Ability Biologics

Gerald Batist, MD, is Professor of Oncology at McGill University and was University Chair of Oncology for 10 years. He is Deputy Director and leader of the Cancer Axis of the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Batist led the development of the Segal Cancer Centre, which intimately links research and clinical care and has generated novel treatment models. He co-created the Q-CROC Quebec-wide network and was a co-founder of the WIN global consortium for personalized medicine, which is based in Paris. He is a medical oncologist and molecular pharmacologist, whose research focuses on novel drug development and therapeutic resistance. He has published over 290 papers and book chapters and shares multiple patents for new chemical entities with novel therapeutic potential. Dr. Batist has achieved significant funding for personalized medicine initiatives, leading large groups in biopsy-driven innovative studies designed to identify molecular signatures of resistance and novel therapeutic targets.

Dr. Burke is an entrepreneur, pioneer, and leader in the biotech and systems pharmacology industries. He is the Chief Pharmacology Officer at Reverb Therapeutics. Prior to that, he was the CEO and co-founder of Applied BioMath, which after 10 years became the world’s largest systems pharmacology tech-backed services provider and world leader in systems pharmacology software development. Applied BioMath was acquired by Certara in December 2023, and subsequently John became VP of Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Consultancy. Prior to Applied BioMath, he led the Systems Modeling group at Boehringer Ingelheim. John holds a PhD in Mathematics from Arizona State University and was a senior postdoctoral research fellow in the Biological Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then in the Systems Biology Department, Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the Drug Discovery Advisory Council, for the Food Allergy Science Initiative (FASI), is on several SABs at small start-up biotechs, and periodically teaches courses geared towards upper level undergraduate and graduate students at local universities.

Alan Korman, PhD, brings more than three decades of immunotherapy and biotechnology experience to his role as Chief Scientific Officer and Board Member at BlueSphere Bio. Prior to joining BlueSphere, he served as the Senior Vice President of Human Immunology at Vir Biotechnology. Before that, Dr. Korman was the Vice President of Immuno-Oncology Discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). Earlier, he worked at Medarex in roles of increasing responsibility through to Vice President of Discovery Research. While at BMS and Medarex, Dr. Korman led the discovery of the immune checkpoint blockade approaches to cancer immune therapy. He directed the preclinical development of Yervoy and Opdivo and their combination, which significantly impacted countless cancer patients’ lives and meaningfully advanced the field of cancer therapy research. Dr. Korman began his career in the pharmaceutical industry at Supragen and NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Director of Immunology.

Dr. Korman received his Ph.D. in Cellular and Developmental Biology from Harvard University, A.M. in Biology from Harvard University and A.B. in Biology from Brandeis University. Following the completion of his education, he was a Fellow at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, Dr. Korman holds more than 30 patents and most notably, played an instrumental role in the discovery of the first anti-CTLA-4 checkpoint inhibitor, the world’s first PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab (anti-PD-1 Opdivo®) and its combination with ipilimumab, as well as the world’s first LAG-3 inhibitor relatlimab (anti-LAG-3) in combination with nivolumab.

Dr John Stagg is Director of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) at McGill University. Prior to his appointment at GCI he was a professor at McGill University and Lab Head at the CRCHUM since 2010. An established cancer immunologist, John has authored over 100 research publications. Among many breakthroughs John is known for having identified the adenosine-producing enzyme CD73 as a novel target in immuno-oncology and for contributing to the development of therapeutic agents now in Phase 2 clinical trials. His lab has also identified several novel potential targets in immune-oncology to overcome resistance to anti-PD-1/CTLA-4 immune checkpoint blockade. Outside of being a leading academic John is familiar with the biotech environment, being a co-founder and SAB member of Surface Oncology, a clinical-stage biotech. He is a member of the board of directors of BioCanRx, Canada’s immunotherapy network and has received a wide range of distinctions, including a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator award, the Jean-Guy Sabourin Research Chair in Pharmacology from Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal. As a co-leader of the Montreal Cancer Consortium, he played a pivotal role in establishing the Terry Fox Research Institute’s Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, dedicated to accelerating the development of precision medicine.