Team - NKILT Therapeutics

OUR TEAM

Meet the team

Founders
Team Members
Board of Directors
Scientific Advisory Board

Raphaël G. Ognar, MSc, MBA

President & CEO, Co-founder

Chairman, Executive Director

Raphaël is a pharma/biotech executive with more than 25 years of commercial, drug development, product lifecycle, and strategy expertise. Throughout his career, he has developed extensive expertise in oncology/hematology, immuno-oncology, and cell therapy as a result of his recognized leadership skills in strategy and operations.

Raphaël has a master’s degree and a DEA (master’s) of physiology and neurosciences from the Universities of Bordeaux I and II and a master’s of business administration in strategic marketing and enterprise management from the Institut d’Administration des Entreprises (IAE) of Tours University.

Besides fighting cancer, his passions are vintage wines, playing music in his family band, pushing himself rock climbing with his wife, and traveling the world with friends and family.

Henri Bayle, PhD

CTO/CDO, Co-founder

Executive Director Member

Hank has extensive experience in the development of new approaches to chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) and CAR natural killer (CAR-NK) cell therapy from discovery to translation in the clinic from his work as a scientist and executive at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. Previously he was an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He received his PhD in molecular biology from Princeton University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Simon Wain-Hobson, PhD

CSO, Co-founder

Executive Director Member

Simon has published more than 230 papers in virology and cancer. Working with Luc Montagnier, he was first to sequence the genome of the AIDS virus HIV. He holds patents for the AIDS virus and 10 others. In addition to co-founding NKILT Therapeutics, he is a co-founder of Invectys, a US biotech company vaccinating against cancer. Simon received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Oxford and completed postdoctoral work in immunology at the Weizmann Institute. He was a tenured researcher, then professor, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the Academia Europaea, and the US National Academy of Inventors. His accolades include Laureate, André Lwoff Prize; Laureate, Athena Prize, French Academy of Sciences; Officier de la Légion d’Honneur; and Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Chris Conley

Chief of Staff | Board of Directors Secretary

With over 2 decades of experience, Chris comes with a deep industry knowledge, creative problem-solving skills, and a wealth of experience as a seasoned consultant and executive recruiter. By collaborating closely with executives and startup teams, she contributed to the creation of strong and thriving companies, thanks to an extensive network among key pharma/biotech executives, investors, academics, and other major stakeholders. She is highly skilled in assembling effective boards and executive teams.

Previously, she was a partner at Heritage Partners, spent 10 years as Life Sciences Practice Leader in an executive search firm, and held positions in marketing, alliance management, chief of staff, and corporate/business development.

Besides her role at NKILT Therapeutics, Chris is on the advisory board of Springhood Ventures, a board member at IES Life Sciences, and a committee member of Music Beats Cancer.

MyLinh Duong, PhD

Principal Scientist

MyLinh has over 8 years of experience in the field of cell and gene therapy from her work on CAR-T and CAR-NK cells with Bellicum Pharma and NKILT Therapeutics. She produced numerous publications, and she was the key developer of dual-switch CAR-T cell and CAR-NK cell technology. MyLinh leads our lab as a principal scientist and has significantly contributed to the initial constructs developed by NKILT Therapeutics. She has a BS in biochemistry and cell biology from Rice University, completed her PhD training in cancer biology from The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Baylor College of Medicine.

Jihyun Park, PhD

Senior Scientist

Jihyun is a highly enthusiastic and experienced cancer research scientist in the field of immunotherapy based on engineered immune cells (T and NK) and gene editing. During her postdoctoral fellowship, she extensively worked on oncogenic molecular events within triple-negative breast cancer. She earned a master’s degree in animal health and biomedical science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then completed a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin in cell and molecular biology. She was a postdoctoral fellow for 5 years at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Raphaël G. Ognar, MSc, MBA

President & CEO, Co-founder

Chairman, Executive Director

Besides fighting cancer, his passions are vintage wines, playing music in his family band, pushing himself rock climbing with his wife, and traveling the world with friends and family.

Debora Barton, MD

CMO, TScan Therapeutics

Non-Executive Director

Debora is a clinical oncologist with extensive experience in developing cell therapies, bringing nearly 2 decades of expertise in global clinical research and development. Currently serving as the chief medical officer of TScan, Debora leads the development of multiplexed TCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Previously, she held the position of chief medical officer at Carisma Therapeutics Inc., where she was responsible for the clinical development of a first-in-human, first-in-class cell therapy, including clinical operations, medical affairs, and safety. Prior to that, Debora served as the senior vice president and head of clinical, as well as the head of safety, at Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc, where she successfully established a team to conduct several phase 2 studies in solid tumors and played a key role in clinical efforts related to regulatory interactions. Prior to lovance, she held positions of increasing responsibility at biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Advanced Accelerator Applications SA, Celgene Corporation, and Novartis.

Debora is a board-certified clinical oncologist and currently serves as a board member for the American Cancer Society, the Tigerlily Foundation (medical advisory board), and Arovella Therapeutics Ltd (non-executive director). She earned an MD from Pontificia Universidade Catolica Sao Paulo and completed a fellowship in oncology at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Carlos Martin

CCO, Rocket Pharmaceuticals

Non-Executive Director

Carlos, senior vice president and chief commercial officer at Rocket Pharmaceuticals, is responsible for leading the development of commercial strategy, building a best-in-class commercial organization, and working closely with research & development, technical operations, and other key functions to ensure the successful launch of Rocket’s breakthrough gene therapies.

Before joining Rocket in April 2021, Carlos served as the US commercial head of Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), a Novartis Company. His responsibilities included leading commercial strategy and new product launches as well as transforming their go-to-market model. While at Novartis, Carlos held roles of increasing responsibility across the US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He brings extensive global and local experience in commercial strategy and operations across various modalities and disease areas, including oncology, cardiovascular, metabolism, and complex therapeutics.

Carlos holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Esade and the Polytechnic University of Barcelona, Spain, and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He is deeply passionate about extending and improving patients’ lives through scientific and technological advancements.