Our Team

Tom brings more than 36 years of experience as a CEO at both public and private companies. He has translated more than 20 concepts into commercially viable products. He has raised more than $200 million for both public and private companies. Tom began his healthcare career at American Hospital Supply Corp. (now Baxter International), where he held a number of positions with increasing responsibility, including President of its Heyer-Schulte unit. He is a member of the Dean’s Council of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego and an advisory board member for Enterprise Ireland, Healthcare Angels, and University of California at San Francisco’s Rosenman Institute. Tom co-hosts the Salem Radio Networks’ weekly program, “The Mentors.” He holds a BSME degree from the University of Notre Dame and pursued graduate-level coursework in business and finance at the Universities of Minnesota and Chicago.

Dr. Kongsamut has had a more than 25-year career as a pharmacologist in both large pharmaceutical and early stage biotech companies. He has served in research, research management and executive roles at companies including Biochron Therapeutics, Neurotrope Bioscience, and Sanofi and its predecessor companies. He holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Ottawa, an MSc in Biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a PhD in Neuropharmacology from the University of Chicago.

Reza has more than 20 years of broad finance experience in financial/economic consulting, corporate development and financial management. In addition to financial management roles of increasing responsibility, he has led numerous high-profile assignments in valuations, transaction support and sophisticated modeling for strategic planning and financial forecasting. He holds a BA degree from the University of California at Berkley, an MBA from the University of Chicago and pursued post-graduate studies at University of Oxford.

David Crockford has more than 40 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries with significant leadership in regulatory and clinical affairs, which included organizing, presenting, and leading discussions with FDA and other foreign regulatory agencies.
He has established strategic plans, implemented, led the development, and obtained marketing approval of 18 drug products including one of the first human growth hormone preparations sold in the U.S. and the first “ready-to-inject” radiobiological, 17 in vitro diagnostic products, and an intraoperative medical device utilizing radiolabel monoclonal antibodies to detect and treat cancer.

David’s other accomplishments include implementation of sound regulatory and clinical strategies that led to the cost-effective and timely development of a number of innovative, investigational drugs, including various in the field of oncology. Recently, David worked closely with the National Cancer Institute on the development of a potentially enabling approach to improve responses to CAR T and antibody drug conjugates targeting CD22 with bryostatin in patients with leukemia and lymphoma. Earlier in his career he co-founded and presided over one of the first publicly-held companies in the field of genetic engineering, pioneering the development and commercial application of monoclonal antibodies for use in cancer diagnosis and treatment. David Crockford is the author of a number of articles and is the sole inventor/co-inventor on approximately twenty issued patents and patent applications.

David earned a BA in biology from Boston University and completed course studies and seminars at Princeton University, Wayne State’s C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, and UCLA Medical School.

Dr. Vidal brings to Bryologyx more than 17 years’ experience in pharmaceutical product development, with expertise in API development and manufacturing from pilot through commercial scale, and in working with contract manufacturing organizations. He has served at companies including Celgene, Codexis, and Hospira. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from Stony Brook University.

Dr. Grandi brings to BryoLogyx over 15 years of immunotherapy experience in academia and industry. Her research and expertise include oncolytic viral vectors, cellular microRNAs, and onco-immunology.

After earning her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Ferrara (Italy), Paula moved to the U.S. to pursue her interests in oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus-based vectors. Her academic career started at Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School) and subsequently at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Her academic research produced the patent that provided the core technologies to founding an immuno-oncology venture, where she also served as its Director of Tumor Immunology Virology. Subsequently, Paula served as Chief Scientific Officer of a public oncology company and served as a consultant to various immuno-oncology and oncology companies.

Dr. Cases brings 20 years of combined expertise in Business Development and R&D. In the past 10 years, she held leadership positions of increased responsibilities in external research and partnering at Sanofi and J&J and was most recently VP of Oncology Strategic Partnering at J&J based in California. Her previous roles in biotech focused on leading R&D teams and included Head of Pharmacology at Arete Therapeutics and Senior Group Leader at Cytokinetics where she led programs in cancer pharmacology and translational oncology. 

Prior to moving to the private sector, she held an academic appointment at the Gladstone Institutes at UCSF where she focused her research on metabolism and cancer with an emphasis on the tumor microenvironment. 

Sylvaine has a Masters in Bioengineering, Major in Biochemistry from AgroParisTech (National Institute of Agronomy, Paris, France), and a PhD in Molecular Oncology from Institut Gustave Roussy for Cancer Research and the University of Paris VII, France. She spent her post-doctoral years at the Gladstone Institutes/UCSF and additionally holds a Sanofi Business Master Certificate from the London Business School.

