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Our Team

“Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and think what nobody has thought.”

-Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi, MD, PhD de Nagyrápolt – 1937 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Through the leadership and drive of Rebecca Lambert, NED Biosystems founder, and our expert team of scientists, NED’s approach is to find solutions that have yet to be imagined.

Our Mission and Principles

Our mission is to provide uncommon therapies so patients achieve and sustain “No Evidence of Disease.” Uncommon therapies are those that lack customary toxicity and side effects and allow patients to live life fully, and are those suitable for patients globally, including areas of the world plagued by health disparities.

We are driven by our guiding principles:

  • We work to the essential needs of patients and their families;
  • Integrity is woven into everything that we do;
  • Our therapies are scientifically grounded optimal solutions driven by continuous attention to new research findings;
  • We believe in the body’s innate ability to re-learn health;
  • We commit to challenge what “cannot be done”.

The Journey Begins

In 2001, NED founder Rebecca Lambert’s sister, Renée, was diagnosed with stage IV leiomyosarcoma (LMS), just 18 months after giving birth to a beautiful baby boy. LMS is a particularly deadly sarcoma, a rare type of cancer. Renée was given less than one year to live and “not a pretty one”. Rebecca became determined to develop a treatment that would permit her sister to spend more time with her son and that each day would be one with full quality of life.

Working with leading cancer researchers throughout the country, Rebecca assembled a research-based, repurposed, multi-faceted treatment approach, analyzing the pathways that initiate and drive disease. Harvard’s Dr. Judah Folkman, a pioneer in “angiogenesis” (new blood vessel formation research) became her mentor. By taking a combination of well-reported oral agents, which successfully affect disease pathways, Renée lived for nine additional years. Maintaining her quality of life, Renée was also able to raise her son.

Shortly before Renée’s passing, Rebecca founded NED Biosystems, Inc. NED-170 CANCER, the company’s cancer treatment, has its roots in the early research conducted for her sister. This translational approach has been rapidly applied by a team of scientists to the development of NED’s treatment approach for COVID-19.

Core Management and Key Advisors

Board of Directors

Scientific Advisory Board – Oncology

Strategic Advisors

Christine Davis
Caitlin Donohue
Jean Hamilton
Debra McDowell
Gale Pollock, CRNA, FACHE, FAAN, Maj. Gen. (Ret)
Randy Slack
John Warden, III, Col. (Ret)
Diane Whitty

Lead Investors

First Round Capital – Series A Lead Investor
Benjamin H. Griswold, IV – Series B Lead Investor

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    Rebecca Lambert
    Founder, CEO, and Executive Chair

    Rebecca Lambert has over 40 years of experience designing and executing strategies to solve complex issues confronting business, government, political, healthcare and financial entities. In recent years Ms. Lambert has focused on the development of NED’s novel products designed to treat complex disease.   

    Ms. Lambert has one patent issued directed to compositions and methods for the treatment of cancers and another patent issued based on angiogenic regulators and their use in disease diagnosis and treatment. A third patent is pending on the prophylaxis and treatment of viral infection related to acute respiratory distress syndrome.

    Prior to founding NED, Ms. Lambert directed the raising of high net worth client funds to over $1B for Shaker Investments. Previously, she founded two companies utilizing groundbreaking telecommunications technologies that deployed the first compressed digital satellite delivery of multiple TV channels to 40% of U.S. hospitals, and upgraded FM radio stations to move them to top 100 markets. Her prior Federal Government experience includes senior positions in the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and the Reagan Administration. While Associate Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Commerce during the Reagan Administration, she initiated the Federal Government’s first use of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU), which resulted in US companies gaining $3 billion of Brazilian hydro projects. Previously, Ms. Lambert served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy. Earlier in her career, she served as chief of staff for US Sen. Malcolm Wallop, and for the Republican Senatorial Committee, Ted Stevens, Chairman. Previously, Ms. Lambert managed strategy for numerous statewide political campaigns including Sen. Malcolm Wallop’s upset victory for the US Senate in 1976. One of the first non-lawyers to associate with a major Washington, DC law firm, she represented Wiley Rein & Fielding clients before the U.S. Congress, White House and other US Departments and Agencies. 

    While living in New York City, Ms. Lambert served as the President of Bellevue Hospital’s Bellevue Association Board. During her tenure this organization was revitalized to garner support of Bellevue’s “Heroes Behind the Headlines”– the clinicians, nurses, and allied healthcare workers who routinely care for New York’s police and firefighters, as well as the homeless. Ms. Lambert has a BA in political science from Simmons College, and she completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

    Mark Spelker, CPA
    Chief Financial Officer

    Mark enjoyed a 38-year career in public accounting (two Big 4 firms and two mid-size firms), most recently as a 20-year audit partner, leading the SEC and capital markets practice at CohnReznick.  While in public accounting, Mark led the financial and accounting aspects of many life-sciences IPO and M&A transactions of his clients.  Mark then joined Innodata Inc. (NASDAQ-INOD) as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Innodata is a multi-national technology services company.  Mark joined NED Biosystems, Inc. in 2022 as our Chief Financial Officer.  Mark is directing all financial aspects of the Company.

