Executive Team
James Breitmeyer, MD, PhD
President and CEO
Dr. Breitmeyer has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. since September 2015. Dr. Breitmeyer is a veteran biotech executive with experience successfully starting and growing biotechnology organizations. He has been responsible for both the development and implementation of both operational and drug development strategies, as well as supervising and managing both large organizations and emerging biotechnology companies. Dr. Breitmeyer served as President of Bavarian Nordic, Inc. and Executive Vice President of Bavarian Nordic A/S, a multinational corporation headquartered in Denmark, from February 2013 to July 2015 where he oversaw business operations and development strategy both for Bavarian Nordic, Inc. and Bavarian Nordic A/S. He served as a director of Zogenix, Inc., then a public pharmaceutical company, from March 2014 until it was acquired by UCB S.A. in March 2022 and was the acting Chief Medical Officer of Zogenix from August 2012 to February 2013 where he was responsible for clinical development and regulatory strategy. He previously served as the Executive Vice President of Development and Chief Medical Officer of Cadence Pharmaceuticals Inc., a public pharmaceutical company, from August 2006 to August 2012, and the Chief Medical Officer of Applied Molecular Evolution Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Co., a global pharmaceutical company, from December 2001 to August 2006. Dr. Breitmeyer was also the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Harvard Clinical Research Institute, and Chief Medical Officer and Head of Research & Development for North America at Serono Laboratories Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Breitmeyer served as a founding collaborator and scientific advisor to Immunogen Inc., a biotechnology company, and held clinical and teaching positions at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Breitmeyer earned his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Washington University School of Medicine and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Oncology. He holds an active California medical license.
Richard Vincent
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Vincent has served as Oncternal’s Chief Financial Officer since April 2017. Mr. Vincent served as an independent Chief Financial Officer to multiple pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, including Avalyn Pharma (co-founder), Meritage Pharma, and Elevation Pharmaceuticals from 2012 through 2017. Mr. Vincent was the Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Sorrento Therapeutics from January 2011 through February 2015. Mr. Vincent served as Chief Financial Officer for Verus Pharmaceuticals from 2004 to 2008, and Women First Healthcare from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Vincent’s areas of responsibility have spanned all areas of finance, treasury, investor and public relations, human resources, information technology, facilities and project management. From 1987 to 1995, Mr. Vincent held a number of positions with Deloitte & Touche LLP, the last of which was senior manager, where he specialized in emerging growth and publicly-reporting companies. Mr. Vincent became a Certified Public Accountant in California in 1989 and holds a B.S. degree in business with an emphasis in accounting from San Diego State University.
Salim Yazji, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Yazji brings to Oncternal over 20 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, including successful registrations. Most recently, he was the co-founder and CEO of Ajuta Therapeutics, Inc. and the founder of Elpida Therapeutics. Dr. Yazji held multiple seats as a board member and scientific advisory board member at several biotech companies. Past leadership roles include Chief Medical Officer at PMV Pharma, Inc. and Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Calimmune, Inc., Vice president and Global Therapeutics Head at Baxalta, Inc., and Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head of Oncology at Baxter. Dr. Yazji has also held multiple leadership positions at Novartis Pharmaceutical, Exelixis, Inc., PDL BioPharma, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Yazji obtained his medical degree from the Pavlov School of Medicine, University of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia, and completed his postgraduate training at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Park Plaza Hospital, Houston and Almozov Hospital, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Rajesh Krishnan, PhD
