of the Leadership Team
Dr. Wade serves as EXUMA Biotech's Chief Business Officer and Head of Finance, having joined the company in 2022. Dr. Wade brings over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Most recently, he held the position of Managing Director, Capital Markets Advisory, and Co-Lead of the West Coast Region for Danforth Advisors. From 2015-2021, Dr. Wade was a Managing Director in BTIG's Healthcare Investment Banking Group. Prior to his role with BTIG, Dr. Wade served as Head of Business Development at Pharmacyclics, a role he held following 16 years of work in healthcare equity research at Pacific Growth Equities and its successor, Wedbush PacGrow. Dr. Wade earned his undergraduate degree in biophysics, and his Ph.D. in physiology, both from Western University in London, Canada.

Houston Holmes

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Directors
Dr. Holmes joined EXUMA Biotech as a Director in December 2021. He is a hematologist/oncologist at Texas Oncology, where he serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee, and he is Area Medical Director of the Baylor/Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas. His clinical focus is in research and development of cell therapies for cancer. Dr. Holmes received a B.S. in medical microbiology from Stanford University, an M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Dallas. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, and fellowship in medical oncology/hematology at the National Cancer Institute/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dr. Holmes is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Joshua Shi

Job Titles:
  • General Manager of Shenzhen
Dr. Shi is the General Manager of Shenzhen EXUMA Biotech, overseeing supply chain, manufacturing, quality control, and site operations at the Company's lentivector manufacturing facility. Prior to EXUMA, he served as Vice President, CMC and Site Head of EdiGene where he led the development of the first gene editing HSC therapy in China. Prior to that, he held R&D and QA roles at Xiangxue Pharmaceutical in which he was responsible for the development of analytical methods for TCR-T product manufacturing; his work led to the first IND approval for a TCR-T product candidate in China. Dr. Shi received his Ph.D. in physiology from China Agriculture University and holds the Senior Specialized Technique Qualification from the Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration.

Michael Shepard

Job Titles:
  • Scientific Advisor
  • Scientific Advisor to
Dr. Shepard was appointed as a Scientific Advisor to EXUMA Biotech in May 2020. At Genentech, he and a team of researchers discovered Herceptin (trastuzumab), the first monoclonal antibody to block a cancer-causing protein, and developed it into a life-saving therapy for women with breast cancer. In 2019, Dr. Shepard and two other scientists were awarded the Lasker-DeBakery Clinical Medical Research Award, and in 2006, Dr. Shepard and his research team were awarded Harvard Medical School's Alpert Prize for this work. He has been a founder or principal in several biotech companies including Canji, Inc., NewBiotics, Receptor Biologix, and Halozyme. Dr. Shepard is a frequent guest lecturer and has co-authored many peer-reviewed publications and patents. Dr. Shepard received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis and his Ph.D. from Indiana University, where he was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation fellow.

Richard Yan

Job Titles:
  • Certified Public Accountant
  • Controller
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Vice President of Finance
Mr. Yan is a certified public accountant with over 25 years of experience in finance & accounting. He joined EXUMA Biotech in 2017 and currently serves as its Vice President of Finance & Controller, a role in which he oversees the finance, accounting, budgeting, tax, and treasury functions at all Company locations. Prior to joining EXUMA, he served in a similar role managing worldwide accounting, tax, and treasury functions at Premis Capital Partners. He began his career at Ernst & Young where he managed audit engagements. Mr. Yan earned his B.B.A in accounting from Florida Atlantic University and has been a licensed certified public accountant since 1999.

Scott Segal

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Directors
  • Managing Director at BDT & MSD Partners
Mr. Segal has been a Director of EXUMA Biotech since January 2020. Mr. Segal is a Managing Director at BDT & MSD Partners where he invests across a range of sectors, in both debt and structured equity. He joined MSD Partners (prior to its merger with BDT) in 2006 from the Boston Consulting Group where he provided consulting services to Fortune 500 executives. Prior to the Boston Consulting Group, Mr. Segal worked at HarbourVest Partners and Salomon Brothers. Mr. Segal received his B.A. with honors from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, and his M.B.A. with honors from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Segal sits on the board of the Hudson Guild in New York City where he serves on the Executive Committee as the Treasurer.

Sid Kerkar

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Vice President, R & D
  • Vice President, Research & Development, Oncology
Sid Kerkar, M.D.Vice President, Research & Development, Oncology Dr. Kerkar has served as Vice President, R&D at EXUMA Biotech since 2020. Prior to EXUMA, he was Associate Vice President at Eli Lilly & Company, providing medical leadership to large cross-functional and early clinical development teams. Prior to Lilly, he held roles at Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb. From 2006-2015, Dr. Kerkar was at the National Institutes of Health, where he completed postdoctoral research and clinical fellowships at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute. His research on the genetic modification of T cells with cytokines to reverse the immuno-suppressive tumor microenvironment advanced from bench to bedside using adoptive T cell therapy. While at the NCI, Dr. Kerkar provided clinical care to patients on Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg's cancer immunotherapy protocols. Dr. Kerkar earned his B.A. in economics and biology from Kalamazoo College, his M.D. from Wayne State University School of Medicine, and completed a general surgery internship at Detroit Medical Center, an anatomic pathology residency at NIH, and a surgical pathology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic.

Steven Frank

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Board of Directors

Wendy Zhang

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Leadership Team
  • Vice President, Alliance Management and Operations
Dr. Zhang has been leading EXUMA's Asia team since 2016 and currently serves as Vice President of Alliance Management and Operations. Prior to EXUMA, she was Head of Biologics at BioDuro and held roles at Wuxi Apptec and aTyr Pharma Inc.. She served as the key scientist leading the in vitro assay development efforts while exploring the MOAs for the novel therapeutic Physiocrines. She was also responsible for establishing SOPs of release assays using human primary cells and tissues for leading candidates and evaluating CROs in Asia. Dr. Zhang came to San Diego for her postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute following her Ph.D. in molecular microbiology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.