Brilliant minds,
united.

Rachel Humphrey has over 25 years of experience in clinical drug development, particularly in the field of cancer treatments and immunotherapies. Highlights of her career include leading the development of multiple blockbuster cancer therapies:  the CTLA-4 inhibiting immunotherapy Yervoy® (ipilimumab) at BMS, the PD-L1 inhibiting immunotherapy Imfinzi® (durvalumab) at AstraZeneca, and the kinase inhibitor cancer drug Nexavar® (sorafenib) at Bayer. After working at these big pharmaceutical companies, Rachel took her drug development expertise to emerging biotech companies, where she served in the role of Chief Medical Officer at Black Diamond Therapeutics, CytomX Therapeutics and Mirati Therapeutics, respectively. She previously served on the Board of Directors of CytomX Therapeutics and Xilio Therapeutics, respectively, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pyxis Therapeutics and Sporos Bioventures. Rachel started her career as an oncology fellow and staff physician at the National Cancer Institute. She received her training in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, her MD from Case Western Reserve Medical School, and her B.A. from Harvard University.

Dr. Lieping Chen is an immunologist known for his works in T cell biology, cancer immunology, and translational research to develop new treatments for human diseases, especially in the development of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 cancer immunotherapy. Prior to joining Yale Medical School, he was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a faculty member at Mayo Clinic, and a scientist for the pharmaceutical company, Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Dr. Chen’s discoveries directly led to the development of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 cancer immunotherapy against broad spectrum of human cancers, and his work in the discovery of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway
was cited as the #1 breakthrough of the year by Science magazine in 2013. He did the first proof-of-concept study in 1992 showing that the B7-CD28 family molecules could be the targets for cancer immunotherapy by introducing B7-1 into tumor cells to enhance therapeutic immunity. In 1999, he discovered PD-L1 (also called B7-H1) molecule and subsequently demonstrated the role of PD-L1 in the evasion of tumor immunity, and established the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway as the target for cancer immunotherapy. He also initiated and help organized the first-in-man clinical trial of anti-PD-1 antibody for treating human cancer and developed PD-L1 staining as a biomarker to predict treatment outcome. His laboratory also discovered many molecular pathways with immune modulatory functions and their applications in human disease treatment. These pathways include 4-1BB (CD137), ICOS/B7-H2, B7-H3, B7-H4, B7-H5/CD28H, PD-1H (VISTA), LIGHT/HVEM, RELT, TROY, B7-H2/CD28/CTLA-4 (human), SALM5/HVEM, FGL1/LAG-3, Siglec-15. These discoveries have led to the development of therapeutic agents in various stages of clinical trials for the treatment of human cancer.

Dr. Chen had his medical training in Fujian Medical University and his fellowship in immunology/ oncology in Peking Union Medical College in Beijing. He moved to U.S. to earn a PhD degree from Drexel University College of Medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Chen has published over 370 peer-reviewed research articles.

Darlene Deptula-Hicks has served in an advising role at Normunity since 2023 and was appointed as Normunity’s Interim Chief Financial Officer in 2024.  Darlene most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of F-star Therapeutics (FSTX) since 2019, which she took public in 2020 and through to the successful sale of the Company in March 2023.  In addition, since early 2018 Darlene has operated Crimson Consulting, LLC, a strategic, financial and CFO consulting services company, and has also served as acting Chief Financial Officer for Northern Biologics from 2018 and to the successful sale of its preclinical and clinical programs to Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca in 2020.  Prior, she was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of T2 Biosystems (TTOO). Previously she was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Pieris Pharmaceuticals (PIRS) which she also took public and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Microline Surgical. Darlene currently also serves on the board of directors and as audit committee chair of Abcuro and Aerami Therapeutics and previously served on the board of directors and as audit committee chair of Giner Life Sciences, Xentic Biosciences, and IMCOR Pharmaceuticals. Darlene received her M.B.A. from Rivier University and a B.S. in Accounting from Southern New Hampshire University.

Ellen K. Forest is the former Chief Human Resources Officer of Yumanity Therapeutics (now Kineta, Inc.).  While at Yumanity, she oversaw the company’s human resource efforts and is responsible for developing and implementing the strategic human resources vision in support of the overall goals and mission of the company.  Prior to joining Yumanity, Ms. Forest served as Senior Vice President and Head of Human Capital for Cogen Immune Medicine, a company developing immune modulation therapeutics that control the immune system, targeting the specific drivers of disease (now Repertoire Immune Medicines).  Previously as Vice President and Head of Human Resources for publicly traded Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Forest was responsible for leading human resources strategy including organizational leadership, talent management, change management, and culture. Her earlier career included global human resources leadership positions at Baxalta (acquired by Shire), Partners HealthCare, a non-profit healthcare system, and TA Associates, a global private equity firm.

Ms. Forest holds an M.S. in Human Resources Management and a B.S. in Business from Emmanuel College and serves as member of several human resources organizations.

