Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Duliege is a senior executive with extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. She is currently Chief Medical Officer for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network overseeing PanCAN’s Precision Promise℠ clinical trial. Previously she was the Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, EVP and Chief of Strategic Development at ChemoCentryx, and VP then CMO and Head of Research and Clinical Development at Affymax. Under her leadership, her teams completed extensive development programs and obtained FDA approval of Rigel and Affymax’s lead products. Dr. Duliege also worked at Chiron and Genentech on various programs including an HIV vaccine and sepsis treatment. Prior to her career in the biopharmaceutical industry, Duliege was an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Science and Medical Research in Paris. Dr. Duliege received her MD degree from Paris Medical School.

She also holds a masters in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She continues to practice pediatrics as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Duliege serves on the board of CIRM, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and on boards of nonprofits dedicated to causes such as the prevention of HIV and improving access to healthcare in developing countries.

Dr. Holbein has over 35 years of experience: first as an infectious disease expert with Defense Canada, then Associate Professor in Medicine at McGill University, and finally, a technology developer commercializing life sciences biotechnologies in Canada, the EU and Australia. Bruce pioneered research on the roles of iron in bacterial infection and host defenses, designed DIBI, co-founded Chelation Partners, and initiated and managed the various collaborative proof-of–concept studies on DIBI.

Bruce is also an Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University. He has a Ph.D. in microbiology/ biochemistry from the University of Guelph and has more than 100 scientific publications and 25 industrial patents.

Khama Ennis, MD, MPH, FACEP is a board-certified Emergency Physician practicing in Western Massachusetts. She is the Associate Chief of Emergency Medicine and Medical Staff President at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. She previously served as the Chief of Emergency Medicine after working as the Chief Operating Officer for a locally based Urgent Care and Occupational Health practice. She earned her undergraduate degree in Medical Anthropology at Brown University before matriculating to New York University School of Medicine for her MD. She earned her MPH at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health for her MPH and completed her training at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency based at Massachusetts General and Brigham & Women’s Hospitals

Dr. Christian Lehmann is Professor of Anesthesia, Pharmacology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Physiology and Biophysics at Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada. He is also Staff Anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesia, Nova Scotia Health Authority in Halifax. Dr. Lehmann has 25 years of experience in experimental and clinical inflammation research. He established experimental intravital imaging laboratories in Berlin and Greifswald, Germany. His focus of research is the microcirculation, that is, capillary blood flow, cell-cell interactions, and endothelial pathology. He participated in diverse German and international clinical multicenter trials, for example, in sepsis. He joined Dalhousie University in 2007 and currently supervises research in three laboratories with modern equipment to study the microcirculation under various conditions experimentally and clinically. He is the author of more than 150 original publications, 13 book chapters, and almost 200 published abstracts. He is a member of the Dalhousie Inflammation Group (DIG), the Microcirculation Diagnostics and Applied Studies (MiDAS) research group, and the Cystic Fibrosis Translational Research (CFTR) group. In 2009, he founded the Research in the Endocannabinoid System in Inflammation, Sepsis and Trauma (RESIST) group with Dr. Melanie Kelly and others at Dalhousie University.

Dr Smith is a Biotech/Pharmaceutical Executive, Board Director and Clinical/Scientific Advisor in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia. Her breadth of experience covers over 100 clinical trials and 20+ major regulatory approvals in multiple jurisdictions including FDA (USA), EMA (Europe), TGA (Australia), ANVISA (Brazil), and PMDA (Japan); leading to product launches across diverse therapeutic areas including oncology (Herceptin, Vyxeos), rare disease (Defitelio), cardiology (Irbesartan), dermatology (Voluma, Botox, Aczone), neuroscience (Abilify, Solriamfetol), and anti-infectives (Teflaro). In addition to growth and creation of R&D pipelines, Dr Smith’s successful record of business development includes acquisitions, divestitures, and partnership deals.

Dr. Smith has held various President, CEO, Global Head of R&D, and Chief Medical Officer roles over the past 15 years.  She has built companies from the ground up and is a strong advocate for women in science and diversity in the Boardroom.  Earlier in her career, she held senior leadership roles at Allergan, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr. Smith also currently serves on the boards of Antares Pharma (ATRS), Sangamo Therapeutics (SGMO), Acceleron Pharma (XLRN), Aummune and Capstan Therapeutics. Previously, Dr. Smith served on the board of Forward Pharma A/S and Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. each with a successful corporate exit through acquisition.

Dr. Smith holds several degrees, including an MD from the University of Warwick (UK), a PhD in Oncology from UCLA (USA)/UWA (Australia), an MBA from the University of New England, and an LLM (Masters in Law) from the University of Salford (UK).  Dr Smith also holds British and Australian citizenships and is a US Permanent Resident.  In her spare time, she hikes, bikes, skis, and is a competitive triathlete who has completed several Ironman distance races.

John is a medical oncologist, Professor of Oncology, University of Alberta, and Chair of the Alberta Pre-Phase I Cancer Program (www.prephaseone.com). He is the former Director of the Clinical Trials Unit at the Cross Cancer Institute and as former Executive Director of Translational Research In Oncology (TRIO) for fourteen years, a global clinical trial company with its head office in Edmonton. He has experience with clinical trial operations on nearly 100 clinical studies. Dr. Mackey co-founded Pacylex Pharmaceuticals, J2 Endeavours, and SMHeartCard Inc., and serves on the board of directors of illumiSonics Inc. John has authored or co-authored more than 500 biomedical peer reviewed publications.