Our Team
We've assembled an experienced team of purpose-driven, world-class leaders in science and business
Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Officer
Biography
Dr. Blain is an internationally known expert in cell cycle and cancer biology, and is one of the world’s experts on p27Kip1. She has been studying cell cycle regulation for more than 25 years as an NIH funded investigator and tenured Associate Professor at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center. She founded Concarlo, capitalizing on discoveries she made and patented. She was trained at Princeton, Columbia and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Executive Chairman
Biography
Arthur Klausner is an experienced life science venture capitalist and company executive. He earned his M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and his B.A. in Biology from Princeton University. He was previously CEO and a board member of Goldilocks Therapeutics, Gem Pharmaceuticals, and Jade Therapeutics. He earlier spent a total of 18 years as a life sciences venture capitalist at Domain Associates and Pappas Ventures. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Monopar Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MNPR), and on the Life Sciences Investment Review Board for the New York University Innovation Venture Fund.
Chief Development Officer
Biography
Dr. Allamneni is a biopharma R&D expert with almost 20+ IND/IMPD submissions, 6 NDA/MAA approvals, and a track record of efficiently developing therapeutic candidates of various modalities. Forward-thinking leader in R&D strategy and tactical planning, and a highly regarded operational manager for key R&D functions. Impactful global regulatory interactions with FDA, MHRA, BfArM, ANSM, PMDA, Health Canada, TGA etc. during clinical development, partnership, and commercialization. Formerly with Turning Point, Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Genentech.
Chief Business & Operating Officer
Biography
Mr. Shepel is a highly talented business strategy and operations leader with ~20 years of experience. Mr. Shepel joins Concarlo from BeiGene where he was the Senior Director of New Market Development. Previously he spent five years at Pfizer where he was the Director of Strategy and Consulting in the Vaccines and Hospital Business Units. His earlier career includes public health work in Sub-Saharan Africa with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and investment roles at First New York Securities and BNP Paribas Fortis.
President
Biography
Mr. Mraz’s career has been focused in the financial markets for over 30 years since he joined JPMorgan in 1989. In 1999 he was a co-founding partner of the money management firm, Ospraie Management, where he is still an active partner today.In 2015 he teamed with Dr. Stacy Blain to found Concarlo and guides the team on all financial mattersIn 2017, he lead the development of the Ospraie AgScience team and platform, which currently invests in catalytic agricultural biotechnology.
Director, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls
Biography
Natalia specializes in liposome and lipid nanoparticle drug delivery systems. Prior to her current role, she held various positions at Evonik Vancouver laboratories, facilitating transition of customer projects through various stages of development, from proposal scoping to formulation development to early clinical manufacturing. Natalia has over 20 years of experience in lipid nanoparticle drug delivery field and has been involved in all aspects of liposome manufacturing, starting from early-stage formulation design, process development, scale-up and early clinical manufacturing. Prior to Evonik, she worked at a number of Vancouver based drug delivery companies (CDRD/adMare, Celator/Jazz, Inex), focusing on liposomal products. Natalia holds undergraduate degree in Chemistry from University of British Columbia.
Director of Research
Biography
Dr. Grace Chen received her Ph.D. in immunology at the University of Toronto, Canada. Following that, Grace completed two postdoctoral fellowships, published extensively, and have led numerous research projects. She has over 15 years of experience in the fields of cell biology, immunology, and hematology. Prior to her current role, she served as a research scientist at Concarlo where she spearheaded the optimization and preclinical development of Concarlo’s lead compound.
Director of Bioanalytical Research and Development
Biography
Dr. Hassan Rashidzadeh comes to us with 20 years of Biopharma experience in analytical, bioanalytical chemistry and biomarker quantitation with contributions to over 20 programs spanning across early development stage to clinical and post market life cycle management; 3 of which resulted in globally marketed products and one at the verge of approval. Prior to Concarlo, Hassan served as Director of Bioanalytical (BA) for Turning Therapeutics’ oncology small molecule and ADC programs. Previously, he led BA at Wave Life Sciences, Takeda (Shire), Vertex, Idenix (Merck) and Charles River Labs across multiple therapeutic areas such as rare diseases, antivirals, ophthalmology, neuroscience, and oncology. Hassan holds an MS, Ph.D degree in analytical chemistry (mass spectrometry) from Cleveland State University, and a postdoctoral fellowship from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and is an active member of the WRIB community.
