Management
Marc Hertz, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Marc Hertz is a seasoned Biotech executive with extensive experience in developing vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases. He received his B.A. from Bowdoin College in Biology with High Honors and his Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the National Jewish Medical and Research Center. He then moved to Pharmexa [CSE: PHARMX] where he worked on vaccine design, development, and delivery. He rapidly rose to become a Senior Vice President of this 102 person company with an annual operating budget of $31 million. In 2005, Pharmexa acquired most of the assets of Epimmune, Inc., a publically traded [NASDAQ: EPMN] biologics and immunotherapeutics company in San Diego, and Marc became the President and CEO of the combined company, Pharmexa-Epimmune, Inc. There, he directed company strategy, business development, investor relations, and participated in multiple rounds of public fundraising that generated approximately $90 million in investments for the company.
Richard S. Kornbluth, M.D., Ph.D.
President, Chief Scientific Officer, and Founder
Richard Kornbluth invented the company’s technology while serving as an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSD. He is both a basic scientist and a Board Certified medical internist and pulmonary specialist. He received his Bachelor’s degree at Harvard, his M.D. at New York Medical College, and his Ph.D. at Columbia University. During medical school, he took a 1 1/2 year leave of absence to study tumor angiogenesis with Dr. Judah Folkman at Harvard. Dr. Kornbluth's interest in immunostimulatory molecules began during a postdoctoral fellowship in tumor immunology at the Scripps Research Institute where he filed his first patent on what is now known as CD40L. At UCSD, he published more than 50 papers on the immunology and molecular virology of HIV, and wrote or co-wrote 26 successful grant applications. At MultimericBio, Dr. Kornbluth will optimize his multimeric soluble TNFSF technology and help advance its transition to clinical applications in tumor immunotherapy and vaccines.
David A. Roth, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer and Founder
David Roth is a UC Berkeley-trained biochemist with postdoctoral training at UCSD School of Medicine, a former professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and a veteran of San Diego/Southern Cal biotech with 18 years of experience in a variety of functions. Dr. Roth began his industry career as Director of Research and Technology of Collateral Therapeutics, Inc. where he developed its therapeutic pipeline from discovery through preclinical studies and Phase 2b clinical trials (ongoing), leading up to an IPO and subsequent sale to Schering AG/Berlex Biosciences. He was next VP of R&D at Gene Therapy Systems, Inc. where he developed and commercialized the company's platform technology for high throughput antigen discovery and immunological screening, funded by the NIH, DoD, private agencies, and also licensing and business partnerships. Most recently Dr. Roth was the Senior VP of R&D at CODA Genomics, Inc., a computational biology-based gene design and protein expression company, where he developed its therapeutics program and expanded its business alliances and strategic relationships. At MultimericBio, Dr. Roth will direct the company's operations, lead business development, and initiate its partnering programs.
Antonella Vitiello , Ph.D.
Principal Scientist and Founder
Antonella Vitiello is an immunologist with over 20 years of vaccine development experience. She received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Universita’ degli Studi di Pavia in Italy, and then went on to postdoctoral immunology training first in Pavia and then at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. She has served as a Principal Scientist at Johnson & Johnson and Director of Immunology at three vaccine companies (MediVas, Epimmune, and PaxVax, all in San Diego). She is the author of 45 papers and an inventor on 7 patents. Notably, Dr. Vitiello designed the first peptide-based HBV vaccine capable of inducing a cytotoxic T lymphocyte response in humans. At MultimericBio, Dr. Vitiello will develop the company's vaccine products and design its new research initiatives.
