Before becoming Oncorus’ President, CEO and a member of its Board of Directors, Ted was Head of Oncology Development at Moderna Therapeutics where he was responsible for overall design, integration and execution of Moderna’s clinical-stage oncology programs. Prior to this role, he led the development of Moderna’s Personalized Cancer Vaccine programs. Previously, Ted was Senior Vice President of Product Strategy and Operations at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and also the Global Product Head for Leukine® (sargramostim) and Elitek®/Fasturtec® (rasburicase) for Sanofi Oncology. In this latter role, Dr. Ashburn provided global leadership for R&D and global marketing and led regional commercial teams to identify, develop, prioritize and execute new commercialization and life-cycle management strategies to drive growth. He was also responsible for negotiating and implementing Sanofi’s 2013 supply, stockpiling and R&D contract with the U.S. Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Ted joined Sanofi Oncology from Genzyme’s Corporate Development group where he led business development efforts for several of Genzyme’s franchises including transplant, oncology and rare diseases and was responsible for Genzyme’s 2009 deal with ViroPharma. Prior to joining Genzyme, he worked for privately held Dynogen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the venture capital firm Oxford Bioscience Partners. While at Oxford he co-founded both Dynogen and BrainCells, Inc. and led investments in Alantos Pharmaceuticals (acquired in June, 2007 by Amgen for $300 million in cash) and superDimension, Ltd. (acquired by Covidien in March, 2012 for more than $300 million). Before joining Oxford, Ted started his career at Pfizer Inc. where he was involved in the analysis of several acquisition and new business opportunities including Pfizer’s acquisition of Warner-Lambert in 2001.

Ted graduated magna cum laude from Ball State University where he studied chemistry and computer science. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John McCabe is Chief Financial Officer of Oncorus. Prior to joining Oncorus, John served as CFO of Flex Pharma, Inc., which is now known as Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Before joining Flex Pharma in 2014, John served as Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer with ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2013 to 2014, which was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., and is now part of Takeda Oncology Company. Previously, John served as Vice President and Corporate Controller at Charles River Associates from 2009 to 2013, where he was responsible for all aspects of global financial accounting, planning and reporting. John also previously served as Director and Strategic Business Unit Controller at Biogen, managing all accounting and government pricing functions for the U.S. commercial business. John began his career at Arthur Andersen & Co., and he later held financial positions at Performance Technologies, Inc. and IP.com.

John holds B.S. degrees in accounting and management information systems from Babson College, and an M.B.A from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

John is Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Oncorus. In collaboration with the scientific and manufacturing teams, he is responsible for driving the clinical studies of Oncorus’ viral immunotherapies, and for ongoing development and regulatory strategies.

His prior roles include Senior Medical Director at H3 Biomedicine, clinical development at Agenus, and the leadership of the pediatric oncology Phase 1 program at the University of Miami. John’s immunotherapy experience includes first-in-human neo-antigen vaccines, dendritic cell vaccine and GVAX trials, as well as check point inhibitors and costimulatory agonists. He is a practicing pediatric oncologist with 15 years of experience treating children with cancer and enrolling patients in clinical trials.

John received his pediatric hematology oncology training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, and his general pediatrics training at the University of Rochester. John is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the college of the University of Chicago.

Lorena Lerner Ph.D. is the Vice President of Molecular Biology at Oncorus, where she is leading the efforts to engineer more potent and safer novel armed oncolytic viral vectors for the treatment of solid tumors.

Lorena is an experienced cancer biologist with a proven track record of managing and advancing projects, from early discovery into clinical development. Most recently, Lorena served as Director of Biology at Quiet Therapeutics, where she was responsible for leading the development of its proprietary nanotechnology platform, identifying potent immunotherapy target candidates and optimizing vector design. Prior to Quiet, she served as Director of Target Discovery at Scholar Rock and held positions of increasing responsibilities at AVEO Oncology, where she pioneered and executed the development of AV-380, a cancer cachexia program targeting GDF15, from target identification, validation and antibody discovery through preclinical development and out-licensing enterprises.

