Industry Veteran Jane Pritchett Henderson Named
Chief Financial Officer
Additional Leaders Hired to Advance
Next-Generation Oncolytic Viral Immunotherapies
Turnstone Biologics, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company
developing the next generation of oncolytic viral therapies, today
announced the appointment of Jane Pritchett Henderson as Chief
Financial Officer. Ms. Henderson brings nearly 30 years of
experience as a health care investment banker and financial leader
at several biotechnology companies, most recently as the CFO and
SVP of Corporate Development of Voyager Therapeutics. In addition,
Turnstone announced key hires across its leadership team including:
Kristin Gustafson, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and
Facilities; Steve Bernstein, M.D., Senior Vice President, Clinical
Research and Development; David Stojdl, Ph.D., Senior Vice
President, Discovery Research; and Adina Pelusio, Ph.D., Vice
President, Clinical Operations.
“I am delighted to welcome Jane, Kristin, Steve, David and Adina
to Turnstone and believe each will play a critical role as we
continue our relentless pursuit to bring forward important new
viral immunotherapies to patients,” said Sammy J. Farah, Ph.D.,
Chief Executive Officer of Turnstone Biologics. “These key
additions round out our exceptional team of senior leaders and
top-tier scientists. As we enter this new and exciting phase as a
company, I look forward to collaborating with Jane and Kristin to
accelerate our corporate development, and with Steve, David and
Adina to enhance our research and clinical capabilities.”
Turnstone’s MG1 virus is the first immunotherapy engineered to
function as both a systemically delivered tumor-destroying
oncolytic virus and an immune stimulating T cell vaccine. MG1
directly attacks cancer cells and modifies the microenvironment to
make tumor sites throughout the body susceptible to targeted killer
T cell responses, also induced by the virus. Turnstone has
initiated multiple Phase I/II clinical trials with medicines
targeting MAGEA3-expressing tumors, such as non-small cell lung
cancer, and HPV positive tumors, such as cervical and head and neck
cancers, and expects to have multiple additional therapies in the
clinic by 2019.
“I am thrilled to join Turnstone’s world-class team of
immuno-oncology leaders at this exciting time for the company,”
said Ms. Henderson. “Turnstone is rapidly advancing a novel
pipeline of therapies based on innovative and transformative
platforms and is establishing a leadership position in oncolytic
viral-based medicines, thereby expanding the number of patients who
can benefit from these immunotherapies. I look forward to working
closely with Sammy and the team to deliver on these important
initiatives.”
Jane Pritchett Henderson brings nearly 30 years of
experience in health care and life sciences to her new role as
Chief Financial Officer of Turnstone. Previously, she served as
Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate
Development of Voyager Therapeutics since January 2017. Prior to
Voyager, Ms. Henderson served as Chief Financial and Business
Officer of Kolltan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., having joined the
privately held biopharmaceutical company in early 2013 and leading
the sale of Kolltan to Celldex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in late 2016.
Prior to Kolltan, Ms. Henderson served in various financial and
business development leadership roles at ISTA Pharmaceuticals,
Axerion Pharmaceuticals and Panacos Pharmaceuticals. In her more
than 19 years in healthcare investment banking, Ms. Henderson
executed more than 95 mergers and acquisitions, advisory and
financing deals, holding senior roles at HSBC Holdings plc,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Lehman Brothers and Salomon
Brothers. Ms. Henderson currently serves on the Board of Directors
of Sesen Bio (formerly Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc.) and Ophthotech
as well as a non-profit foundation, The EQUUS Foundation.
Kristin Gustafson brings with her more than 18 years of
Human Resources experience specific to the biotech and
pharmaceutical sector to her role as Senior Vice President, Human
Resources and Facilities for Turnstone. Prior to joining Turnstone,
Ms. Gustafson was with Kite Pharma, a Gilead company, where she led
the global Human Resource and Facilities function during a time of
explosive growth and the approval of Yescarta, the first CAR-T
adult immunotherapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA). Prior to Kite, she spent four years at
Intercept Pharmaceuticals and served as the company’s Senior Vice
President of Global Human Resources and Facilities. Before joining
Intercept Pharmaceuticals, she started her own company, Chemo101,
an online portal dedicated to helping newly diagnosed cancer
patients navigate their treatment journey through the new world of
cancer, and also served in leadership roles at Cochlear and MGI
Pharma.
Steve Bernstein, M.D., brings more than 20 years of
experience as a treating physician and pharmaceutical executive to
his role as Senior Vice President, Clinical Research and
Development. Previously, Dr. Bernstein served as Chair,
Immuno-Oncology Translational Research and Development, and Head,
Integrated Science, at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Bernstein was as
an academic physician at both Roswell Park Cancer Institute and
most recently at the University of Rochester’s James P. Wilmot
Cancer Institute, where he was Professor of Medicine and Oncology,
Co-Director of both the Hematological Malignancy Program and the
Lymphoma Biology Program. Dr. Bernstein was a member of the
Lymphoma Working Group of SWOG, the Scientific Advisory Board of
the Lymphoma Research Foundation, and the Scientific and Medical
Advisory Board of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
David Stojdl, Ph.D., brings more than 20 years of
experience in academic and industrial research to his role as
Senior Vice President, Head of Discovery Research at Turnstone. Dr.
Stojdl has been published in multiple leading journals for
pioneering the exploration of host-virus interactions critical to
oncolytic therapy and defining the archetypal role of interferon
signaling in tumor-specific oncolytic virus targeting. Dr. Stojdl
is a professor at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)
and in the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Biochemistry,
Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa. Since
joining the CHEO, Dr. Stojdl discovered and developed several novel
oncolytic vector platforms, including the Maraba oncolytic virus
platform, and directed the CHEO Automated Screening Centre (CASC).
Dr. Stojdl was also a scientific co-founder and consultant to
Jennerex Biotherapeutics (later acquired by SillaJen
Biotherapeutics).
Adina Pelusio, Ph.D., brings more than 15 years of
experience in drug development, most recently as the Vice
President, Clinical Operations at SillaJen Biotherapeutics
(formerly Jennerex, Inc), where she spent a decade advancing
oncolytic viruses in clinical trials. In addition to overseeing the
Clinical Operations department at SillaJen, she managed and
pioneered the medical educator role to expand hospital personnel
comfort and knowledge globally with working on these types of
agents. Prior to Jennerex, Ms. Pelusio served as a SWAT Senior
Clinical Research Associate at PPD, a large, global CRO, where she
was tasked with study rescue and served on a technology committee
assigned with developing training for CRAs and project teams on new
technologies within the field.
About Turnstone Biologics
Turnstone Biologics is a clinical-stage, immuno-oncology company
developing the next-generation of oncolytic viral immunotherapies
for patients with a broad range of solid tumors. The company's
Maraba (MG1) oncolytic virus platform is the first to combine the
tumor-killing effects of an oncolytic virus with a tumor-targeted
T-cell vaccine to harness an individual's own immune system to
attack the tumor, with the goal of preventing recurrence and
delivering a cure. Turnstone is advancing a robust pipeline of
clinical and preclinical programs. In 2017, Turnstone executed the
largest strategic partnership in the oncolytic virus field with
AbbVie, and was named a FierceBiotech “Fierce 15” company. The
Company’s lead investors include Versant Ventures, OrbiMed, F-Prime
Capital Partners and FACIT. For more information, please visit
http://turnstonebio.com/.
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Turnstone BiologicsKris Elverum,
617-735-7012Kris.Elverum@turnstonebio.comorElliot Fox,
212-257-6724efox@w2ogroup.com