Bill LaRochelle has over 30 years of experience in translational research and drug development in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry and federal government, with experience building multiple successful drug discovery and development programs, as well as implementing R&D strategies for novel drug products. He had a 16-year tenure at Roche, including as Clinical Sciences Director at Roche Diagnostics, focusing on integrating next-generation sequencing and digital PCR platforms in the development of precision medicines. Also at Roche, he served as Scientific Director and Head of Healthcare Business Development, and the Head of Key Opinion Leader Relationships. Prior to this, Bill spent 8 years at CuraGen Corporation, where he directed the Translational Oncology Program, and he was responsible for initiating, conducting and managing translational oncology research activities resulting in four INDs for novel cancer drugs. Prior to joining CuraGen, Bill was a principal investigator at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health where his research focused on oncogene/growth factor signal transduction and monoclonal antibodies in cancer and inflammation. He is an author of over 80 peer-reviewed publications, numerous patents, and the editor of the Oncogenomics Handbook. He received an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship to study at the National Cancer Institute, earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Dartmouth Medical School, and a B.S. in biochemistry from Manhattan College.

Melinda Merchant is a physician scientist with two decades of experience in clinical oncology research. Melinda brings a patient-first mentality to the Normunity team, with a drive to collaboratively translate scientific findings to address unmet needs in the clinic. As a board-certified Pediatric Hematologist & Oncologist, Melinda held faculty/staff positions at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute, with a focus on sarcomas and immuno-oncology. She was a lead investigator on multiple pediatric immunotherapy clinical trials, including ipilimumab, nivolumab, and novel cell therapies. Since her move to industry in 2015, Melinda has been highly active in clinical development at the interface of laboratory to early phase clinical trials, directing clinical development of multiple first-in-human studies at AstraZeneca, and late-stage development experience as head of Translational Medicine and clinical lead of the phase 3 confirmatory study in sarcoma supporting approval of Tazverik® (tazmetostat). As a leader in pharma and biotech, Melinda has successfully grown teams of scientists and physician scientists to collaboratively meet the challenges of drug development. Melinda received her MD and Ph.D. at the University of Miami School of Medicine and Department of Immunology & Microbiology, trained in pediatrics at Children’s National Medical Center, and completed fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in a combined program with Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Stephane Marzabal brings more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery, translational research, clinical development, commercialization, and global program leadership in biotech and pharma companies, primarily focused on oncology. He also has extensive leadership experience in implementing operating models and change management to support high-performance in R&D organizations.
In his previous roles, Stephane worked at Baxalta to lead the co-development, product approvals, and global launch of ONIVYDE® in pancreatic cancer in partnership with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. At Merck KGaA, Stephane was the lead for evofosfomide, a Phase 3 candidate developed in partnership with Threshold Pharmaceutical for soft tissue sarcoma, pancreatic cancer, and NSCLC. At Merck Serono, he was Global Program Team Leader for Rebif® in multiple sclerosis leading worldwide approvals and global launch, and later he led an oncology team across multiple phase 1 and phase 2 compounds advancing in clinical development. In 2017, Stephane co-founded SYNOV Solutions, a boutique consulting group that partners with biopharmaceutical companies to create high performing drug development teams and organizations. He earned a PhD in Molecular Biology from Paris VI and a BS in Biostatistics applied to Clinical Trials.

Kristin Robbins has over 20 years of experience in clinical drug and medical device development. Prior to Normunity, Kristin was the Head of Program Management and Program Manager for the lead program at Kaleido Biosciences in Urea Cycle Disorder which submitted an IND for KB195 and executed a subsequent Ph2 trial. Before Kaleido, she had a 10-year tenure at Hologic, Inc., a Women’s Health company, including as Director of Program & Portfolio Management in the Surgical and Breast Health Divisions, focusing on variety of technologies including the NovaSure Endometrial Ablation Device and the Brevera Breast Biopsy System among others. Earlier in her career, Kristin spent 3 years as a Program Manager at Boston Scientific in two different divisions, the Oncology division, working on implantable ports for the administration of fluids and drugs for oncology patients and the Endovations division, which was a unique “startup type” division within a large company concept to build a single use colonoscope. Kristin’s early work in medical devices was with Abbott Laboratories. Kristin started her career as a registered nurse at Highland Hospital in Rochester, NY. She received a B.S. in Nursing at the University of Rochester and her MBA from Northeastern University and has a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.

Liz Yamashita has over 35 years of experience in the Biopharmaceutical Industry with 25 years focused in the global regulatory affairs function. Liz has wide exposure to areas of the pharmaceutical business in small molecule and biotechnology CMC, clinical and nonclinical development, as well as marketing, and business development. Liz has held executive regulatory positions at Oncobiologics, Inc., and Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In these roles, she managed all aspects of the regulatory function, strategy and operational work from initial FDA, EMA and other health authority interactions through marketing application approvals. She was a Principal Fellow at ImClone Systems (now Eli Lilly) providing regulatory expertise across the ImClone and Lilly biotech pipelines. As Vice President at ImClone Systems, she was responsible for Regulatory CMC strategy and Operations for development and commercial monoclonal antibody projects. Liz began her career at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company holding several positions of increasing leadership responsibility. While experienced in multiple therapeutic areas, her main regulatory focus and interest have been with Oncology and Immunology encompassing both small and large molecules. Liz received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Rochester and is US certified by the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society.

