Zelanna, was most recently Chief Medical Officer at Replicate Bioscience and has 20 years’ experience in oncology drug development across a broad platform of solid tumor and hematologic indications and drug types. Before joining Replicate, she was Chief Medical Officer at Alpine Immune Sciences and, before Alpine, she was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at Iovance Biotherapeu¬tics, where she led development programs in non-small-cell lung cancers, head and neck cancers, and combination strategies. Prior to Iovance, she spent nearly nine years at Pfizer, where she held positions of increasing responsibil¬ity in global clinical development and worked on three successful global registrational studies as well as additional work across numerous other successful oncology programs.
Prior to joining industry, Zelanna was an associate professor at the University of California, Davis. She earned her M.D. from the University of Toronto, where she completed her residency in radiation oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital. She also has a Master’s degree in Healthcare Organization Leadership from UCSD. She is an inventor on multiple patents.
Heidi Hagen is a seasoned Biotechnology and Operations executive. She has successfully built organizations and programs within established and start-up environments, commercialized innovative operations, designed and built commercial manufacturing facilities, and streamlined complicated logistics and production systems.
Heidi has Demonstrated results in product development and operational leadership within the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. She successfully delivered the first operation that manufactures and distributes live autologous cellular products within an 18-hour window to oncology patients in the US and EU commercial markets.
Heidi enjoys taking unique and unproven technologies through the transformative journey of development and into mainstream commercial markets. She is continually exploring exciting new biotechnologies with investors and Boards.
Dr. Paul K. Wotton received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Nottingham and is an experienced CEO, Board Member, named inventor and entrepreneur. He has extensive experience in strategic growth management, business transactions and product development. Dr. Wotton serves on the Board of Directors of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ: VCEL), Cynata Therapeutics (ASX: CYP), Kytopen (Chairman), Combined Therapeutics and is a Co-Founder and Director of Avenge Bio., a clinical stage biotechnology company. Dr. Wotton was President and CEO of Ocata Therapeutics(NASDAQ:OCAT) until its acquisition by AstellasPharma in 2016. Paul was named as a “Top 100 Innovation CEO” by World Biz Magazine and won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Regional (NJ) Life Sciences award in 2014.
Dr. Ravi K. Ghanta is a surgeon-scientist and prominent figure in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. His clinical practice encompasses a wide spectrum of conditions, including coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, diseases of the thoracic aorta, and lung cancer. He is focused on minimally invasive surgery, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), mechanical circulatory assist devices, and heart transplantation.
Dr. Ghanta completed his medical training at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA., graduating with honors. He completed a thesis in Biomedical Optics at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology while receiving fellowships from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Association for Academic Surgery.
Dr. Ghanta’s journey in General Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery unfolded at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. During that time, he served as Chief Resident of General Surgery and Chief Resident in Cardiac Surgery and was a recipient of the John Mannick Award.
In 2012, Dr. Ghanta joined the faculty at the University of Virginia, maintaining an active clinical practice and a funded research lab. He attained multiple clinical leadership positions, including Director of the Adult Extracorporeal Life Support Program.
In 2016, Dr. Ghanta joined the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and assumed the role of Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston, TX. His NIH-funded laboratory focuses on ischemic cardiomyopathy and acute lung injury with the mission of bringing new therapies into the clinic through innovation.
Dr. Jazaeri is the Vice Chair for Clinical Research and the Director of the Gynecologic Cancer Immunotherapy Program in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He obtained his Bachelor and Medical degrees from the University of Virginia and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the same institution. He completed his fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at the National Cancer Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Since his recruitment in 2014, he has established a broad base immunotherapy program for gynecologic cancers that include adoptive cell therapies, vaccines, and immune checkpoint inhibitor investigations. His other areas of research interest include innovative clinical trial designs and translational research for identification of novel immunotherapy targets for gynecologic cancers.
Dr. Scull has more than 15 years of experience leading teams through regulatory interactions, First-in-Human trial submissions, and marketing applications. As a nonclinical and regulatory consultant, Chris has directly supported more than 40 successful IND applications to the FDA for all types of biologics. He has helped define the ‘pathway to the clinic’ in several programs with unclear regulatory requirements, such as engineered or edited cell therapies and novel cell/drug/device combinations. Prior to full time consulting, Dr. Scull previously held led the regulatory and R&D functions at a biotech startup, and also held positions in drug development functions at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In 2024 Dr. Scull founded his own consulting firm focused on the development of complex biologics in the cell and gene therapy space. Chris holds a BS in Chemistry and PhD in Pathology from UNC Chapel Hill as well as the RAC certification from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society.