    Michael Mansour, MD, PhD
    Chief Medical Advisor - Infectious Disease

    Rank: Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School

    Affiliation:
    Transplant Infectious Diseases and Immunocompromised Host Service
    Division of Infectious Diseases
    Department of Medicine
    Massachusetts General Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts

    Michael Mansour is a physician-scientist who started his research career in the biotech sector and graduated with MD/PhD dual degrees from Boston University School of Medicine with a research concentration in immune responses against invading pathogens. He completed his medical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA where he also served as a Chief resident, before completing the Harvard combined Infectious Diseases training program at MGH and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Mansour joined the MGH ID faculty in 2014, and now attends on the clinical Transplant Infectious Diseases and Immunocompromised Host Service, where he cares for solid and stem cell transplant recipients and those individuals with weakened immunity. Dr. Mansour is an investigator overseeing a RO1-funded laboratory with a focus on innate immune responses to infectious pathogens. He also directs several COVID-19 clinical trials testing novel treatments for coronavirus. In addition, he sits on several committees for the development of treatment guidelines for patients with COVID-
    19 infection.

    Carol Greve-Philips
    VP, Corporate Development

    Carol Greve-Philips is a senior business development executive with wide experience across different types of transactions, therapeutic modalities, corporate organizations and geographies. She has planned and executed licenses with academic institutions and private companies, developed partnerships and collaborations, and engaged in as both a buyer and a seller.

    As a senior executive in Corporate Development at Genzyme she was responsible for the business development activities of the flagship Rare Disease business, licensing new products for the portfolio of the business. She later joined Spark Therapeutics during its first three years as Head of Corporate Development and Strategy, completing transactions with Pfizer, Genable LLC, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation among others. Consulting to both Quad Technologies and Abfero Pharmaceuticals Carol was the business development architect behind the sale of both companies to BioTechne and Pharmacosmos, respectively. With more than 40 years across the biotech and pharmaceutical industries Carol is an experienced problem solver who enables agreement between motivated partners.

    Sue Stewart, JD, LLM
    Senior Regulatory Officer

    Susan Stewart has served as Kaleido’s Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality since April 2018. Ms. Stewart has worked for more than 28 years in biopharmaceutical regulatory affairs, with significant experience devising innovative strategies for novel therapeutics, overseeing regulatory submissions at various stages of product development and leading interactions with global health authorities. In addition to being an independent regulatory consultant for several years, she was senior vice president of regulatory affairs, quality, and compliance at Tokai Pharmaceuticals and vice president, regulatory affairs at Transmolecular. She also spent 13 years at Genzyme Corporation in regulatory and compliance roles, including serving as vice president, regulatory affairs after beginning her career with Abbott Laboratories.  She received her LL.M from Maurice A Dean School of Law at Hofstra University, her J.D. from Concord Law School at Purdue University Global and her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.  She is a Fellow of the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), a Director of the Board, and holds Regulatory Affairs Certifications (RAC) for both the US and Europe.

     

    Beth Silverstein, MS, RAC
    Regulatory Advisor

    Beth has more than 25 years’ experience as a regulatory affairs professional, designing product development and regulatory strategies for pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, and combination products and representing U.S. and international clients in FDA product approval efforts. Her broad expertise also includes the development of dietary supplements, and cosmetic ingredients. She has prepared or managed the preparation of INDs, NDAs, Annual Reports, Investigator Brochures, and Safety Reports for drug and combination products. She has prepared and successfully filed regulatory submissions for medical devices, including 510(k)s, IDEs for significant risk devices, and premarket approval PMA submissions for implantable devices. She has prepared several successful orphan drug designation requests and requests for accelerated approval. She is currently a Director of SciLucent, a firm providing regulatory and scientific consulting services to the biopharmaceutical industry. Beth has an M.S. in Zoology (Physiology) from The Ohio State University and a B.S. in Biology from Binghamton University. She maintains Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) from the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS).

     

    Michelle Nelken
    Clinical Operations

    Michelle Nelken has 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry managing early and late phase clinical studies.  She has spent the majority of her career developing clinical programs in rare indications for small biotechnology companies. Earlier in her career Michelle spent 4 years with Alexion (formerly Enobia) as the Director of Clinical Operations leading to the successful approval of Strensiq® for the treatment of hypophosphatasia an ultra-rare metabolic disorder.  Prior to this she spent 2 years at Genzyme working on enzyme replacement therapies for lysosomal storage disorders and diagnostic studies and contributed to the regulatory approvals of Myozyme® for treatment of Pompe disease and the OSOM® Trichomonas Rapid Test. Michelle started her career at Biogen managing nonclinical studies in psoriasis that led to the regulatory approval of Amevive®.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from the University of Maine.

    William E. Gannon, Jr MD
    Medical Director / Medical Monitor

    Dr. Gannon has approximately 30 years of industry experience including medical/pharmacovigilance monitoring, data analysis, clinical protocol and program development, as well as regulatory [NDA; BLA; ANDA; IND; IDE; PMA; 510K submissions].  Dr. Gannon has held positions in multinational Clinical Research Organizations, medical device, biotech and pharmaceutical firms. Dr. Gannon has worked in diverse therapeutic areas including respiratory, infectious disease, dermatology, oncology, neurology, cardiovascular, genitourinary, gastrointestinal, general medicine and allergy among others. Dr. Gannon has managed clinical trials and operations as well as the design of corporate and regulatory strategies, regulatory submissions and execution of Phase 1 through Phase 4 clinical trials in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He has a strong understanding of US, Canadian, EU and Japanese regulatory requirements. Dr. Gannon received his medical training and clinical work in family practice at Ross University, Case Western Reserve and George Washington University. In addition, Dr. Gannon has an MBA with a concentration in Health Services Administration from George Washington University.

