Latest Press Release
Latest Press Release
Feb 14, 2020
Apr 10, 2019
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Jessica Stitt is Chief Financial Officer at Gyroscope. Jessica brings more than two decades of healthcare finance and leadership experience and has participated in the execution of nearly $1.5 billion in corporate financing transactions over the course of her career. Most recently, she served as the Vice President of Finance and Operations for MyoKardia, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted therapies for the treatment of serious cardiovascular diseases, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in November 2020. Prior to MyoKardia, Jessica served as Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations for Theravance Biopharma, Inc. She joined Theravance Biopharma in June 2014 in connection with the company’s spin-off from Theravance, Inc. (now Innoviva, Inc.). In her combined nine-year tenure with Theravance, Jessica held positions of increasing responsibility in finance and investor relations. She also previously held roles at Nektar Therapeutics, Alkermes and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Jessica holds an MBA from Simmons School of Management and a B.A. from Saint Anselm College.
Allen C. Ho, MD, is Professor of Ophthalmology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Attending Surgeon and Director of Retina Research at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, New York, before completing a residency in Ophthalmology at Wills Eye Hospital and a fellowship in Vitreoretinal Diseases at the Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital in New York, New York. Dr. Ho is board-certified in Ophthalmology.
Dr. Ho is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an internationally recognized retina specialist specializing in state of art patient care. He is a leader in the development of new medical and surgical treatments for retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, macular diseases, diabetic retinopathy, and surgical retinal diseases. Dr. Ho is an active member and leader in several societies, including the American Academy of Ophthalmology, The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the American Society of Retina Specialists, and The Macula Society, and he is President of The Retina Society. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and is Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion in Ophthalmology and Chief Medical Editor of Retina Today. Dr. Ho is an invited lecturer at national and international ophthalmic meetings and has authored several books.
David Kavanagh is the Professor of Complement Therapeutics at the National Renal Complement Therapeutics Centre (NRCTC). The NRCTC is a combined clinical, diagnostic and treatment centre for the complement mediated diseases: atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS) and C3 glomerulopathy. All patients in England treated with eculizumab for these diseases are managed through the NRCTC. His University research group has been at the forefront of defining the role of complement in renal disease and is fully integrated with the NRCTC to provide rapid translational benefits to patients.
David moved to Newcastle to start his own lab in 2008 with a Wellcome Trust Fellowship following a Kidney Research UK Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh. He was previously a Fellow at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. He graduated in Medicine and Immunology from the University of Glasgow in 1998 and obtained his PhD from Newcastle University in 2006. For his work defining the role of complement in aHUS, he was awarded the Renal Association’s Young Investigator (Raine) award. Additionally, he runs a glomerulonephritis and vasculitis clinic at Freeman hospital. He is chairman of the aHUS rare disease working group, an executive committee member of Complement UK.
Dominic is a Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. Prior to joining Syncona, he worked for strategy consultancy L.E.K. Consulting. Dominic received his PhD from the Department of Oncology at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Cancer Research UK scholar. He also holds a German Diplom Degree in Biochemistry and his research has been honoured with national and international prizes and published in Cell, Nature and Science.
Renée Galá joined the board of directors of Gyroscope Therapeutics in November 2020. She is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of global biopharmaceutical company Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and is a member of the board of directors at Gossamer Bio where she chairs its audit committee. Prior to joining Jazz, she was the Chief Financial Officer of GRAIL, a healthcare company focused on the early detection of cancer. Previously Renée was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Theravance Biopharma, where she led the company’s spin-out transaction from Innoviva, Inc. She has also served in global treasury, pharmaceutical sales and corporate strategy/business development at Eli Lilly and Company. Prior to joining Eli Lilly, she spent seven years in the energy industry in positions focused on corporate finance, project finance, and mergers and acquisitions. Renée holds a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Columbia Business School.
David Fellows joined the board of directors of Gyroscope Therapeutics in December 2020. He also serves as the chairman of the board for Oxular Limited and is a board member of the Glaucoma Foundation. David was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Nightstar Therapeutics, a retinal gene therapy company acquired by Biogen in 2019. Prior to joining Nightstar Therapeutics, he was the Vice President of Johnson & Johnson’s Vision Care Franchise where he led the global marketing, new product and licensing activities. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, David held leadership positions at Allergan, Inc., for 25 years where he served primarily in the sales and marketing areas in a number of capacities, including Regional President, Corporate Vice President, and Senior Vice President across North America, Europe and Asia. David holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Butler University.