Suzanne Wilson has over 30 years of experience in clinical research, most of which is in oncology. She has practical experience in clinical operations from day-to-day clinical project management for individual programs to ensure timelines and budgets are maintained, through to managing teams of project managers and overseeing US, European, Aisa and worldwide clinical programs. She has a proven track record in a number of roles, in managing multidisciplinary teams and working in challenging and high-pressure environments for successful submissions to the health authorities. Opportunities have included establishing clinical operations in small virtual companies (GenSpera), managing large global programs in a multi-national pharma company (Cephalon, now Teva, and Baxalta), working for a large and small CRO (PRA and Nexus). Her experience enables her to contribute to the strategy and successful implementation of clinical programs. Suzanne has a degree in Pharmacology (B.Sc.) from Portsmouth University, UK.

David Andrew is a Cellular Immunologist with over 2 decades of experience in Antibody Development, in Biotech at Amgen/Millenium/GSK/PDL and Astellas, having been a program leader  for several programs that went to IND and clinical trials. His research led to the identification of key mechanisms in Autoimmune Disease such as the role of alpha4/B7 in lymphocyte trafficking in IBD and of CCR4/CCR9 in autoimmune /inflammatory disease lymphocyte trafficking. He has taken part in the development of several approved clinical monoclonals such as elotuzumab for multiple myeloma, etrolizumab for Crohns and CDP571 for rheumatoid arthritis while more recently working on alternative mAb formats such as ADC/CAR T cell and bi-specifics which are  outlicensed for AML and NSLC. He is an author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications and  numerous patents. He received an American Heart Association fellowship to study lymphocyte trafficking at Stanford and received his PhD from University College London in the lab of Prof Avrion Mitchison.

Suzanne Bauer brings eight years of experience in executive administration and operational support. Prior to joining Normunity, she was Chief of Staff at Ixcela, supporting the organization through its launch and leading HR and customer support operations. Suzanne received her BA in English Language and Literature from Gordon College and spent a year as a Visiting Student at Oxford University.

For over 20 years, Jeff Colbert has been an academic and industry leader with expertise in immunology and oncology. He currently leads preclinical programs at Normunity and leads the development of Normunity’s biomarker strategy. Prior to joining Normunity, Jeff was a Program Leader at Immunitas Therapeutics where he led multidisciplinary teams in Drug Discovery and Translational and Biomarker Research. As a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Jeff applied forward genetic screening techniques to identify novel regulators of immunity to infectious disease and cancer. These efforts led to the identification of novel cancer targets, resulting in clinical and pharmaceutical partnerships. His academic career involved a move to Europe where his research focused on the regulation of cysteine proteases in infection and immunity. At National Jewish Health and at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Jeff studied TNF receptor signal transduction in pulmonary fibrosis and the inflammatory responses mediated by adenoviral gene therapy vectors. Jeff has published over 20 peer-reviewed publications and has been invited to present his research both nationally and internationally. He received his PhD in Immunology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and holds a BS in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from Kansas State University.

Lucas Galster has over 4 years of experience in a diverse background of clinical laboratories, academic and industry research. His expertise spans across various areas such as medical devices, automation, material science, assay development and immunology. During his undergraduate studies, Lucas developed a keen interest in next generation tools emerging in biotechnology, which ultimately led him to pursue a career to research in precision medicine. Lucas received a B.S. in Biology from Southern Connecticut State University and has since been working in the New Haven area. His commitment to advancing immune normalizers is evidenced by his unwavering dedication to the field.

Vivian has extensive experience investigating the cellular processes and molecular pathways critical to cancer pathogenesis. In the past, she has conducted multiple research investigations from drug discovery and assay development to companion diagnostic testing and clinical trials. Prior to joining Normunity, Vivian was a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, and she earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Iowa. Her passion for innovative drug discoveries and meaningful advances led her to Normunity.

Nancy Kirkiles-Smith brings more than 25 years of research experience in immunology and vascular biology. Her work has focused on the development of humanized mice as preclinical small animal models for the validation of therapeutic targets.  Prior to Normunity, Nancy managed a large academic lab at Yale focusing on Transplant Immunology.  There she established allograft transplant models in both HuPBL and HuCD34+ HSC immunodeficient mouse models.  From academia she went to the antibody development company Abcam as an Immunohistochemistry scientist in the Characterization group to validate antibodies for use in IHC coming through their pipeline as part of their Rabmab project.  Nancy received her B.S. in Cell Biology and PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Connecticut and did her postdoctoral work in the lab of Dr. Jordan Pober in the Department of Immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Rebecca Newth is a budding immunologist with more than 8 years of research experience. She has a strong background in immunology, T cell biology, and cellular and molecular biology. She received her Master of Science in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her academic experience led her to a career in assay development for therapeutic drug validation. She aspires to bring novel discoveries in basic research closer to the clinic and is excited to be involved in the strategy and implementation of translational medicine here at Normunity.