    Abdellah Sentissi, PhD
    Senior CMC and Product Development


    Dr. Sentissi joined NED Biosystems as a CMC and Pharmaceutical Development consultant in January 2021. Dr. Sentissi brings more than 35 years of experience leading manufacturing and quality functions for biotechnology companies. During his career working with several companies as a consultant or as functional leader, Dr. Sentissi led several products through scale-up, registration and validation runs, facility validation and all related quality assurance and control functions. Dr. Sentissi earned his Pharmacy degree from the School of Medicine and Pharmacy-University Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from Northeastern University. He also holds multiple French National Certifications in Medical Pathology, Immunology, Hematology and Parasitology from the School of Medicine and Pharmacy-University Paul Sabatier and the School of Pharmacy of Montpellier, France.

    Lisa Beauregard, CPA
    Financial Advisor

    Lisa has over 30 years of consulting, direct industry and Big-4 experience in finance & accounting, financial operations effectiveness, and business process improvement. Her clients and leadership finance roles span a broad spectrum of industries, including Healthcare, Medical Device, Technology, Consumer Products and Professional Services. Most recently, Lisa has been supporting companies with technical accounting and financial reporting, IPO readiness and filings, and due diligence on carve out acquisitions and financings.

    Lisa’s initial career started with 17 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, achieving partner in 11 years. As one of the initial team members of the PwC Middle Market Advisory services, Lisa provided auditing and consulting to companies, including early-stage start-ups which were seeking consecutive rounds of financing and going public, private and public middle market clients.

    Over the last 13 years, Lisa has been in private industry holding CFO/SVP roles, working with early-stage companies to guide all aspects of their finance function, including establishing accounting systems and processes to ensure the effectiveness of their organization’s controls, creating relevant metrics and associated analyses to provide more strategically valuable information to management.

    Lisa is a Certified Public Accountant and in process of completing her Chartered Member Accountant (expected completion September 2021) and began her career with Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers,. Lisa graduated magna cum laude from Boston College with a degree in Accounting and Finance.

    Elinor Mullins
    Business Operations Director

    Elinor Mullins, first employee, has worked with NED Biosystems for over 10 years–seeking to transform the treatment of complex disease globally. As Director of Business Operations, she designs business strategies and manages implementation to achieve essential goals for performance, streamlines communications with key consultants, supports product development through data research, participates in grant-writing efforts and communications with government entities, conducts patent substantiation research, and oversees daily operations of the company, and provides direct support to the Founder.

    Prior to joining NED, Ms. Mullins sat on the community board for the Palliative and Supportive Care of Nantucket foundation in support of their annual fundraising drive. During college she marketed the launch of a women-focused clinic for a specialized group of sports and orthopedic surgeons.

    Ms. Mullins has a BA in Cellular Molecular Biology with a concentration in Pre-Health, and a Minor in Architectural Studies from Connecticut College. Since 2011 she has served as Regional Coordinator for CommuniTyler, a nonprofit foundation with over 30 international sites, with the mission to “better our communities while making friends”. She also volunteers with Cape Ann Challenger Hockey, a program that introduces children and teens with developmental disabilities to adaptive ice skating.

    Rebecca Lambert
    Founder, CEO, and Executive Chair

    Rebecca Lambert has over 40 years of experience designing and executing strategies to solve complex issues confronting business, government, political, healthcare and financial entities. In recent years Ms. Lambert has focused on the development of NED’s novel products designed to treat complex disease.   

    Ms. Lambert has one patent issued directed to compositions and methods for the treatment of cancers and another patent issued based on angiogenic regulators and their use in disease diagnosis and treatment. A third patent is pending on the prophylaxis and treatment of viral infection related to acute respiratory distress syndrome.

    Prior to founding NED, Ms. Lambert directed the raising of high net worth client funds to over $1B for Shaker Investments. Previously, she founded two companies utilizing groundbreaking telecommunications technologies that deployed the first compressed digital satellite delivery of multiple TV channels to 40% of U.S. hospitals, and upgraded FM radio stations to move them to top 100 markets. Her prior Federal Government experience includes senior positions in the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and the Reagan Administration. While Associate Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Commerce during the Reagan Administration, she initiated the Federal Government’s first use of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU), which resulted in US companies gaining $3 billion of Brazilian hydro projects. Previously, Ms. Lambert served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy. Earlier in her career, she served as chief of staff for US Sen. Malcolm Wallop, and for the Republican Senatorial Committee, Ted Stevens, Chairman. Previously, Ms. Lambert managed strategy for numerous statewide political campaigns including Sen. Malcolm Wallop’s upset victory for the US Senate in 1976. One of the first non-lawyers to associate with a major Washington, DC law firm, she represented Wiley Rein & Fielding clients before the U.S. Congress, White House and other US Departments and Agencies. 