Jennifer Cook joined the board of directors of Gyroscope Therapeutics in November 2020. She also serves on the boards of directors of Denali Therapeutics, BridgeBio Pharma and Ambys Medicines. Most recently, Jennifer was the Chief Executive Officer of GRAIL, a healthcare company focused on the early detection of cancer. Prior to joining GRAIL, she held a number of leadership positions during her 25-year tenure with Roche/Genentech, including leading Roche Pharmaceuticals’ European commercial business, Global Clinical Operations, U.S. and Global Product Portfolio Management, the U.S. Immunology and Ophthalmology Business Unit and Market Development. Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Biology and a Master’s Degree in Biology from Stanford University, as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Ian Clark joined the board of directors of Gyroscope Therapeutics in 2019. Ian has more than 34 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, most recently serving as CEO and member of the board of directors for Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, until his retirement in 2016. During his seven-year tenure as CEO, Ian and his team brought eleven new medicines to market for patients fighting rheumatoid arthritis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and various types of cancer. Ian was among the highest rated CEOs by Glassdoor, recognized as the Bay Area’s most admired CEO by the San Francisco Business Times and awarded the Honorable Mentor of the Year by the Healthcare Business Women’s Association.
Prior to joining Genentech, Ian held various positions of increasing responsibility at Novartis, Sanofi, Ivax and Searle, working in the USA, UK, Canada, Eastern Europe and France.
Currently, Ian is on the board of directors for Takeda, Agios Pharmaceuticals, Guardant Health, Forty Seven, Avrobio and Corvus Pharmaceuticals. He is an Operating Partner of Blackstone Life Sciences. He is also on the BioFulcrum Board of the Gladsone Institute. Ian previously served on the board of directors of Shire, Kite Pharma, Dendreon, Solazyme and Vernalis. He was also on the Biotechnology Industry Association board of directors and on the Economic Advisory Council of the 12th District of the Federal Reserve.
Ian received his bachelor of science in Biological Sciences and an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Southampton University in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Bohen joined the board of directors of Gyroscope Therapeutics in September 2020. Dr. Bohen is President and Chief Executive Officer of Olema Oncology, Inc and is also on the board of directors at Altrubio, Inc. Previously, he was the Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development, AstraZeneca LP, where he was responsible for AstraZeneca’s worldwide product development and clinical programmes. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, he was Senior Vice President of Genentech Early Development (gRED), where he led preclinical and clinical development programmes to deliver pivotal trial-ready drug candidates to Genentech’s late-stage development pipeline. During this time, he also served as a clinical instructor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He received both his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and has been board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.
Khurem became Chief Executive Officer in 2019, bringing more than 20 years of experience in drug development and operational leadership to Gyroscope. He previously served as the Senior Vice President of the Immunology and Ophthalmology business unit at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
During his eleven-year tenure at Genentech, Khurem led the commercialization and launch planning of a number of medicines in the Immunology and Ophthalmology area and helped move a number of medicines into the pipeline as a member of the Late Stage Portfolio Committee. He also was actively involved in a number of business development assessments for the organization.
Khurem began his career at Aventis in the United Kingdom holding various roles in sales and marketing, including leading several pan-European business initiatives at the European Headquarters in Paris.
Khurem holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration as well as an Honors degree in Biological Sciences.
Chris is the Chief Investment Officer and a Managing Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. Chris is a member of the boards of three Syncona Portfolio companies, NightstaRx Limited, Freeline Therapeutics Limited and Gyroscope Therapeutics Limited.
Previously, he was a partner of Apposite Capital LLP, a venture and growth capital company focused on the healthcare and life science sector. During his time at Apposite, he was involved in a number of investments, which included Ambit Biosciences (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo), Convergence Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Biogen-Idec), Birdrock and the acquisition of a portfolio of nine US healthcare companies which included Zonare Medical Systems (acquired by Mindray) and Ulthera (acquired by Merz).
Before Apposite, Chris had roles with Bioscience Managers Ltd, Neptune Investment Management Ltd and as a medicinal chemist in the pharmaceutical industry. Chris holds a degree in Natural Sciences and a PhD in Organic Chemistry, both from Cambridge University.
Patrice Love is VP, People and Organisational Development at Gyroscope. Patrice is an accomplished executive, specialising in Human Resources, Organisational Development and Operations with extensive experience in early stage start-ups/pre-IPO,M&A as well as SME companies, particularly in the life science, medtech and technology sectors both in Europe and USA.
Patrice’s career started at British Telecom (BT) and in the latter years, with BT Brightstar, BT’s first corporate incubator as Head of Operations. Patrice joined Inivata, a cancer diagnostics company based in Cambridge, UK in 2015 when it first started as a spin-out from Cancer Research UK. Patrice was part of the Senior Leadership Team as Global Director of People and Organisational Development and supported Inivata’s growth in both the UK and the US.
Ashwin Datt is EVP, Advisor to CEO at Gyroscope. Ashwin has more than 25 years of lab management, business operations, and human resources experience in academia and the biotechnology industry. Ashwin’s diverse experience includes leadership roles in R&D, commercial, and manufacturing, leading culturally diverse teams across global regions including the US, Europe, and Asia. His R&D teams have supported the filing of more than 70 INDs/CTAs/ED Go NMEs in various therapeutic areas including immunology, ophthalmology, oncology, infectious diseases, and neuroscience.
