Jason Levin

Founder, Director and president

Jason has been with Orbus Therapeutics since it was established in 2012. Prior to founding
Orbus Therapeutics, Jason was Chief Business Officer of Sorbent Therapeutics, Inc., a
company focused on the development of oral polymers to treat chronic heart failure. Before
Sorbent, he was Chief Business Officer at Brain Cells, Inc., a CNS focused drug discovery and
development company. Previously, Jason was Vice President, Corporate Development and one
of the initial employees at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. He also held leadership roles at ALZA
Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Jason received a BA from the
University of California, San Diego and a MBA from the University of Texas, McCombs
Graduate School of Business.

 

Jennifer Ekelund

HEAD, REGULATORY AFFAIRS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

Jennifer joined Orbus Therapeutics in 2019 as its Head of Regulatory Affairs and Quality
Assurance. Prior to joining Orbus Therapeutics, she held the roles of Vice President of US
Regulatory Affairs and Vice President of Research and Development Quality Assurance and
Compliance at Jazz Pharmaceuticals between 2004-2018, focused on sleep, hematology, and
oncology. Before Jazz, Jennifer held positions of increasing responsibility in regulatory affairs
and compliance across multiple therapeutic areas and technologies at Alza Corporation, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, from 1991-2004. Jennifer received a Bachelor
of Arts degree from Boston University.


Jackie Walling, MBChB, PhD

CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER (CONSULTANT)

Jackie joined Orbus Therapeutics in 2022. Jackie is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with
extensive experience in the global clinical development and research of anticancer drugs and
drugs for rare genetic diseases. Prior to her forming her own consulting company, Jackie held
senior positions across clinical development and research at Eli Lilly, Tularik, Axys
Pharmaceuticals and , BioMarin and prior to that practiced medicine in the UK. Jackie received
her medical degree from the University of Bristol and a PhD from the University of
Southampton.


Noymi Yam, PhD

VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER

Noymi joined Orbus Therapeutics in 2015 as Head of Product Development. Before Orbus, she
held senior roles across CMC, pharmaceutical/product development and research at
BiopharmX, Sorbent Therapeutics, Avantec Vascular and Alza Corporation (a Johnson &
Johnson company). Noymi received a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Riga
Technical University (Riga, Latvia) and a PhD in Pharmaceutical and Chemical Sciences from
the University of the Pacific (California). Noymi also serves as an adjunct Professor,
Department of Pharmaceutics and Medicinal Chemistry in the Thomas J. Long School of
Pharmacy at the University of the Pacific.


Jason Levin | Founder, Director and President
Jason has been with Orbus Therapeutics since it was established in 2012. Prior to founding
Orbus Therapeutics, Jason was Chief Business Officer of Sorbent Therapeutics, Inc., a
company focused on the development of oral polymers to treat chronic heart failure. Before
Sorbent, he was Chief Business Officer at Brain Cells, Inc., a CNS focused drug discovery and
development company. Previously, Jason was Vice President, Corporate Development and one
of the initial employees at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. He also held leadership roles at ALZA
Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Jason received a BA from the
University of California, San Diego and a MBA from the University of Texas, McCombs
Graduate School of Business

Patrick Enright  |  Managing Director, Longitude Capital

Mr. Enright is a Managing Director and Founder of Longitude Capital. Prior to Longitude Capital, Mr. Enright was a Managing Director of Pequot Ventures where he co-led the life sciences investment practice. Prior to Pequot, he was a Managing Member of the Delta Opportunity Fund at Diaz & Altschul Capital Management. Mr. Enright began his investment career at PaineWebber Development Corporation. Mr. Enright also has significant life sciences operations experience including senior executive positions at Valentis (VLTS), Boehringer Mannheim (acquired by Roche) and Sandoz (now known as Novartis). Mr. Enright currently serves on the boards of Aimmune (AIMT), Aptinyx, CardioDx, Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Orbus Therapeutics and SutroVax. Selected prior board memberships include Codexis (CDXS), Corcept Therapeutics (CORT), Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR), Horizon Pharmaceuticals (HZNP), InfaCare Pharmaceuticals, MAP Pharmaceuticals (MAPP, acquired by Allergan), Prestwick Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Lundbeck), Sequenom (SQNM, acquired by LabCorp) and Threshold Pharmaceuticals (THLD). Mr. Enright holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

Alex Zisson  |  Managing Director, H.I.G. BioHealth Partners

Mr. Zisson has served as a member of our Board of Directors since May 2021. He is a Managing Director at H.I.G. BioHealth Partners. He also currently serves on the board of directors for Clarus Therapeutics, Leiters, Neurana Pharma, Taconic Biosciences, and BioVectra, and led the firm’s royalty investment in Nevakar. Prior to H.I.G., Alex spent 13 years making similar investments at Thomas, McNerney & Partners. Prior to Thomas, McNerney, Alex spent 11 years in the research department at Hambrecht & Quist (and its successor firms Chase H&Q and JPMorgan). Alex is the co-chair of the Business Advisory Council of the Children’s Tumor Foundation, on the advisory board for Brown University’s medical school, and is on the Life Sciences Council for Springboard Enterprises, a group that assists women in entrepreneurial roles. He is also a board member for the Greenwich Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Terry Gould  |  Partner & Head of Venture/Growth Equity Investments, Adams Street Partners