    While living in New York City, Ms. Lambert served as the President of Bellevue Hospital’s Bellevue Association Board. During her tenure this organization was revitalized to garner support of Bellevue’s “Heroes Behind the Headlines”– the clinicians, nurses, and allied healthcare workers who routinely care for New York’s police and firefighters, as well as the homeless. Ms. Lambert has a BA in political science from Simmons College, and she completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

    Carolina Alarco
    Board of Directors

    Carolina Alarco is a dynamic and seasoned biotech executive. She has more than 25 years of experience in the bio

    pharmaceutical industry in Massachusetts. She serves on the Board of two private biotech companies, Syte.bio, Inc. and Dione Antibiotics, Inc. Carolina is the Founder and Principal at Bio Strategy Advisors LLC, a strategic business consulting firm servicing small and medium-sized biotech, medical devices and digital health companies; specializing in start-up company formation, corporate strategy, investment thesis, early round fund-raising, strategic partnerships, commercial planning, go-to-market, product launches and geographical expansion. She is also a Strategic Consultant at Interlink Markets, a boutique investment bank in Boston that facilitates connections between start-ups in the Biotech/Medtech and Tech spaces and strategic partners/investors. Carolina is also a top-tier Founding Venture Partner at AccelHUB Venture Partners, a firm specialized in early seed investing and US soft-landing for Latin American start-ups.

    Carolina has spent more than 25 years in progressive executive leadership roles in Biotech, including 15 years at Genzyme, where she was a Vice-President until the acquisition by Sanofi. At Genzyme, she played a pivotal role in several product launches globally, new market development and geographical expansion. After Genzyme, Carolina went on to be President of  two medium-sized commercial-stage public biotech companies Aegerion Pharmaceuticals and Novelion Therapeutics, until their respective exits.

    Carolina also has a strong philanthropic focus and serves in several non-profit boards. She has currently serves in the Mass General Hospital Board of Trustees (MGPO), the Latino Council at Boston Children’s Hospital, the State of Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council and the Board of Latinos in Bio, of which she is co-Founder and past-Chair. She holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Lima and a Graduate Degree in Business and Management from Harvard University.

    Fiona Calnan FCCA, FRSA
    Board of Directors

    Fiona Calnan is CEO of Santovia, a healthcare technology company that is working to redefine Health Education and patient engagement.

    Fiona’s first roles and experience were gained in the financial services sector including as Chief Financial Officer at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson responsible globally for corporate finance and equity capital markets. She remained within the financial services sector until 2005 when an unexpected opportunity arose to take a leading role in a healthcare start up.

    UKSH was created in 2005 with no premises or revenue. Starting out as the CFO for the new company, Fiona progressed to CEO in 2007. The first contract was to build, commission and run a  surgical facility exclusively to treat government insured patients that would introduce world-leading evidence-based treatments. This first center was rapidly recognized nationally for the quality of its services and for its wider impact driving improvement in the surrounding healthcare economy. Fiona grew UKSH to a revenue of $100m across five centers. It became the leading privately-owned healthcare company in the UK with a reputation for delivering excellent patient outcomes. It also led the way on transparency of healthcare data through the pioneering publication of its outcome data.

    In 2011 UKSH was named by Dr Foster Intelligence’s assessment of all English hospitals based on government data, as the best hospital in the country for joint replacement surgery.  Fiona was awarded the Best Use of Technology Award 2012 by Laing & Buisson Healthcare and shortlisted for innovation award by the Guardian Newspaper. The organization under her leadership also received awards for excellence in Risk Management and Hospitality. In 2013, UKSH was successfully sold to a competitor.

    Fiona completed two terms as a board member and Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee for the Healthcare Sector Skills Council for the UK, Skills for Health.    Fiona stepped down last year as Chair of the Finance Committee and as a Trustee of The Kiln Theatre in London (previously known as The Tricycle) after serving 10 years on their board.

    Louise Forlenza, CPA
    Board of Directors

    Louise Forlenza is a NY State Licensed CPA and Senior Financial Executive with over 35 years of success assisting domestic and international companies in a diverse range of industries expand their businesses globally. Louise has a proven track record leading privately and publicly held companies from inception to growth and profitability. She is recognized for her complex problem-solving skills, strategic insight, and ability to engage critically important stakeholders to resolve issues and drive transactions to closure. Louise is frequently quoted in Corporate Board Member Magazine and is a financial expert that brings deep experience as Chair of the Audit Committee on corporate boards.

    Since 2002 Louise has been a member of the Board of Innodata Inc. (NADAQ: INOD) where she serves as Chair of the Audit Committee and Nominating Committee. She has served as a Strategic Advisor on the Advisory Committee of NED Biosystems since 2015 and previously served on the Board of the Acting Company as Treasurer and Chair of the Audit Committee.

    Louise founded LC Forlenza Advisory Services in 1987 and continues to preside over the company where she provides strategic insight and expertise in global accounting and reporting, forensic accounting, auditing, foreign tax issues, turnarounds, and litigation support. She has built the business into a thriving practice of over 250 long-tenured reputable global clients in industries such as transportation, entertainment, real estate, life sciences, technology, and health & wellness.