As a commercial leader, Ashwin has built teams to support Pipeline Marketing (for immunology, respiratory, and ophthalmology) and a field based team leading business-to-business discussions on various programs supporting medicines in ophthalmology, rheumatology, and respiratory franchises. In Human Resources, he has led teams in a global matrix environment, including supporting an 8,500 employee global Biologics manufacturing network. His career has spanned innovative organizations including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), TRW, Amgen, Genentech, Roche, and Juno Therapeutics. More recently he helped build out disruptive start-ups GRAIL, Vitrisa, Allogene, and Sana. He is recognized for his passion to coach and develop people, keeping patients and the unmet need as the guiding compass.
Edward Lang is Chief Business Officer at Gyroscope. Ed has almost 20 years of corporate strategy and public affairs experience in the biotechnology industry. Over the course of his career, he has supported the approval of more than 15 medicines in the fields of oncology, ophthalmology, immunology and rare disease. He has also served as a senior leader driving strategic decision-making across product portfolios, as well as the primary spokesperson for both large and small biotech companies.
Nadia Waheed is Chief Medical Officer at Gyroscope. Previously Nadia was Director of the Boston Image Reading Center and Consultant at the New England Eye Center, Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.
Nadia received her medical degree from the Aga Khan University Medical School, Pakistan, and a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She trained in Ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School/Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary Program in Ophthalmology, which was followed by a fellowship in retina at the Harvard Medical School/Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. Nadia then joined the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute as faculty. This was followed by two years of International Ophthalmology where she established the Retina Unit at the Shifa Hospital.
Nadia has authored over 50 papers in peer-reviewed publications. She has co-authored and edited three books in Ophthalmology and has contributed to several more. She has participated as a principal investigator or co-investigator in many clinical trials and laboratory investigations. Her research interests include ocular imaging, diabetic eye disease and age related macular degeneration, as well as clinical trial design and analysis.
Jane Hughes is Chief Scientific Officer at Gyroscope. Jane is a highly experienced and strategic scientific leader with over 20 years of experience in drug discovery, translational medicine and clinical science gained through the development of projects from therapeutic concept through to early stage clinical development.
Most recently Jane served as Senior Director of Integrated Drug Discovery at Charles River and also held positions of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline and MedImmune. Jane graduated from Keele University in 1998 with a PhD in Developmental Immunology.
Khurem Farooq is Chief Executive Officer at Gyroscope. Khurem brings more than 20 years of experience in drug development and operational leadership to the role. Previously, Khurem served as the Senior Vice President of the Immunology and Ophthalmology business unit at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
During Khurem’s eleven-year tenure at Genentech, he led the commercialization and launch planning of a number of medicines in the Immunology and Ophthalmology area and helped move a number of medicines into the pipeline as a member of the Late Stage Portfolio Committee. He was also actively involved in a number of business development assessments for the organization.
Khurem began his career at Aventis in the United Kingdom holding various roles in sales and marketing, including leading several pan-European business initiatives at the European Headquarters in Paris. Khurem holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration as well as an Honours degree in Biological Sciences.
Ian Pitfield is SVP, Technical Operations at Gyroscope. Ian graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1992 with a PhD in Biotechnology. After a short period working for SAF developing downstream processes for high value, low volume products, Ian moved to SmithKline Beecham/GlaxoSmithKline to start a 17-year Analytical Scientist/Management career in Pharmaceutical Drug development.
From June 2012, Ian transitioned to CMC Project Leadership in GSK’s Cell and Gene Therapy CMC platform leading development, validation and regulatory submission of Strimvelis, the world’s first approved ex-vivo autologous gene therapy.
Elaine Johnston is General Counsel at Gyroscope. Elaine has nearly 20 years of legal experience including in drug and medical devices research, development, manufacturing, commercialization, healthcare compliance, IP licensing, corporate governance and mergers & acquisitions (and associated integration activities).
Elaine most recently served as the Head of Legal at BTG plc, which was a FTSE 250 healthcare company focused on interventional medicine and specialty pharmaceuticals that was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2019. Elaine led the global legal team with legal operations in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Prior to BTG, Elaine was a legal consultant at Abbott Laboratories primarily supporting the Abbott Medical Optics and Abbott Nutrition businesses in Europe. Previously, she was a legal consultant at BioMarin supporting legal operations in the UK and Ireland. Elaine trained and qualified as a solicitor at Mayer Brown in London. She graduated from Queen’s University Belfast in 1997 with a LL.B (Hons) Degree in Law and completed her Legal Practice Course at the College of Law, Chester in 2000.
Andrew J. Lotery, MD, FRCOphth, is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. He received his medical degree from Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland and completed a fellowship in Medical Retina and Molecular Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
Dr. Lotery is a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and received their Nettleship Award, which recognizes the best research published by an ophthalmologist in the United Kingdom in the past 3 years. He listed in The Times as one of the United Kingdom’s top 100 doctors, and he has been recognized for his research by the University Hospital Southampton Innovation and Researcher of the Year awards and a Macular Society award.