Lorena received an MSc in Molecular Biology and a PhD in Biochemistry from University of Buenos Aires. She completed post-doctoral research fellowship in Molecular and Cellular Biology with Professor James E. Darnell at Rockefeller University. Her academic training focused in the field of gene regulation and cancer molecular biology. Lorena is a co-inventor of numerous patents and high-impact, peer-reviewed manuscripts and abstracts.

Christophe Quéva, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President, Research. Christophe is responsible for directing and advancing the company’s development program based on its next-generation immunotherapy platform of oncolytic viruses. An industry veteran, Christophe has nearly two decades’ immuno-oncology experience and successful portfolio-building track record from target identification and development through regulatory approval.

Prior to joining Oncorus, Christophe was Chief Scientific Officer at iTeos Therapeutics where his responsibilities included leading the generation of an innovative immuno-oncology portfolio of small molecule and antibody programs and overseeing the company’s translational medicine strategy for its A2A antagonist and TIGIT programs. Before iTeos, he held successive senior positions at AstraZeneca, Amgen and Gilead Sciences where he led or supported drug discovery programs for oncology and inflammatory diseases, from target selection to commercial approval for small molecules and biologics.

A holder of five patents and widely published, Christophe trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle after receiving his PhD in Life and Health Sciences from the University of Lille, France.

Stephanie Duncanson, Ph.D., is the Senior Director of Corporate Strategy & Business Development at Oncorus. Stephanie is responsible for identifying, sourcing, and driving strategic opportunities for Oncorus’ next-generation oncolytic virus platforms. Additionally, she serves as the head of Business Development, alliance manager, and leads IP portfolio development.

Prior to joining Oncorus, Stephanie was a Consultant at Clarion Healthcare, providing strategic support, guidance, and planning to a broad range of biopharmaceutical companies. Stephanie received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Georgia Institute of Technology with a focus in cell & gene therapy, and completed her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University.

Brett is the Vice President of CMC Operations. He and his team are responsible for the strategic direction and operational responsibilities related to the manufacturing, development and quality of oncolytic viruses from early stage clinical development through commercialization.

Most recently, Brett was the Director of Technical Operations at Momenta Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the management of external manufacturing activities of novel proteins. Brett’s prior roles included responsibility for operation of a large scale development laboratory and upstream process development teams for biosimilar monoclonal antibody treatments.

Brett is the inventor on 13 patents and an author on multiple publications. Brett received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Arizona after completing his BS in Chemical Engineering at The University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Before becoming Oncorus’ President, CEO and a member of its Board of Directors, Ted was Head of Oncology Development at Moderna Therapeutics where he was responsible for overall design, integration and execution of Moderna’s clinical-stage oncology programs. Prior to this role, he led the development of Moderna’s Personalized Cancer Vaccine programs. Previously, Ted was Senior Vice President of Product Strategy and Operations at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and also the Global Product Head for Leukine® (sargramostim) and Elitek®/Fasturtec® (rasburicase) for Sanofi Oncology. In this latter role, Dr. Ashburn provided global leadership for R&D and global marketing and led regional commercial teams to identify, develop, prioritize and execute new commercialization and life-cycle management strategies to drive growth. He was also responsible for negotiating and implementing Sanofi’s 2013 supply, stockpiling and R&D contract with the U.S. Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Ted joined Sanofi Oncology from Genzyme’s Corporate Development group where he led business development efforts for several of Genzyme’s franchises including transplant, oncology and rare diseases and was responsible for Genzyme’s 2009 deal with ViroPharma. Prior to joining Genzyme, he worked for privately held Dynogen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the venture capital firm Oxford Bioscience Partners. While at Oxford he co-founded both Dynogen and BrainCells, Inc. and led investments in Alantos Pharmaceuticals (acquired in June, 2007 by Amgen for $300 million in cash) and superDimension, Ltd. (acquired by Covidien in March, 2012 for more than $300 million). Before joining Oxford, Ted started his career at Pfizer Inc. where he was involved in the analysis of several acquisition and new business opportunities including Pfizer’s acquisition of Warner-Lambert in 2001.

