Our Team
Leadership Team
-
DR THOMAS DUTHY
Non-Executive Chair
Dr Duthy has over 18 years of direct financial markets experience and is the Founder and CEO of Nemean Group Pty Ltd, a boutique corporate advisory and investor relations firm specialising in the life sciences and technology sectors.
-
DR MICHAEL BAKER
CEO & Managing Director
Passionate about creating life changing medications for the betterment of humankind, Dr Baker’s careers spans academic research, drug development and venture investing. His primary focus is to get medications into the hands of patients that need them.
-
DR ELIZABETH STONER
Non-Executive Director
Dr Stoner is a distinguished biopharma executive, who brings decades of international industry experience to her role, including senior roles in Clinical Development Operations at Merck Research Laboratories. Liz is an Executive Partner at MPM Capital.
-
DR DEBORA BARTON
Non-Executive Director
Dedicating her career to the treatment of cancer, Dr Barton began her career as a clinical oncologist before moving into drug development in large pharmaceutical companies and more recently into biotechnology companies at the forefront of cancer treatment.
-
GARY PHILLIPS
Non-Executive Director
Mr Phillips has more than 30 years of operational management experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry in Europe, Asia and Australia. He is currently the CEO and Managing Director of the ASX-listed company, Pharmaxis.
Management Team
-
DR MICHAEL BAKER
CEO & Managing Director
Passionate about creating life changing medications for the betterment of humankind, Dr Baker’s careers spans academic research, drug development and venture investing. His primary focus is to get medications into the hands of patients that need them.
-
DR NICOLE VAN DER WEERDEN
Chief Operating Officer
Dr van der Weerden is an experienced biopharmaceutical executive with more than 15 years of experience in the sector. Dr van der Weerden has a track record of driving business objectives in pre-clinical discovery, proof-of-concept, manufacturing, and clinical development.
-
TIM LUSCOMBE
Chief Financial Officer
Tim is a Director of Bio101 who provide outsourced CFO, company secretarial and corporate advisory services to the healthcare sector. A Qualified Chartered Accountant, Tim has extensive experience in providing financial advice, company secretarial and CFO services to Healthcare businesses.
-
DR ROBSON DOSSA
VP Manufacturing & Quality
Dr Robson Dossa is dedicated to helping patients that otherwise would not have other options. During his career, he has led the development and implementation of multiple cell therapies currently being translated into clinical trials to treat hematological and solid tumors.
-
DR DEBORAH COOPER
Development Manager
Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 25 years, Dr Cooper brings a wealth of drug development experience to Arovella Therapeutics. Dr Cooper’s experience covers many areas of drug development and including senior and executive level positions.
-
DR SIMON POON
Director Project Management
Dr Poon has over 20 years’ experience working in research and development in the biotechnology industry where he has led in-house scientific teams and provided operational management of contract manufacturing/research organisations.
-
DR MICHELLE FERGUSON
Director Research & Development
Dr Ferguson is committed to the development of transformative allogeneic immunotherapies that will impact the lives and care of cancer patients. With academic and industry experience, she has led collaborative teams engaged in discovery research, preclinical development and process development for cell therapies entering clinical evaluation.
-
DR KELVIN YIP
Associate Director Research & Development
Dr Yip has led multiple early-phase discovery projects, uncovering the molecular mechanisms of cancer development and therapeutic resistance. His passion for cell and gene therapy informs his leadership of Arovella's R&D activities, driving progress in pre-clinical studies.
-
MICHELLE LONG
Administration Manager
With over 20 years’ experience in Administration and Coordination roles in a variety of industries, Michelle brings a wealth and breadth of knowledge and experience to Arovella Therapeutics. Michelle assists the Arovella team with a variety of projects and ensures the smooth running of the office.
iNKT Scientific Advisory Board
-
PROFESSOR ANASTASIOS KARADIMITRIS
Professor Karadimitris is the inventor and investigator that has driven the research for the iNKT cell therapy platform. He has spent decades researching immune cells and their impact in cancer. Prior to his current position at Imperial, he performed research training with Professor Lucio Luzzatto at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, USA; Professor Irene Roberts at Hammersmith Hospital, London; Professor Vincenzo Cerundolo at the Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicine, Oxford. Professor Karadimitris is currently the Chair and Director of the Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research and the co-Director of the Centre for Haematology, Imperial College London.