Dr. Lotery was editor in chief of the scientific journal Eye for 10 years and is currently Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. He and his team have performed more than 75 clinical trials and published more than 260 papers in high impact journals, includingNature Genetics, Nature Communications, The Lancet, and The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Lotery has served two times as a National Institute for Health Research Senior Investigator and raised grant funding totalling more than £15 million. He currently leads a Wellcome Trust Collaborative award, assessing the role of artificial intelligence in understanding the etiology of age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Lotery’s research interests include identifying genetic determinants of eye disease, studying defined mutations in patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells, and new therapeutic approaches, such as gene therapy and retinal cell transplantation.
Professor David Steel, MBBS, MD, FRCOphth, is Consultant Ophthalmologist at Sunderland Eye Infirmary in the United Kingdom and Honorary Professor of Retinal Surgery at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. He leads the surgical retinal service at Sunderland Eye Infirmary and set up and directs the institution’s clinical trials unit with over 20 active trials.
Dr. Steel’s research interests include many aspects of retinal disease, and he is a principal investigator in the Newcastle University Retinal Stem Cell Group. He has published approximately 180 peer-reviewed publications with more than 6000 citations.
Dr. Steel is Associate Editor for The Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ Eye journal and is on the editorial board of Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology and the Journal of Vitreoretinal Diseases. He is an elected member of the Club Jules Gonin and has been an invited guest speaker at several national and international retinal societies.
Professor David Steel, MBBS, MD, FRCOphth, is Consultant Ophthalmologist at Sunderland Eye Infirmary in the United Kingdom and Honorary Professor of Retinal Surgery at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. He leads the surgical retinal service at Sunderland Eye Infirmary and set up and directs the institution’s clinical trials unit with over 20 active trials.
Dr. Steel’s research interests include many aspects of retinal disease, and he is a principal investigator in the Newcastle University Retinal Stem Cell Group. He has published approximately 180 peer-reviewed publications with more than 6000 citations.
Dr. Steel is Associate Editor for The Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ Eye journal and is on the editorial board of Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology and the Journal of Vitreoretinal Diseases. He is an elected member of the Club Jules Gonin and has been an invited guest speaker at several national and international retinal societies.
Charles C. Wykoff, MD, PhD, is a retina surgeon and ophthalmologist at Retina Consultants of Houston in Texas, where he also serves as Director of Research. He received his PhD from the University of Oxford in England and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, before completing a residency in Ophthalmology and a fellowship in Vitreoretinal at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida. Dr. Wykoff is board-certified in Ophthalmology.
Dr. Wykoff coauthored the book Fighting Global Blindness. He has extensive expertise in clinical trial design and coordination, as well as translational research, publishing more than 130 peerreviewed scientific articles. Dr. Wykoff’s research interests pertain to angiogenesis and retinal vascular diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and venous occlusive diseases, as well as vitreoretinal surgical topics such as retinal tears, retinal detachments, and macular surgery for macular holes and macular puckers. He is an elected member of the Retina Society and The Macula Society, and he serves as a founding member of the Ophthalmology Retina editorial board. Dr. Wykoff holds leadership positions in many scholarly societies, including actively serving as the Academic Program Director for the Vit-Buckle Society, for which he is the President Elect.
Hendrik P.N. Scholl, M.D., is Founder and Director of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel in Switzerland together with Botond Roska, M.D. He is also Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Basel. Dr. Scholl received his medical degree from the University of Tübingen in Germany before completing a residency in Ophthalmology at the University Eye Hospital in Tübingen and a clinical research fellowship in Medical Retinal Disease at Moorfields Eye Hospital and the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology in London, United Kingdom. From 2010 until 2006, he was Professor of Ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, where he headed the Retinal Degeneration Clinic and the Visual Neurophysiology Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Dr Scholl has received numerous awards including the European Vision Award in 2008, the Wynn-Gund Translational Research Award by the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the Macular Degeneration Research Award by the American Health Assistance Foundation in 2010, the Visionary Award from the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the ARVO Foundation/Pfizer Ophthalmics Carl Camras Translational Research Award in 2014, the President’s Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists in 2015, the Research Award Retina 2017 of the German Ophthalmic Surgeons, the Alfred Vogt Award in 2019, and the Paul Henkind Award & Lecture of the Macula Society in 2020.
Dr Scholl specializes in therapy of retinal diseases and in research on retinal neurodegeneration. Dr. Scholl has authored more than 200 articles and reviews in peer-reviewed journals.
Arshad M. Khanani, MD, MA, is Managing Partner, Director of Clinical Research, and Director of Fellowship at Sierra Eye Associates and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. He is a fellowship-trained vitreoretinal specialist and is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. As an undergraduate, Dr. Khanani was honored twice with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Award. During his medical training, he received several research awards and designed multiple prospective clinical trials, which led to publications in major ophthalmology journals.
Due to his strong interest in clinical research, Dr. Khanani founded the clinical research section at Sierra Eye Associates. He has been a principal investigator for more than 50 clinical trials and has been a top enroller in the country for multiple Phase 1-3 trials. Dr. Khanani also serves as a member of clinical trial steering committees and scientific advisory boards for multiple companies. His articles have been published in top ophthalmology journals. Dr. Khanani has also presented his work at major ophthalmology meetings worldwide and has been invited multiple times as a guest speaker nationally and internationally.