Chief Technical Officer/Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Krishnan is currently the Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Technical Officer of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. He previously served as our Senior Vice President, Manufacturing from 2019-2021. Dr. Krishnan has more than 24 years of experience across process development, CMC, technology transfer, and manufacturing sciences for U.S. and international manufacturing sites, involving both internal and partnered programs. From 2017 until 2019, he served as Vice President, Process Development and Manufacturing Sciences at Dynavax Technologies Corporation, where he led manufacturing, drug process development, process validation, analytical sciences, and technology transfer efforts for commercial and clinical development programs. From 2012 through 2017, Dr. Krishnan served in several positions at Gilead Sciences, Inc., leading the Biologics Drug Substance Process Development, which comprised of cell line development, upstream and downstream process development for multiple clinical biologics programs. From 2000 to 2012, he served in positions of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co., Inc., Amgen Inc., and Pfizer, with a consistent leadership role across process development, technology transfer and CMC for clinical and commercial biologics programs. Dr. Krishnan holds a B.S.E. degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University, a M.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. degree in Biochemical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Chase Leavitt
General Counsel
Chase Leavitt joined as our General Counsel in April 2021 and previously served as General Counsel of Lineage Cell Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, from May 2019 to April 2021. From June 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Leavitt served as Vice President of Legal Affairs of Tang Capital Management, LLC, a life sciences-focused investment company, and its affiliate Odonate Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company. From May 2017 to May 2018, Mr. Leavitt served as the Deputy General Counsel of Switch, Inc., a publicly traded technology company, and previously served as its Associate General Counsel from July 2014 to May 2017. From 2007 to 2014, Mr. Leavitt was a corporate attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP, where his practice focused on public company representation, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets, serving life sciences and technology companies. Mr. Leavitt received a B.S. degree in business administration and a J.D. from the University of Southern California and is admitted to practice law by the State Bar of California.
Anita Wiseth
SVP Human Resources
Ms. Wiseth joined as our Senior Vice President of HR in March 2021, bringing over 20 years of experience in increasing roles of responsibility in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to Oncternal she led an Executive HR Consulting firm, providing services to private and public life science companies from 2015-2021. Past leadership roles include Vice President, HR at Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded life sciences company from 2006-2015, where she drove all aspects of HR and organization capability while helping grow the company from 30 to over 200 employees; Senior Director, Human Resources at X-Ceptor Therapeutics, Inc. a privately held biotech company from 1999 until the company was aquired; and Director, HR at Sequana Therapeutics, Inc., from 1994 until the company was aquired in 1998, driving organization capability and change management during extensive growth and IPO, helping grow the company from 2 to over 200 employees. Ms. Wiseth earned a Baccalaureate in International Business and foreign languages in Norway.
Pablo Urbaneja
SVP Corporate Development
Pablo Urbaneja joined as our SVP, Corporate Development in July 2021. He previously served as Vice President, Corporate Development at Coherus Biosciences, where he helped transform its biosimilars and immuno-oncology late-stage pipeline. Previously, Mr. Urbaneja was in the pharmaceuticals and medical products practice of McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients on business strategy, operational performance, commercialization, and mergers and acquisitions, on a global scale.
Angela Pietrofeso
VP Clinical Development Operations
Ms. Pietrofeso joined Oncternal in September 2021 as Senior Director Clinical Operations and was promoted to VP Clinical Development Operations in September 2022. Ms. Pietrofeso has over 20 years of extensive global expertise in biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. She has a broad range of therapeutic experience in oncology, ulcerative colitis, cardiovascular medical devices, acute pain, and infectious diseases. Before joining Oncternal, Ms. Pietrofeso held positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer, Valeant, Metabasis, Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Lithera, W.L Gore & Associates, and Gossamer Bio. Her career highlights include contributions to the successful NDA for Sutent® at Pfizer; the NDA submission for Ofirmev® at Cadence Pharmaceuticals; and the PMA approval of GORE® VIABAHN® VBX Balloon Expandable Endoprosthesis (VBX Stent Graft) at W.L Gore & Associates. Prior to joining industry Ms. Pietrofeso worked as a Research Nurse Manager at the Royal Free Hospital (London UK) and as a Registered Nurse in South Africa and UK. Ms. Pietrofeso holds a Bachelor of Social Science ( Nursing) from University of Natal ( Durban South Africa).
