Acrivon’s team is a rare blend of leading scientific pioneers and highly accomplished executives. The team is located at two Centers of Excellence in Boston and Lund/Copenhagen in Scandinavia leveraging regional expertise, infrastructure, and capabilities.
People
A global team based out of two key life science clusters
- Drug and clinical biomarker assay development
- Clinical trials
- Market access
- Early drug programs and biomarker identification
- Drug profiling and mechanism-of-action
- Mass spectrometry
Meet the Senior Leadership Team
Peter Blume-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D.
Peter Blume-Jensen
M.D., Ph.D.Peter Blume-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., is Founder, President, and CEO of Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. He has extensive experience in oncology R&D and oncogenic kinase signaling. From 2001 to 2008, Peter was Department Head at Serono, US and later at Merck & Co, Inc. where he established and led integrated oncology drug programs into the clinic. From 2008 to 2010, he was Vice President, Ext. Sci. Affairs and Global Therapeutic Area Advisor for Oncology at Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. He co-led the scientific due diligence and M&A resulting in the acquisition of Plexxikon. From 2010-2014 he was CSO for Metamark Genetics where he built R&D and a novel, scripted proteomics tissue imaging platform. Here he led 4 clinical studies culminating with the blinded validation and launch of ProMark®, an outcome-predictive prostate cancer biopsy test included under NCCN guidelines and coverage. From 2014 till 2018 Peter was CSO for XTuit Pharmaceuticals where he established a novel prodrug platform in collaboration with Dr. Jeremiah Johnson, MIT, now continued at Window Therapeutics. Peter is the inventor of the AP3 platform and the OncoSignature patient selection method.
Peter serves on the SAB for several private biotech companies and academic institutions. His review “Oncogenic Kinase Signaling (Nature, 2001) is a citation classic in the field of clinical medicine. He received his M.D. from Copenhagen University Medical School, Denmark, his Ph.D. from The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Uppsala, Sweden, and conducted his Post-Doctoral Fellowship under Tony Hunter at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA.
Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen
Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen
Rasmus Holm-Jorgensen is Chief Financial Officer at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Previously, he was part of the founding team and SVP, Chief Strategy and Portfolio Officer of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals since its inception in 2015 to April 2022, including through the IPO to the launch of its first product. Prior to Kiniksa, he was Group Vice President and General Manager at Synageva BioPharma, where he created a new business unit with a portfolio of multiple rare disease programs following the company’s IPO in 2011 and culminating in the company’s sale for $9 billion. From 2008 to 2011, Rasmus drove the successful turnaround of the global commercial audiology organization of the GN Group, a global leader in intelligent audio solutions. From 1996 to 2008, Rasmus worked for Novo Nordisk in Denmark, U.S., Brazil and Mexico, where he held positions of increasing responsibility within general management, economy and planning, portfolio analysis, investor relations for North America and finance for LATAM. Rasmus received an M.S. in Economics from the University of Copenhagen and has completed executive training at INSEAD, Stanford University and Harvard Business School.
Jean-Marie Cuillerot, M.D.
Jean-Marie Cuillerot
M.D.Jean-Marie Cuillerot, M.D., is Chief Medical Officer at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Jean-Marie was previously the Chief Medical Officer at Dragonfly Therapeutics where he established and led a clinical team advancing multiple potential first-in-class assets. Prior to Dragonfly, Jean-Marie was the chief medical officer of Agenus, where he led development activities for five investigational therapies. At EMD Serono, an affiliate of Merck Serono, Jean-Marie served as the global head of clinical development in immuno-oncology (IO) and as the vice president of clinical immunotherapy/IO. He oversaw the company’s IO portfolio which included two checkpoint inhibitors and two immuno-cytokines. Notably, Jean-Marie led the clinical development of avelumab, the first drug approved to treat Merkel cell carcinoma and second-line bladder cancer, from pre-IND though global submissions in record time, an achievement that earned him the Merck CEO Award. From 2007 to 2012, he was at Bristol- Myers Squibb, where he was medical lead for the life cycle management of ipilimumab, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody and the world’s first immune checkpoint therapy for cancer, where he designed and led Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies across multiple indications and supported regulatory filings in the United States and Europe. Earlier in his career, Jean-Marie also served in clinical development at Novartis, as a clinical research physician at the Centre d’Immunologie Pierre Fabre, and as an assistant professor at the Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg. Jean-Marie received a B.S. in biochemistry, an M.Sc. in cellular and molecular biology and an M.D. at the University Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg, France).