Dr. Khanani has received numerous awards of distinction. He has received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also received the Honor Award and the Senior Honor Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists for his contributions. Dr. Khanani has also been consistently named one of America’s Top Ophthalmologists and has also been included in The Leading Physicians of the World publication. In 2019, he received the Nevada Business Magazine Healthcare Heroes Physician of the Year award for his continued dedication to the field of ophthalmology.
Nancy M. Holekamp, MD, is Director of Retina Services at Pepose Vision Institute and Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in Missouri. She received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, before completing an internship in Internal Medicine and a residency in Ophthalmology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a fellowship at Retina Consultants in St. Louis. Dr. Holekamp is board-certified in Ophthalmology.
Dr Holekamp is a leading clinical trialist in AMD research and has been a principal investigator in over 37 national randomized clinical trials studying retinal diseases. She lectures nationally and internationally on AMD management and has published widely in peer-reviewed journals. She is on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Retina Specialists and is a member of the Macula Society and the Retina Society. Dr Holekamp is the co-founder and past president of Women in Retina.
Jeffrey S. Heier, MD, is Co-President, Medical Director, Director of the Vitreoretinal Service, and Director of Retina Research at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston in Massachusetts. He received his medical degree from Boston University before completing a residency at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado, and a fellowship in Vitreoretinal at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston/Tufts University School of Medicine. Between his internship and residency, Dr. Heier served as a physician in a combat support hospital in the Persian Gulf War, where he was awarded a Bronze Star Medal.
Dr. Heier is one of the leading retinal clinical researchers in the country for new treatments in exudative and nonexudative macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, venous occlusive disease, vitreoretinal surgical techniques and instrumentation, and diagnostic imaging of the retina. He lectures nationally and internationally on retinal research and the innovative approach to the treatment of retinal diseases. Dr. Heier is on the Executive Board of The Retina Society, on the Executive Committee of the American Society of Retina Specialists, Past President of the New England Ophthalmological Society, and a member of The Macula Society.
Jacque Duncan, MD, is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, where she received her medical degree and completed an internship in Internal Medicine and a residency in Ophthalmology. She then completed a fellowship in Medical Retina and Inherited Retinal Degenerations at the Scheie Eye Institute at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Dr. Duncan’s work has been published in such journals as JAMA Ophthalmology, Clinical Ophthalmology, and Experimental Eye Research. Her research interests include retinal disease, visual function, and retinitis pigmentosa.
Dr. Tim Stout received his undergraduate degree from Rice University in Houston, and his medical degree and doctorate in molecular genetics from Baylor College of Medicine, where he also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Human Genetics. He completed his Ophthalmology residency at the Doheny Eye Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, a medical retina fellowship at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and a surgical retinal fellowship at the Doheny Eye Institute. Dr. Stout earned his MBA at the University of Oregon.
Dr. Stout has been the Sid W. Richardson Professor and Margarett Root Brown Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, and Director of the Cullen Eye Institute at Baylor College of Medicine since 2013. Prior to that he served as Professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Molecular Genetics, as well as Vice President for Commercialization Strategies at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. He has directed the Clayton Gene Therapy Laboratories since 1995.
Claire Harris is Professor of Molecular Immunology at Newcastle University. She has been studying complement for more than 30 years with experience in both academia and Pharma. She has a keen interest in structure-function relationships in complement activators and regulators with a particular focus in the mechanisms underlying complement dysregulation and disease. With collaborators in Madrid, she was the first to characterise ‘gain-of-function’ mutations in the complement activating proteins, C3 and factor B, explaining their association with renal disease. Subsequent dissection of functional consequences of common AMD-linked polymorphisms led to the concept of the ‘complotype’ -the influence of complement genetic makeup on inflammation & infection. She is currently based at Newcastle University and the National Renal Complement Therapeutics Centre (NRCTC, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle). Her research is focussed on disease mechanisms, complement therapeutics (target validation, indication validation, drug discovery) and complement biomarkers (diagnosis, stratification).
Professor Pete Coffey, DPhil, is Theme Lead of Development, Ageing and Disease at University College London’s Institute of Ophthalmology and the Co-Executive Director of Translation at UC Santa Barbara’s Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering. He is the principal author and co-author of two landmark papers demonstrating the use of human cells to halt visual deterioration in models of age-related macular degeneration. His achievements include the launch of the London Project to Cure Blindness, which aims to develop a stem cell therapy for the majority of all types of age-related macular degeneration, seminal work on retinal transplantation (as described by Debrossy & Dunnett, Nature Neuroscience 2001). Prof. Coffey has received many honors and awards, including the prestigious Estelle Doheny Living Tribute Award in 2009, Retinitis Pigmentosa International’s Vision Award in 2009, the CIRM Leadership Award in 2010, and the New York Stem Cell Foundation Roberston Prize in 2011. Finally, in 2018, the results of two patients were presented in which an engineered biopolymer with stem cell derived retinal pigment epithelium cells were implanted into the eye. Not only did this demonstrate that regenerative medicine is feasible but resulted in the sustained recovery of reading in blind patients with sudden severe vision loss from Macular Degeneration – a breakthrough validating the stem cell treatment paradigm.
