Rapid, Personalized T-cell Therapies for Cancer

David Apelian

CEO

David Apelian, MD, PhD, MBA, brings extensive clinical development, research, and regulatory experience, spanning more than 20 years in large pharma and biotechnology companies across multiple therapeutic areas including hepatology, immuno-oncology, and rare diseases.

Dr. Apelian was most recently COO and Executive Medical Officer at Eiger Biopharma where he was responsible for the strategy and execution of late stage clinical development programs including chronic hepatitis D, progeria, and post-bariatric hypoglycemia where he still serves on the board of directors. He also served as Executive VP and Chief Medical Officer of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a position he held since 2013. He was instrumental in securing an HCV partnership between Achillion and J&J, which resulted in a $225 million equity investment. From 2005 to 2013, Dr. Apelian was Chief Medical Officer and subsequently head of all R&D and Regulatory Affairs for the immune oncology company GlobeImmune. At Bristol-Myers Squibb he served as Medical Lead for Baraclude an antiviral for chronic HBV through NDA filing. Prior to that, Dr. Apelian was Clinical Director in the Department of Hepatology & Gastroenterology at Schering Plough, where he coordinated a supplemental NDA filing for interferon alpha-2b and ribavirin for the treatment of pediatric patients with chronic HCV.

Dr. Apelian completed his residency training in pediatrics at New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center and is board certified in Pediatrics. He received a PhD in Biochemistry from Rutgers University, an MD from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and an MBA from Quinnipiac University. He earned a BA in Biochemistry from Rutgers University.

Mark Shlomchik

Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Mark Shlomchik received MD and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and did his residency in pathology and laboratory medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

He was appointed to the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine in 1993 where he remained until 2013 when he moved to the University of Pittsburgh to become the UPMC Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology.

Dr. Shlomchik is known for his world-leading research in systemic autoimmune diseases and B cell immune responses and memory. He has published over 160 original research and 30 review articles. The TCXpress technology originated and was developed in Dr. Shlomchik’s lab.

Warren Shlomchik

Co-Founder

Warren Shlomchik received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He did his residency in Internal Medicine at Weill Cornel Medical Center/New York Hospital in New York City, followed by a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

He was appointed to the faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine in 1999 where he became a tenured professor and remained until 2015, when he moved to the University of Pittsburgh to become the Director of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapies, and leader of the program in hematologic malignancies at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

Dr. Shlomchik is an internationally recognized leading researcher in the areas of stem cell transplantation, graft-vs.-host disease and graft-vs-leukemia responses. He has performed high impact work in preclinical models as well as developed and brought to the clinic a novel approach for minimizing GVHD post-transplantation.

Jeanne Cunicelli

Board Member

Jeanne Cunicelli, MBA, is Executive Vice President at UPMC Enterprises where she leads business initiatives on behalf of the Immune Transplant and Therapy Center (ITTC), as well as broader translational sciences efforts.

She has over 20 years of experience in the investment and life sciences industries. Prior to working with UPMC, she was a Managing Director at Bay City Capital where she focused on investments in medical device, drug delivery, and drug development companies. She is a member of the board of trustees of Carnegie Mellon University.

Ms. Cunicelli received an MBA in Finance from the University of San Francisco and holds a B.A. in Cognitive Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University.

Tal Heppenstall

Board Member

Tal Heppenstall has been the treasurer of UPMC since 2003 and executive vice president since 2013. He is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day cash needs of UPMC, along with the management of the organization’s investments and pension portfolio, as well as oversight of its outstanding municipal bonds and other debt.

In his role as president of UPMC Enterprises, Mr. Heppenstall leads world-class professionals who are focused on creating exceptional health care innovations. His team seeks out opportunities to commercialize UPMC-developed technologies for broader application across the entire health care industry and invests in promising health care businesses.

Previously, Mr. Heppenstall served as managing director at RBC Dain Rauscher Inc., president of PriMuni LLC, senior vice president at PNC Capital Markets and vice president at Butcher & Singer. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Constantinos Panousis

Co-Founder and VP of Research and Development

Constantinos G. Panousis received a Chemistry degree from the University of Athens Greece, and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Panousis completed his post-Doctoral training as a Molecular Pharmacologist in Indianapolis with the Eli Lilly and Company.

In 2000, he joined Hoffman La-Roche in Basel, Switzerland where he served as a Senior Principal Scientist in the department of Metabolic Diseases where he led several preclinical programs, having one moving to Phase I clinical trials. In 2008, he returned to the US to continue his drug discovery efforts for Diabetes and Acute Kidney injury indications with Hoffman La Roche in Nutley, NJ.

In 2011, he returned to Pittsburgh where he held consulting and research positions at the University of Pittsburgh until he joined Dr. Shlomchik’s lab in 2017.

Dr. Panousis, BlueSphere Bio’s Vice President of Research and Development and one of its founders, played an instrumental role in the development of the TCXpress technology.