Head of Operations
Biography
Sean Larkin has over a decade of experience in CFO / COO roles, spanning the startup process through corporate growth and change initiatives. His specialties include organizational management and emerging technologies. Prior to Concarlo Therapeutics, Sean was running outsourced CFO Firm LBC, LLC, working as a member of the Masotti & Masotti Digital Asset Group and as a member of MMBA, which is a blockchain education platform.
Principal Scientist
Biography
Anusha serves as a Principal Scientist at Concarlo. Anusha is a Biotechnologist with a specialization in developing peptide-based organic/inorganic nanomedicine platforms for drug delivery and gene delivery applications. Anusha received her Ph.D. at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India, in 2018. Following that, Anusha did her postdoctoral research at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-Delhi), India, with Dr. Archana Chugh, and at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, with Dr. Michelle Bradbury. During Anusha’s doctoral and postdoctoral studies, she designed various nanoparticle assemblies for anti-cancer and antimicrobial applications.
Research Scientist
Biography
Lena serves as a Research Scientist at Concarlo. Lena obtained her BS from NYU Tandon School of Engineering in biomolecular science with a minor in psychology. Lena has experience in a variety of labs at top institutions, specializing in immuno-oncology and molecular biology. Lena has performed basic and high-skill techniques for both in vivo and in vitro experiments in both academic and industry settings. Lena is highly motivated and passionate about oncology research.
Peptide Advisor
Biography
Dr. Bridon is an R&D executive with extensive North American and international experience of drug development from research to proof-of-concept clinical studies (Phase II) and regulatory submission in EU and US. 20+ years of experience with peptides therapeutics including drug protein bio-conjugate development across multiple therapeutic areas to treat cancer, anti-infective, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. He previously held various management positions at Optivia (acquired by BioIVT), Ipsen, Abbott, Enobia (acquired by Alexion) and Neuronax and served on the scientific boards of Syntaxin (acquired by Ipsen) and Biosortia. He is currently CEO of Diaccurate, a Paris-based star-up.
Chemistry Advisor
Biography
Dr. DeVita is an experienced medicinal chemist and drug hunter in academia, biotech and large pharmaceutical environments. He has over 30 years of drug discovery and development experience including expertise managing multi-disciplinary teams to deliver on key program objectives for complex molecular targets. Dr. DeVita started his career at Merck Research Laboratories and rose to Director of Medicinal Chemistry, where he delivered many development candidates and led drug discovery and development teams. Dr. DeVita was also VP of Chemistry at Agios Pharmaceuticals focused on oncology drug discovery. Since 2013, he founded a consulting firm which has consulted for a wide variety of clients including biotechs building translational drug discovery programs. He is also Professor in the Dept. of Pharmacological Sciences and Director of Medicinal Chemistry in the Drug Discovery Institute of Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai since 2014.
Nonclinical Regulatory
Biography
Dr. Janice Lansita is a board-certified toxicologist with over 17 years of experience both in the biopharmaceutical industry and with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a regulatory toxicologist, she has developed small molecule (NME and 505(b)(2)) and biologic therapies for a broad range of indications (e.g., rare disease, oncology, neurology, pain, ophthalmology, and immunology). Dr. Lansita has extensive experience in the design, monitoring, and interpretation of nonclinical toxicology studies (GLP and non-GLP) and has authored the nonclinical sections of various regulatory documents, including pre-INDs, INDs/CTAs (>45), Investigator Brochures, BLAs/NDAs, and package inserts/product labels for biopharmaceuticals.
Biomedical Engineering
Biography
Dr. Wu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY Buffalo). Her research focuses on the development of nanotherapeutics for cancer and chronic diseases and the development of in vitro diagnostic tests for cancer screening, diagnosis and prognosis. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Ohio State University in 2009. After completion of her degree, she received her postdoc training in the NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center at the Ohio State University.
Meet Our Scientific
Advisors
Biography
Dr. Paz is an experienced executive in the biotech and pharma space, with demonstrated leadership and expertise in precision medecine, preclinical and clinical drug development and business development. She possesses profound, applicable scientific know-how of molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, immunology, pharmacology, CMC, regulatory and clinical trial design. Dr. Paz is currently the Chief Development Officer at Nectin Therapeutics. Prior to that she held various leadership roles in biopharma companies, including ImClone Systems, Eli Lilly, Champions Oncology, Fortress Biotech and Stelexis Therapeutics. Keren holds a PhD from The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and was trained at The Rockefeller University and MSKCC under the mentoring of world-renowned scientists and Nobel laureates.