Bruce, who is a Partner with PremierCounsel LLP, is a corporate lawyer who has been in practice for 45 years, for the past 38 years of which he has focused on the representation of business and finance clients in the life sciences industry. Bruce was formerly the Co-Chair of the global life sciences practice of DLA Piper LLP. He is highly experienced in equity and debt financing, licensing and distribution, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions, as well as general counseling issues, representing both startups and large multinational corporations.

For more than 36 years, John has founded and been a successful investor in more than 50 medical/pharmaceutical companies. Since March 1992, Dr. Abeles has been the Founder, Sole Investor and General Partner of Northlea Partners LLLP, a private venture capital and private capital family office. Dr. Abeles is also the President and founder of MedVest, Inc., which has provided consulting services to health care and high technology companies since 1980. Prior to his career as an investor, he served in senior capacities at several leading healthcare companies, including Sterling Drug, Pfizer and Revlon Healthcare and as a healthcare analyst at Kidder Peabody. Dr. Abeles holds an MD and degree in pharmacology from the University of Birmingham, England. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, London.

Dr. Wender is the Bergstrom Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. Research in his laboratory led to the first practical fully synthetic process for bryostatin-1, which is licensed to the company. His laboratory focuses on chemistry, synthesis, biology, medicine, and materials science using new computational tools, new reactions, reagents, strategies and design. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received his BS degree from Wilkes University and his PhD in chemistry from Yale University.

Tom brings more than 36 years of experience as a CEO at both public and private companies. He has translated more than 20 concepts into commercially viable products. He has raised more than $200 million for both public and private companies. Tom began his healthcare career at American Hospital Supply Corp. (now Baxter International), where he held a number of positions with increasing responsibility, including President of its Heyer-Schulte unit. He is a member of the Dean’s Council of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego and an advisory board member for Enterprise Ireland, Healthcare Angels, and University of California at San Francisco’s Rosenman Institute. Tom co-hosts the Salem Radio Networks’ weekly program, “The Mentors.” He holds a BSME degree from the University of Notre Dame and pursued graduate-level coursework in business and finance at the Universities of Minnesota and Chicago.

Dr. Ma has 35 years combined experience in healthcare-related scientific research, project management, and investment. He has funded and Co-founded a number of corporations in the field of healthcare, education, and environmental technology industry. He still serves on the board of directors of some of the companies either listed in NYSE, NASDAQ, or in private.

After graduating from medical school in China in 1983, Dr. Ma undertook post-graduate research at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School for 5 years, under world-renowned endocrinology professors, Dr. Gerald Grodsky and Dr. John Karam. He then worked at Genentech in Silicon Valley for several years before embarking on his journey in investing and managing the healthcare, education, and environmental technology business.

Clint is former Chairman and CEO of Abaxis, Inc., a company he led from a start-up to a publicly held company with over $220 million in revenues, to its acquisition in 2018 for $2 billion. He has had a more than 40 year-career in the healthcare industry. In 2007, he was named Forbes Entrepreneur of the Year.

Dr. Duramad has over 15 years of industry experience in Immunology research and early drug development for both small molecule and antibody therapeutics, leading programs from early discovery through to IND Filing. Prior to BryoLogyx, he was the founder & CEO of Abmuno Therapeutics, a company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Notably, he led the early development of a checkpoint therapeutic antibody to TIGIT, which was out-licensed to Arcus Biosciences for clinical development. Prior to Abmuno, he held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility at IGM Biosciences, Neothera Biosciences, and REGiMMUNE, leading immunology research & preclinical teams focused on oncology and autoimmune disease indications. As a researcher at Dynavax Technologies, he was part of the Drug Discovery group that identified novel Toll-like Receptor inhibitors for diseases such as lupus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Additionally, Dr. Duramad previously advised multiple clients including Loxo Oncology, Sirenas MD, Holoclara, and REGiMMUNE, each a biopharmaceutical company and iQ Biosciences, an Immunology focused contract research organization, regarding early development programs, therapeutic or technical platform development.

An immunologist by training, Dr. Duramad has received several awards such as the Schissler Foundation Fellowship in Cancer Research, American Legion Auxiliary Fellowship for Outstanding Scholarship, and the Vivian L. Smith Award for Outstanding Immunologist. He has been an invited speaker at prestigious conferences such as Keystone Symposia, American Society of Hematology, and American Transplant Congress. Dr. Duramad obtained his BS in Biochemistry & Cell Biology from University of California, San Diego and PhD in Immunology & Cancer Biology from the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Dr. Gelber is a leader in the discovery and development of immune therapeutics and diagnostics for cancer, autoimmune disease, allergies and infectious diseases. She has authored more than 70 patents/patent applications.