Kristina Masson, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Kristina Masson
Ph.D., M.B.A.Kristina Masson, Ph.D., MBA, is Co-Founder and EVP, Business Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. and President and CEO of the company´s research subsidiary Acrivon AB located in Medicon Village, Sweden. Here she has established all infrastructure, heads all operations, and runs the phospho- proteomic discovery hub and early drug programs for the company’s proprietary AP3 platform. In 2016, she founded and operated OncoSignature AB, a small biotech company focused on identifying predictive biomarkers for clinical-stage cancer therapeutics for U.S. companies. OncoSignature’s business was subsequently acquired by Acrivon AB. Prior to that, she was a Principal Scientist at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA where she co-led, managed, and participated in cross-functional teams in both preclinical and clinical-stage therapeutic antibody programs, designing projects to identify predictive biomarkers, combination strategies and resistance mechanisms. Before joining Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Kristina was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Golub lab at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, developing assays for novel therapeutics and automated high-throughput drug screening approaches centered around synthetic lethality in cancer. Kristina received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Lund University, Sweden, and she received her Executive MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. Kristina is a member of the Board of Directors for Acrivon Therapeutics Inc. and Aqilion AB.
Eric Devroe, Ph.D.
Eric Devroe
Ph.D.Eric Devroe, Ph.D., is Chief Operating Officer at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Eric is an executive and entrepreneur with significant experience helping found, launch, and build new life science companies. Most recently, he served as Founder & CEO of Xione Therapeutics, Inc., an oncology focused spin-out of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Prior to Xione, he was Strategic Advisor, Therapeutics Discovery at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Founder and CEO of Opsonix, Inc., an infectious disease focused spin-out of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. Prior to Opsonix, he served as Executive Director of Strategic Alliances at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Earlier in his career he served as VP, Business & Strategy Development at Metamark Genetics, Inc., and an Associate at Flagship Pioneering. He holds a B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from Harvard University.
Mary-Alice Miller, J.D.
Mary-Alice Miller
J.D.Mary Miller is Chief Legal Officer at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Mary has over 20 years of corporate legal experience, having served as a strategic, proactive, and collaborative senior executive at several companies. Previously, she was General Counsel of Butterfly Network, a medical device company that she helped take public through a SPAC transaction. Prior to Butterfly, Mary served as the Chief Risk Officer and General Counsel of Columbia Care Inc., one of the largest vertically integrated medical marijuana operators in the United States, where she oversaw all legal, regulatory and compliance aspects of the organization, including helping to take the company public on the Canadian NEO exchange. Mary also spent several years starting and scaling her own digital media company, which she sold to Purch Media in 2016. Mary spent the first 7 years of her legal career at the law firm Ropes & Gray. Mary was named one of Boston Business Journal’s 2012 40 Under 40 and Mass High Tech’s 2013 Women to Watch. She received her J.D. from Boston College Law School and B.A. from Boston College.
Erick Gamelin, M.D., Ph.D.
Erick Gamelin
M.D., Ph.D.Erick Gamelin, M.D., Ph.D., is Chief Development Officer at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. From 2019 to 2021, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Step Pharma, a biotech focused on developing drugs in hematological malignancies. Previously he served as Vice President, Oncology at Dynavax Technologies focused on oncology vaccines and immune therapies, and prior to that as Vice President at Macrogenics Inc., working with immune therapies and bispecifics. Before that, he held leadership positions in early development at the Oncology Vaccine department at Pfizer, and with Targeted Therapies at Amgen.
Erick is a Medical Oncologist and Pharmacologist, former Professor of Oncology, and CEO of a national university cancer center and hospital, the West Oncology Institute. He received the title of Chevalier in the National Order of Merit by the French Minister of Health. During his career in academia, he has led a research lab in oncogenomics and genetics, funded by the French NCI, focused on the mechanisms of acquired resistance of cancer cells. He received his Ph.D. in molecular pharmacology from Bordeaux University and did his Post-Doc at the NIH, Molecular Therapeutics Section, Medical Oncology Branch. He has led over 100 Phase 1-3 oncology trials and coauthored more than 135 articles in peer-reviewed international journals.
Joon Jung, Ph.D.