Ted graduated magna cum laude from Ball State University where he studied chemistry and computer science. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Christophe Quéva, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President, Research. Christophe is responsible for directing and advancing the company’s development program based on its next-generation immunotherapy platform of oncolytic viruses. An industry veteran, Christophe has nearly two decades’ immuno-oncology experience and successful portfolio-building track record from target identification and development through regulatory approval.

Prior to joining Oncorus, Christophe was Chief Scientific Officer at iTeos Therapeutics where his responsibilities included leading the generation of an innovative immuno-oncology portfolio of small molecule and antibody programs and overseeing the company’s translational medicine strategy for its A2A antagonist and TIGIT programs. Before iTeos, he held successive senior positions at AstraZeneca, Amgen and Gilead Sciences where he led or supported drug discovery programs for oncology and inflammatory diseases, from target selection to commercial approval for small molecules and biologics.

A holder of five patents and widely published, Christophe trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle after receiving his PhD in Life and Health Sciences from the University of Lille, France.

John McCabe is Chief Financial Officer of Oncorus. Prior to joining Oncorus, John served as CFO of Flex Pharma, Inc., which is now known as Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Before joining Flex Pharma in 2014, John served as Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer with ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2013 to 2014, which was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., and is now part of Takeda Oncology Company. Previously, John served as Vice President and Corporate Controller at Charles River Associates from 2009 to 2013, where he was responsible for all aspects of global financial accounting, planning and reporting. John also previously served as Director and Strategic Business Unit Controller at Biogen, managing all accounting and government pricing functions for the U.S. commercial business. John began his career at Arthur Andersen & Co., and he later held financial positions at Performance Technologies, Inc. and IP.com.

John holds B.S. degrees in accounting and management information systems from Babson College, and an M.B.A from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Stephanie Duncanson, Ph.D., is the Senior Director of Corporate Strategy & Business Development at Oncorus. Stephanie is responsible for identifying, sourcing, and driving strategic opportunities for Oncorus’ next-generation oncolytic virus platforms. Additionally, she serves as the head of Business Development, alliance manager, and leads IP portfolio development.

Prior to joining Oncorus, Stephanie was a Consultant at Clarion Healthcare, providing strategic support, guidance, and planning to a broad range of biopharmaceutical companies. Stephanie received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Georgia Institute of Technology with a focus in cell & gene therapy, and completed her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University.

John is Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Oncorus. In collaboration with the scientific and manufacturing teams, he is responsible for driving the clinical studies of Oncorus’ viral immunotherapies, and for ongoing development and regulatory strategies.

His prior roles include Senior Medical Director at H3 Biomedicine, clinical development at Agenus, and the leadership of the pediatric oncology Phase 1 program at the University of Miami. John’s immunotherapy experience includes first-in-human neo-antigen vaccines, dendritic cell vaccine and GVAX trials, as well as check point inhibitors and costimulatory agonists. He is a practicing pediatric oncologist with 15 years of experience treating children with cancer and enrolling patients in clinical trials.

John received his pediatric hematology oncology training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, and his general pediatrics training at the University of Rochester. John is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the college of the University of Chicago.

Brett is the Vice President of CMC Operations. He and his team are responsible for the strategic direction and operational responsibilities related to the manufacturing, development and quality of oncolytic viruses from early stage clinical development through commercialization.

Most recently, Brett was the Director of Technical Operations at Momenta Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for the management of external manufacturing activities of novel proteins. Brett’s prior roles included responsibility for operation of a large scale development laboratory and upstream process development teams for biosimilar monoclonal antibody treatments.

Brett is the inventor on 13 patents and an author on multiple publications. Brett received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Arizona after completing his BS in Chemical Engineering at The University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Lorena Lerner Ph.D. is the Vice President of Molecular Biology at Oncorus, where she is leading the efforts to engineer more potent and safer novel armed oncolytic viral vectors for the treatment of solid tumors.