Brad Webre
VP Finance
Mr. Webre has served as Oncternal’s Vice President, Finance since February 2021. From 2016 to 2021, Mr. Webre served as Chief Financial Officer for Suneva Medical. From 2013 to 2016, Mr. Webre served as Chief Financial Officer for NEHP and Diversified Fluid Solutions. From 2002 to 2013, Mr. Webre served in various financial roles at manufacturing, risk consulting, and consumer product companies. Mr. Webre’s areas of responsibility have spanned all areas of finance, treasury, investor relations, human resources, information technology, and project management. Mr. Webre started his career at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where he specialized in device manufacturing and publicly-traded companies. Mr. Webre is a Certified Public Accountant in California and holds a B.S. degree in business with an emphasis in accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Yisrael Katz, MD
VP Clinical Development
Dr. Katz joined Oncternal Therapeutics in July 2023 as VP of Clinical Development and serves as medical lead on the ONCT-534 and ONCT-808 programs as well as head of pharmacovigilance. Prior to joining Oncternal, Dr. Katz was Senior Medical Director of Clinical Development at Viracta Therapeutics, a San Diego based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel targeted therapies for virally-associated malignancies; in this capacity he led the company’s solid tumor portfolio and global safety efforts. He had also led and supported several late-phase programs across multiple solid tumor indications as Medical Director at Exelixis. Prior to this, as Medical Director at Calviri, Dr. Katz oversaw the company’s transition of a robust preclinical theranostics portfolio into initial cancer vaccine clinical trials. He continues to practice inpatient medicine as an attending physician at the University of California San Diego Medical Center, and is a renowned clinical educator having delivered hundreds of invited lectures across dozens of US medical programs. Dr. Katz was recently featured on the “Top 25 Healthcare Technology Leaders of San Diego” report in 2022. Dr. Katz received his B.S. in Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis, M.D. from the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, and completed his internal medicine residency at Georgetown University Hospital.
Board of Directors
David F. Hale
Chairman
David F. Hale has served on our board of directors since the completion of the Merger in June 2019. He was a co-founder and served as a member of the board of directors of Private Oncternal since 2013, and Chairman of the Board of Private Oncternal from December 2018 until the Merger. Since May 2006, Mr. Hale has served as Chairman & CEO of Hale Biopharma Ventures, LLC. He is a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in the formation and development of numerous life sciences companies. He was previously President and CEO of CancerVax Corporation, a cancer therapeutic company from October 2000 through May 2006 when CancerVax merged with Micromet, Inc. He became Chairman of Micromet, Inc. until the sale of the company to Amgen Inc. in 2012. After joining Hybritech, Inc., in 1982, he was President & Chief Operating Officer and became CEO in 1986, when Hybritech was acquired by Eli Lilly and Co. From 1987 to 1997 he was Chairman, President and CEO of Gensia, Inc. He was a co-founder and Chairman of Viagene, Inc. from 1987 to 1995. He was President and CEO of Women First HealthCare, Inc. from January 1998 to June 2000. Prior to joining Hybritech in 1982, Mr. Hale was Vice President and General Manager of BBL Microbiology Systems, a division of Becton, Dickinson & Co. and from 1971 to 1980, held various marketing and sales management positions with Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a division of Johnson & Johnson, Inc. Mr. Hale previously served as Chairman of a number of companies, including Santarus, Inc., Somaxon, Inc., SkinMedica, Inc., CRISIMed, Inc., Agility Clinical, Inc., Zerigo Health, Inc., Neurana, Inc., and Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. He is a Co-founder and currently serves as a Director of Neurelis, Inc and Dermata, Inc. Mr. Hale also is a co-founder and serves on the Board of Directors of BIOCOM and Connect, is a former member of the board of The Biotechnology Industry Organization or BIO, and the San Diego Economic Development Corporation. Mr. Hale also serves as a board trustee of Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego, and Chairman of the board of Rady Children’s Institute of Genomics Medicine and serves as a member of the board of the University of San Diego. Mr. Hale holds a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Jacksonville State University.
