Amy Blawas joined NDA Group in 2020 and has over 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and regulatory industry, primarily in biologics and cell therapy. She applies her skills & knowledge to a broad range of therapeutic areas and has successfully helped clients prepare & interact with Health Authorities throughout the stages of drug development. 

Dr Blawas’s therapeutics areas of expertise include personalized medicine, gene and cell therapy, oncology, rare disease, infectious disease, biomaterials, implants, medical devices, transport theory, kinetics, immunology, and cell biology. She is experienced in planning and development of clinical studies, including preparation of protocols, INDs, and Final Clinical Study Reports, regulatory action plans for post-approval commitments and continuous quality improvement and coordination of multi-disciplinary activities between clinical, nonclinical and CMC development disciplines

Before NDA, Dr Blawas worked for a vaccine company as Associate Director of Regulatory Affairs working with European and US Regulatory agencies. She has worked for CROs and Biotech companies, primarily with Biologics.

Dr Blawas has a PhD in BioMedical Engineering from Duke University and the ability to interconnect across divergent disciplines of drug development with a thorough knowledge of FDA and ICH Regulations in the pharmaceutical business.

Edith A Perez, MD, Chief Medical Officer, is an internationally recognized translational researcher and cancer specialist known for her strategic vision in innovative and patient-centric clinical trial design. Dr Perez joined Bolt in 2020 and has set direction for the organization’s clinical strategy and development and oversees regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics and medical affairs for the company’s diverse clinical development and early-stage immuno-oncology pipeline.

In addition to her work at Bolt Biotherapeutics, Dr Perez is chair of the Health Equity Committee and vice chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Stand Up to Cancer, a member of the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust and has been involved in diversity leadership and philanthropic initiatives with the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research and The DONNA Foundation. She also serves on the editorial boards of multiple academic journals and is a member of the Board of Directors and the Clinical Advisory Board for Artiva Biotherapeutics. Dr Perez is a professor emeritus of the Mayo Clinic, where she practiced for more than two decades. Prior to joining Bolt, Dr Perez was vice president and head of the BioOncology-US Medical Affairs unit at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, where she oversaw all US hematology and oncology medical affairs. In that role, Dr Perez led hundreds of trials and was involved in the launch of six drugs, including Gazyva (obinutuzumab) for patients with lymphoma, Perjeta (pertuzumab) for patients with early-stage HER2+ breast cancer, Alesensa (alectinib) for patients with lung cancer and Tecentriq (atezolizumab) for bladder cancer and non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Dr Perez earned her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. In addition, Dr Perez completed her fellowship training at the University of California, Davis. She also completed the Executive Development Program at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Executive Leadership and the Management Executive Programs at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Perez is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology.

Holly Schachner, M.D., is the Chief Medical Officer, Deerfield Discovery and Development and joined the Firm in 2023. Prior to Deerfield, Dr. Schachner was the Head of Clinical Development at North Sea Therapeutics, B.V. and she was the Chief Medical Officer at Double Rainbow Biosciences. Before these roles, she was the Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Therapeutic Area and Innovative Trial Design Head for Myokardia-BMS and the Chief Medical Officer, Global Specialty Medicine for Allergan. Dr. Schachner also spent five years at Sanofi in various roles of increasing leadership, six years at Bayer Diabetes Care as Senior Director, Head of Global Medical Affairs, and five years at Pfizer. Prior to industry, Dr. Schachner received her training in pediatric endocrinology at Mount Sinai and led the Pediatric Diabetes program at Columbia University. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University Of Michigan and an M.D. from SUNY at Stony Brook School of Medicine.

Dr Aoife Brennan is an experienced physician scientist and drug developer responsible for the successful clinical development and registration of multiple transformative medicines. Dr Brennan has served as Synlogic’s president and chief executive officer since May 2018. She joined Synlogic in September 2016 as chief medical officer. Prior to Synlogic, Dr Brennan spent six years at Biogen, most recently as vice president and head of the Rare Disease Innovation Unit, developing programs from pre-clinical to commercial. She has led programs across multiple therapeutic areas including the successful late phase development & registration of SPINRAZA ® (nusinersen) for spinal muscular atrophy and ALPROLIX ® and ELOCTATE ® for Hemophilia B and Hemophilia A, respectively.

Dr Brennan serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Cerevance and Fibrogen, Inc, and previously served on the Board of Directors of Ra Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by UCB. Earlier in her career, Dr Brennan led clinical development at Tolerx, a start-up biotech company focusing on immunotherapy for Type 1 diabetes.

Julie Hambleton is a senior biotechnology executive with over 20 years of experience in clinical drug development, including pre-clinical through Phase 4 studies, product approval and post-marketing activities, as well as serving on C-Suite executive teams and engaging in private, IPO and follow-on financings. Julie currently serves on the board of directors at Erasca, Inc, IGM Biosciences, Inc and SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc, publicly traded companies, and Accent Therapeutics, Gennao Bio, and Onc.AI, privately held biotechnology companies. Dr Hambleton also served as interim CEO & Board Director at Arch Oncology, a private company, in 2020-21. Previously, she served as senior vice president, chief medical officer, and head of development at IDEAYA Biosciences. Prior to IDEAYA, she held the positions of vice president and head of US Medical at Bristol-Myers Squibb, overseeing medical & health economic and outcomes research activities for oncology, immuno-oncology, immunoscience and cardiovascular marketed portfolios; executive vice president and chief medical officer at Five Prime Therapeutics; and vice president of clinical development at Clovis Oncology. Dr Hambleton began her industry career at Genentech, most recently as group medical director, global clinical development. She has extensive experience working with regulatory agencies, including the US FDA and the EMA, and in the filings of IND applications, BLAs and SPAs. Dr Hambleton completed her medical and hematology-oncology training at the University of California, San Francisco, where she served on faculty from 1993 to 2003, and was Board-certified in hematology and internal medicine. She received her MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and BS from Duke University.