Lorena is an experienced cancer biologist with a proven track record of managing and advancing projects, from early discovery into clinical development. Most recently, Lorena served as Director of Biology at Quiet Therapeutics, where she was responsible for leading the development of its proprietary nanotechnology platform, identifying potent immunotherapy target candidates and optimizing vector design. Prior to Quiet, she served as Director of Target Discovery at Scholar Rock and held positions of increasing responsibilities at AVEO Oncology, where she pioneered and executed the development of AV-380, a cancer cachexia program targeting GDF15, from target identification, validation and antibody discovery through preclinical development and out-licensing enterprises.

Lorena received an MSc in Molecular Biology and a PhD in Biochemistry from University of Buenos Aires. She completed post-doctoral research fellowship in Molecular and Cellular Biology with Professor James E. Darnell at Rockefeller University. Her academic training focused in the field of gene regulation and cancer molecular biology. Lorena is a co-inventor of numerous patents and high-impact, peer-reviewed manuscripts and abstracts.

Mitchell H. Finer, PhD founded Oncorus and currently serves as Executive Chairman and “Chief Coolhunter”. As Chief Coolhunter, Dr. Finer is ever on the prowl for innovative technologies that will increase the probability of success of existing development programs as well as product opportunities that are synergistic with the existing portfolio and will overall improve the success of the business.

Mitch joined MPM Capital as Managing Director in 2015 and is a member of the board of directors of MPM portfolio company Semma Therapeutics. For three decades Mitch has focused in the areas of regenerative medicine, cancer immunotherapy and cell and gene therapy, helping to advance products from conception through phase III clinical programs. Prior to MPM, Mitch served as CSO of bluebird bio, where he was responsible for strategic build of bluebird’s gene therapy business and led the strategic development of the LentiGlobin product from preclinical research through demonstration of long-term therapeutic benefit and safety in beta-thalassemia patients. Mitch continues to serve on bluebird bio’s scientific advisory board.

Prior to bluebird, Mitch served as CEO of Intracel Corporation and Genteric Inc, and as VP Research for Cell Genesys and the Gencell division of Aventis Pharma (now Sanofi). Mitch also successfully co-founded retinal disease gene therapy company Avalanche Biotechnologies.

Mitch received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University and a BS in Biochemistry and Microbiology from the University of California at Berkeley. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT.

Before becoming Oncorus’ President, CEO and a member of its Board of Directors, Ted was Head of Oncology Development at Moderna Therapeutics where he was responsible for overall design, integration and execution of Moderna’s clinical-stage oncology programs. Prior to this role, he led the development of Moderna’s Personalized Cancer Vaccine programs. Previously, Ted was Senior Vice President of Product Strategy and Operations at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and also the Global Product Head for Leukine® (sargramostim) and Elitek®/Fasturtec® (rasburicase) for Sanofi Oncology. In this latter role, Dr. Ashburn provided global leadership for R&D and global marketing and led regional commercial teams to identify, develop, prioritize and execute new commercialization and life-cycle management strategies to drive growth. He was also responsible for negotiating and implementing Sanofi’s 2013 supply, stockpiling and R&D contract with the U.S. Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Ted joined Sanofi Oncology from Genzyme’s Corporate Development group where he led business development efforts for several of Genzyme’s franchises including transplant, oncology and rare diseases and was responsible for Genzyme’s 2009 deal with ViroPharma. Prior to joining Genzyme, he worked for privately held Dynogen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the venture capital firm Oxford Bioscience Partners. While at Oxford he co-founded both Dynogen and BrainCells, Inc. and led investments in Alantos Pharmaceuticals (acquired in June, 2007 by Amgen for $300 million in cash) and superDimension, Ltd. (acquired by Covidien in March, 2012 for more than $300 million). Before joining Oxford, Ted started his career at Pfizer Inc. where he was involved in the analysis of several acquisition and new business opportunities including Pfizer’s acquisition of Warner-Lambert in 2001.