    From 1987 to 1992, Louise served as the COO, Director and Chair of the Audit Committee for Intercontinental Exchange Partners, an $80 million global foreign exchange brokerage firm operating in New York and Dusseldorf. She led operations and administrative support to all non-sales functions for 65 global brokers and 20 administrative staff and rolled out international operations in Dusseldorf. Louise also led the audit and tax relationships with independent audit firms to achieve most favorable tax treatment for worldwide operations and partnership structure.

    In 1981 Louise joined Bierbaum-Martin Inc., a global brokerage firm specializing in foreign exchange, money market transactions, and options. As CFO, Louise managed all non-brokering activities in New York and rolled out international operations in Dusseldorf and London. Additionally, Louise restructured the firm’s capital in London as required by the Bank of England by trading hard assets for cash and increasing liquidity by 50%. She also led the audit and tax relationships with two “Big 8” international audit firms receiving most favorable tax treatment for worldwide operations and structure, supervised the preparation of financial statements for NASD-registered broker dealers acquired in the mergers, and provided infrastructure build-out through three company mergers with an expansion from 10 to 245 brokers.

    Louise received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Iona College, a Certificate in Forensic Accounting from New York University, is a NY State Licensed CPA, and has completed Executive Training Programs at Harvard Business School and The Wharton School. Louise was the first and only female accounting major to graduate from Iona College in her graduating class.

    Mary Davis
    Board of Directors

    Ms. Mary Graham Davis brings extensive experience in effective organizational structure, business alignment and performance management, senior leadership coaching, and strategic directional change.  Ms. Davis is a senior managing director of Brock Capital Group LLC and founded the Davis Consulting Group LLC in 1996. She retired as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Mount Holyoke College in 2015.

    Ms. Davis previously served as managing vice president for PeopleTech, where she consulted to U.S. and global organizations implementing change processes resulting from restructuring, high growth opportunities or leadership transitions. Prior to the acquisition by Right, she served as the vice chair of Jannotta, Bray and Associates, head of the Jannotta Consulting Group, and managing director of their New York Metropolitan Area Operating Group. She began her career with CITICORP in the overseas equity investment Edge Act subsidiary.

    Previous board positions include president of the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, president of the Graham-Windham Services to Families and Children in New York; and member of the Winnetka Public Schools Board of Education.  Ms. Davis has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree in international economics from the Fletcher School of La

    Geoffrey Ling, MD, PhD, Col. (Ret.)
    Board of Directors, Scientific Advisory Board

    Dr. Geoffrey Ling is an internationally recognized innovation leader. Dr. Ling is the CEO and a co-founder at On Demand Pharmaceuticals – developing advanced, miniaturized, and automated pharmaceutical manufacturing systems that create from precursors to final formulated drugs. He is Co-Leader of The BrainHealth Project – an initiative to double human brain performance in the next 10 years. He also serves as a Professor of Neurology and is an Attending Neurocritical Care physician at Johns Hopkins University and Hospital and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science (USUHS). Dr. Ling previously served as the Founding Director of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and also Assistant Director for Medical Innovation of the Science Division in President Obama’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  He is a retired U.S. Army colonel, who served for 27 years during which time he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Dr. Ling’s medical degree is from Georgetown University and his doctorate in Pharmacology is from Cornell University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His neurology residency was done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and his Neuro Critical Care fellowship at Johns Hopkins.  He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews.  He is a member of the honor societies of Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi and Military Medical Order of Merit. He is a fellow of the American Neurological Association, American Academy of Neurology and Neurocritical Care Society. He is a member of the Society for Critical Care Medicine, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and AMSUS (the Society of Federal Health Professionals).

    Josh Kopelman – First Round Capital
    Board Observer

    Forbes 2016 “The Midas List”: #6

    “A staple of the top of the Midas List now in his sixth year in the top 20, Josh Kopelman stands out as a pioneer of a group of top seed-stage investors once called the ‘super angels’ after Kopelman co-founded First Round Capital in 2004.” –Forbes

    Co-Founder, First Round Capital, which has re-invented seed-stage investing with early investments in Blue Apron, Uber, Square, Warby Parker, LinkedIn and NED Biosystems.

    Josh has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the Internet industry since its commercialization.

    Josh co-founded First Round Capital in 2004 to reinvent seed-stage investing. Since that time, the firm has invested in over 300 emerging technology startups – becoming one of the most active venture capital firms in the country. Josh has consistently made the Forbes “Midas List” which ranks the top 100 tech investors, earning the number four spot in 2014. Josh has been named one of the top ten ‘angel investors’ in the United States by Newsweek magazine, one of “Tech’s New Kingmakers” by Business 2.0 magazine and a “Rising VC Star” by Fortune magazine.

    Prior to founding First Round, Josh co-founded three companies: Infonautics Corporation (IPO 1996), Half.com (acquired by eBay in 2000), and TurnTide (acquired by Symantic in 2003). Josh is an inventor on 13 U.S. Patents for his work in Internet technology. In June 2000, he was awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” award for the Greater Philadelphia region. Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

    Brian Leyland Jones, BSc, MB BS, PhD, FRACP, FRCPC
    Chair, Scientific Advisory Board - Oncology

    Brian Leyland-Jones, BSc (Ist class Hons), MB BS, PhD, FRACP, FRCPC is the Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Member for the National Foundation For Cancer Research (NFCR). He also serves as the Chief Medical Officer of OTraces and the N OF 1 Mission, collectively devoted to the implementation of prevention and cure of malignancy globally.  He sits on several national and international boards including the Asian Foundation for Cancer Research (AFCR), Non-Pareil, and is Director Emeritus for the WIN Consortium.

