Who We Are

Mr. Allen is a Staff Accountant working with the entire Ankyra team on various accounting activities, is the primary contact of our Accounts Payable Department, and plays a large role in handling our ERP functions. He comes to us from Frontera Therapeutics where he worked as AP Specialist/Staff Accountant handling day to day AP activities, assisting in the month end close process, and ERP implementation. Prior to Frontera he worked at Replimune as an AP Specialist. Before his career in the biotechnology industry, he worked For TJX Companies as a Freight Payment Coordinator in their logistic department. Mr. Allen received his B.S and M.S.A from The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth- Charlton College of Business.

Mr. Aminuddin is the Sr. Director, Business Development, where he is responsible for identifying and evaluating new business opportunities, as well as alliance management. With more than ten years of business development experience in life sciences, Farzian was most recently at Virogin Biotech, where he led partnering activities in North America & Europe.

Prior to that, he provided business development support for Canadian life sciences companies at CDRD (now known as adMare BioInnovations). Mr. Aminuddin received his Bachelors of Science (Honors in Biotechnology) from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Sailaja Battula is a Vice President, Research and Development at Ankyra, where she is responsible for bridging the pre-clinical and clinical development of the company’s novel immuno-oncology (IO) drugs to maximize their translation into the clinic.

Prior to Ankyra, she was a Director, IO at Immuneering Corporation where she led multiple projects across various stages of drug discovery. Before Immuneering, Dr. Battula was an Associate Director at Bicycle Therapeutics where she was a Project Lead for the BT7455 (a tumor targeted immune cell agonist) program, while also spearheading early discovery projects leading to the expansion of Bicycle’s IO pipeline. Dr. Battula also held roles of increasing responsibility at Forma Therapeutics with significant experience leading and contributing to various therapeutic programs through lead selection, lead optimization, IND-enabling studies, and IND submissions. Dr. Battula earned her PhD in Pharmacology from New York Medical College. She did her postdoctoral training at University of California, San Francisco where her research work focused on understanding the role of macrophages in mesothelioma chemoresistance.

Ms. Margretta (Gretta) Beaty is a Clinical Trial Manager at Ankyra Therapeutics where she is works with vendors and internal staff. She has nearly 10 years of experience working for both Clinical Trial Organizations and Biotechnology companies. She most recently worked at both Mersana Therapeutics and Replimune where she worked on Phase 2 and 3 global oncology trials. Gretta received her Master’s Degree from the Boston Conservatory and her Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Dianne Brennick serves as the Associate Director, Human Resources where she leads all aspects of Ankyra’s Human Resources function. With over 12 years of Human Resources experience, Ms. Brennick is known for creating and implementing programs to drive employee engagement in rapidly growing companies. She has expertise in benefits administration, employee recruitment, employee onboarding, budgeting, and HR operations. Prior to Ankyra, she was the Senior Manager, Human Resources at Frontera Therapeutics. Dianne received her Bachelor’s of Science from Northeastern University.

Dr. Joseph Elassal serves as the Chief Medical Officer, where he is responsible for the strategy, direction, and execution of the company’s clinical development plans. Prior to joining Ankyra, Dr. Elassal most recently was Sr. Director in Oncology Medical Affairs for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals where he served as the non-melanoma skin cancer lead for cemiplimab. In addition, he has had several other roles at Regeneron in both Clinical Development as well as Medical Affairs in therapeutic areas ranging from Cardiovascular to Rare Disease.

Before joining Regeneron, Dr. Elassal was a Senior Medical Director at Replimune Group working on the early clinical development of their platform of intratumoral oncolytic viral therapies. He also served as Deputy Vice President of Science and Regulatory Advocacy at PhRMA where he was responsible for implementation of the Biosimilars User Fee Act (BsUFA II) and regulatory policy governing cell and gene therapies . Dr. Elassal has been an attending physician at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, CT for over 15 years and received his MBA at Columbia Business School and MD at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He earned his BS in Biology from the College of William and Mary.