Biography
Dr. Schwartz is a board-certified medical oncologist, chief of Columbia University Medical Center’s Division of Hematology and Oncology and Deputy Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is actively involved in translational and clinical research. His research studies have been supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, the Department of Defense for Breast Cancer Research, the Byrne Foundation, and the Food and Drug Administration. He has served on the editorial boards of various scientific journals, including Associate Editor for the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Clinical Cancer Research. He is also actively involved in cooperative group activities and serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and is co-Chair of the Experimental Therapeutics Committee for Rare Cancers.
Biography
Andrew koff is the Head of the Laboratory of Cell Cycle Regulation Sloan-Kettering Institute. He also serves as a professor at the Molecular Biology Program of Weill Cornell Medical College. His laboratory is interested in the mechanisms that control the decision of mammalian cells to either commit to the mitotic proliferative cycle or exit the cell cycle and differentiate, and the effect that mis-regulation of this decision has on development of a tissue and on tumor growth
Biography
Dr. Shapiro received his PhD in 1987 and his MD in 1988 from Cornell University, followed by postgraduate training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, where he served as chief medical resident. He completed a fellowship in medical oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, during which he investigated the role of cell-cycle-related proteins in lung cancer. Dr. Shapiro’s practice is focused in the Center for Cancer Therapeutic Innovation, where he develops and leads early phase clinical trials. As Senior Vice President, Developmental Therapeutics, he also works integrally with multiple disease groups within the Institute.
Biography
Neal Rosen MD, PhD is a member of the Program in Molecular Pharmacology and the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center where he also is the incumbent of the Enid Haupt Chair in Medical Oncology. He has pioneered the ideas that oncogene-induced negative feedback plays important roles in determining mechanisms of tumorigenesis and progression and that its relief causes adaptive resistance to targeted therapies. He has also played important roles in developing therapeutic strategies for inhibition of RAS/RAF/MEK or PI3K/mTOR signaling.
Meet Our Business
Advisors
Biography
Mike Miller has over 40+ years of pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience. He has built/led large teams and all facets of commercialization, including General Management, Marketing, Sales Management, Market Access, Analytics, Market Research and Launch Planning. Therapeutic area experience includes Hematology Oncology, Solid Tumors (breast, lung, prostate, pancreatic), Neurology, Sleep Medicine, Reproductive Endocrinology, OBG, Pain, Urology, Cardiology, Immunology, Dermatology, and Metabolic Disease. Mike has public and non-profit BOD experience, as well as consulting experience with private and public companies in early and late stage drug development on commercial/market assessment and market access. Mike currently serves on the board of directors of BioXcel Therapeutics and PUMA Biotechnology.
Biography
Mike Harrington is a corporate executive and board member with 25 years of experience building global organizations and promoting corporate priorities in the heavily regulated life sciences industry. He has a history of increasing value across Eli Lilly’s worldwide operations through long-range vision, operational excellence and acquisitions. He provides a multidimensional perspective on corporate governance, strategic planning, enterprise risk management, and information security in regulated environments. He is also a current board member at Elanco Animal Health.
Biography
Jay Campbell is a life sciences and finance executive with over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, including 13 years focused on the life sciences as an investment banker working with private/public companies on strategic/M&A and financing transactions. He also has eight years of biotechnology industry experience working at private/public companies with core responsibilities of alliance management, business/corporate development, capital raising, and investor relations. Jay is currently Managing Director of the Clinical Accelerator and Venture fund at the Cancer Research Institute where he oversees the organization’s clinical trials and venture investing. He has successfully worked on 36 strategic and financing transactions and investments representing over $13.4 billion. Jay has worked at Immutep Limited, Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Maxim Group, ABN AMRO/Royal Bank of Scotland, BIO-IB, ABN AMRO Rothschild, and Schroder & Company.
Biography
Alicia Chung is the Sr Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Bionaut Labs, leading the company’s corporate strategy and business partnerships. Previously, she served as Head of Corporate Development at Amphivena Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage immunotherapy company, where she was responsible for the company’s fundraising, partnership transactions, and company operations. Prior to that, Alicia led Strategy and Business Development at Halozyme Therapeutics where she executed out-licensing of Halozyme’s drug delivery technology platform and early stage oncology assets. Alicia began her career at Roche-Genentech, where she held various positions of increasing responsibility in R&D, commercial and business development and licensing.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”
—John Quincy Adams
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