James Breitmeyer, MD, PhD
Director
Dr. Breitmeyer has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. since September 2015. Dr. Breitmeyer is a veteran biotech executive with experience successfully starting and growing biotechnology organizations. He has been responsible for both the development and implementation of both operational and drug development strategies, as well as supervising and managing both large organizations and emerging biotechnology companies. Dr. Breitmeyer served as President of Bavarian Nordic, Inc. and Executive Vice President of Bavarian Nordic A/S, a multinational corporation headquartered in Denmark, from February 2013 to July 2015 where he oversaw business operations and development strategy both for Bavarian Nordic, Inc. and Bavarian Nordic A/S. He served as a director of Zogenix, Inc., then a public pharmaceutical company, from March 2014 until it was acquired by UCB S.A. in March 2022 and was the acting Chief Medical Officer of Zogenix from August 2012 to February 2013 where he was responsible for clinical development and regulatory strategy. He previously served as the Executive Vice President of Development and Chief Medical Officer of Cadence Pharmaceuticals Inc., a public pharmaceutical company, from August 2006 to August 2012, and the Chief Medical Officer of Applied Molecular Evolution Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Co., a global pharmaceutical company, from December 2001 to August 2006. Dr. Breitmeyer was also the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Harvard Clinical Research Institute, and Chief Medical Officer and Head of Research & Development for North America at Serono Laboratories Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Breitmeyer served as a founding collaborator and scientific advisor to Immunogen Inc., a biotechnology company, and held clinical and teaching positions at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Breitmeyer earned his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz and his M.D. and Ph.D. from Washington University School of Medicine and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Oncology. He holds an active California medical license.
Michael G. Carter, MD, ChB, FRCP
Director
Dr. Carter has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2019. Dr. Carter was a non-executive director of Santarus, Inc. from 2004 to 2013, served as a non-executive director of Micromet AG from 2001 to 2005 and of MICROMET, Inc. from 2006 to March 2012, and served as a non-executive director of Fulcrum Pharma, PLC from 2005 to 2010. Dr. Carter was a member of the Advisory Board of Paul Capital Royalty Fund from 2005 to 2008, and was a venture partner with SV Life Sciences Advisors, LLP from 1998 to 2016. He has served as a member of the strategic advisory board of Healthcare Royalty Partners (HCRP) since September 2009 and a member of the HCRP Investment Committee since 2015. Dr. Carter was the non-executive chairman of Metris Therapeutics, Ltd., a biotechnology firm specializing in women’s healthcare from 1999 to 2008. He was also a non-executive director of ONCOETHIX from June 2013 until its sale to Merck & Co., in December 2014. Dr. Carter served on the Pharmaceutical Board of I.C.I. Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, a predecessor company of AstraZeneca, and held various positions with I.C.I. Zeneca from 1984 to 1998, including International Medical Director and International Marketing Director. From 1985 to 1995, Dr. Carter served as a member of the U.K. Government’s Medicines Commission. Dr. Carter is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, and of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Dr. Carter holds a degree in pharmacy from London University (U.K.) and a medical degree from Sheffield University Medical School (U.K.).