    Dr.  Leyland-Jones holds biochemistry, medical, and doctoral degrees from the University of London. Following residency training at Hammersmith, Brompton, St. Bartholomew’s and London hospitals, he completed a clinical pharmacology fellowship at Cornell University and a medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He then joined the academic staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York Hospitals with a special research interest in Early Phase clinical, clinical pharmacological and biomarker evaluation of many anticancer compounds, including the platinums and anthracycline analogs in use today. In 1983, he moved to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to head the Developmental Chemotherapy section. During his time with the NCI, he was responsible for the overall development of approximately 70 anti-cancer compounds in various stages of transition from in-vitro screening to Phase III clinical trials, including overseeing the early development of paclitaxel in Phase 1 and 2 trials. From 1990 to 2000, he served as founding chair of Oncology and director of the McGill University Comprehensive Cancer Centre. He recruited and built a broad multifaceted cancer centre, including a robust cross-hospital clinical trials enterprise, with deep clinical pharmacologic and biomarker support. Dr. Leyland-Jones continued as the Minda de Gunzberg Chair in Oncology and professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Canada for 7 additional years, focusing on the development and biomarker strategies of several of the new targeted oncologic agents. Dr. Leyland-Jones is the recipient of the McGill University 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award.

    He joined Emory University in 2007. As Director of the Winship Cancer Centre and Associate Vice-President of Health Sciences, Dr. Leyland-Jones led the Centre to obtain National Cancer Institute Cancer Centre Designation, the first in the State of Georgia, and for the first time in 30 years. Dr. Leyland-Jones was instrumental in building the Genomics Medicine Program at the Avera Cancer Institute in Sioux Falls, SD where he was the Vice President of Molecular and Experimental Medicine from 2014-2019. Dr. Leyland-Jones’ principal academic contributions have been in the fields of anticancer therapy development, the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenetics of oncological clinical trials, the translation of preclinical models into the clinic, biomarker endpoints in Phase I/II clinical trials, and screening and mechanistic studies of novel targeted and chemotherapeutic anticancer agents.

    Dr. Leyland-Jones is the recipient of numerous research grants, and has served as principal, co-principal and co-investigator on more than 100 clinical studies. He has authored and co-authored more than 210 peer-reviewed articles and book contributions, 25 books and book chapters, 425 abstracts and 35 patents.  He has a robust speaking and private consulting practice that takes him all over the world.

     

    Geoffrey Ling, MD, PhD, Col. (Ret.)
    Board of Directors, Scientific Advisory Board

    Dr. Geoffrey Ling is an internationally recognized innovation leader. Dr. Ling is the CEO and a co-founder at On Demand Pharmaceuticals – developing advanced, miniaturized, and automated pharmaceutical manufacturing systems that create from precursors to final formulated drugs. He is Co-Leader of The BrainHealth Project – an initiative to double human brain performance in the next 10 years. He also serves as a Professor of Neurology and is an Attending Neurocritical Care physician at Johns Hopkins University and Hospital and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Science (USUHS). Dr. Ling previously served as the Founding Director of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and also Assistant Director for Medical Innovation of the Science Division in President Obama’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  He is a retired U.S. Army colonel, who served for 27 years during which time he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Dr. Ling’s medical degree is from Georgetown University and his doctorate in Pharmacology is from Cornell University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His neurology residency was done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and his Neuro Critical Care fellowship at Johns Hopkins.  He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews.  He is a member of the honor societies of Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi and Military Medical Order of Merit. He is a fellow of the American Neurological Association, American Academy of Neurology and Neurocritical Care Society. He is a member of the Society for Critical Care Medicine, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and AMSUS (the Society of Federal Health Professionals).

    Gail M. Fennell, MD
    Scientific Advisor

    Dr. Fennell is an award-winning primary care physician leader, affiliated with Greenwich (CT) Hospital -Yale New Haven Health System. She has served as the managing partner of a multi-specialty physician practice, and has had various leadership positions with Stamford (CT) Hospital [New York Presbyterian Health Care Network]. She is an outstanding coordinator of medical services for her patients and is considered a “go-to resource” by her patients and peers for her diagnostic and treatment problem-solving. She brings expertise in internal medicine, preventative health and wellness. Dr. Fennell consistently receives “Top Doctor” awards, including NY Magazine-Best Doctor and exceeds benchmarks for quality and patient satisfaction. She remains vigilant on innovation and practice enhancements and is an outstanding communicator and strategist in the medical field. Dr. Fennell is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