Joon Jung
Ph.D.Joon Jung, Ph.D., is SVP and Head, Data Science at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Previously, he was the VP and Head of Data Science and Translational Discovery at Theonys where he led data science, bioinformatics, computational chemistry, biophysics and structural biology activities. From 2012-2021, Joon was the Head of Informatics & Translational Science Lead at Cyclerion Therapeutics/Ironwood Pharmaceutical. During his tenure, he developed a suite of web-based bioinformatic applications and a systems biology platform to identify novel indications by integrating -omics data, pathways and protein-protein interactome. Earlier in his career, Joon was a scientist at Merck Research Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson and Triad Therapeutics. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, a Ph.D. in Computational Chemistry from U.C. Irvine and Hebrew University, and he completed his fellowship in Bioinformatics & Computational Biology at Columbia University.
Adam D. Levy, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Adam D. Levy
Ph.D., M.B.A.Adam D. Levy is Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President of Investor Relations at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Zentalis, he was Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Turning Point Therapeutics, where he was part of the team that delivered a $4.1B transaction when the company was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2022. Earlier in his career he held positions of increasing responsibility in Corporate Strategy and Corporate Development at Pfizer Inc., Novartis AG, Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences, where he was Head of Corporate Strategy. Adam also served as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey and Company, focusing on supporting clients in the pharmaceutical industry. Adam received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a BS in Genetics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Praveen Marapaka, Ph.D.
Praveen Marapaka
Ph.D.Praveen Marapaka, Ph.D., is SVP, Global Regulatory Affairs at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Prior to joining Acrivon, he held senior leadership roles at Merck KGaA, AstraZeneca, BICARA Therapeutics and was accountable for driving regulatory strategies for company’s product portfolio, leading to approvals of many oncology and immuno-oncology products. He has effectively led global teams at Schering-Plough, and other pharmaceutical companies, managing all aspects of a product life cycle, from pre-clinical to post-approval. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry, was the Principal Investigator for several NIH grants (Oncology, CV and Neurology therapeutic area), a research fellow at Washington University, St. Louis and a Royal Society Fellow in the UK.
Monica Phadnis
Monica Phadnis
Monica Phadnis is SVP, Clinical Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics. Monica brings 17 plus years of global clinical oncology strategy and operations experience in biotech, pharma, clinical research organizations and academic settings. She is an end-to-end delivery expert for precision medicine treatments (TEPMETKO®, tepotinib), immunotherapy (BAVENCIO®, avelumab), and antibody-drug conjugate targeted therapies (ENHERTU®, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki).
Monica began her career as a Program Manager in Selventa, a company discovering genetic pathways for drug resistant solid tumors. She was recruited by Memorial Sloan-Kettering to lead the Breast and Thoracic Oncology Unit as a Portfolio Manager where she managed the entire portfolio of 75 plus clinical trials and staff of 30 plus to deliver various institutional and sponsor based multi-phase studies. She was selected as the New York State leader for Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) national program. Monica then developed her career as Therapeutic Compound Lead and Executive Director for Iqvia and Syneos respectively where she was program management head of Tepotinib and Bavencio. In her recent roles as VP of Clinical Operations at Relay and MetaboMed, Monica filed two INDs and up started entire clinical operations department including multiple vendor selections across US, EU and Asia.
Monica is a frequent ASCO poster presenter as well as guest speaker and panelist for many oncology conferences. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from University of Mumbai and Pre-Medicine Diploma from Harvard University.
John van Duzer, Ph.D.
John van Duzer
Ph.D.John van Duzer, Ph.D., is SVP, CMC at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. John is a senior pharmaceutical industry executive with over 30 years of proven expertise in medicinal chemistry research, chemical development and GMP manufacturing of both active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products. Prior to Acrivon, he was the SVP of Chemistry and Manufacturing at Acetylon. John is the inventor of Ricolinostat and Citarisnostat, selective HDAC6 inhibitors studied in the clinic for the treatment of multiple myeloma. When Celgene acquired Acetylon, he led the CMC tech transfer team that integrated Acetylon’s manufacturing processes into Celgene. Previously, while at Novartis, he invented Lumarcoxib, a marketed selective COX-2 inhibitor. At Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, he was the VP of Technical Operations responsible for all aspects of chemical development. He also served as the VP of Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing at Collegium Pharmaceuticals where he oversaw tech transfer of the commercial product Nucynta to a new manufacturing site. He is also the co-inventor of 36 patents and has co-authored 18 peer-reviewed scientific papers. John received his Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from Yale University, and B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.
