Expert teams dedicated to saving lives

Joerg Ahlgrimm is the Chief Executive Officer of SK Pharmteco & Board Member at The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. He is an Operations and Supply Chain Management Executive who has served in multi-billion dollar companies operating in biotech, vaccines, pharmaceutical and medical device markets. He is the former Head of Global Operations Pharma and Biotech at Lonza AG where he was responsible for 37 sites on four continents. Prior to Lonza, he headed the Manufacturing network of Baxter Bioscience/Baxalta with 17 plants, a significant CMO network and the largest plasma collection division of the company. His prior roles also included responsibility for Supply Chain for Baxter Bioscience. Joerg has a passion for saving lives which is his main motivator to work in healthcare. He enjoys leading teams to achieve unprecedented performance levels and to create a work environment where people bring their best. In 2014 he was awarded “Emerging Pharma Leader.”

Audrey Greenberg is the Co-founder, Chief Business Officer and Board Member of The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. Audrey’s area of expertise is in capital structure, business formation, acquisitions, strategic planning and tactical execution. Audrey’s deep industry experience includes biotechnology, real estate, pharma services, and financial services. Prior to starting The Center for Breakthrough Medicines, Audrey spent several years in investment banking, public accounting and private equity having worked at some of the largest asset managers in the world with AUM exceeding $100 billion. Audrey is passionate about supporting her community and serves on several non-profit boards including the King of Prussia Business District and is currently an Emissary for Select Greater Philadelphia, a division of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce responsible for attracting business to Greater Philadelphia. Audrey was recently selected by Philadelphia Magazine as one of the top trailblazers in Biotech and was featured on the cover of Main Line Today’s Power Women edition. Audrey has an MBA from The Wharton School and is a registered CPA in Illinois.

Matthew Farabaugh is the Chief Financial Officer of The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. Matt has over 19 years of finance and business experience in clinical and basic research of immunology, oncology, cell and gene therapy, and infectious diseases. He was previously Finance Manager at WuXi Advanced Therapies where he was responsible for revenue and contract management of $100MM in US revenue for research, manufacturing, and testing portfolio related to cell and gene therapy products. Prior to this Matthew served as a member of the UPENN-Novartis Global Program Team under Dr. Carl June and was responsible for a $50MM annual clinical development plan focused on FDA approval of cutting-edge CAR T cell therapy Kymriah in pediatric patients with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He has a BS in Microbiology from Duquesne University, an MS in Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania and finance training from the Wharton School of Business.

Avi Nandi is the Head of Process Development at The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. He has 15+ years of industry experience in Gene Therapy, Viral Vectors, and Vaccines with a MS in Biology and MBA (Oct ‘21) and has contributed to the regulatory approval of ZOLGENSMA in US and 10+ Rest of World markets. Avi supported a pipeline of 15+ gene therapy products in development from preclinical to Phase III development and led development and implementation of 4 gene therapy manufacturing processes across 4 GMP and 3 laboratory sites. He also has 10+ years experience in vaccine and viral vector development including, AAV, adenovirus, herpesvirus, alphavirus, lentivirus, and RNA, past experiences include: AveXis / Novartis Gene Therapies – Global Head of Technical Development Seqirus / CSL – Head of Virology and Cell Culture, Process and Product Development Lead Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics – Technical Development Scientist, R&D Microbial and Molecular Scientist Harvard Medical School – Viral Pathogenesis Scientist

Dana Cipriano is Vice President of Testing and Analytical Services The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. Dana has over a 20-year career in biotechnology and cell and gene therapy with leadership roles in Laboratory Operations and Project Management, with focus on designing processes and testing programs to drive sustainable growth and profitability. She was most recently Senior Director of Testing Operations and Strategic Projects for WuXi Advanced Therapies where she directed testing operations for cell and gene therapy and biologics testing, including characterization, release, safety and viral clearance testing for clinical and commercial products. She also helped create the overall testing business strategy, drove tactical implementation plans and monitored key milestones to drive delivery of strategic objectives. Dana developed a fully-integrated program for development of a new corporate strategy centered on driving scalability in cell and gene therapy testing services, including design and construction of a new cGMP testing facility. Dana has a Masters in Microbiology from Thomas Jefferson University, a Bachelor’s in Biology from Rutgers University, an Executive Education Certification from The Wharton School, and a PMP (Project Management Professional) certification.