David Kavanagh is the Professor of Complement Therapeutics at the National Renal Complement Therapeutics Centre (NRCTC). The NRCTC is a combined clinical, diagnostic and treatment centre for the complement mediated diseases: atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS) and C3 glomerulopathy. All patients in England treated with eculizumab for these diseases are managed through the NRCTC. His University research group has been at the forefront of defining the role of complement in renal disease and is fully integrated with the NRCTC to provide rapid translational benefits to patients.
David moved to Newcastle to start his own lab in 2008 with a Wellcome Trust Fellowship following a Kidney Research UK Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh. He was previously a Fellow at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. He graduated in Medicine and Immunology from the University of Glasgow in 1998 and obtained his PhD from Newcastle University in 2006. For his work defining the role of complement in aHUS, he was awarded the Renal Association’s Young Investigator (Raine) award. Additionally, he runs a glomerulonephritis and vasculitis clinic at Freeman hospital. He is chairman of the aHUS rare disease working group, an executive committee member of Complement UK.
Peter Lachmann trained in biochemistry and medicine at Cambridge and University College Hospital graduating MBBChir in 1956. He was a postgraduate student in immunology with Robin Coombs in Cambridge and with Henry Kunkel at Rockefeller University and obtained his PhD in 1962 for a thesis on the pathogenesis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.
His principal research interests have been in the immunochemistry, biology and genetics of the complement system. Contributions in this field include:
His laboratory also worked quite widely on the genetics of the complement system and on complement deficiency states.
He was the founder President of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences (1998-2002), Biological secretary of the Royal Society (1993 –98) and President of the Royal College of Pathologists (1990-93).
Dr Peters received his medical degree from the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Dr. Peters was knighted in the 1993 New Year’s Honours List, and he is a Fellow of The Royal Society of London and a Founding Fellow and later President of the Academy of Medical Sciences. His research interests centre on the immunology of renal and vascular disease, particularly how delineation of immunological mechanisms can lead to new therapies for these disorders. Sir Keith has extensive industrial experience, having served on the Medical Advisory Board of Merck Research Laboratories and chaired the Scientific Advisory Board of Amersham. From 2005-2016 he served as Senior Consultant to GlaxoSmithKline, reporting directly to the President of Research and Development.
Professor Pickering is an established international expert on the complement system and its role in health and disease. His research program has been funded without interruption by the Wellcome Trust since 2003. He is a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Clinical Science (funded to 2023).
His clinical expertise includes systemic lupus erythematous and complement deficiency states. He is a Professor of Rheumatology and Director of the Centre for Inflammatory Disease at Imperial College London. He is an Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Academic Director of the Imperial Lupus Centre. He was Head of Clinical Rheumatology from 01/April/2014 to 30/April/2019.
His research has achieved international recognition for elucidating the relationship between uncontrolled complement activation and renal disease. He has achieved this through a sustained research program that has utilized genetic characterization of families with complement-mediated renal disease, the in vitro studies of complement regulatory proteins and the generation of unique murine models of complement-mediated kidney disease.
His key research achievements include (1) the demonstration that complement C5 is critical in the development of atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome; (2) the demonstration that specific activation fragments of the central complement protein (C3) are important in complement-mediated renal injury; (3) the characterisation of a new kidney disease, CFHR5 nephropathy that is endemic in Cyprus; (4) the identification of C3 glomerulopathy as a new group of kidney diseases in which the underlying defect is impaired regulation of complement. In addition to CFHR5 nephropathy his team has characterized the genetic basis of a further three types of familial C3 glomerulopathy; (5) the implementation of C3 glomerulopathy as a new disease classification within the international renal pathology and nephrology community culminating with the organization of the first international meeting on this group of conditions and the publication of the first international consensus document; (6) in collaboration with Prof. Susan Lea, the unravelling of the mechanistic basis underlying FHR-associated C3 glomerulopathy.
Prof. Pickering is regularly invited to international (e.g. American Society of Nephrology Annual Meetings) and European (e.g. European League against Rheumatism Meetings) meetings to present research findings to the international scientific and clinical community. He is a member of European Complement Network and International Complement Society.
Prof. Pickering is an enthusiastic teacher. He has authored numerous educational publications on complement and complement-mediated kidney disease and regularly contributes to patient-family events in the complement community.
Alberto Auricchio, MD is Professor of Medical Genetics at the Department of Advanced Biomedicine, “Federico II” University in Naples, and Coordinator of the Molecular Therapy Program at Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM) in Pozzuoli (NA), Italy.
