Ruth is the Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University and an honorary consultant medical oncologist in Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust. She is Director of the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre within the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, which is a dedicated clinical trials unit. She leads the Newcastle Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and also the CRUK Newcastle Cancer Centre. Ruth trained at Cambridge and Oxford, obtaining both a medical degree and scientific PhD. Her research interests are in the field of DNA repair and early-phase clinical trials of novel agents or novel imaging targets, taking the first-in-class PARP inhibitor into the clinic in 2003, ATR inhibitor in 2012, and MCT1 inhibitor in 2014.
Leonard has more than 30 years of experience with all stages of drug development, from early discovery through FDA approval. He was a Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of LEAD Therapeutics, which was later acquired by BioMarin Pharmaceuticals where he then served as the Chief Scientific Officer. At LEAD and BioMarin, he worked on the discovery and early development of the PARP inhibitor talazoparib. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Research and Development for Onyx Pharmaceuticals from 2000 to 2006. In this role, he was responsible for the co-development of Nexavar through to FDA approval for renal cancer. Leonard received a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is now the Chief Scientific Officer of Vivace Therapeutics, an oncology-focused portfolio-based drug discovery and development company.
Mike Grillo is an attorney with venture capital, corporate finance and transactional experience. Mike has participated in building and the successful exit of multiple biotech and industrial technology companies. In addition venture financing, Mike assists portfolio companies in Intellectual Property protection, technology management and licensing. He received a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Delaware, a JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law, and served as an officer in the US Submarine Service.
Timothy is a medical oncologist and physician-scientist at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department for Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Program) and the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology. Additionally, Timothy is Medical Director of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science and the Associate Director of Translational Research in the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy. Prior to his current positions at MD Anderson, Timothy was a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. He holds a BSc degree with First Class Honors in Immunology and Infectious Diseases from the Imperial College London and was awarded the Huggett Memorial Prize. He holds anMD from Imperial College London and completed his medical training at Oxford.
Vishwas brings more than 23 years of executive experience in addition to extensive drug discovery and research experience. He most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer of Karos Pharmaceuticals where he was hired as the first employee and served as the CSO until its acquisition in August of 2017. Prior to joining Karos, Vishwas was a Senior Director at Pfizer, which he joined in 1995 and left to join Karos in June of 2010. Before that, he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.
Dr. Needle brings more than 20 years of industry experience in clinical, business development, regulatory, and safety. Prior to joining Cybrexa, he served as CMO for Aveo Oncology, Array BioPharma, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and Consortium, and was also Vice President, Pediatric Strategy at Celgene. He has three regulatory approvals to his credit including Erbitux for the treatment of colon cancer in the US and Fotivda for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma in the US and the EU. He holds a Doctor of Medicine from State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, and a Bachelor of Arts in physics at Binghamton University. Dr. Needle is a board-certified pediatric hematologist/oncologist who completed his pediatric oncology training at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center/University of Washington in Seattle and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX.
Dr. Gautam brings 25 years of technical experience and a specialized knowledge of drug development, commercial design, and manufacturing processes spanning all phases from pre-clinical to post-launch. Dr. Gautam has significant experience in global operations and leading cross-functional teams, including overseeing efforts to secure FDA approvals, launch products, and manage product lifecycles. Dr. Gautam most recently served as Vice President, Technical Operations at Rhythm Pharmaceutical, where she was responsible for the implementation and execution of API and DP development strategy for the company’s lead candidate from Phase 1 to commercialization.
Nick Saccomano joins the Cybrexa advisory board with over 35 years of research, development, and management experience across a multitude of therapeutic areas. Nick most recently served as Chief Science Officer and Site Head at Pfizer Boulder R & D, formally Array BioPharma Inc., where he grew and advanced a portfolio of small molecule oncology programs from inception to proof-of-concept. Over his varied career, Dr. Saccomano has guided the discovery and development of dozens of molecules resulting in several commercial introductions. Nick’s appointment will complement the strengths of Cybrexa’s existing advisory team while contributing deep insights into strategic development and clinical applications going forward.
Geoffrey currently serves as the Director of the Early Drug Development Center, Clinical Director of the Center for DNA Damage and Repair, and an Institute Physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research focuses on the investigation of the role of cell cycle and DNA repair-related proteins in a variety of solid tumors.He is also a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves as the Principal Investigator on the National Cancer Institute/Clinical Trials Evaluation Program (NCI/CTEP) Early Therapeutics UM1 Grant for Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Geoffrey is a member of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee. He holds PhD and MD degrees from Cornell University, and completed his postgraduate training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston,followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Laurie Kenvin brings more than 20 years of global oncology clinical development and operations expertise including clinical, regulatory, product lifecycle management, and strategic partnership experience. Before joining Cybrexa, she spent 13 years at Celgene as Senior Director of Global Clinical Projects. Ms. Kenvin’s background in developing and leading cross functional teams in large-scale, international phase II-IV clinical trials will help implement and drive organizational strategies to advance Cybrexa’s clinical development plans and execute pipeline objectives.