Ted graduated magna cum laude from Ball State University where he studied chemistry and computer science. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Scott Canute previously served as President of Global Manufacturing and Corporate Operations at Genzyme from 2010 to 2011, where he was brought in specifically to lead a major turnaround in manufacturing to ensure the ongoing supply of the company’s life-saving products. Prior to joining Genzyme, Scott spent 25 years at Eli Lilly and Company, where he held several operations and manufacturing roles of increasing responsibility, including ultimately serving as President, Global Manufacturing Operations from 2004 to 2007. In this role, Scott directed all manufacturing and supply chain activities for Lilly’s global operations.

Scott currently serves as a director of Flexion Therapeutics. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Immunomedics Inc., Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., Proteon Therapeutics, Inc., AlloCure, Inc., Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., Oncobiologics, Inc., and the National Association of Manufacturers and the Indiana Manufacturers Association.

Scott earned a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Luke Evnin, PhD, co-founded MPM with Ansbert Gadicke in 1997 and opened the San Francisco office in 1999. The MPM team they have led has been the inspiration and driving force behind building companies such as Biomarin (BMRN), CoStim Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Novartis:NVS) , Epizyme (EPZM), Idenix (acquired by Merck:MRK), Pacira (PCRX), Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead:GILD) and Radius (RDUS). MPM believes that these companies are among the biggest successes in biotech history – companies that ultimately resulted in helping thousands of patients live longer and with vastly improved lives. Luke was the lead investor and has served on the boards of several of MPM’s most successful investments including CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Idun Pharmaceuticals, and Pacira.

Prior to co-founding MPM, Luke honed his skills as a venture capitalist beginning in 1990 at Accel Partners where he focused on emerging healthcare companies. Luke’s passion for drug discovery began in college where he received his AB in Molecular Biology from Princeton University. He advanced his technical training and launched his interest in curing disease with his doctoral study in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of California-San Francisco. Luke’s passion for discovering and pushing forward groundbreaking drug discovery companies inspires his work and that of his team.

Luke has devoted significant efforts since 2000 to working with the Scleroderma Research Foundation, serving as Chairman since 2002. Luke also devotes energy to the External Advisory Board at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Quantitative Genomics at Princeton, serves on the External Advisory Boards for QB3 at UCSF, the Masters in Translational Medicine program at UCSF, and the Boston University Scleroderma CORT.

Mary Kay currently serves as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Semma Therapeutics, an operating subsidiary of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX). She joined Semma Therapeutics from Achillion Pharmaceuticals, which she joined in 2000 and where she later served as Executive Vice President and CFO from 2006 to 2018. At Achillion, Mary Kay was a key member of the executive team and played an instrumental role in the company’s growth, including overseeing multiple public and private capital raises, and leading financial and operational functions.

Prior to joining Achillion, she held various positions within the Technology Industry Group at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, from 1991 to 2000, most recently as Senior Manager responsible for the life sciences practice in Connecticut. Mary Kay holds an M.B.A. in Finance from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Connecticut and an A.B. in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross.

Dr. Kirkman is Executive Chair of Trillium Therapeutics. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Oncothyreon from September 2006 until January 2016.

From 2005 to 2006, he was acting President and Chief Executive Officer of Xcyte Therapies, which concluded a merger with Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, both development-stage biopharmaceutical companies, in March of 2006. From 2004 to 2005, Dr. Kirkman was Chief Business Officer and Vice President of Xcyte. From 1998 to 2003, Dr. Kirkman was Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Communications of Protein Design Labs, a biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Kirkman holds a MD degree from Harvard Medical School and a BA in economics from Yale University.

Briggs W. Morrison, MD, joined MPM in 2015. Briggs is CEO of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an MPM portfolio company. Prior to joining Syndax and MPM, Briggs served as Chief Medical Officer and Executive VP for “Global Medicines Development” at AstraZeneca (ADR).