His research is focused on gene therapy of retinal and metabolic diseases using adeno-associated viral vectors. His group has contributed to the phase I/II clinical trial of Luxturna, the first approved gene therapy drug for an ocular disease, and to the development of gene therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis VI up to an ongoing phase I/II trial.
Prof. Auricchio is co-author of more than 135 peer-reviewed publications on international scientific journals and inventor of several international patents on the use of viral vectors for gene therapy. He is a member of the editorial boards of various journals and of the European Society of Cell and Gene Therapy Scientific Board.
In 2006 Prof. Auricchio has received the Outstanding New Investigator Award of the American Society of Gene Therapy and in 2007 has been nominated Cavaliere of the Italian Republic by the President of the Italian Republic. In 2011 and 2016 Prof. Auricchio has received the Consolidator and Advanced Grants, respectively, from the European Research Council. In 2019 Prof, Auricchio received the International Prize for Scientific Research “Arrigo Recordati”.
Robert MacLaren is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Oxford Eye Hospital, Honorary Professor of Ophthalmology at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, Honorary Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital and an NIHR Senior Investigator. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Fellow and former King James IV Professor of Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Bodley Fellow of Merton College Oxford and Civilian Consultant Advisor to the Royal Navy. He has been a recipient of the ARVO Camras Award for Translational Research, the RP Fighting Blindness Scientist of the Year Award, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Keeler Medal and the Macular Society Clinical Service of the Year award.
Together with the University of Oxford in 2014, he co-founded Nightstar Therapeutics in order to expand retinal gene therapy towards worldwide approval for patients with retinal diseases. After listing on NASDAQ in 2017, Nightstar Therapeutics was acquired by Biogen in 2019, making it one of the most successful British biotechnology company buyouts of all time.
Robert MacLaren is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Oxford Eye Hospital, Honorary Professor of Ophthalmology at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, Honorary Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital and an NIHR Senior Investigator. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Fellow and former King James IV Professor of Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Bodley Fellow of Merton College Oxford and Civilian Consultant Advisor to the Royal Navy. He has been a recipient of the ARVO Camras Award for Translational Research, the RP Fighting Blindness Scientist of the Year Award, the American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Keeler Medal and the Macular Society Clinical Service of the Year award.
Together with the University of Oxford in 2014, he co-founded Nightstar Therapeutics in order to expand retinal gene therapy towards worldwide approval for patients with retinal diseases. After listing on NASDAQ in 2017, Nightstar Therapeutics was acquired by Biogen in 2019, making it one of the most successful British biotechnology company buyouts of all time.
Professor Bernhard H.F. Weber, PhD, is Head of the Institute of Human Genetics, and Vice President of Research at the University of Regensburg, Germany. He received his PhD at the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Freiburg in Germany.
Dr. Weber established a comprehensive research program on the hereditary retinal degenerations and the genetically complex age-related macular degeneration. He is interested in understanding underlying monogenic and complex disease pathologies. Dr. Weber’s work has a strong focus on translational aspects to explore concepts of innovative therapeutic intervention in retinal disease. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications. His DNA diagnostics unit offers single gene analysis, gene panel testing, and exome sequencing, with the latter two technologies specifically addressing the striking genetic heterogeneity in retinal diseases.
Dr Peters received his medical degree from the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff, United Kingdom. Dr. Peters was knighted in the 1993 New Year’s Honours List, and he is a Fellow of The Royal Society of London and a Founding Fellow and later President of the Academy of Medical Sciences. His research interests centre on the immunology of renal and vascular disease, particularly how delineation of immunological mechanisms can lead to new therapies for these disorders. Sir Keith has extensive industrial experience, having served on the Medical Advisory Board of Merck Research Laboratories and chaired the Scientific Advisory Board of Amersham. From 2005-2016 he served as Senior Consultant to GlaxoSmithKline, reporting directly to the President of Research and Development.
Phil Luthert has been Professor of Pathology at UCL since 1994 with specialist expertise in the histopathology of the eye.
Previously he was in Neuropathology at the Institute of Psychiatry with interests in neurodegeneration and the blood-brain barrier. Current research interests revolve around the pathogenesis of age-related disease and in particular age-related macular degeneration. The approach being developed is to integrate anatomy and physiology with data from ‘omic technologies to build computational models that have the capacity to capture the complexity of age-related degenerative disease and predict the outcome of interventions. Specific projects are addressing choroidal blood flow, blood-tissue exchange at the outer retina and RPE – photoreceptor metabolic coupling.
Szilárd Kiss, MD, is Associate Dean of Clinical Compliance, Chair of the Graduate Faculty Council, Chief of the Retina Service, Director of Clinical Research, and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, New York. He received his medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, New York, before completing a residency in Ophthalmology and a fellowship in Vitreoretinal Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston.