Dr. Lee is an accomplished CAR-T immunobiologist with over 20 years of cancer cell biology expertise spanning small and large molecules, as well as cell-based therapeutics. He possesses more than 15 years of clinical research and cell therapy experience including positions at The Wistar Institute, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Lee previously built the Cell Therapy Platform team at Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The group led and supported end-to-end therapy discovery and development across nearly a dozen CAR-T programs, including the recently approved cilta-cel (Carvykti). During his subsequent tenure as Vice President, Head of Oncology Cell Therapy at GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Lee’s team operated within a heavily matrixed organization to support an array of activities establishing multiple preclinical assets and several clinical-stage lete-cel programs targeting the NY-ESO cancer-testis antigen. Dr. Lee holds a Ph.D from the Brody School of Medicine, an MBA from Penn State University, and a Bachelors of Science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Mike McCormick is the Vice President of Quality and Compliance at The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. He has over 20 years experience specializing in Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Operations and Regulatory Affairs, within the biotechnology, cell and gene therapy, and pharmaceutical industries with a proven track record of success in maximizing performance, scaling quality commercial operations and streamlining quality systems, while maintaining the highest levels of compliance with global regulations over multi-site operations. Prior to joining, Mike spent seven years as the V.P of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs at WuXi Advanced Therapies and held similar leadership roles supporting the commercial manufacturing of API's. While leading the Quality and Regulatory Programs for Cell and Gene Therapy, Viral Vector, and Commercial Lot Release for Biological Products, Mike successfully represented Site Operations and Quality programs during inspections from global regulatory agencies resulting in successful outcomes: GMP Certificates (EMA and TGA,(3)), Marketing Authorization Approval (MAA) in Japan (PMDA), Korean FDA Inspections (KFDA, (2)) and successful outcomes of multiple FDA inspections (3). The GMP programs inspected supported the following manufacturing products: Viral Vector Products (11), Gene Mediated Cell Therapy Products (8), and Cell Therapy Products (12). Mike has his MBA with an emphasis in Biotechnology and Health Industry from Penn State University and attended the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia where his field of study was Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Eileen Brett is the Vice President of Program Leadership at The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. Eileen has a 25+ year career in biotechnology including cell and gene therapy with Process Engineering and Program Leadership roles in Capital Projects, Supply Chain and R&D, with a focus on leading large cross-functional teams and building successful team leaders and portfolio processes to increase speed without compromising quality. Most recently she was the Head of CMC Leadership Biotherapeutics for Janssen R&D. Eileen built a high-performing team and delivered on a portfolio that grew 400% in 4 years spanning Pre-Clinical to Launch across Mabs, multi-specifics, conjugated Mabs, protein vaccines and cell and AAV gene therapies, and also chaired CMC Governance Council deciding and aligning on specific strategies pertaining to cell and gene therapy FIH, Phase III FPI, comparability and BLA resulting in specific CAR-T FIH’s, BLA’s and AAV FPI’s. Eileen also served as a Process Engineer then Project Manager, leading the facility and process design, build and start up of new biologics facilities, both pilot plants and commercial facilities. She earned an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University.

Amiel Gross, Esq. is General Counsel at Center for Breakthrough Medicines. Mr. Gross brings over 20 years of combined legal experience to CBM. He previously served as in-house corporate counsel for US subsidiaries of a large global company, and outside counsel at the law firms Dentons US LLP and Orrick LLP in New York. Mr. Gross earned his JD degree from the University of Texas School of Law where he attended on an NCAA academic scholarship. As an undergraduate at Southwestern University, Mr. Gross was an NCAA All-American collegiate baseball player, graduating with high honors and Phi Beta Kappa.

James M. Wilson, MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he has led an effort to develop the field of gene therapy. His research career spanning over 40 years has focused on rare diseases and ways to treat them by gene therapy. Dr. Wilson has published over 600 papers and is named on over 200 patents worldwide. The Wilson lab identified a new type of vector based on novel isolates of adeno-associated viruses which have become best in class for gene therapy. More recently Dr. Wilson’s laboratory has focused on improved vectors for gene therapy and clinical applications of genome editing and mRNA

Dr. Marco Chacón is the Non-executive Chairman of the Board for The Center for Breakthrough Medicines and the Founder and former Chairman of Paragon Bioservices, Inc., a CDMO that specialized in process development and GMP manufacturing of viral vectors for gene therapy. In April of 2019 Paragon Bioservices, Inc. entered into a definitive agreement of sale for $1.2 billion with Catalent. Chacón is the Founder and President of IRAZÚ Bio-Holdings LLC., a company dedicated to developing indications that promote survival, prevent disease and improve quality of life for the elderly. The company is also developing technology in the fields of immuno-oncology and gene therapy. Formerly, Chacón served as Assistant Vice President of Industry Alliances at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree from Youngstown State University and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Maryland. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Maryland Foundation and was appointed in 2016 to the Life Sciences Advisory Board by Governor Lawrence J. Hogan, Jr. Additionally, Dr. Chacón is the founding chair of The Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland Graduate School.

Tony Khoury is an advisor for The Center for Breakthrough Medicines. He is an experienced industry leader in life sciences, specifically, biologics and advanced therapies. As Executive Vice President a at Project Farma, Tony has spearheaded the firm’s growth in the biologics and most recently next generation medicines. Tony has extensive experience with small and large molecules including biologics, biosimilars, and cell and gene therapies. He has worked with small and large life science organizations including startups, academic centers, financial institutions and CMOs/CROs. He has led global programs greater than $350+ million in the following disciplines: project management, turnkey facility builds, automation, validation, engineering and serialization track and trace. Recently, Tony has pioneered the industrialization of advanced therapies including two FDA-approved cell and gene therapies. Tony has led the creation of Project Farma’s Advanced Therapy Manufacturing Playbook which has helped develop the largest cell and gene therapy manufacturing footprint in the world.