Navigating Immuno-Oncology Drug Development in a Saturated Field

Sarah Warren, PhD is a Senior Director in Corporate Development at Gilead Science where she leads Search & Evaluation for the Kite cell therapy pipeline. Prior to joining Kite in 2022, she built and led the Translational Sciences team at NanoString technologies working on multiplexed RNA and spatial biology platforms for diagnostic and research applications, and she collaborated with investigators across academia, biopharma, nonprofit, and government. She got her start in industry and a founder and Director of Research at Oncofactor Corp, developing therapeutics targeting novel immune checkpoints. Dr. Warren received her PhD in immunology from the University of Washington. She serves as a director-at-large for the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer, is a mentor for the Creative Destruction Labs computational health stream, and is a section editor for Molecular Pathology at the Journal of Translational Science.

Roy Baynes, MD, PhD, currently serves as executive vice president and chief medical officer of Eikon Therapeutics, Inc. a privately-held biotechnology company. Prior to Eikon Therapeutics, Dr Baynes served as chief medical officer as well as senior vice president and head of global clinical development at Merck and Co, Inc, where he helped Merck become a leading oncology and global healthcare company. Dr Baynes also previously served as senior vice president of oncology, inflammation and respiratory therapeutics at Gilead Sciences, Inc, which was preceded by his service at Amgen, Inc as vice president of global clinical development and therapeutic area head for hematology/oncology. Before joining Amgen, Dr Baynes was the Charles Martin Professor of Cancer Research at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, at Wayne State University. Dr Baynes has authored more than 150 publications and is a member or fellow of several international medical societies. He received his medical degree and doctorate in philosophy from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and completed his medical training in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Johannesburg Hospital. Dr Baynes has received innumerable awards for his activities as a physician/scientist, and currently serves on the board of directors at Atara Biotherapeutics, Natera, Inc and Travere Therapeutics, Inc. 

Sharon Benzeno, PhD, MBA, is the Chief Commercial Officer, Immune Medicine and leads the Drug Discovery group of Adaptive Biotechnologies, a commercial-stage biotech company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease. Before joining Adaptive in 2014, Dr Benzeno was Senior Director at Elsevier Inc., a healthcare informatics company. Prior to Elsevier, Dr Benzeno co-led the oncology business unit at Capgemini SE, a consulting and technology services company. Dr Benzeno came to Elsevier from Capgemini, where she served in a variety of management roles at AstraZeneca plc. Dr Benzeno holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from New York University School of Medicine, an MBA in Finance and Leadership from New York University Stern School of Business and a BA in Biochemistry from New York University. Dr Benzeno completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer biology at the University of Pennsylvania Abramson Cancer Center.

Theresa LaVallee, PhD, has more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical and research experience with a broad knowledge in the discovery and development of drugs. She has advanced diagnostics and drugs in oncology, immunology and inflammatory diseases from discovery through late state development. Prior to joining Coherus Biosciences as Chief Development Officer, she was Vice President, Translational Medicine and Regulatory Affairs at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI).   Before PICI, Dr LaVallee held executive roles in drug development with Celldex Therapeutics and Kolltan Pharmaceuticals and was part of the team that built the immune-oncology (IO) portfolio at Medimmune/AstraZeneca working on the clinical development and regulatory packages for multiple checkpoint inhibitors and PD-L1 diagnostic. Dr LaVallee started her career at EntreMed and worked on the initial clinical development of thalidomide and thalidomide analogs. She has a depth of expertise in regulatory strategy to enable science driven development decisions and quality regulatory packages.   Dr LaVallee has spent most of her career working on advancing oncology drugs that can improve the survival and quality of life for cancer patients. She has been key in building successful teams, organizations and collaborations.She is author or co-author of more than 50 publications and abstracts. She received her PhD degree from University of California, Los Angeles and her BA degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Rachel Humphrey, MD has over 25 years of experience in clinical drug development, particularly in the field of cancer treatments and immunotherapies. Highlights of her career include leading the development of multiple blockbuster cancer therapies: the CTLA-4 inhibiting immunotherapy Yervoy® (ipilimumab) at BMS, the PD-L1 inhibiting immunotherapy Imfinzi® (durvalumab) at AstraZeneca, and the kinase inhibitor cancer drug Nexavar® (sorafenib) at Bayer. After working at these big pharmaceutical companies, Dr Humphrey took her drug development expertise to emerging biotech companies, where she served in the role of Chief Medical Officer at Black Diamond Therapeutics, CytomX Therapeutics and Mirati Therapeutics, respectively. She previously served on the Board of Directors of CytomX Therapeutics and Xilio Therapeutics, respectively, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pyxis Therapeutics and Sporos Bioventures. Dr Humphrey started her career as an oncology fellow and staff physician at the National Cancer Institute. She received her training in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, her MD from Case Western Reserve Medical School, and her BA from Harvard University.