Bruce Close
Bruce Close
Bruce Close is VP, Quality and Compliance at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Previously, he was a Principal Quality Consultant at Halloran Consulting. From 2007 to 2020, Bruce served as Executive Director, Compliance Operations at Celgene, where he focused on GxP regulatory and healthcare compliance. Prior to Celgene, he was in Compliance and Quality at Schering Ag / Bayer directing quality improvement initiatives and GMP auditing and training. Bruce held a similar role at Regeneron with responsibility for GLP Quality Assurance. Earlier in his career, he was a scientist at Baxter. Bruce received a B.S. and a B.A. from Rutgers University and a M.S. in Jurisprudence from Seton Hall University.
Rajshree Kandadai
Rajshree Kandadai
Rajshree Kandadai joined Acrivon in September 2023 as vice president of business development. Rajshree has over 20 years of experience in business development and licensing, corporate strategy and alliance management roles with a strong track record in both biotech and pharma. Prior to Acrivon, Rajshree led licensing activities for oncology assets at Mass General Brigham (MGB) Innovation for the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, the Mass General Hospital and the MGH Vaccine and Immunotherapy center and was responsible for driving several high value transactions. Prior to joining MGB, from 2010 to 2019, Rajshree was senior director corporate development and strategy at Aurigene Oncology. During her tenure at Aurigene, Rajshree established over 15 collaborations, including with big pharma and biotech companies across the U.S., Europe and Japan, delivering over $250 million in realized revenues. Previously, she served as a healthcare equity research analyst both at UBS ISC, where she led the healthcare equity research team, and at HSBC where she covered the U.S. healthcare sector. She holds an Master’s degree in hospital management and a B.S. in microbiology.
Lingling Li, Ph.D.
Lingling Li
Ph.D.Lingling Li, PhD is VP, Biostatistics at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Lingling is a highly accomplished drug development expert and statistical leader with a unique combination of experience in clinical development strategy, clinical study design, statistical methodology, analysis, regulatory matters (FDA, EMA), Good Clinical Practice (GCP) compliance, SOPs, and inspection readiness. Most recently, Lingling served as the VP of Biometrics for ImmunoGen overseeing a lean internal team to support the lead compound, Elahere®, a biomarker-driven ADC along with 3 other clinical-stage assets. Prior to that, at Karyopharm, Lingling had increasing roles and responsibilities and led the Biostatistics and Statistical Programming team in advancing 3 compounds across a variety of hematologic and solid tumor indications. Earlier in her career, Lingling worked at Sanofi, focusing on Pompe disease, following nearly a decade in academia as Assistant and Associate Professors at Harvard Medical School. Lingling received her PhD in Biostatistics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Parvin Miah
Parvin Miah
Parvin Miah is VP, Head of Human Resources at Acrivon Therapeutics. Parvin has nearly 20 years of global HR experience within the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries. Prior to joining Acrivon, Parvin held a variety of roles with increasing levels of responsibility at Tango Therapeutics, Biogen, Abiomed (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Novo Nordisk, and Johnson & Johnson. During her time at these organizations, Parvin has thoughtfully focused on sustaining high performing teams, managing growth, training and development, organizational effectiveness, talent acquisition, employee experience, DE&I, and culture.
Parvin holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. She is a certified coach with additional certifications in the areas of Talent Management, Talent Optimization, and Targeted Selection Interviewing.
Katharine Peterson, C.P.A.
Katharine Peterson
C.P.A.Katharine (Katie) Peterson is VP, Finance & Accounting at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. After beginning her career in the life sciences assurance practice at EY, she has helped multiple small biotech companies with public company readiness and IPO-directed efforts. She brings over a decade of experience in the biotechnology industry, working on financial management, operations, technical accounting, reporting, and planning. Prior to joining Acrivon, she was Senior Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at Wave Life Sciences, and held various roles within both Spero Therapeutics and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. Katie holds a BA in Business Economics from Providence College, an MS in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the state of Massachusetts.
David Proia, Ph.D.
David Proia
Ph.D.David Proia, Ph.D., is VP, Biology and Drug Discovery at Acrivon Therapeutics. David has extensive experience in developing small molecule therapeutics for various solid and liquid tumor indications and has contributed to projects advancing both early and later stage clinical development. Most recently, David served as VP of Oncology at ROME Therapeutics, where he was the biology lead for the development of agents targeting an endogenous reverse transcriptase. He served as Senior Director of In Vivo Pharmacology at C4 Therapeutics and project leader on multiple oncology programs, including CFT7455 (IKZF1/3 degrader), currently in clinical trials for patients with multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Prior to C4, he was the Director of Cancer Biology and In Vivo Pharmacology at Synta Pharmaceuticals and a Scientist at AstraZeneca. David has a B.S. in biochemistry from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from Baylor College of Medicine.