Jill DeSimone
Director
Ms. DeSimone was most recently President of U.S. Oncology at Merck & Co., Inc., where she built the company’s oncology division, growing it to over a $9 billion business in just eight years. She led three key product launches and more than 45 indication launches, including Keytruda®. Prior to joining Merck, she served as senior vice president of Global Women’s Health at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd from 2012 to 2014. Prior to her time at Teva, Ms. DeSimone served in several roles of increasing responsibility at Bristol Myers Squibb from 1980 to 2012, including senior vice president of U.S. Oncology & Commercial from 2010 to 2012 and senior vice president of U.S. Virology/HIV from 2006 to 2010. Ms. DeSimone currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc. and Affini-T Therapeutics Inc. She also serves as a board member for the Florida Cancer Specialists Foundation, a nonprofit organization that delivers non-medical aid for individuals undergoing cancer treatment. Ms. DeSimone received a B.S. in pharmacy from Northeastern University and completed a fellowship with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Bill LaRue
Director
William R. LaRue has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2017. Mr. LaRue currently serves as an independent board member for multiple public and private companies in the life science industry. He served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, starting in June 2006, and expanded his role to serve as Assistant Secretary at Cadence in April 2007, serving in both capacities until the company’s acquisition by Mallinckrodt plc in March 2014. At Cadence, Mr. LaRue was a member of the Executive Committee with direct responsibility for the company’s financial leadership including corporate financing, investor relations, financial planning and reporting, SEC reporting, accounting, treasury, risk management, tax and information technology. During his tenure, Cadence raised over $375 million in public and private equity and senior debt, including an IPO in October 2006 as the company transitioned from a development stage to a commercial stage company. Prior to joining Cadence, Mr. LaRue served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CancerVax Corporation, a biotechnology company, from 2001 until its merger with Micromet, Inc. in May 2006. Mr. LaRue currently serves as a member of the board of directors and chair of the Audit Committee of Tracon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Conatus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alastin Skincare, Inc. He previously served on the boards of directors of Applied Proteomics, Inc., Neurelis, Inc. and Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. LaRue received a B.S. in business administration and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.
Xin Nakanishi, PhD
Director
Xin Nakanishi, Ph.D. has served as a member of Oncternal’s board of directors since November 2018. She has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Shanghai Pharma Biotherapeutics USA Inc since July 2018. Dr. Nakanishi previously served as a venture partner at Yuansheng bioVENTURE from 2017-2018, and was CEO and founder of Sunvita Therapeutics, LLC from 2009- 2018 a company that provided cross border business development for various US and Chinese biopharmaceutical companies. She was also the Director of Biology at Phenomix Inc, a senior scientist at Pfizer, and a group leader at Immusol Inc. Dr. Nakanishi holds a B.A. in Virology from Wuhan University and a Ph.D in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas.
Charles Theuer, MD, PhD
Director
Dr. Theuer has served as a member of Oncternal’s board of directors since March 2018. He has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since July 2006. From 2004 to 2006, Dr. Theuer was the Chief Medical Officer at TargeGen, Inc., a biotechnology company. Prior to joining TargeGen, Inc., Dr. Theuer was Director of Clinical Oncology at Pfizer, Inc., a pharmaceutical corporation, from 2003 to 2004. Dr. Theuer has also held senior positions at IDEC Pharmaceuticals Corp. from 2002 to 2003 and at the National Cancer Institute from 1991 to 1993. In addition, he has held academic positions at the University of California, Irvine, where he was Assistant Professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology and Department of Medicine. Dr. Theuer currently serves as a director at 4D Molecular Therapeutics, a position he has held since January 2016. Dr. Theuer received a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. He completed a general surgery residency program at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and was board certified in general surgery in 1997.
Robert J. Wills, PhD
Director
Dr. Wills has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2019. Dr. Wills has over three decades of experience as a leader in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. Dr. Wills joined GTx as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and as Chairman of the Board’s Scientific and Development Committee on March 2, 2015. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of CymaBay Therapeutics, as Board member at Parion Sciences, Inc, as Board member at Go Therapeutics and as a member of the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). Prior to these roles, Dr. Wills spent over 25 years at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently he was Vice President, Alliance Management, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. He also served as Senior Vice President Global Development, where he was responsible for the R&D pipeline and a member of the R&D Board of Directors. In addition he served on several of the commercial Operating Company Boards and key pharmaceutical group decision-making committees. Dr. Wills began his career at Hoffmann-LaRoche where he spent 10 years in several roles of scientific responsibility. He holds a BS in Biochemistry and an MS in Pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas.