Developing the next generation
of oncology therapies for patients
Athena Countouriotis, M.D.
Chairperson
Athena Countouriotis, M.D., is co-founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of Avenzo Therapeutics. She most recently led Turning Point Therapeutics as President and Chief Executive Officer through its IPO in 2019 to its eventual acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb for $4.1 billion in August 2022. During the time period, she and her team raised more than $1.2 billion across multiple equity financings.
With over 20 years of industry experience, Dr. Countouriotis has served as an officer in both public and private companies, led multiple initial public offerings and acquisitions, and guided several development programs to approval in the U.S. and Europe. She previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Adverum Biotechnologies and Halozyme Therapeutics. Dr. Countouriotis also served as Chief Medical Officer of Ambit Biosciences, where she helped lead the company’s initial public offering and was responsible for the clinical development of quizartinib until the company’s acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo in November 2014. Earlier in her career, Dr. Countouriotis led various clinical development organizations within Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb for oncology therapeutics including Sutent®, Mylotarg®, Bosulif® and Sprycel®.
Dr. Countouriotis also serves on the board of directors of Iovance Biotherapeutics, Passage Bio, Recludix Pharma, Leal Therapeutics and Capstan Therapeutics. She earned a B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. She received her initial medical training in pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and additional training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Program.
Athena Countouriotis, M.D.
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Athena Countouriotis, M.D., is co-founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of Avenzo Therapeutics. She most recently led Turning Point Therapeutics as President and Chief Executive Officer through its IPO in 2019 to its eventual acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb for $4.1 billion in August 2022. During the time period, she and her team raised more than $1.2 billion across multiple equity financings.
With over 20 years of industry experience, Dr. Countouriotis has served as an officer in both public and private companies, led multiple initial public offerings and acquisitions, and guided several development programs to approval in the U.S. and Europe. She previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Adverum Biotechnologies and Halozyme Therapeutics. Dr. Countouriotis also served as Chief Medical Officer of Ambit Biosciences, where she helped lead the company’s initial public offering and was responsible for the clinical development of quizartinib until the company’s acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo in November 2014. Earlier in her career, Dr. Countouriotis led various clinical development organizations within Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb for oncology therapeutics including Sutent®, Mylotarg®, Bosulif® and Sprycel®.
Dr. Countouriotis also serves on the board of directors of Iovance Biotherapeutics, Passage Bio, Recludix Pharma, Leal Therapeutics and Capstan Therapeutics. She earned a B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine. She received her initial medical training in pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and additional training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Program.
Mohammad Hirmand, M.D.
Co-Founder, Chief Medical Officer
Mohammad Hirmand, M.D., serves as co-founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Avenzo Therapeutics, responsible for clinical development, clinical operations and regulatory affairs. Dr. Hirmand has more than 20 years of biotechnology clinical development experience, most recently as executive vice president and CMO for Turning Point Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in August 2022.
Prior to joining Turning Point, Dr. Hirmand was CMO of Peloton Therapeutics, which was acquired by Merck in July 2019. Prior to joining Peloton in 2017, Dr. Hirmand served as CMO of Medivation through its acquisition by Pfizer. He played a vital role in advancing XTANDI® (enzalutamide) through clinical trials that led to its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. His responsibilities also included the in-licensing and global clinical development of the poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, talazoparib. Before his 10-year tenure at Medivation, he held clinical development roles of increasing responsibility at Nuvelo, Inc. (now ARCA Biopharma), SuperGen, Inc. (now Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), Tularik, Inc. (now part of Amgen), and Theravance Biopharma, Inc.
Dr. Hirmand received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and his B.A. in Biological Sciences and Economics from Cornell University.
Paolo Tombesi
Chief Financial Officer
Paolo Tombesi serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Avenzo Therapeutics, leading the company’s finance and administrative activities. Mr. Tombesi has more than 30 years of global financial and accounting experience within biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Turning Point Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in August 2022.
Prior to joining Turning Point Therapeutics, Mr. Tombesi was the Chief Financial Officer of Epizyme, Inc., where he supported the commercial launch of Tazverik® (tazemetostat) for the treatment of relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma, and was responsible for capital funding, treasury, tax and accounting. Prior to Epizyme, he was Chief Financial Officer for Insmed, Inc., where he led financial operations and preparation for the commercial launch of Arikayce® (amikacin liposome inhalation suspension). From 2006 to 2014, he served in roles of increasing responsibility for Novartis, including Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Novartis Japan; and Chief Financial Officer of the European Oncology division. Earlier in his career, he served in financial roles for Bristol Myers Squibb in the U.S. and Europe, and Unilever and Johnson & Johnson in Italy.
Mr. Tombesi holds a B.Ed. in Business/Managerial Economics from Sapienza University of Rome, and has completed various executive education courses at Harvard Business School and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Brian Sun, M.S., J.D.
Chief Legal Officer
Brian Sun, M.S., J.D., serves as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Avenzo Therapeutics, leading the company’s legal functions. He has more than 15 years of experience representing public and private biotechnology companies in corporate, transactional and intellectual property matters. Mr. Sun most recently served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Turning Point Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in August 2022.
Prior to joining Turning Point Therapeutics, Mr. Sun served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Sorrento Therapeutics, a NASDAQ-listed biopharmaceutical company focused on developing cancer, non-opioid pain and COVID-19 therapies, where he was responsible for managing the company’s legal affairs. Prior to Sorrento Therapeutics, Mr. Sun worked at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, Prometheus Laboratories and Hologic, and served as outside general counsel to early-stage biotechnology companies. Mr. Sun also previously worked in private practice at Foley & Lardner, serving clients in the life sciences arena.
Mr. Sun holds a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law, an M.S. in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Scott Lipman, M.B.A.
Senior Vice President, Corporate Development
Scott Lipman, M.B.A., serves as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development of Avenzo Therapeutics, leading the company’s business development and strategy functions. Scott most recently served on the Executive Team as Chief of Staff at Turning Point Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in August 2022, and was an integral part of the business development and strategy, and investor relations teams during his tenure.
Prior to Turning Point Therapeutics, Mr. Lipman worked in Healthcare Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, where he advised management teams on a range of strategic financial matters, executed financings as well as M&A transactions. He also has worked as a management consultant at ZS Associates, advising biopharma clients on a range of strategic issues, including commercial planning, lifecycle planning, and business development and licensing.
Mr. Lipman received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Naresh Nayyar, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
Dr. Naresh Nayyar, Ph.D., M.B.A., serves as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs for Avenzo Therapeutics. He has more than 20 years of biotechnology development experience, most recently serving as the Senior Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance for Turning Point Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in August 2022. At Turning Point Therapeutics, he established the Regulatory and Quality functions to support the global development of the clinical stage pipeline, including repotrectinib.
Dr. Nayyar also has extensive industry experience at companies such as Pfizer, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Halozyme Therapeutics, and aTyr Pharma in leading and implementing strategic regulatory approaches (for nonclinical, clinical, and CMC), obtaining worldwide approvals for products such as Herceptin® SC, MabThera® SC, Rituxan Hycela® and HyQvia, as well as development strategies for numerous Phase 1-3 molecules, Phase 4 life-cycle management (Fusilev®, Zevalin® and Hylenex), and companion diagnostics.
Dr. Nayyar received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the Delhi University (India), M.B.A. from University of Phoenix (USA) and is RAC certified.
Melissa Fitzgerald, Ph.D.
Vice President, Search and Evaluation
Melissa Fitzgerald, Ph.D., serves as Vice President, Search and Evaluation of Avenzo Therapeutics, leading the company’s oncology scouting functions. She has more than 20 years of experience in corporate development in the San Diego Life Sciences eco-system. Dr. Fitzgerald most recently was a member of the Bristol Meyers Squibb Oncology Search and Evaluation Team, following its acquisition of Turning Point Therapeutics in August 2022.
At Turning Point Therapeutics, Dr. Fitzgerald served as VP External Innovation, identifying and evaluating assets and platforms for partnering or licensing. Prior to Turning Point Therapeutics, Dr. Fitzgerald served as Executive Director, Corporate Development at Halozyme, where she established the Oncology Search and Evaluation function. Prior to Halozyme, Dr. Fitzgerald was Head of Oncology Scouting-Tumor Cell Biology at Pfizer, for which she developed collaborations and led technical evaluations for multiple preclinical oncology assets and platform deals. As Head of Strategic Partnerships-San Diego, Pfizer Emerging Science and Innovation, she was an early champion for transformational platforms such as the Foundation One CDx and the BioNTech mRNA platform.
Before her 8-year tenure at Pfizer, she held corporate development roles of increasing responsibility at Amylin Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Bristol Meyers Squibb), UC San Diego Office of Innovation and Commercialization, and DermTech Inc., and was a Scientist at Dura Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Elan Pharmaceuticals).
Dr. Fitzgerald was an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. She received her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University, her D.E.A. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Strasbourg, and her B.S. in Chemistry from Loyola University in Maryland.
Carla Taub
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Carla Taub serves as Vice President, Corporate Communications for Avenzo Therapeutics, responsible for external/internal communications, community relations and administrative activities. She has more than 20 years of communications experience in not-for-profit and public organizations. Mrs. Taub recently served as Senior Director, Corporate Communications for Turning Point Therapeutics, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in August 2022.
Prior to Turning Point Therapeutics, Mrs. Taub was Director of Corporate Communications at Halozyme, where she was responsible for corporate communications, community relations and culture initiatives. Prior to Turning Point Therapeutics, she led internal communications for Hologic, Inc. and Gen-Probe Incorporated, which was acquired by Hologic in 2012.
Mrs. Taub has a B.A. in English from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tenn.