Our Company
Management
For the past 19 years, Dr. Vera has worked extensively on developing novel T cell therapies for clinical applications and has an extensive expertise in performing research in the field of adoptive T cell therapy. Dr. Vera has made several contributions in the field, specifically in the areas of developing and streamlining therapeutic candidates from the research bench to the clinic and from academia to industry.
Dr. Vera is a co-founder of Marker Therapeutics and AlloVir, and he has previously collaborated with Celgene and Bluebird Bio in developing novel CAR T cell therapies.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, Dr. Vera served as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Marker Therapeutics. Before joining Marker, Dr. Vera was Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. He is a co-investigator on several clinical trials for T cell therapy in both infectious disease and cancer. Dr. Vera has published more than 30 articles and is a named inventor on 13 published patents.
In recognition of his work, Dr. Vera has received several prestigious awards including the Idea Development Award from the Department of Defense and Mentored Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society. Dr. Vera attained his M.D. from the University El Bosque in Bogota, Colombia.
Monic Stuart is an experienced hematologist with over 20 years in clinical drug development. Most recently, Dr. Stuart served as interim Chief Medical Officer, Head of Clinical Development or Clinical Advisor for numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies worldwide, where she has developed clinical strategy including clinical development plans, Phase 1-3 study designs and protocol development for a variety of benign and malignant hematologic, solid tumor, and supportive care indications. In this capacity, she has helped to successfully execute an NDA, multiple INDs and breakthrough designation packages. Dr. Stuart previously served as Vice President of Clinical Development at Geron Corporation, where she spearheaded efforts to develop a telomerase inhibitor in myeloid malignancies. Before her role at Geron Corp., she worked at Genentech Inc. as a Senior Medical Director in the Oncology Division. During her time at Genentech, she served in leadership position for multiple early and late stage hematology/oncology programs. Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Stuart served as an attending physician in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Stanford University, where she led trials in myeloid malignancies. Dr Stuart received her M.D and B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her medical residency in internal medicine and fellowships in hematology and bone marrow transplantation at Stanford University. Dr. Stuart also holds a Master’s Degree from the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
Mary Newman is a Regulatory Affairs expert with a career spanning 35 years. She has led or overseen numerous early and late-stage development programs providing regulatory and development strategies for small molecules, biologics, and cell and gene therapies in a broad range of therapeutic areas with high unmet need particularly in rare disease, ophthalmology and oncology.
Ms. Newman was formerly the Chief Development Officer at Taysha Gene Therapies, a company focused on treating monogenic CNS diseases, overseeing program and development portfolio management, translational sciences, and development operations. Prior to that she was the Senior Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs at Astellas Gene Therapies (formerly Audentes Therapeutics) overseeing global regulatory strategic development, all primary regulatory agency interactions, and regulatory compliance for
Audentes’ development candidates. Prior to joining Audentes, Mary served as the Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at SARcode Bioscience Inc., an ophthalmology company where she oversaw the development of Xiidra® for the treatment of dry eye disease. She previously held various management positions, with increasing responsibility in Regulatory Affairs at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc., Berlex Inc. (now Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc.), and Sequus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (now Johnson & Johnson; Doxil®). While at BioMarin, Ms. Newman oversaw the development and approval of Kuvan® for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), Naglazyme® for mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) VI, and supported the final approval of Aldurazyme® for MPS I.
She is the Founder and CEO of Alchemy Development Partners, a regulatory consultancy that advises and provides development and regulatory strategies.
Ms. Newman’s Board memberships include Vedere II Inc., Chameleon Biosciences and Locana Biosciences. Mary holds a BS/MS in Physiology from Oregon State University
Edmund Cheung has more than twenty years of professional experience in the Human Resources field. Prior to joining Marker Therapeutics, Mr. Cheung served as Associate Vice President of Human Resources at Baylor Genetics where he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s HR strategies and functions. Previously, he held management and HR roles at Baker Hughes, a Global Fortune 500 energy technology and oil-field services company, and Houston Methodist Hospital, a leading Hospital group in Houston. Mr. Cheung earned his BA in Psychology at Baylor University, and an MBA from the University of Houston.
