Our Team
Advancing today’s innovation into tomorrow’s transformative therapeutics.
Evrys Bio
ACTUALIZING INNOVATION. A TEAM WITH A PROVEN TRACK RECORD FOR SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION.
Team
Ensuring successful translation of our drug discovery programs to ultimately address patient needs in the clinic, Evrys Bio has a world-class team with proven track record for innovation and commercialization success. We will pursue a focused business plan while maximizing non-dilutive funding. In addition, multiple pharma partnering opportunities will be pursued in parallel with internal value creation.
Senior Management Team
Lillian W. Chiang, PhD, MBA
President & CEO
Prior to Evrys Bio, Lillian was VP of Translational Medicine at Kadmon Corporation. She was responsible for strategy and translation from early discovery through proof of concept in man. Throughout her career she has built from scratch, state-of-the-art technologies, drug discovery & development teams, and businesses at Stanford, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma, Aestus Therapeutics, and Kadmon. At Aestus, she applied her own data mining algorithms to identify drug-repositioning assets to acquire and develop in a virtual pharma environment. Aestus’ first in-licensed product was successfully advanced from novel mechanism of action & therapeutic hypothesis to completion of phase 2A trial in 5 years and $5 M spend primarily funded by government grants. BS, MIT; PhD, Wisconsin; Post-Doc, Stanford; MBA, Wharton.
Thomas E. Shenk, PhD
Founder and Board Director
Tom is the James A. Elkins Professor of Life Sciences, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the American Philosophical Society. Intellectual property and concepts from Tom’s lab in the fields of molecular biology, gene therapy, vaccines, and virology, have fueled multiple start-ups with successful exits including DNX (IPO), ImClone Systems (IPO), Merlin (acquired by Somatix), Novalon (acquired by Kara Bio), Cadus (IPO) and PMV Pharma (IPO). Tom served in the past on the boards of multiple companies, including Merck & Co., Cell Genesis and CV Therapeutics. In addition to his current position as chair of the Evrys board, he serves on the boards of MeiraGTx and the Hepatitis B Foundation.
Stacy W. Remiszewski, PhD
Vice President - Research
Stacy is a medicinal chemist with over 30 issued patents spanning tenures at Schering-Plough, Novartis, and Hoffmann-La Roche. At Novartis, Stacy led a multi-disciplinary project team that delivered two compounds to Phase 1 clinical trials within five years. One of those compounds, panobinostat is a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor developed by Novartis that received marketing approval for treatment of multiple myeloma. Most recently, Stacy was Director of Chemistry, Section Head for Oncology Chemistry and member of the Discovery Chemistry Management Team at Hoffmann-La Roche. Throughout his career he has led in-licensing evaluation and preclinical research teams, consistently delivering strategic collaborations and clinical candidates, while embracing new technologies and developing unique methods to affect drug targets including disrupting protein-protein interactions.
Robert Besthof
Operations & Strategy (Consultant)
Robert Besthof is a 25+ years global pharmaceutical hands-on strategic and operational leader with a track record of building pipelines and globally launching products. He worked for Eli Lilly, Wyeth and Pfizer across multiple strategic and operational senior leader roles. His big pharma assignments included various in-country P&L assignments launching and growing products, strategic marketing and product development. In 2016, he established his consultancy focused on emerging biotechnology companies, assuming leadership positions and working with his clients to define and implement investable paths for preclinical and clinical programs. He has built and led teams that generated a combined 18 proof of concept and phase III programs across multiple therapeutic areas. His assignments have included Commercial Assessment, Business Development and Licensing, Head of Operations, and interim CEO of a public company. Robert received a B.A. in economics from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a Masters of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Management in Glendale. Robert speaks fluent German, Spanish and Dutch, and is conversant in other languages.
Jens Erik Knudsen, BS, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Jens Erik Knudsen joined Evrys Bio in December 2023 to assume the new role of Chief Financial Officer, and became a member of our leadership team.
Jens has over 25 years of experience building and leading international finance and operations teams at different stages of company development, primarily in the life sciences sector. He has completed multiple forms of financing including IPO, PIPES, Rights Issue, Bank Financing, and Debt Financing raising over $100 million. Working for European, Chinese and U.S. companies Jens has had roles of increasing responsibilities in controlling and finance for private and public companies.
Jens holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business from the Copenhagen Business School, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Philadelphia University.
F. Aaron Dubberley, Esq.
Head of Intellectual Properties
Aaron is a patent attorney with 25 years of IP experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He brings a broad range of experience as in-house counsel for numerous pharma and biotech companies large and small (e.g. Aventis, Hoffmann-La Roche, Organon, Aestus Therapeutics, WellGen), and as law firm experience (patent agent at McAulay Nissen Goldberg Kiel & Hand). At Organon, Aaron managed the entire U.S. patent portfolio prior to the acquisition by Schering-Plough. Aaron has a JD from Rutgers and an MS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Davis. Previously, he also served for five years as Assistant Director for Intellectual Property for Mount Sinai Innovation Partners, the technology-licensing arm of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Susan Little, SPHR
Acting Chief of Human Resources
As a consultant and management advisor to Evrys starting in 2014, Sue has provided leadership and strategic direction in aspects of HR, including employee relations, talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, training and development, talent management review and succession, performance management, and organizational development and culture.
Sue has been a member of senior leadership teams for both small and large biotech and pharmaceutical companies including Cell Pathways, Discovery Labs, Ansaris and Vitae Pharmaceuticals. Her most recent role was head of Human Resources with AbbVie, where she oversaw a 500+ employee manufacturing site. She was responsible for aligning people resources with business strategy.
Previously, Sue was directly involved with the successful execution of Vitae Pharmaceuticals’ IPO and subsequent acquisition by Allergan. She served as a key member on the Vitae/Allergan and Allergan/AbbVie Integration Teams. Allergan was acquired by AbbVie in 2020.
Sue has her BA in Psychology from Rutgers University.
