What’s Nex-T: Innovator Roundtable on T Cell Therapies in Oncology

Angus Liu is a senior writer at Fierce Pharma, currently leading the publication’s oncology coverage, and he also writes about cancer drugs and China-related topics for Fierce Biotech. Angus has reported extensively on oncology, including the rise of checkpoint inhibitors, cell therapies and antibody-drug conjugates. Angus earned his Master’s at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Keir has nearly 20 years of transactional experience in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medtech industries. As a patent lawyer by training, Keir has represented companies of various sizes in all stages of transactions, including licensing and M&A. He is a seasoned life sciences executive in the oncology sector and has extensive experience raising capital in the public market space and has closed numerous deals including licenses, clinical collaborations, and strategic transactions with significant upfront payments. Prior to his role as Chief Executive Officer, Keir served as the Chief Business Officer for BlueSphere. Prior to joining BlueSphere, Keir was the Vice President of Business Development and General Counsel of OncoSec Medical Inc., a public, clinical-stage oncology company. Earlier in his career, he worked as a senior director for Advaxis, Inc., a late-stage, publicly traded, immuno-oncology company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing cancer vaccines, where he oversaw various legal, transaction and compliance functions.

Dan Passeri is a seasoned biotechnology executive with over 20 years of experience managing drug discovery and development programs as well as business development activities on behalf of publicly traded companies, with deep experience in both oncology and strategic partnership generation. Prior to joining Cue Biopharma, Mr. Passeri served as President and Chief Executive Officer as well as Vice Chairman of the Board of Curis, Inc. Prior to joining Curis, he was employed by GeneLogic Inc., most recently as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Planning. Prior to his work at GeneLogic, Mr. Passeri served as Director of Technology Management at Boehringer Mannheim. Mr. Passeri received a J.D. from the National Law Center at George Washington University, an M.Sc. in Biotechnology from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of London and a B.S. in Biology from Northeastern University.

David Fontana is the Chief Operating Officer at Umoja Biopharma. David joins Umoja from Bristol Myers Squibb, where he was an executive in the Cell Therapy Franchise and part of the Lymphoma Disease Strategy Team. There, he led the development of CD19 CAR T cell therapy BREYANZI® from clinical evaluation to commercialization. Prior to this role, he led the advancement of late-stage immuno-oncology assets and translational medicine as Vice President of Immuno-Oncology at Pfizer. David has successfully guided multiple drug candidates to significant milestones throughout his career, including ADCETRIS® (CD30 antibody-drug conjugate, Brentuximab vedotin), BAVENCIO® (avelumab, anti PD-L1), and relatlimab, (anti-LAG-3 antibody). David received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Wayne State University and holds a PMP certification from the Project Management Institute.

Lola A. Fashoyin-Aje, MD, MPH, is a medical oncologist and Deputy Division Director in the Division of Oncology 3 (DO3) in the Office of Oncologic Diseases (OOD) at FDA. Dr. Fashoyin-Aje has served as clinical reviewer in the Gastrointestinal (GI) Malignancies team, and as team leader for the Breast Malignancies, Melanoma and Sarcoma, and Gastrointestinal Malignancies clinical teams. In her current role, she provides scientific and policy guidance and oversight to multidisciplinary teams reviewing drugs and biologics under development for the treatment of solid tumor (GI, sarcoma, melanoma) malignancies. She has also served as the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) Scientific Liaison for Cancer Disparities and in this role, has led the OCE’s efforts to improve inclusion of diverse demographic subgroups in clinical trials and participates in several scientific and policy working groups. Dr. Fashoyin-Aje also serves on the ASCO Health Equity Committee, the AACR Science of Cancer Health Disparities Scientific Program and Scientific Review committees, and the ASCO Cancer Research Committee. Dr. Fashoyin-Aje completed her residency in internal medicine and fellowship in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins. She completed her training at Columbia University and Yale University, respectively, and earned her medical degree from the University of Rochester.