Mr. Gorgol brings over 40 years of experience in financial-focused roles across several industries, including nearly 25 years in life sciences and biotechnology. He joins Ankyra from Replimune, where he served as the chief accounting officer and was responsible for financial, accounting, tax and human resources functions, and played a key role in the company’s successful 2018 initial public offering. Before Replimune, he served as vice president, finance and administration at uniQure. Prior to that, he served as the chief financial officer for BioVex, and earlier, as chief financial officer of Vista Medical Technologies. Before entering the biotechnology industry, he held a number of controller-focused roles. Mr. Gorgol received his B.S. in accounting from Plymouth State College in New Hampshire.

Ms. Gail Iodice serves as Vice President of Clinical Development, where she works with the Clinical Team to provide clinical guidance, translational direction, and executes on strategies to evaluate new drugs and clinical trials. She brings with her extensive clinical trials experience with expertise in immune-oncology, medical oncology, and neurological surgery. She has worked in major medical academic centers in both clinical and research positions as well as Industry. Most recently working in clinical development at Replimune, a small biotech company that is developing oncolytic viruses for solid tumors. Gail is a Registered Nurse and received her Bachelor’s in Nursing (BSN) from Pace University. She also received her BA in Psychology from St. John’s University.

Dr. Kanika Jain is a Scientist at Ankyra where she is working to expand and advance the company’s pre-clinical pipeline of immunomodulatory agents. Prior to Ankyra, she was a Scientist at Moderna, working in discovery research as part of their Immuno-Oncology team. Dr. Jain earned her PhD in Cancer Biology from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. For her thesis, she investigated novel mechanisms to transform immunologically cold sarcomas into hot through activation of Natural Killer cells. Dr. Jain also earned a Master’s Degree in Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Vellore Institute of Technology, India.

Dr. Howard L. Kaufman has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer since March 2022. He joined the company in 2021 as the Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Kaufman is a leading authority on local tumor immunotherapy and oncolytic viruses. He led the successful phase III trial of Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), the first oncolytic virus to be approved for cancer treatment. He also led the pivotal clinical trial of avelumab, an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody, that was approved for treatment of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma. His industry experience includes roles as Chief Medical Officer at Compass Therapeutics and Replimune, Inc., and most recently he was Head of Research and Development at Immuneering Corporation. Dr. Kaufman received his MD from Loyola University, completed a residency in General Surgery at Boston University, and fellowship training in Tumor Immunology and Surgical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute.

He previously held appointments as Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Associate Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, Director of the Rush University Cancer Center, and Associate Director for Clinical Sciences at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Dr. Kaufman has maintained a funded laboratory in tumor immunology for 20+ years and has published over 500 peer-reviewed scientific papers, books, review articles and scientific abstracts. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Journal of Translational Medicine, and is a member of numerous professional societies, including his service as President of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer from 2014-2016. Dr. Kaufman was the recipient of several awards including the Daland Prize, MRF Humanitarian Award and UIC Distinguished Alumnus Award and he has been appointed to the Board of Directors of several professional, academic and industry organizations. He maintains an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School and is a Clinical Associate at Massachusetts General Hospital where he continues to see patients with cutaneous malignancies.

Ms. Cheryl Kent (she/her) serves as Senior Director, Clinical Operations, where she manages the overall strategy and execution of Ankyra’s clinical programs. With over 20 years of experience in global clinical trial operations, Cheryl brings extensive expertise in project oversight, operational efficiency, and clinical compliance. Her therapeutic area experience includes immuno-oncology and medical oncology across multiple indications. Prior to joining Ankyra, Cheryl was Director of Operational Process at Replimune. Cheryl has a Master of Arts in Applied Psychology from New York University and a BA in Psychology from Brandeis University.

Donna Kiely serves as the Vice President of Quality Assurance where she leads the overall strategy and execution of Ankyra’s GxP Quality and Compliance system activities. With over 25 years of experience, Donna is known for leadership in all aspects of clinical, preclinical, and commercial quality successfully leading FDA and international regulatory inspections. This includes establishing robust quality systems supporting drug candidates through the life cycle process of development, approval and product launch. Prior to Ankyra, she was the Executive Director, QA and Compliance at MannKind Corporation. Donna received her Bachelor’s of Science in microbiology and chemistry from Northern Arizona University.

Dayna Resi serves as the Senior Manager, Quality Assurance where she interfaces with internal stakeholders for CMC, Training, and Document Management including the review of standard operating procedures and other documentation to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and requirements. Dayna brings over 25 years of experience to the team, having worked with Quality Management Systems at several companies in both clinical and commercial stages. Prior to Ankyra, she held multiple roles within QA at MannKind Corporation. Dayna received her Master’s of Science in biology from Fordham University, and she earned her Bachelor’s of Science in biology at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

Ms. Nicole serves as the Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, where she works with internal stakeholders as well as external vendors to review project regulatory documentation and ensures compliance with applicable regulatory regulations and guidelines. She brings over 25 years of experience to the Ankyra team where she has worked with companies ranging from preclinical stage through commercialization. Lynn earned her Bachelor’s degree at University of California, Davis.

Robert Tighe has served as the Chief Scientific Officer since July 2023. Mr. Tighe has extensive experience in immuno-oncology (IO) drug discovery & development. He has broad scientific, technical and managerial expertise that spans early discovery (target validation, candidate screening) to IND-enablement (toxicology, DMPK, preclinical efficacy, mechanism-of-action) through early clinical development (IND preparation/authorship, regulatory affairs, clinical CRO selection, biomarker assays).

With over 27 years of research experience (17 years of them in IO), Mr. Tighe has a proven track record of success in moving novel immunotherapies into the clinic as a major contributor to 5 successful INDs including the NHS-IL12 immunocytokine, the approved anti-PD-L1 antibody Bavencio™, M7824 (anti-PD-L1-TGFb-Trap), CTX-471 (novel, differentiated CD137 agonist), and TC-510 (mesothelin-targeted autologous TRuC T cell therapy enhanced by a PD-1xCD28 chimeric switch receptor). Mr. Tighe completed his undergraduate training at Salem State College and has attended the Harvard University Extension School, the International Management Program at Merck, KGaA, and has a certificate in executive leadership from Cornell University.

Mr. Weed has more than 36 years of extensive experience in the design, construction, process development, manufacturing and establishment of operations for biopharmaceutical facilities including drug substance and drug product lines where no prior manufacturing capability was established. This includes uniQure’s multiproduct gene therapy facility utilizing 100% disposable process systems for drug substance and drug product. Lance also built BioVex’s oncolytic virus production facility which is currently the commercial production facility for Imlygic under Amgen’s ownership. Lance has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire.

Dr. Gregory Zarbis-Papastoitsis is the Chief Process and Manufacturing Officer at Ankyra, where he is responsible for all CMC and related regulatory activities. Prior to joining Ankyra, Dr. Papastoitsis was the EVP of Process and Manufacturing at Compass Therapeutics where he oversaw all CMC activities for a CD137 agonist, which is currently in Phase 1 clinical studies. Previously he was the SVP of development and manufacturing at Eleven Biotherapeutics. There, he worked on an IL-1 inhibitor, which reached pivotal clinical studies for Dry Eye Disease and Allergic Conjunctivitis, and an anti-IL6 antibody (successfully filed an IND), for treating Macular Edema. Prior to Eleven, he was the Senior Director of Purification and Analytical Development at PERCIVIA, LLC, developing platform processes with the PER.C0^® human cell line. Previously, he was Associate Director of Process and Analytical Development at Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for the early clinical development of a long-lasting Factor IX (ALPROLIX^®).

Before Syntonix, Dr. Zarbis-Papastoitsis worked on the commercial manufacturing process of HUMIRA® (Abbott/Abbvie), and on the purification process of ONTAK^®, an IL2-diphtheria toxin fusion protein (Seragen). Prior to that, at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, he was responsible for the early development of an antibody-toxin conjugate (anti-PSMA-DM1) that reached Phase I clinical trials for prostate cancer, and was a key contributor in the process development of an anti-CCR2 antibody that was in Phase II clinical trials for autoimmune diseases. He received his PhD in Biology at Binghamton University followed by 3 years of post-doctoral studies at Boston University School of Medicine investigating proteases in Alzheimer disease.