Christina Scherer, Ph.D.
Christina Scherer
Ph.D.Christina Scherer is VP and Head, Early Portfolio Management at Acrivon Therapeutics. She has over 20 years of experience leading drug discovery and development programs in biotech and nonprofit settings. Prior to Acrivon, she was the Senior Director of Product and Portfolio Development at Anokion US and Kanyos Bio, where she led preclinical and clinical product development teams for a novel tolerance-inducing platform. Prior to this, Christina was the Director of Anti-infectives Discovery at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she directed interdisciplinary project teams to discover and optimize novel small molecule therapeutics for multiple infectious diseases, including malaria, gram-negative bacteria, and Clostridium difficile. She obtained more than $10M in grants to support these efforts, and managed relationships with external pharmaceutical and nonprofit partners to advance drug development efforts. Prior to the Broad Institute, Christina held positions at Illumigen Biosciences and Kineta in Seattle, WA. Christina received her B.A. in Biology from Amherst College and her PhD. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from MIT.
Virna Schuck, Ph.D.
Virna Schuck
Ph.D.Virna Schuck is VP of Clinical Pharmacology at Acrivon Therapeutics. Virna has nearly 20 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry, working across Research and Development. Prior to joining Acrivon, Virna held positions of increasing responsibility at Ribon Therapeutics, Certara, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. More recently, Virna worked as an independent consultant, providing strategic and tactical guidance on Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Medicine. Throughout her career, Virna had the opportunity to work across different functions including DMPK, pharmacology, nonclinical modeling and simulations and clinical pharmacology. She has experience with integrating nonclinical and clinical data to drive clinical pharmacology strategies in early development and executing on these strategies to support selection of clinical dose and regimen. She contributed to the discovery of Zoliflodacin, a first-in-class antibiotic, and the successful submissions of Tembexa® and Leqvio®.
Virna has a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS- Brazil, and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the College of Pharmacy, University of Florida.
Michail Shipitsin, Ph.D.
Michail Shipitsin
Ph.D.Michail Shipitsin, Ph.D., is VP, Biomarker Development at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. Michail has over 15 years of experience in translational and biomarker research and development. Previously, he headed biomarker development at Xtuit Pharmaceuticals with a focus on NASH liver disease and cancer. After joining the biotech industry, Michail led development of a first in kind multiplex immunofluorescence prognostic test for prostate cancer at Metamark Genetics.
Michail earned his Diploma in Molecular Biology from Novosibirsk State University. He completed Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Tufts University and conducted postdoctoral studies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with a focus on biomarkers in breast cancer.
Meet the Scientific Advisory Board
George Demetri, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.S.C.O., F.A.A.C.R.
George Demetri
M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.S.C.O., F.A.A.C.R.Dr. Demetri is Co-Director of the Ludwig Center at Harvard and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves as Senior Vice President for Experimental Therapeutics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Dr. Demetri was instrumental in the development of Gleevec® (imatinib) as the first effective therapy for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) as a mutationally-driven solid tumor. His collaborative research efforts have contributed to worldwide regulatory approval of several other therapies, including sunitinib and regorafenib for GIST, as well as pazopanib, trabectedin, eribulin, and tazemetostat for other sarcomas. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Blueprint Medicines.
Dr. Demetri received his A.B. in Biochemistry at Harvard College and M.D. from Stanford Medical School. He completed his residency and chief residency at the University of Washington Hospitals in Seattle and his medical oncology fellowship at DFCI and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Demetri was the 2020 recipient of the David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Robert (Bob) Abraham, Ph.D.
Robert (Bob) Abraham
Ph.D.Dr. Abraham is Executive Vice President and Head of Cancer Biology at Odyssey Therapeutics. Before that, he was most recently Chief Scientific Officer at Vividion Therapeutics. Prior to Vividion, he was the Senior Vice President and World-wide Head of the Oncology R&D group at Pfizer. From 2005-2009, he was the Head of Oncology Discovery Research at Wyeth. During his tenure at Wyeth and Pfizer, Dr. Abraham contributed to the development of eight FDA-approved cancer drugs. Prior to joining industry, Dr. Abraham was a Professor at the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBPMDI) in La Jolla, CA, where he served as the Director of the NCI-designated SBPMDI Cancer Research Center. Prior to SBPDMI, he was endowed Chair in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at the Duke University Medical Center. Prior to Duke University, Dr. Abraham held dual professorships in the departments of Immunology and Pharmacology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He maintains Adjunct Professor appointments at U.C. San Diego (Department of Pharmacology), and at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute.