Geoff Meyerson is CEO and Co-founder of Locust Walk. He brings a track record of success in investment banking, venture capital and licensing where he has closed >50 transactions of all varieties including playing a role in a majority of Locust Walk’s closed transactions.Prior to Locust Walk, Mr Meyerson worked in business development at a venture-backed biotech company, Zelos Therapeutics, where he was on the management team and negotiated a drug delivery collaboration with Aegis Therapeutics. Before Zelos, he worked as a venture capitalist at SR One, the venture capital subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline, where he closed eight financings in the US and Europe. His first and most active investment where he co-lead the due diligence was for Algeta, a Norwegian radiopharma company with a product for bone metastasis. They concluded a $3B sale to Bayer, received FDA approval for their product Xofigo, and achieved a >20x return to investors. Mr Meyerson also worked at MedImmune in business development helping with their small molecule strategy, which resulted in three transactions, where he also assisted with two other transactions. He got his start as an investment banker in UBS’ Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group, where he closed 12 financing and M&A transactions with a variety of life sciences companies.He holds an MBA in Health Care Management from the Wharton School, a Masters in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in Economics from Duke University.

Tariq Kassum brings nearly 20 years of experience in corporate development, strategy, and business leadership to Celsius. He joined the company in 2019 from Obsidian Therapeutics, where he was a co-founder and served as chief operating officer and head of corporate development. During this time, Dr Kassum helped build Obsidian into a leading platform technology company and played a central role in the company’s strategic partnership with Celgene. Prior to Obsidian, Dr Kassum spent seven years with Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Takeda, most recently as vice president, business development and strategy for Takeda Oncology, responsible for transactions, collaborations, alliance management and strategic planning. Before that, he led Takeda’s global corporate development efforts, where he managed multiple acquisitions and divestitures in the US and internationally. He was also part of the business development team at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to Takeda, Dr Kassum was an analyst covering healthcare equities for institutional investment firms, where he led scientific due diligence and investment decisions on numerous companies and pharmaceutical compounds across multiple therapeutic areas. He began his career as an investment banker with CIBC World Markets, serving clients in the biotechnology and specialty pharmaceuticals industries.

Dr Kassum holds an MD from the University of Toronto and an AB from Cornell University.

Prior to joining CAMP4 as Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ann Barbier was Chief Medical Officer of Translate Bio, leading the development of an inhaled mRNA for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis. Her prior experience includes positions at Agios, Shire, Envivo, Johnson & Johnson and Aventis. During her career, Dr. Barbier has made significant contributions to several approved products such as Elaprase® (Hunter syndrome), Aubagio® (multiple sclerosis), Firazyr® (hereditary angioedema) and Pyrukynd® (pyruvate kinase deficiency) and has led several investigational new drug applications for new chemical entities. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Pieris Pharmaceuticals. Additionally, she has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters and invited reviews. Dr. Barbier received her M.D. and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Gent, Belgium, and a Master of Science from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. She pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Dr Thomas Davis is Chief Medical Officer at Genocea Biosciences, where he oversees the clinical development of personalized neoantigen therapies. With 20+ years of academic and industry experience in immuno-oncology, Dr Davis has served as CMO at Gadeta, Celldex and GenVec, and as Head of Clinical at Medarex. Dr Davis was integrally involved in the successful development of Yervoy® and Rituxan®. Prior to joining industry, Dr Davis supervised adult hematologic malignancies and a portfolio of over 20 antibodies and vaccines at the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), including Avastin and Herceptin. He trained in Internal Medicine at Georgetown University Medical School, and completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Stanford University working with Dr Ronald Levy.

Milan Zdravkovic is a seasoned pharma executive with experience from senior R&D positions supporting approval of a number of therapies across different therapeutic areas. He is currently Chief Medical Officer and Head of R&D at SNIPR Biome, a Danish CRISPR and microbiome gene therapy biotech company, as well as board member in two biotech companies.

Prior to this, he was CMO and Head of R&D at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB, where he oversaw a significant expansion of the R&D portfolio within hematology and immunology. He joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1998 and worked 18 years at Novo Nordisk, ending up as Corporate Vice President heading up therapeutic areas such as GLP-1, insulin, obesity, growth hormone and inflammation.

Dr Zdravkovic holds an MD and PhD from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and an MSc in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the University of Surrey, UK. In addition, he has received training in management and strategy from Harvard University and INSEAD.

Eric Crombez, MD has extensive experience and expertise in the development and execution of clinical development programs for rare genetic disorders. Dr Crombez currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Ultragenyx Gene Therapy and Inborn Errors of Metabolism and has been in this role since the acquisition of Dimension Therapeutics in November 2017. Dr Crombez joined Dimension Therapeutics, a liver directed AAV gene therapy company, as Chief Medical Officer in November 2014. During this time, Dr Crombez led the clinical development efforts for 4 clinical stage gene therapy programs including for hemophilia B, hemophilia A (in partnership with Bayer), ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency and glycogen storage disorder type Ia (GSDIa). Dr Crombez is also serving as an Industry Representative on the FDA Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee.

Prior to this work in gene therapy, Dr Crombez worked at Shire in their Human Genetics Therapy business unit for nearly 8 years. 

Before joining industry, Dr Crombez was Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr Crombez is a board-certified clinical geneticist and completed residencies in pediatrics and medical genetics and a fellowship in clinical biochemical genetics at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr Crombez has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed articles, book chapter and presentation abstracts. Dr Crombez obtained his BS degree in biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his MD degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit.