The CMO as a Translational Scientist

Joseph Elassal, MD is Chief Medical Officer of Ankyra Therapeutics. He has over a 15 year career in the pharmaceutical industry with his most recent position serving as a Senior Director for Medical Affairs at Regeneron where he was leading efforts on cemiplimab and other immunotherapy approaches for patients with cervical and non-melanoma skin cancer. He has also served as Senior Medical Director at Replimune overseeing early stage clinical development of oncolytic viruses in a variety of solid tumors. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Vice-President at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) where he lead regulatory policy efforts for biosimilars as well as cell and gene therapies including implementation of the Biosimilars User Fee Act (BsUFA II). Dr Elassal earned his MD from Eastern Virginia Medical School and MBA from Columbia Business School. He completed his internship and residency at Columbia University/New York Presbyterian Hospital and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Katz is currently Chief Medical Officer and SVP of Translational Research for Shinobi Therapeutics. He has more than 15 years of experience in clinical oncology leadership, immunotherapy translational science, and clinical development of immunotherapeutics, including cell therapy for solid tumors in the US and Japan. As a CMO, he has led multiple immunotherapy clinical trials, built immune correlative biospecimen programs, helped secure IND clearance for complex drug-device trials, helped secure a CMS reimbursement code for cancer therapeutic delivery procedures, and supported a Nasdaq listing. As a scientist, he has developed novel immunotherapy approaches for liver and pancreatic tumors, including cell therapy constructs and innovative combinatorial strategies. Two major areas of focus have been development of solutions for solid tumor microenvironment challenges and drug delivery barriers.He previously served as Chief Medical Officer for TriSalus Life Sciences, focused on developing novel immunotherapy approaches for liver and pancreas tumors, combining innovative delivery approaches with an innate immune stimulator. He maintains a part- time role as a surgical oncologist at Brown University. Dr. Katz attended the New York University School of Medicine, receiving the Alpha Omega Alpha Award for graduating with the top academic average in his class. He then completed his general surgery residency at the New York University Medical Center. Dr. Katz completed Fellowships in Immunology and Surgical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he served as the Chief Administrative Fellow. His overarching career goal is to develop novel cell therapy treatments for presently incurable solid tumors, and difficult to treat autoimmune diseases.

TBA