The First 90 Days as a CMO

Dr James Ferguson is Chief Medical Officer at Matinas BioPharma.He received his undergraduate degree (cum laude) from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He did a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he also spent a year as a Hypertension Fellow. He did additional subspecialty Cardiology training at Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and then spent a year as junior faculty in the Cardiology Department at Beth Israel.Dr Ferguson then moved to the Texas Heart Institute, where he spent the next 21 years, serving as the Associate Director of Cardiology Research and Co-Director of the Cardiology Fellowship program at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and the Texas Heart Institute, as well as Associate Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.In 2008 he left the world of academia for a position as Vice President of Medical for Surgical and Critical Care at The Medicines Company. In 2010 he moved to AstraZeneca, where he served in a variety of Development and Medical roles, with both Global and US responsibilities, and, ultimately, as Vice President for External Relations for the Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area in the US Medical Organization. In 2016 he moved to Amgen to lead the Cardiovascular TA for US Medical; his responsibilities subsequently expanded to include the broader CV and Bone Therapeutic Areas. Dr Ferguson joined Matinas BioPharma as Chief Medical Officer in February of 2019.Dr Ferguson is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a Fellow of the American Heart Association, and has published extensively on a variety of topics in Cardiovascular Medicine.He currently resides in Somerville, New Jersey.

Laurie Halloran founded Halloran Consulting Group in 1998, originally operating out of an unfinished bathroom. Her time as a pediatric ICU nurse had inspired her to start a company that helps move new therapies through FDA processes to get them into the hands of patients desperately in need. By providing a strategic development team, innovative start-up companies could have access to world-class expertise at a fraction of the cost. Since its humble beginnings, Halloran has grown into a successful consultancy of like-minded experts who are dedicated to improving human health by making life science companies better at what they do.Ms Halloran has been named 2018 Women’s Business Enterprise Star by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and has won a 2017 Enterprising Women of the Year Award from Enterprising Women Magazine. Halloran Consulting Group was also named an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company for the past three years in a row. In 2015, Ms Halloran was honored by the Boston Business Journal as a Woman of Influence, in 2010 was selected as one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in Life Science by PharmaVoice, and in 2009, she was awarded Clinical Researcher of the Year by the New England Chapter of the Associate of Clinical Research Professionals.

Dr Becker Hewes brings 20 years of industry and clinical experience in oncology and hematology, including achieving the approval of three tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Previously, he served as Blueprint Medicines’ Senior Vice President, Clinical Development from May 2020 to January 2021. Prior to joining Blueprint Medicines, Dr Hewes served as Chief Medical Officer of Repertoire Immune Medicines (formerly Torque Therapeutics) from February 2017 to May 2020, where he built Repertoire’s multidisciplinary clinical and biomarker team and advanced its lead immuno-oncology programs into clinical development. From June 2013 to February 2017, Dr Hewes served as Executive Director of Translational Clinical Oncology at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research where he led clinical development and translational medicine efforts for multiple early-stage oncology programs through clinical proof-of-concept, including Kisqali® (ribociclib), a targeted therapy approved to treat breast cancer, and other programs combining novel therapies. Prior to that, he held roles of increasing responsibility related to clinical development in oncology and hematology within AstraZeneca PLC, Genzyme Corporation and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, including leading registration programs for Bosulif® (bosutinib) and Torisel® (temsirolimus) for chronic myelogenous leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma, respectively. Before joining industry, he conducted immuno-oncology research at the Emory Vaccine Center while treating patients as a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr Hewes holds an MD from the Georgetown University School of Medicine and a BS from Vanderbilt University.

Dr Waltzman is a Board-certified Medical Oncologist with over 20 years’ experience supervising the delivery of complex oncology patient care and palliative medicine in teaching hospitals and developing new drugs in oncology and in malaria at large pharma. Dr Waltzman is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Molecular Templates, Inc, a clinical-stage, publicly traded biotechnology company. Previously, Dr Waltzman was the CMO for Rgenix and prior to that the CMO/CSO for Jaguar Health. Dr Waltzman spent over nine years at Novartis, most recently as Global Program Head responsible for development activities of antimalarials, including generating a collaboration agreement with Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Previously, Dr Waltzman was responsible for Global Clinical Development activities for several oncology compounds including the successful NDA filing of Jakavi, renewal for Tasigna and an sNDA for Glivec. For nearly 12 years, Dr Waltzman worked as a clinical medical oncologist and researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Mount Sinai, and Saint Vincents, all in New York. He held academic positions as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and New York Medical College.Dr Waltzman received his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Brown University with honors in American Literature. He also received his medical degree from Brown University and completed his internship and residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, MA. He completed his fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in hematology and oncology. He graduated with an MBA from Columbia University in New York.