Briggs’ career includes distinguished roles at AstraZeneca, Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK). At AstraZeneca, he was head of global medicines development, where he oversaw all clinical development functions and late- stage clinical development projects. As Head of Clinical Development at Pfizer, he oversaw Phase I-III development and operations for all therapeutic areas before being appointed the head of Development, Medical Affairs, Safety and Regulatory Affairs for all Pfizer human health businesses. While serving as head of Oncology Development at Merck, Briggs oversaw the development and approval of vorinostat (Zolinza ®) for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Briggs formerly served as Chairman of the Board of Transcelerate, an industry-funded company charged with improving aspects of clinical trials.

Briggs received his BS (Biology) degree from Georgetown University and his MD degree from the University of Connecticut, and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and additional post-doctoral work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Briggs trained in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Spencer is a Managing Partner at KSV Global where he focuses on novel technologies and therapeutics in healthcare. Prior to joining KSV Global, Spencer was a senior research fellow at the Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation where he researched disruptive innovation models in healthcare.

Prior to Christensen Institute, Spencer spent 10 years as a licensed securities analyst on Wall Street where he had research coverage on medical devices, diagnostics and life science tools companies.

Before Wall Street, Spencer was a consultant at Bain & Company where he advised senior management teams of Fortune 500 companies. Spencer holds AB in Mathematics from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Cameron is a partner on the Private Transactions team at Deerfield. Cameron joined Deerfield in 2014 and focuses on therapeutics companies. Prior to joining Deerfield, Cameron was at Eleven Biotherapeutics for more than five years, where he was responsible for corporate development and commercial strategy. He was instrumental in the founding, building, and the eventual public offering of Eleven Biotherapeutics. Prior to Eleven, Cameron was at Third Rock Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm focused on launching and building life science companies. While at Third Rock, Cameron gained business development and operating experience as a member of the founding team of Constellation Pharmaceuticals. Cameron holds a PhD and SM in Biological Engineering and an SB in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jesse Bloom is an Associate Professor at the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center. He is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and an affiliate associate professor in Genome Sciences and Microbiology at the University of Washington. The Bloom lab uses a mix of computational and experimental approaches to study the evolution of viruses and proteins. Jesse received his PhD in Chemistry from Caltech, where he worked with Frances Arnold. He then performed a postdoc also at Caltech with David Baltimore.

Brian Brown is the Associate Director of the Precision Immunology Institute (PrIISM) and a Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has worked in the gene therapy and genetic engineering field for more than 20 years, and holds several licensed biotechnology patents, including for vector and virus targeting and for genomic sequencing technologies. His lab researches a broad area of investigation that spans immune oncology, molecular immunology, microRNA biology, and gene editing. His group uncovered a previously unrecognized pathway controlling the innate response to pathogen-associated nucleic acids and defined the transcriptional networks of dendritic cells. Brian also helped develop the foundational microRNA-based targeting technology used by Oncorus in their novel oncolytic viruses. A major effort of his lab is now focused on identifying the factors that direct the immune response against cancer in order to improve cancer immunotherapy.

Thomas W. Dubensky Jr., PhD is the CEO of Tempest Therapeutics, a development-stage company this is advancing a pipeline of orally available first-in-class small molecule therapeutics which modulate distinct immune response pathways relevant to mounting an effective anti-tumor response. Prior to Tempest, Tom was the Chief Scientific Officer of Aduro Biotech, where he led the development of first-in-class STING (stimulator of interferon genes) agonists. Additionally, Tom played principal roles in leading discovery biology, development and clinical translation to immunotherapy settings utilizing multiple vector platforms, including plasmid DNA, intracellular bacteria, lentiviruses, Maloney retroviruses, alphaviruses and oncolytic adenovirus at several Biotech companies—Viagene, Chiron, Onyx and Cerus. Tom has an extensive publication and issued patent record. He received his BA in Bacteriology and Immunology from the University of California, Berkeley, and his PhD at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He conducted his post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pathology.

