and also Strengthens Scientific Advisory Board
WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc. ("Dragonfly" or the "Company"), today announced Dr. Alex Lugovskoy has joined the Company as Chief Operating Officer, and that the Company has strengthened its Scientific Advisory Board with the addition of leading drug developer and clinician Dr. Rob Hershberg.
"We are delighted that Alex has joined Dragonfly," said Bill Haney, co-founder and CEO of Dragonfly Therapeutics. "His extensive accomplishments and experience in drug development, specifically antibody and antibody-drug conjugates, will be invaluable in managing our deep pipeline and leading multiple novel drug candidates successfully into the clinic."
"Dragonfly's Scientific Advisory Board is thrilled to welcome leading clinician and drug developer Rob Hershberg," added Dr. Tyler Jacks, Dragonfly co-founder and Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Professor of Biology at MIT. "The company has two exciting drug candidates advancing in patients in the clinic, and more than 20 more in development. Our SAB's invaluable guidance and insight is critical to accelerating the company's progress to urgently and effectively provide multiple breakthrough therapies for patients."
Alexey A. Lugovskoy, Ph.D. served as Chief Development Officer of Morphic Therapeutic Inc. for the past five years, where he was responsible for drug development into first-in-human clinical studies, and built and led safety assessment, technical operations, regulatory affairs, quality management, program and alliance management, information technology, data science, and business development. Previously, Dr. Lugovskoy served as Vice President of Therapeutics of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals for six years, and as Associate Director of Drug Discovery at Biogen Inc. for nine years. Dr. Lugovskoy has extensive experience in the development of small molecules, antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates, is as Associate Editor of the scientific journal mAbs, and is an author on more than a hundred patents and publications. Dr. Lugovskoy received a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University, and a M.Sc. in Molecular Biophysics and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
Rob Hershberg MD-PhD began his career as an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Later, Dr. Hershberg co-founded VentiRx Pharmaceuticals and, as President and Chief Executive Officer, led the company through its transformational partnership with Celgene. Dr. Hershberg joined Celgene in 2014 to lead their efforts in Immuno-Oncology, was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer in 2016, and was subsequently Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development & Global Alliances and served as a member of the Executive Committee until the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2019. Rob is currently a Venture Partner on the Frazier Life Sciences team. He completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles and received his Ph.D. at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Dr. Hershberg joins Dragonfly's distinguished Scientific Advisory Board which includes:
SAB Chair Tyler Jacks PhD, Dragonfly co-founder, Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Professor of Biology at MIT
Jim Allison MD, American Nobel Prize-winning scientist for his groundbreaking work in cancer immunotherapy; Professor & Chair of the Department of Immunology and Executive Director of the Immunotherapy Platform at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Heidi Cerwenka PhD, professor at Heidelberg University, head of Innate Immunity at the German Cancer Research Center
K. Christopher Garcia PhD, professor at Stanford University and expert in the structural, mechanistic, and functional aspects of receptor-ligand interactions
Patrick Hwu MD, leading tumor immunologist and newly appointed President and CEO of the Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa
Elizabeth Jaffee MD, Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Dana and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli Professor of Oncology and Professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Alan Korman PhD, SVP, Human Immunology at Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
Lewis Lanier PhD, American Cancer Society Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UCSF, and Leader of the Cancer Immunology Program, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Ronald Levy MD, professor at Stanford University and renowned medical doctor specializing in lymphoma
David Raulet PhD, Dragonfly co-founder, Schekman Chair in Cancer Biology at UC Berkeley and world-leading NK cell expert
Suzanne Topalian MD, Associate Director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Director of the Melanoma Program, and Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Harold Varmus MD, American Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the 14th Director of the National Cancer Institute and Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and
K. Dane Wittrup PhD, professor of Biological Engineering at MIT, member of the Koch Institute, pioneer in protein engineering technologies and expert in the science of targeting cancer with antibodies.
About Dragonfly Dragonfly Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and commercializing therapies that use its novel technologies to harness the body's innate immune system to bring breakthrough treatments to patients. Dragonfly has a deep pipeline of wholly owned programs developed using its platforms.
For more information visit: www.dragonflytx.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/dragonfly-therapeutics-inc./ or https://twitter.com/dragonflytx
DRAGONFLY MEDIA CONTACT: Anne E. Deconinck | anne@dragonflytx.com