Dr. Abraham began his career as an Academic Investigator, with enduring interests in cancer biology and immunology. His major research interests included characterization and functional analysis of the mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, cancer metabolism, cellular signaling and DNA damage responses. Dr. Abraham has authored over 225 scientific publications, and his published work has been cited over 48,000 times.
Dr. Abraham received his B.S. in Biology from Bucknell University and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh, and he completed his postdoctoral training in Pharmacology and Immunology at the Mayo Clinic.
Timothy A. Yap, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.
Timothy A. Yap
M.B.B.S., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.Dr. Yap is an Associate Professor in the departments for Investigational Cancer Therapeutics and Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also the Medical Director of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science, a drug discovery biopharmaceutical unit where drug discovery and clinical translation are seamlessly integrated. He is also an Associate Director of Translational Research at the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, an integrated research and clinical trials program. Previously, Dr. Yap was a Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK and National Institute for Health Research BRC Clinician Scientist at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
Dr. Yap´s primary research focuses on development of targeted agents and their acceleration through biomarker-driven clinical trials. His main interests include targeting of the DNA damage response as well as the development of novel immunotherapeutics, and past and current he is and/or has been a Principal Investigator for multiple clinical trials evaluating novel strategies for targeting the DNA damage response in cancer. Dr. Yap obtained his B.Sc. degree in Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, UK, and subsequently went on to attain his medical degree from Imperial College London, UK. He has a Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from the Division of Cancer Therapeutics at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
David Berman, M.D., Ph.D.
David Berman
M.D., Ph.D.Dr. Berman is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. He is board certified in Anatomic Pathology and practices urologic surgical pathology at Kingston Health Sciences Centre while also running a biomarker discovery laboratory focused on urologic cancers. Dr. Berman earned his M.D. and Ph.D. (Genetics and Development) degrees from the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center. He completed residency training and a postdoctoral research fellowship at Johns Hopkins where he established his independent research laboratory, which moved to Canada in 2012.
The Berman Laboratory focuses on basic, translational, and clinical aspects of prostate and bladder cancer. His research has helped identify bladder cancer stem cells and druggable targets in embryonic signaling pathways, and it has helped improve surgical pathology practice.
Dr. Berman was Director of the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute from 2015-2021 and has served on research advisory committees for the Canadian Cancer Society (ACOR), the Canadian Cancer Trials Group, and Bladder Cancer Canada. He currently leads a translational research effort for the Canadian Bladder Cancer Research Network.
Jesper Olsen, Ph.D.
Jesper Olsen
Ph.D.Dr. Olsen is an Academic Co-Founder and Head of Phosphoproteomics at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. He is a Professor in Quantitative Proteomics at the University of Copenhagen and Vice Director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research. Dr. Olsen is a pioneer in mass spectrometry based phosphoproteomics and its applications to decipher cell-signaling networks at a systems-wide scale, and his research interest is developing and applying phosphoproteomics technologies for comprehensive kinase drug profilings with clinical actionability. Dr. Olsen is one of the most highly cited authors in the study of protein phosphorylation and its impact on biology.
Dr. Olsen received his M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Southern Denmark and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the same place under the supervision of Professor Matthias Mann. Dr. Olsen completed his post-doctoral training in proteomics and cell signaling at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich. He is based in Copenhagen since 2009, where he joined the newly established Center for Protein Research, initially as Group Leader and since 2014 as Vice Director.
Meet the Board of Directors
Peter Blume-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D.