-
DR JOHN MAHER
Dr John Maher is a clinically active consultant immunologist at Eastbourne Hospital and King’s Health Partners. While a visiting fellow in the laboratory of Michel Sadelain, he was the first to engineer and test second generation CAR technology in human T cells, building on the pioneering work of Helene Finney in the Jurkat model system. He established CAR T cell research at King’s College London in 2004 where he leads the "CAR Mechanics" group, which is focused on the development of adoptive immunotherapy using CAR engineered and gamma delta T cells. He is chief investigator of a Phase 1 clinical trial in which a pan-ErbB targeted CAR that he developed is being evaluated in patients with refractory locally advanced/ recurrent head and neck cancer. John is currently the Chief Scientific Officer of Leucid bio.
-
DR REUBEN BENJAMIN
Dr Reuben Benjamin is a Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer with an interest in multiple myeloma, stem cell transplantation and cell therapy. He completed his haematology training at University College Hospital, London and then worked as a postdoctorate research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY undertaking translational research in CAR-T cell therapy for leukaemia and myeloma. At King's College Hospital, London he leads the plasma cell disorder service and CAR-T cell programme. He is Chief Investigator of the CALM Trial, the first allogeneic off-the-shelf CAR-T cell study for relapsed adult B-ALL and is also actively involved in offering CAR-T cell therapy for myeloma and lymphoma. He has an active research group at King’s College London focusing on allogeneic CAR-T cells.
-
PROFESSOR GIANPIETRO DOTTI
Professor Dotti has spent more than twenty years using his medical and scientific training to create engineered immune cells for cancer treatment. His research has led to more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, and he has consistently received the Highly Cited Researchers (Top 1%) award from Web of Science, Clarivate Analytics in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Professor Dotti received his medical degree from the University of Milan, Italy and completed his clinical training and Board certification in haematology from the University of Parma. He completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Professor Dotti is currently a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Director of the Cellular Immunotherapy Program at Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina.
Clinical Advisory Board
-
DR SALVATORE FIORENZA
Dr Salvatore (Sam) Fiorenza (MBBS, PhD, BSc (Hons), MPH, FRACP, FRCPA) is a consultant haematologist, deputy director and medical lead of cell therapy at Epworth Healthcare in Melbourne and a senior postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Sydney with Prof Cameron Turtle. Dr Fiorenza holds a PhD in cellular immunotherapy and a Master of Public Health and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship funded by The Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand in CAR-T at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, USA. Dr Fiorenza is recognised for his expertise in the development and application of CAR-T cell therapies and his clinical and research efforts are focused on advancing treatments for patients with hematologic malignancies, particularly those with lymphomas and other blood cancers.
-
PROFESSOR SATTVA NEELAPU
Dr Sattva Neelapu, MD, is a Professor and Deputy Chair in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA. He is internationally recognised for his pioneering contributions to the development of immunotherapies for blood cancers, particularly in CAR-T therapies. Dr Neelapu has been instrumental in leading numerous clinical trials, notably those that paved the way for the FDA approval of CAR-T cell therapies, such as axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta). Dr Neelapu has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, and The Lancet Oncology. His achievements have earned him multiple awards and recognition within the oncology community, and he was recently elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
-
DR DEBORA BARTON
Dr Debora Barton, MD, is a highly regarded oncologist with a significant focus on cell therapies. Throughout her career, Dr Barton has been Chief Medical Officer of several biotechnology companies developing novel cell therapies and has extensive experience designing and running clinical trials from first-in-human phase 1 through to phase 3. She has worked to optimise patient outcomes and minimise adverse effects, ensuring that this cutting-edge treatment can be safely integrated into broader cancer care. Dr Barton’s involvement in immunotherapy and haematologic oncology is highly recognised within the oncology community. Her work continues to impact the evolving landscape of cancer treatments, particularly through her focus on innovative cellular therapies like Arovella’s CAR-iNKT cell platform. Dr Barton is also a Non-executive Director at Arovella.
