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SAB & MANAGEMENT

CMO, CSO & Scientific Advisory Board

Prof Gemma Figtree

MBBS (Hons1) Sydney DPhil Oxford.

Prokardia Chief Medical Officer

  • Professor in Medicine at the University of Sydney and interventional cardiologist at the Royal North Shore Hospital and was a Rhodes Scholar Oxford in the field of oxidative signalling and translational cardiovascular research. 

  • She is committed to identifying those at highest risk of adverse outcome, and discovering novel therapies to prevent and treat events and her discoveries have been published in leading journals, Lancet, European Heart Journal, JACC and Circulation, with >190 peer-reviewed publications. 

  • Gemma is a principal investigator on grants from NHMRC, the Heart Foundation, Heart Research Australia, Sydney Medical Foundation and she is the Head of the Australian Cardio Vascular Alliance and has over $18.5 million in grants.

  • Gemma is personally supported by a NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship, and was awarded the NHMRC Excellence Award for top ranked Practitioner Fellow in 2018. She was awarded the NSW Ministerial Award for Cardiovascular Excellence in 2019.

Prof Michael Kassiou

BSc (Hons) PhD UNSW
Prokardia Chief Scientific Officer

  • Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Academic Director of the Drug Discovery Initiative.

  • Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Royal Society of Chemistry

  • In 2017 he was awarded the Adrien Albert Award, the most prestigious prize in the field of Medicinal Chemistry in Australasia and the Vice-Chancellor’s award for outstanding research engagement and innovation.

  • Michael has over 250 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals such as Nature Reviews Neurology, Nature Reviews, Chemistry and Nature Protocols, and has received over $35 million in research funding.

  • Michael is supported by an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship and is a co-founder of 3 start-up biotech companies. 

Prof Euan A. Ashley

MBBS (Hons1) Glasgow; PhD Oxford.
Associate Dean, School of Medicine, Stanford University.

  • Professor of Genomics and Precision Health and Professor of Medicine, Genetics and Biomedical Data Science.

  • In 2010, he led the team that carried out the first clinical interpretation of a human genome. The article became one of the most cited in clinical medicine that year and was later featured in the Genome Exhibition at the Smithsonian in DC.

  • He was a recipient of the National Innovation Award from the American Heart Association and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award and in 2018 was awarded the American Heart Association Medal of Honor for Genomic and Precision Medicine. 

  • Co-founder of three companies: Personalis Inc ($PSNL), Deepcell Inc, and SVExa Inc. He was recognized by the Obama White House for his contributions to Personalized Medicine.

Prof Charalambos Antoniades

MD (Hons) PhD Athens
Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, the University of Oxford.

  • Director, Acute Vascular Imaging Centre and Deputy Head, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

  • British Heart Foundation Senior Clinical Fellow and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist.

  • The Antoniades Group studies the interplay between adipose tissue and the cardiovascular system. Using translational approaches, the Group develops novel diagnostic tools for the early detection of cardiovascular diseases and risk stratification. The Group also work towards the discovery of new therapeutic targets for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Company Management & Advisors

Rob Antulov

BEng (Hons), MBA

Chairman

  • Rob is an experienced corporate adviser in the technology and digital sectors. He has over 30 years' experience in these sectors, and has participated in over 40 corporate transactions, as an adviser, executive, entrepreneur or Director. 

  • Director of Strategy at Fairfax Media 

  • Previously held senior marketing and strategy executive roles with Coca-Cola, and was a strategy consultant with Booz & Co.

  • He has extensive Board experience across a range of early stage, later stage and publicly listed technology companies, and has over 20 years' Board experience with medical research, arts and social enterprise for-purpose organisations. 

Jay Hennock

BEc
Managing Director

  • Over 25 years in corporate advisory services with Citibank and Bank of America.

  • Co-founded Access Systems, sold to International Gaming Technology Inc. 

  • Co-founded and was CFO of Nuon Therapeutics Inc. 

  • Founder and CEO of Bioatrix Pty Ltd. 

  • Sold Bioatrix to ZZ Biotech LLC and is currently a Director of ZZ Biotech and Novapep. 

Josh Funder

BSc, LLB (Hons), DPhil Oxford.
Director

  • Financial services, funds management and venture capital. Multi sector expertise in finance, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, international research, business experience in Europe, USA and Australasia. 

  • CEO and Managing Director of Household Capital.

  • Previously, Partner at GBS Ventures

  • Director of Elastagen, Spinifex, Celladon Corporation, Nuon Therapeutics and Opal Therapeutics.

Evan Siegel

BS, MS, M Phil, PhD

Strategy, Regs, Tox and CMC Consultant

  • CEO and President of Ground Zero Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

  • Principal Regulatory Scientist & Director Regulatory Services , Quintiles, Inc.

  • Director/Sr. Director, Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Compliance, Syntex, Inc. and Astra Inc.

  • Reviewing Toxicologist, US FDA; Supervising Toxicologist, California Food and Drug Branch.

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