Dr. Grossman has over 25 years of extensive experience leading successful global clinical organizations and currently serves as SVP, Oncology Clinical Research at Gilead Sciences. Previously, Dr. Grossman served as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Arcus Biosciences and CMO of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, responsible for its clinical development, regulatory affairs, clinical operations, and medical affairs organizations. Dr. Grossman was the Global Group Medical Director for Cancer Immunotherapy at Genentech, and prior to Genentech, held leadership roles in oncology and immunology at AbbVie, Biothera, Baxter Healthcare, and Merck & Co.

Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Grossman held various positions with the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin/Medical College of Wisconsin where he was Founder and Medical Director of the Clinical Immunodiagnostic and Research Laboratory, Professor for Microbiology and Genetics, and Director of the Hematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplant Division for the Immunodeficiency Transplant Program.

Dr. Grossman holds a BA in Biology and Chemistry from University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota (Magna Cum Laude) and MD and PhD (Immunology) degrees from Washington University School of Medicine’s Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed his medical training in the Division of Pediatric Biology/Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Prof. Dr. Michael Rossbach is a seasoned scientist with expertise in immunology, cell-based therapeutics, neuroscience, and genomics. He is Managing Partner of Ikxinta, a life sciences advisory firm, and holds numerous academic appointments around the world: National University of Singapore, Technical University of Munich in Singapore, INSEAD Management School (Entrepreneur-in-Residence), and Witten School of Management (Germany, Member of Faculty). Dr. Rossbach is an elected member of the Scientific Council of the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, a research center of the Helmholtz Association.

Dr. Rossbach’s other professional experience includes Vela Diagnostics (clinical and molecular diagnostics to advance precision medicine), Genome Institute of Singapore, and Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology and LIFE&BRAIN, University of Bonn (Germany). Additionally, he is an Associate with the Biotech Developpement Conseils (France), Partner of the Höppner Life Sciences Management Group (Germany), Partner of the healthcare team of The Center For Innovation Commercialization ( USA), and Venture Partner of Graybella Capital (USA) and A9C Capital (Bahrain). Dr. Rossbach serves on Scientific Advisory Boards of several biotech companies.

Dr. Rossbach studied biochemistry (PhD in immunology) at University of Bonn (Germany), University of New South Wales (Australia), University of Witten/Herdecke (Germany), Max-Planck Institute for molecular Physiology (Germany), and Harvard Medical School (USA).

His scientific interest lies in tumor-immunology, complex gene regulation (particularly in non-coding RNAs), and in stem cell / regenerative biology.

Dr. Schilsky is former President, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of ASCO and former Chief of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine and Deputy Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Schilsky has spent most of his career at the University of Chicago, where he joined the faculty in 1984, subsequently rising to Professor of Medicine and serving in many roles, including Associate Dean for Clinical Research in the Biological Sciences Division and Director of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center. He brings extensive experience working with both the National Cancer Institute (NCI), as chair of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors and as a member of the NCI Clinical and Translational Research Committee, and the Food and Drug Administration as a member and chair of the Agency’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee.  Dr. Schilsky has served on the editorial boards of many cancer journals, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology and he currently serves on the editorial board of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Stebbing is Professor and Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, Department of Surgery and Cancer. He specializes in treating advanced malignancy. Dr. Stebbing is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists, sits on the advisory Boards of a number of international cancer committees, and has over 600 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Lancet, New England Journal, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

He uses a number of new biomarker-based approaches, with an emphasis on circulating tumor cells and cell free DNA. His laboratory work is concentrated on new druggable target discovery, genomics and gene regulation examining the role of non-coding RNAs in stem cells.   

Dr. Stebbing holds MD and PhD from University of Oxford and Imperial College and performed his residency at Johns Hopkins University. During the COVID-19 pandemic he originally identified dual mechanisms for baricitinib’s use and led international efforts leading to its FDA approval.

Dr. Deeks has been engaged in HIV care and clinical programs since 1993. He is an expert on HIV-associated immune dysfunction and its impact on HIV persistence and health during antiretroviral therapy. He is an author on more than 400 publications.

Dr. Volberding has been a leading HIV/AIDS clinician and clinical researcher leader for 30+ years. He has led many HIV research and global health initiatives. He serves as Director of the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure; and as a Member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Zack is an expert on HIV infection and model systems and their application to human therapeutic development. He is Director of the Center for AIDS Research and Co-Director of the UCLA AIDS Institute. He is an author on more than 150 scientific publications.