Leadership
Leadership
Asylia’s experienced and diverse leadership team is driven by a common mission to transform breakthrough science into highly effective medicines for patients suffering from cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases. Our multi-disciplinary team is comprised of experts in basic biology, clinical trials, immunity, cancer, and infectious diseases. The team’s experience in antibody development has led to dozens of drug candidates. Their accomplishments include groundbreaking research discoveries and leading new drug approvals.
Richard Jones, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Richard Jones, Ph.D., joined Asylia Therapeutics in January of 2023 and previously served as Head of Translational Medicine until his appointment to CEO in February 2024. He is a recognized subject matter expert, sought-after presenter and panelist by organizations such as the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Dr. Jones played a seminal role in the co-founding of Asylia, as he was a member of the MD Anderson team that developed the initial intellectual property of the Company’s anti-HSP70 antibodies, ASY-77A and ASY-87.
Prior to joining Asylia, Dr. Jones spent 15 years with MD Anderson Cancer Center as both a researcher and professor, where he focused on translational therapeutic hematological oncology, lymphoid malignancies and novel chemotherapeutic treatment methods development. He received his Ph.D. in Oncology & Cancer Biology from the University of Birmingham, Institute of Cancer & Genomic Sciences and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Stephen Rubino, Ph.D.
Executive in Residence
Dr. Rubino currently serves as the Executive in Residence at Asylia. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Sporos Bioventures and has over 30 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience in the areas of business development and licensing, marketing, commercial operations, and strategic planning across a wide range of therapeutic areas. Dr. Rubino has extensive experience developing and commercializing oncology products, both in the US and EU. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Viracta, and prior to joining Sporos as Chief Executive Officer, he served as the Chief Business Officer at Celyad Oncology SA and was a member of the Board of Directors of Sermonix Pharmaceuticals. Previously, he was the Chief Business and Strategy Officer of Omega Therapeutics and Global Head of Business Development and Licensing and New Product Marketing for the Cell and Gene Therapies business unit at Novartis. Dr. Rubino received his Ph.D. in virology from Cornell University and his MBA from Baruch College.
Alex Cranberg
Director
Alex Cranberg is an active early-stage biotech investor with strong ties to the Texas and Houston biotech ecosystem. Alex is the Chairman and Founder of Aspect Holdings, LLC. Over 30 years as a private company Aspect has a strong record managing country, business and exploration risk in the oil and gas and related industries. Aspect has been responsible for significant discoveries in the US, Central and South America, Europe and the Middle East. Alex is also an active biotech investor in several early-stage companies. He served on The University of Texas System Board of Regents ultimately as Chairman of the Health Affairs Committee and also served on the Board of the Texas Medical Center. He holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a BS in Petroleum Engineering from University of Texas at Austin.
Rachel Humphrey, M.D.
Director
Dr. Humphrey has over 25 years of experience in clinical drug development and currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Normunity, an immuno-oncology company. Prior to Normunity, she was Chief Medical
Officer at Black Diamond Therapeutics, a precision oncology medicine company. Prior to that, Dr. Humphrey served as Chief Medical Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors of CytomX Therapeutics, Inc. Previously, she held numerous senior leadership roles in cancer drug development,
including Vice President, Head of Immuno-Oncology at Eli Lilly and Company, SVP and Head of Immuno-Oncology at AstraZeneca, Executive VP and Chief Medical Officer at Mirati Therapeutics, and VP, Clinical Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). Dr. Humphrey holds an M.D. from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A. from Harvard University. She received her training in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and started her career as an oncology fellow and staff physician at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD
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