Peter Blume-Jensen
M.D., Ph.D.Peter Blume-Jensen, M.D., Ph.D., is Founder, President, and CEO of Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. He has extensive experience in oncology R&D and oncogenic kinase signaling. From 2001 to 2008, Peter was Department Head at Serono, US and later at Merck & Co, Inc. where he established and led integrated oncology drug programs into the clinic. From 2008 to 2010, he was Vice President, Ext. Sci. Affairs and Global Therapeutic Area Advisor for Oncology at Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. He co-led the scientific due diligence and M&A resulting in the acquisition of Plexxikon. From 2010-2014 he was CSO for Metamark Genetics where he built R&D and a novel, scripted proteomics tissue imaging platform. Here he led 4 clinical studies culminating with the blinded validation and launch of ProMark®, an outcome-predictive prostate cancer biopsy test included under NCCN guidelines and coverage. From 2014 till 2018 Peter was CSO for XTuit Pharmaceuticals where he established a novel prodrug platform in collaboration with Dr. Jeremiah Johnson, MIT, now continued at Window Therapeutics. Peter is the inventor of the AP3 platform and the OncoSignature patient selection method.
Peter serves on the SAB for several private biotech companies and academic institutions. His review “Oncogenic Kinase Signaling (Nature, 2001) is a citation classic in the field of clinical medicine. He received his M.D. from Copenhagen University Medical School, Denmark, his Ph.D. from The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Uppsala, Sweden, and conducted his Post-Doctoral Fellowship under Tony Hunter at the Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA.
Charles (Chuck) Baum, M.D., Ph.D.
Charles (Chuck) Baum
M.D., Ph.D.Dr. Baum is the CEO at Terremoto and has served on the board of directors since July 2023. Prior to becoming the CEO at Terremoto, Chuck was the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mirati Therapeutics, where he also served as a Board Member since 2012 through its recent acquisition by Bristol Meyers Squibb in 2024. He was Founder, President and Head of Research and Development at Mirati from 2021 to 2023 and was President, Founder and CEO from Nov 2012 to 2021.
Under his leadership, Mirati transformed into a precision oncology company focused on advancing drug discovery and research and delivering novel therapeutics that target the genetic drivers of cancer. Mirati discovered, developed and commercialized Krazati* (adagrasib) for the treatment of NSCLC patients with KRAS G12C mutations. Mirati also discovered a number of other novel, first in class or best in class inhibitors that target KRAS G12D, PRMT5, SOS1 and other critical oncology pathways.
Prior to his tenure at Mirati, Dr. Baum held positions of increasing responsibility in research and development at Pfizer from 2003 to 2012, where he was responsible for the development of several major drugs, including Inlyta®, Xalkori®, Ibrance® and Sutent®. While at Schering Plough he contributed to the development of Temodar® for the treatment of patients with glioblastoma.
Chuck’s career has also included academic and hospital positions at Stanford and Emory universities. He currently serves on the board of directors at Poseida Therapeutics, PMV Pharma, Acrivon Therapeutics, Odyssey Therapeutics and Crossbow Therapeutics. Chuck is also on the Scientific Advisory Board at ALX Oncology. Previously, he served as a member of the board of Array Biopharma from 2014 to 2019 when it was acquired by Pfizer, Inc., Immunomedics from 2019 to 2020 when it was acquired by Gilead, and BCTG Acquisition Corp from 2020 to 2021 when it merged with Tango Therapeutics.
Chuck received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University School of Medicine and completed his post-graduate training at Stanford University. Additionally, he has received research support from the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society, published more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and holds a number of patents and patent applications.
Derek DiRocco, Ph.D.
Derek DiRocco
Ph.D.Derek DiRocco is a Partner at RA Capital Management. Derek works on both public and private investments and serves as a Board Director for 89Bio, iTeos Therapeutics, Connect Bio, CANbridge, and Werewolf Therapeutics. Previously, Derek covered solid tumor oncology landscapes.
Derek holds a BA in Biology from Holy Cross College and a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Washington. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where he researched the role of the Wnt signaling pathway in mouse models of kidney disease, and was part of a team that discovered a stem cell subtype responsible for solid organ fibrosis.
Ivana Magovčević-Liebisch, Ph.D., J.D.
Ivana Magovčević-Liebisch
Ph.D., J.D.Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch is the president and chief executive officer at Vigil Neuroscience, Inc., where she led the in-licensing deal that secured the company’s anchor assets from Amgen. Under her strong leadership, Vigil has evolved from inception, through IPO, to an organization with two clinical-stage development programs. Prior to Vigil, Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch was the executive vice president and chief business officer at Ipsen where she was responsible for growing the pipeline through strategic transactions. Before joining Ipsen, Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch served as senior vice president and head of global business development for the specialty drug business at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. where she executed multiple transactions across different therapeutic areas and modalities. Prior to Teva, Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch held multiple pivotal roles at Dyax including executive vice president, chief operating officer, chief business officer, and general counsel. During her time, she executed equity financings, revenue monetization, corporate partnerships, and licensing agreements. Dr. Magovčević-Liebisch has served on the Board of Directors of Absci, Aeglea Therapeutics and Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation. She holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University and a J.D. in high technology law from Suffolk University Law School. She graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A. (summa cum laude) in biology and chemistry.