Yizhou Dong is an Associate Professor in the Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University. He received his B.S. in pharmaceutical sciences from Peking University, Health Science Center and M.S. in organic chemistry from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry. In 2009, he received his Ph.D. degree in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) under the supervision of Professor K.-H. Lee. From 2010 to 2014, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professors Robert Langer and Daniel Anderson at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the design and development of biotechnology platforms for the treatment of genetic disorders, infectious diseases, and cancers. Dr. Dong has authored over seventy papers and patents. Several of his inventions have been licensed and are currently under development as drug candidates for clinical trials. Dr. Dong is the recipient of Young Innovator in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering from the Biomedical Engineering Society, Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), Ohio State Early Career Innovator of the Year, and The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Emerging Leader Award.

Dr. Glorioso began his academic career at the University of Michigan Medical School where he became Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. In 1989, Dr. Glorioso moved to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to become the William S. McElroy Professor of Biochemistry and Chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, a position he held until 2009. He continues to be a professor in this department.

Dr. Glorioso has established a 40-year history of research related to the basic pathobiology, immunology and genetics of herpes simplex virus (HSV). His contributions to the field include defining antiviral immune responses to infection, the genetics of viral pathogenesis and latency, and mechanisms of viral infection. Furthermore, he has been a pioneer in the design and application of HSV gene vectors for the treatment of nervous system diseases such as peripheral neuropathies, chronic pain, and brain tumors. He continues to be a worldwide leader in the HSV gene vector field through the creation of innovative gene vectors and the development of manufacturing methods for human clinical trials.

Dr. Glorioso has served as a member of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC), NIH (1994-1996); NIH Steering Committee of the National Gene Vector Laboratory (NGVL) (1995-2006); Member, NIH Steering Committee of the National Gene Vector Biorepository (2006- ); Founder, Member of the Board of Directors, Treasurer, Vice President, President, American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT); President, Association of Medical School Microbiology and Immunology Chairs (1999); National Steering Committee for the American Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy (2006-) and Chair of ACGT Scientific Advisory Board (2014-). Dr. Glorioso was elected Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology (1991); Vectors/Pittsburgh – Man of the Year in Technology (1996); Elected to Who’s Who in America (1999); Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2003); 2007 Elected American Men and Woman of Science, Awarded the Paradigm Builder Lectureship by International Society of Neuro-virology (2010) and Human Gene Therapy: Gene Therapy Pioneer Award (2014).

Dr. Glorioso founded the Nature Journal Gene Therapy where he served as editor for 22 years and he is a member of the editorial board of Molecular Therapy. Dr. Glorioso co-founded several biotech companies that include Genvec Inc., Nuvovec srl and most recently Switch Bio, a neuromodulation company and Oncorus, Inc. a Cambridge based company dedicated to the use of oncolytic HSV for immunotherapy of cancer.

Francisco J. Quintana, PhD is a Professor of Neurology at the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and an Associate Member at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Dr. Quintana is also the incoming President of the International Society of Neuro Immunology (ISNI).

Dr. Quintana, a graduate of the University of Buenos Aires (1999, Argentina), obtained his PhD in immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science (2004, Israel).  He received postdoctoral training at the Weizmann Institute of Science and Harvard Medical School.  In 2009, Dr. Quintana joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Quintana’s research investigates signaling pathways that control the immune response and neurodegeneration, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for immune-mediated disorders.  Dr. Quintana has published over 150 peer reviewed articles and book chapters.  Dr. Quintana’s work identified an important role for the transcription factor AHR in the control of inflammation driven by adaptive and innate immune cells. His work has also identified important mechanisms that control neurodegeneration driven by CNS resident cells. In addition, Dr. Quintana’s research has resulted in multiple patents which have been the foundation of three companies: ImmunArray Ltd, Alma Bio Therapeutics and AnTolRx Inc.

Dr. Quintana is the recipient of the Lady Anne Chain Prize for Academic Excellence and Scientific Achievements, the Junior Investigator Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Pathway to Independence Award of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Award for Outstanding Research Achievement form Nature Biotechnology, the Tecan Award for Innovation, the Harry Weaver Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Mentor Award from Harvard Medical School, the Milestones in Multiple Sclerosis Research Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Association of Immunologists-BD Biosciences Investigator Award and the Barancik Prize of Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis Research.