Expert-level with over 15 years of experience in the pharma, biotech sectors. Pioneer in establishing quality programs for short self-life cell therapy products. Proven success in building high-performance teams and fostering a culture of continuous improvement across internal and external based vendor programs. Specialized in developing and implementing Quality Management Systems (QMS) based on custom needs and fit for purpose. Ensuring alignment with GxP standards (GCP, GMP, GLP, etc.) and driving regulatory compliance to support business objectives.
I bring a wealth of experience as a seasoned leader, ready to contribute to the highest levels of organizational success.
Before joining Sentinel BioTherapeutics, Samira earned her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Rice University with Professor Omid Veiseh, where she developed engineered cell therapies for targeted cytokine delivery in autoimmune and inflammatory disease models. Her research integrated synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and biomaterials to design dynamic living drug delivery platforms. She has authored peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Nature Biomedical Engineering, Advanced Materials, and Science Advances, and is an inventor on multiple pending patents.
At Sentinel, she leads cross-functional efforts spanning product research and development, tech transfer, and clinical strategy. Her work focuses on the design and translation of cell-based cytokine factories for localized immunomodulation, with an emphasis on optimizing manufacturing scalability, therapeutic durability, and clinical impact for ovarian cancer.
David Aubuchon is RBL-LLC’s Treasurer, Secretary and Head of Finance and is responsible for all financial operations of the Company. Mr. Aubuchon joined RBL with 25+ years of experience in finance leadership roles in the life sciences industry. Prior to RBL, Mr. Aubuchon was SVP of Finance, Chief Accounting Officer at Obsidian Therapeutics and had similar roles at Sigilon Therapeutics, Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Ocata Therapeutics and Sepracor Pharmaceuticals (now Sunovion Pharmaceuticals). Mr. Aubuchon began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and earned his CPA in Massachusetts. Mr. Aubuchon holds a BA from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and an MBA from Babson College.
Ryan Newman, as VP of Operations and Planning at RBL, Ryan Newman is responsible for leading cross-functional teams to drive the development of IND-enabling programs and managing strategic external partnerships. His role involves cultivating and maintaining key collaborations to enhance RBL’s capabilities and growth. Prior to joining RBL, Ryan held a number of roles across Corporate Development and Portfolio Management, with a focus on oncology and cell therapy. Most recently, he was responsible for the operational management and organization of novel cell therapy programs at Avenge Bio and Sigilon Therapeutics, where he led integrated project teams to deliver on key milestones from proof of concept data through regulatory approvals (both US and ex-US). Ryan is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. He went on to earn an M.B.A. with a focus on Project Management from the Keller School of Management.
Dr. Omid Veiseh, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Director of the Biotech Launch Pad at Rice University, where he leads a research program aimed at engineering next-generation treatments for a wide range of human diseases by leveraging the latest techniques in synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and materials science to develop innovative cell-based platforms for real-time production of biologics. He is also a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies. These companies collectively have attracted ~ $500M in private and public investment capital.
Dr. Veiseh received a dual Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering and Nanotechnology from the University of Washington. He completed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert Langer and Daniel G. Anderson at MIT and Harvard Medical School. Throughout his career, he has authored or co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, including those in Nature Biotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, and Nature Biomedical Engineering. He is an inventor on more than 50 pending or awarded patents. Dr. Veiseh has been elected a fellow of the Controlled Release Society, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors.
Before joining RBL LLC and Sentinel BioTX as the CEO, Rima was a Partner at KdT Ventures where she invested in early-stage biotech spanning human health, climate technology, and synthetic biology. She sits on the board of multiple companies, including Dimension Inx, Cypris Materials, and Modulus Therapeutics. Prior to KdT, she directed the preclinical and clinical development of a portfolio of therapeutic assets at the Fannin Innovations Studio, a venture creation firm focused on technology commercialization in the life sciences.
Rima started her career as a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania and is a physician-scientist trained at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her research as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellow in the lab of Dr. Helen Hobbs focused on the development of bio-engineered assays to study lipid transport and metabolism in the context of cardiovascular disease.