Dr. Kiss has participated as a principal investigator in more than three dozen prospective clinical trials and laboratory investigations. He has authored nearly 260 scientific publications and given more than 200 invited lectureships worldwide and serves on the editorial board and as a scientific reviewer to a number of major journals. Currently, his clinical and translational research efforts focus on ocular gene and cellular therapy, novel therapeutic targets for ocular neovascularization, complex vitreoretinal surgical techniques, and retinal imaging. Dr. Kiss was among a select group of retina specialists worldwide to be elected by his peers as a Charter Member of the Retina Hall of Fame. For more than 15 years, he has been working on the development of novel sustained delivery approaches, such as gene therapy, for the long-term treatment of pathological ocular neovascularization associated with diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration.
Robert is Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Oxford Eye Hospital, Honorary Professor of Ophthalmology at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, Honorary Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital, and the former Theme Leader for Age-related Macular Degeneration research at the Moorfields-UCL Institute of Ophthalmology Biomedical Research Centre. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, Fellow and former King James IV Professor of Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Bodley Fellow of Merton College Oxford. In 2013 he was a recipient of the international ARVO Camras Award: in 2014 the Euretina Lecture; in 2015 the Retinitis Pigmentosa Scientist of the Year Award; and in 2016 received an NIHR Senior Investigator Award.
His clinical and laboratory research is dedicated to finding new treatments for blindness, particularly in patients with incurable retinal diseases, using stem cell based approaches, gene therapy and electronic devices. His laboratory developed the world’s first gene therapy treatments for choroideremia and X-linked retinitis pigmentosa – these clinical programmes are now being pursued by Nightstarx Ltd., a University of Oxford spin-out company of which he is the scientific founder.
Sir Peter Lachmann is emeritus Sheila Joan Smith Professor of Immunology at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge and honorary fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and of Imperial College. He was knighted for service to medical science in 2002.
He has won numerous international accolades including a Gold Medal from the European Complement Network in 1997, the Medicine and Europe Senior Prize, Academie des Sciences de la Santé in 2003.
His primary research interest now is the downregulation of the complement alternative pathway as a treatment for age related macular degeneration. He has previously worked on many aspects of complement biology; on microbial subversion of the innate immune response; on the immunology of measles, on systemic lupus erythematosus and on insect sting allergies.
Claire is Professor of Immunology at the University of Newcastle. Her research interests focus on complement and the mechanisms by which it drives inflammatory disease. Her recent work includes functional characterisation of complement protein variants/mutants and autoantibodies associated with diseases such as AMD, atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) and C3 glomerulopathy (C3G). Claire’s current research is focussed on therapeutic approaches for modulation or inhibition of the complement cascade, particularly on strategies to target or ‘home’ therapy specifically to disease sites.
Claire was previously Head of Complement at GlaxoSmithKline (2013-2016) and joined the University of Newcastle in 2016 to further her work in translational research; she is based within the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the National Renal Complement Therapeutics Centre.
David Kavanagh is the Professor of Complement Therapeutics at the National Renal Complement Therapeutics Centre (NRCTC). The NRCTC is a combined clinical, diagnostic and treatment centre for the complement mediated diseases: atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS) and C3 glomerulopathy. All patients in England treated with eculizumab for these diseases are managed through the NRCTC. His University research group has been at the forefront of defining the role of complement in renal disease and is fully integrated with the NRCTC to provide rapid translational benefits to patients.
David moved to Newcastle to start his own lab in 2008 with a Wellcome Trust Fellowship following a Kidney Research UK Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh. He was previously a Fellow at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. He graduated in Medicine and Immunology from the University of Glasgow in 1998 and obtained his PhD from Newcastle University in 2006. For his work defining the role of complement in aHUS, he was awarded the Renal Association’s Young Investigator (Raine) award. Additionally, he runs a glomerulonephritis and vasculitis clinic at Freeman hospital. He is chairman of the aHUS rare disease working group, an executive committee member of Complement UK.
Tiffany joined Gyroscope in 2019 and brings 20 years of industry experience and leadership across commercial strategy, marketing, field, and operations. She most recently led US marketing and pipeline launch planning for the Ophthalmology portfolio at Genentech. While at Genentech, she also led the Ophthalmology field sales organization as well as built and led various other commercial teams in Immunology. Tiffany has also worked in multiple other therapeutic areas at Biogen, Janssen, and Pfizer. Throughout her career, she has helped deliver numerous innovative medicines to positively impact customers and patients.
A proven leader, Mike brings more than 20 years of experience in medical device research and development. His expertise spans the innovation, design, and commercialization of surgical products across multiple markets including ophthalmology, spine, and sports medicine. He founded Orbit Biomedical and also recently served as Director of Cell-Based Product Delivery in Janssen R&D, where he led the development of the surgical instrumentation and procedure for the delivery of a cell product to the subretinal space. Mike has been instrumental in transitioning this technology out of Janssen R&D and into Orbit Biomedical. Prior to Janssen, Mike worked in various roles of increasing responsibility in R&D at Depuy Synthes Spine and played a key role at an early stage spine-related startup in the Philadelphia area, transitioning technology out of Drexel University.
Mike holds a MEng in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego and a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Pennsylvania State University. He is an author of multiple manuscripts in the field of biomedical engineering and an inventor on 12 issued patents.