Kristina Masson, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Kristina Masson
Ph.D., M.B.A.Kristina Masson, Ph.D., MBA, is Co-Founder and EVP, Business Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics, Inc. and President and CEO of the company´s research subsidiary Acrivon AB located in Medicon Village, Sweden. Here she has established all infrastructure, heads all operations, and runs the phospho- proteomic discovery hub and early drug programs for the company’s proprietary AP3 platform. In 2016, she founded and operated OncoSignature AB, a small biotech company focused on identifying predictive biomarkers for clinical-stage cancer therapeutics for U.S. companies. OncoSignature’s business was subsequently acquired by Acrivon AB. Prior to that, she was a Principal Scientist at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA where she co-led, managed, and participated in cross-functional teams in both preclinical and clinical-stage therapeutic antibody programs, designing projects to identify predictive biomarkers, combination strategies and resistance mechanisms. Before joining Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Kristina was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Golub lab at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, developing assays for novel therapeutics and automated high-throughput drug screening approaches centered around synthetic lethality in cancer. Kristina received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Lund University, Sweden, and she received her Executive MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. Kristina is a member of the Board of Directors for Acrivon Therapeutics Inc. and Aqilion AB.
Santhosh Palani, Ph.D., C.F.A.
Santhosh Palani
Ph.D., C.F.A.Dr. Palani is a former investment partner and a current advisory partner at PFM Health Sciences. At PFM, Dr. Palani led public and private biotechnology investments, and served on the board of companies in the cell therapy and gene editing fields. Prior to joining PFM in 2020, Dr. Palani was a Principal at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) where he invested in early-stage private biotechnology companies and served on the boards of companies in the radiopharmaceuticals, cell therapy, targeted oncology, and gene editing fields. From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Palani was the Vice President of equity research at Cowen and Company, where he covered small- to mid-cap biotechnology stocks across numerous therapeutic areas. Prior to Cowen, Dr. Palani was in oncology drug development at Pfizer Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Palani has a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his postdoctoral work in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University. He also holds an M.S. in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Madras. Dr. Palani is a CFA ® Charterholder.
Sharon Shacham, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Sharon Shacham
Ph.D., M.B.A.Dr. Shacham co-founded E44 Ventures in June 2022 and serves as Managing Director. Dr. Shacham co-founded Karyopharm in 2008 and served as their Chief Scientific Officer from October 2010 to May 2022. She was also President of Research and Development from December 2012 to May 2021. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Shacham served as the Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research and Development, and prior to that, as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Shacham currently is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Karyopharm.
Prior to joining Karyopharm, Dr. Shacham served as Senior Vice President of Drug Development at Epix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Director, Algorithm and Software Development at Predix Pharmaceuticals Inc., which merged into Epix Pharmaceuticals in 2006, and where she led the company’s efforts in GPCR modeling, computational chemistry, lead optimization and development of clinical trials.
Dr. Shacham holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, a Doctor of Philosophy in Biophysical Chemistry, and a Master of Business of Administration from Tel Aviv University.
Michael Tomsicek, M.B.A.
Michael Tomsicek
M.B.A.Michael Tomsicek, M.B.A., has served on our board of directors since October 2022. Mr. Tomsicek has served as a member of the board of directors of Milestone Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company, since April 2019. Mr. Tomsicek served as the Chief Financial Officer of CRISPR Therapeutics AG, a Nasdaq-listed gene editing company, from November 2017 through October 2021. Prior to that, Mr. Tomsicek served as Chief Financial Officer of Abiomed, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed medical device company, from July 2015 to August 2017. Before that, he was Chief Financial Officer at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Cubist, a Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company. He was at Cubist from August 2010 to January 2015, through the company’s sale to Merck, and held a series of roles of increasing responsibility leading finance, investor relations and strategic sourcing. Prior to Cubist, Mr. Tomsicek spent nearly eight years at General Electric Healthcare, ultimately as Chief Financial Officer of the global ultrasound business. Mr. Tomsicek holds an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Engineering, both from the University of Wisconsin.