    Edward Garmey, MD
    Scientific Advisor

    Edward Garmey, M.D. is an oncology drug development consultant.  Dr. Garmey was formerly Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at Cerulean Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology company based in Waltham, MA focused on the design and development of nanopharmaceutical-drug-conjugates differentially directed to cancer cells. Under his tenure at Cerulean, the company completed a successful IPO (NASDAQ:CERU) in April, 2014, and its clinical group, while increasing in size from one to 12 employees including three oncologist M.D.s, launched eight clinical trials and brought its second experimental drug into the clinic. Prior to being appointed to this role in 2011, Dr. Garmey served between 2008 and 2011 as Vice President for Clinical Development at ArQule, Inc., a publicly-traded cancer-focused biotechnology company located in Woburn, MA., where he developed and oversaw multiple international clinical trials of its lead product, ARQ 197 (tivantinib). Dr. Garmey additionally served there as a clinical development liaison with external development partners and assisted in the planning and execution of a license, co-development and co-commercialization agreement for the development of ARQ 197 in the United States and Europe. Prior to arriving at ArQule, Dr. Garmey was Medical Director at GPC Biotech in Princeton, New Jersey, where he helped oversee multiple global clinical development studies.

    A pediatric hematologist-oncologist by training, Dr. Garmey is a graduate of Harvard and New York Universities and completed his medical training at the Mount Sinai Medical Center (N.Y.); the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles; and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (N.Y.). Dr. Garmey completed additional research fellowships at the National Institutes of Health (1998-99) and Botswana-Harvard Partnership for H.I.V. Research in Gaborone, Botswana (1999-2000) and he is a recipient of young investigators awards from the American Society of Hematology and the American Heart Association. Dr. Garmey has presented at numerous international conferences and is an author on over 50 peer-reviewed abstracts and manuscripts. In 2009, he was appointed as a medical consultant to the New York City Investment Fund’s $1.25 Million “BioAccelerate NYC Prize” for biomedical research. Additionally, in 2011, he was appointed to the scientific advisory board of the Harvard-MIT Broad Institute’s Cancer Vaccine Initiative. Dr. Garmey resides near Boston, Massachusetts, where he serves as an adjunct instructor at Harvard Medical School’s Therapeutics Graduate Program and additionally as a member of the Board of Overseers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

    Dudley R. Herschbach, PhD
    Scientific Advisor

    Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor Emerita of Science
    Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
    Nobel Prize Recipient in Chemistry, 1986

    Dr. Dudley Herschbach is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, Emeritus at Harvard University. Born in San Jose, California, he obtained a B.S. in Mathematics (1954) and M. S. in Chemistry (1955) at Stanford, followed by an A.M. degree in Physics (1956) and Ph.D. in Chemical Physics (1958). He joined the chemistry faculty at the University of California, Berkeley (1959), where he launched novel molecular beam experiments to probe reaction dynamics in single collisions. He returned to Harvard (1963), expanding the beam experiments and much else over the next four decades. He taught a wide range of courses, graduate and undergraduate, including freshman chemistry for 20 years, his most challenging assignment. After becoming emeritus (2003) he continued teaching a freshman seminar (up to 2011, titled: “Molecular Motors: Wizards of the Nanoworld”). He also enjoyed some visiting appointments, especially in physics at Texas A & M University (2005-2017).

    His efforts to enhance science education and public understanding centered for many years with the Society for Science and the Public, which publishes Science News and conducts the Science Talent Search and the International Science and Engineering Fair. He long-chaired the Hans Bethe Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, and is a Life member of Friends of Benjamin Franklin and of The Sierra Club.

    Honors include the Nobel Prize (1986), shared with Yuan Lee and John Polanyi.  Among others much appreciated are Honorary Life Member of the Association of Women Scientists (1998); and three prizes named for him: Harvard Chemistry Teaching Prize for Graduate Students; Harvard University Teacher/Scientist Lectureship; and a Molecular Dynamics Prize.

    Judith E. Karp, MD
    Scientific Advisor

    Professor Emerita of Oncology and Medicine
    The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

    Dr. Judith Karp, MD is a Professor Emerita of Oncology and Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she was Professor of oncology and Director of the Adult Leukemia Program in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, until 2013. Dr. Karp’s primary clinical interest is the experimental therapeutics of acute leukemias. She has authored 275 peer-reviewed articles and 35 book chapters, and edited 2 textbooks on acute leukemias, most recently ​an innovative textbook entitled “Acute Leukemia: An Illustrated Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment.” Dr. Karp maintains active involvement with former fellows and faculty in terms of clinical trials development, design and analysis, and serves on the central IRB for the National Cancer Institute and is Chairman of the DSMC for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Beat AML Umbrella Clinical Trial and for the Tolero Phase II Biomarker-Driven Study of the Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Alvocidib. She has received the Dr. John J. Kenny and Spiral of Life Awards from the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

     

    Robert S. Kerbel, PhD
    Scientific Advisor

    Professor, University of Toronto

    Senior Scientist, Sunnybrook Health Services Center

    Dr. Robert Kerbel received his PhD in immunology in 1972 from the Dept. of Immunology & Microbiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, after which he undertook postdoctoral training in London at the Institute for Cancer Research in tumor immunology. He started his independent research program in 1975 studying tumor immunology and metastasis at Queen’s, and was appointed Director of the Cancer Biology Program in the Dept. of Pathology in 1981. In 1985 he was recruited as Director of Cancer Biology Research at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto. He then moved to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to assume the same position from 1991 until 2001.

