Board of Directors
Elias Papatheodorou, Independent Chairman
Elias Papatheodorou has over 20 years of C-level experience in all aspects of pharmaceutical commercialization, including sales & marketing, business development, M&A, and operations. He has a proven track-record of managing clinical-stage organizations and preparing them for sale. He is currently the CEO of Genkyotex, which was sold to Calliditas Therapeutics, and was previously the CBO at Covagen, which was acquired by Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Thomas Taapken, Independent Board Member
Thomas Taapken has over 20 years of experience in the life science industry at the executive management level. His experience spans public & private financings, IPO, corporate & business development, and research. He is currently the CFO of InflaRx and has previously held various C-level positions at both private and publicly listed companies, including Medigene, Epigenomics and Biotie Therapies. He holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Technical University of Berlin.
Dr. Philippe Dro, Investor Representative
Dr. Philippe Dro serves a Partner at Adjuvant Capital. He is trained in industrial pharmacy and finance. He has built a successful career in the European biotech and medtech sectors, serving on the boards of several startup and scaleups, initiating and executing notable strategic transactions. His experience includes CEO of GlycoVaxyn, leading it through to its acquisition by GSK. Before that, he led Endoart as CEO through a successful turnaround leading to its acquisition by Allergan.
Dr. Robert Schier, Swisscanto, Investor Representative
Robert Schier joined Swissanto Invest at Zürcher Kantonalbank in 2018 as Member of Senior Management, Investment Director PE/VC. He has many years' experience in the healthcare and life sciences sector with background in biotech and as investment director and/or partner in various venture capital firms, such as Inventages Venture Capital and Seventure Partners.Robert Schier holds a degree in pharmacy from the University of Vienna and a PhD in biotechnology from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. He received the Keystone Award for Excellence in Research for his outstanding doctoral thesis, which he completed at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr Schier then completed an executive MBA programme at the European University Munich and is the author of several scientific publications and patents.
Dr. Christian Schneider, Investor Representative
Dr. Christian Schneider serves as Managing Partner at Vesalius Biocapital. He has extensive work and investment experience in the areas of diagnostics, medtech and therapeutics. Before transitioning to venture capital, he held various positions in R&D at Boehringer Mannheim and Centocor. Christian holds a PhD in immunology from the University of Munich and an MBA from Penn State University.
Dr. Andreas Wüpper, Investor Representative
Dr. Andreas Wuepper serves as Investment Director at Fresenius Medical Care Ventures. Before transitioning to venture capital, he held various positions in R&D at Fresenius Medical Care. Andreas holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Cologne and an MBA from the University of Krems.
Dr. Christoph Esslinger, CSO, Board Member
Christoph Esslinger is the CSO and scientific founder of Memo Therapeutics AG and a pioneer of the discovery of therapeutic antibody candidates directly from human donors for immunotherapy of Alzheimer’s Disease and cancer. Prior to founding Memo Therapeutics AG he held senior positions at CT Atlantic AG, Neurimmune AG and in academia. Christoph Esslinger holds a diploma in Technical Biology from University of Stuttgart and a PhD in Molecular Immunology from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch and University of Lausanne.
Scientific Advisory Board Members
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Stefan Kaufmann
Stefan Kaufmann is an immunologist and microbiologist with focus on infection biology. He received his PhD at the University of Mainz in 1977 and his habilitation in immunology and microbiology at the Free University Berlin in 1981.
Currently, he is director of the Department of Immunology at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, for which he served as founding director since 1993. Since 1998 he is also professor for immunology and microbiology at the Charité Berlin.
Prof. Dr. med. Bodo Plachter
Bodo Plachter is Professor of Medicine and Deputy Director of Virology at the University of Mainz.
Research topics include analysis of virus host interaction with particular emphasis on innate host defense mechanisms, intracellular transport of viral proteins and particle assembly, and development of subviral Dense Bodies as a vaccine candidate against HCMV infection.
Dr. med. Michael Hodges
Michael Hodges is an experienced and successful pharmaceutical industry veteran. He is currently supporting a number of biotechnology companies and VCs in the role of drug development consultant, scientific advisor and/or non-executive board director.
Michael Hodges was previously the CMO of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, developing small molecule and monoclonal antibody drug treatments for life-threatening viral and fungal infections in immunocompromised patients. The company was acquired by Pfizer, Inc. Prior to Amplyx he was the CMO and head of drug development for Santaris A/S, developing RNA targeting drug treatments for chronic viral diseases, cancer, metabolic/lipid and eye diseases. The company was acquired by Hoffman-La Roche, AG.