Mr. Gould has served as a member of our Board of Directors since August 2015. He is a Partner and Head of Venture/Growth Equity Investments. He invests in venture and growth-oriented companies with a focus on the healthcare space. Terry sits on the Boards of Directors of OncoMed (NADSAQ: OMED), Naurex Pharmaceuticals, Corvus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRBP) and LifeBond. He is a former board member at CombiChem, INC Research, Incline Therapeutics (bought by the Medicines Company) and Proteus Digital Health. Terry is also a member of the Adams Street Executive and Direct Investment Committees

Kurt von Emster | CFA Managing Partner Menlo Park, Abingworth

Mr. von Emster has served as a member of our Board of Directors since July 2020. Kurt joined Abingworth in January 2015 bringing over 25 years of experience in life science investment. He began his career as a biotechnology and healthcare analyst in 1990, and then was promoted to Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton. Kurt then became a General Partner at MPM Capital in 2000. In 2009, he co-founded venBio, a US healthcare investment firm and most recently was a Partner in the San Francisco office. He holds board positions at CymaBay, Jasper Therapeutics, Orbus Therapeutics, SFJ Pharmaceuticals, Tizona Therapeutics, Trishula Therapeutics, Vaxcyte and Vera Therapeutics.  He was formerly on boards at Aurinia, CRISPR Therapeutics, Cytos, Kesios, Facet and Somaxon. Kurt holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and Economics and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. 

Clinical Advisor

Victor A. Levin, MD

Dr. Levin received his M.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and completed his residency in neurology and NINDS fellowship programs at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to residency, he was Staff Associate in the Experimental Therapeutics Branch at the NCI. A world-renown expert in brain tumor research and treatment, he is currently Emeritus Professor of Neuro-Oncology at The UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and a past Chairman of the Department of Neuro-Oncology and Director of the Multidisciplinary Brain Tumor Center. He is also a Clinical Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, UCSF Medical School. Dr. Levin has authored more than 380 publications including the book, Cancer in the Nervous System, in his 50-year research career.

Prior to 1988, Dr. Levin was a professor at UCSF in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Chief of the Neuro-Oncology Service of the Brain Tumor Research Center. He is also the founder and first president (1995-97) of the Society for Neuro-Oncology.

Dr. Levin is widely respected for pharmacokinetics studies of anticancer drugs in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid, experimental and clinical studies of chemotherapy during radiation therapy, chemotherapy regimens for the treatment of gliomas, and studies of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for childhood medulloblastoma and ependymoma. He has had developed combination chemotherapy and chemoradiation treatments that reflected translation from laboratory to clinic that were successful in clinical trials and investigation. He also directed the first National Cooperative Drug Discovery Group program to develop inhibitors of the protein tyrosine kinase domain of c-Src between 1983 and 2000.

Howard Colman, MD, PhD

Chairman, Orbus Clinical Advisory Board

Dr. Colman received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Washington University School of
Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed his fellowship in Neuro-Oncology at the UT MD
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and is board-certified in Neurology and Neuro-
Oncology. Currently, he holds the position of Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Chair of Neuro-
Oncology and serves as a Professor in the Departments of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and
Internal Medicine (Oncology) at the University of Utah.

A distinguished expert in brain tumor research and treatment, Dr. Colman is an investigator at
the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) and Co-Leader of both the Experimental Therapeutics
Program and the Neurologic Cancers Center at HCI. He has also served as the US lead
investigator for the GBM AGILE International Adaptive Trial Protocol.

Dr. Colman's clinical interests focus on the treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors, as
well as the diagnosis and management of neurologic complications of cancer. His research
spans both clinical and laboratory domains, with a particular emphasis on developing and
testing new therapies for brain tumors. In the laboratory, he investigates molecular markers of
prognosis and treatment response in brain tumors, as well as the role of tumor stem cells in the
development and treatment resistance of brain tumors.

Throughout his career, Dr. Colman has been actively involved in numerous brain tumor clinical
trials and grants, serving as Principal Investigator and co-investigator. He is the HCI Principal
Investigator for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology cooperative group, Vice-Chair of the
Neuro-Oncology Committee for Alliance, and is a past member of the Alliance Board of
Directors. His expertise has led to his appointment to various committees including the College
of American Pathologists Committee for Evidence-Based Guidelines on Diagnostic Testing for
Diffuse Gliomas.

Dr. Colman is an Associate Editor for the journal Neuro-Oncology and on the editorial board for
Neuro-Oncology Practice. Dr. Colman has made significant contributions to the field, authoring
more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles, along with numerous book chapters and
abstracts. His leadership extends to various professional organizations, including the American
Society of Clinical Oncology, the Society for Neuro-Oncology, and the American Association for
Cancer Research.