    Dr. Kerbel held a Canada Research Chair in Tumor Biology, Angiogenesis & Antiangiogenic Therapy (2001-2015), and is a professor in the Dept. of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. His overall main research interest has been devising new cancer treatment strategies having improved efficacy and reduced toxicity for the treatment of metastatic disease. This culminated in his translational studies of combinatorial low-dose ‘metronomic’ chemotherapy with antiangiogenic drugs. Other major contributions include development of improved preclinical investigational therapeutic models in mice involving early stage or advanced metastatic disease, linking the fields of angiogenesis and oncogenes, uncovering mechanisms by which antiangiogenic drugs increase chemotherapy efficacy, and elucidating mechanisms of intrinsic or acquired antiangiogenic drug resistance. His current major research interests include assessment of ‘vessel co-option’ in tumors in response to antiangiogenic drugs, and combination therapy utilizing immune checkpoint inhibitors with VEGF (or ang2) targeting antiangiogenic drugs, using new mouse models for immune therapy his lab is developing.

    Dr. Kerbel has published 417 papers, given 862 invited lectures around the world. He is and has been an editorial board member of numerous international scientific journals. Currently these include Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, EMBO Molecular Medicine, and the International Journal of Cancer. Among the awards he has received include the 2004 Canadian Cancer Society Robert Noble Award for Excellence in Cancer Research, the Breast Cancer Research Award from the European Institute of Oncology in 2008, a Man of Distinction Honor by the Israel Cancer Research Fund in 2011, and the Colin Thomson Memorial Medal for achievements in cancer research from Worldwide Cancer Research (formerly known as the Association for International Cancer Research) in 2013. His research studies have been supported by numerous agencies including the National Institutes of Health, USA, the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and Worldwide Cancer Research. He also collaborated extensively with industry and has consulted for over 20 pharmaceutical and biotech companies during the last 25 years.

     

    Razelle Kurzrock, MD
    Scientific Advisor

    Distinguished Professor of Medicine,
    Associate Director, Clinical Science,
    Director, Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy,
    Leader, Experimental Therapeutics,
    Director, Rare Tumor Clinic, University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center

    Dr. Razelle Kurzrock is known for founding and building the largest Phase 1 clinical trials department in the nation/world while at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A central theme of that program was the precision medicine strategy, embodied in a protocol called PREDICT for Profile-related Evidence Determining Individualized Cancer Therapy.

    At University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, Dr. Kurzrock’s charge is heading its newly established Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy. This center focuses on genomically-driven therapy as well as precision immunotherapy, especially in rare cancers. Dr. Kurzrock is a global leader in personalized medicine, bringing the first transcriptomic study to the clinic in an international setting spanning five countries (WINTHER), as well as the first study of individually customized combination therapy (IPREDICT) (both Nature Medicine, April 2019).

    Dr. Kurzrock received her MD degree from the University of Toronto, Canada.  She has >800 PubMed publications, an H-index of 117, has been named to the list of most highly cited scientists in the world and the 25 world leaders in precision medicine, and she has a uniquely strong record of competitive funding with more than 100 million dollars in lifetime funding.

    Importantly, Dr Kurzrock has a special interest in Rare Cancers, a large unmet need.  Dr. Kurzrock founded a Rare Tumor Clinic at UCSD and heads the Rare Cancers and Early Therapeutics Committee for the NCI cooperative group SWOG.  The effort that Dr. Kurzrock is most passionate about is changing the course of disease for patients with cancer.  Patients are at the heart of her work.

    Dr. Kurzrock has four children and three dogs and lives with her husband, Dr. Philip Cohen, a dermatologist, in San Diego, CA.

    Marsha A. Moses, PhD
    Scientific Advisor

    Dr. Marsha A. Moses is the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is internationally recognized for her significant contributions to our understanding of the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that underlie the regulation of tumor development and progression. Dr. Moses and her laboratory have discovered several inhibitors of these processes that function at both the transcriptional and translational level, some of which are being developed for potential clinical use in a variety of human diseases. Named a pioneer in the field of Biomarker Medicine by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, she created a Proteomics Initiative at Boston Children’s Hospital, has utilized its resources, including an extensive human biorepository and has leveraged her significant expertise in proteomics, to discover and validate a number of novel, non-invasive biomarkers for a variety of human cancers and non-neoplastic diseases.  Several of these biomarkers are currently being used in clinical trials. Dr. Moses and her team have engineered novel, actively targeted, precision nanomedicines for the treatment of human cancers and their metastases. A number of these therapeutics and diagnostics are included in Dr. Moses’ significant patent portfolio composed of both US and foreign patents.
    Dr. Moses’ basic and translational work has been published in such journals as Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, PNAS and Nature Communications, among others. She received a Ph.D.in Biochemistry from Boston University and completed a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and MIT in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer. Dr. Moses is the recipient of a number of NIH and foundation grants and numerous awards and honors. Most recently, she was the 2021 recipient of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship. Dr. Moses has been recognized with both of Harvard Medical School’s mentoring awards, the A. Clifford Barger Mentoring Award and the Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty. Marsha has received the Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Postdoc Association of Boston Children’s Hospital and has also received their Award for Exceptional Mentorship. She has also received the Honorary Member Mentoring Award from the Association of Women Surgeons of the American College of Surgeons.
    Dr. Moses has been elected to the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of  Medicine) of the National Academies of the United States, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.