Leadership
Florence Séjourné
Chief Executive Officer
Florence joined Da Volterra as chief executive officer in the summer of 2008. She has built the company strategy, management team and executed the development plan since then. Prior to Da Volterra, Florence spent 11 years co-founding and developing Genfit as CBO and COO (Euronext GNFT), a leading European biotech company in the field of metabolic and inflammatory diseases with a particular focus on liver and GI (NASH). Florence has thus the experience of successful entrepreneurial adventures and the capacity to set up and lead a highly professional organization from early research drug discovery to late-stage clinical development and market access. Florence was trained in France (Mines Paritech, Biotechnology Major) and holds an MS in Pharmaceutics & Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
As Da Volterra’s CEO, Florence has been active in contributing to various groups in Europe and in the USA these last years on creative business models and incentives to face the economic issues of innovation in the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and bacterial infections. She initiated the BEAM Alliance, which represents more 50 European biopharmaceutical companies involved in antimicrobial resistance from 14 countries. The BEAM Alliance objectives are to collaborate with the existing community of stakeholders dedicated to implementing tangible strategies and give its members a unique voice as small & medium companies, to propose and support policies and incentives in antimicrobial research and development in Europe.
Jean De Gunzburg, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Jean graduated from “Ecole Agronomique de Paris” before becoming a molecular and cell biologist who after a highly successful academic carrier decided to devote his experience and know-how to the development of Da Volterra.
After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Paris 7 for work performed at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, Jean continued his training by a postdoctoral stay at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (Cambridge). He became in 1988 Research Director at the CNRS and headed the Laboratory for Signal Transduction and Oncogenesis of Inserm at the Institut Curie in Paris until mid-2005. He has published over 70 articles in international journals in fields ranging from Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to Cell biology. Jean, as a seasoned scientist, brings to Da Volterra his wide expertise for conducting R&D programs, understanding finely at the molecular level diseases as well as drugs mode of action, developing adequate in vitro assays to model in vivo situations, optimizing both chemical and molecular analytical tools and biomarkers, and establishing in vivo proof of concept studies. Jean heads the R&D efforts of Da Volterra in close synergy with Antoine Andremont and Annie Ducher.
Annie Ducher, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Annie joined Da Volterra as Chief Medical Officer in the summer of 2010. Annie is a graduate MD from University of Paris V, and MS in “Methodology and Assessment of the Development of Drugs” with Pr Alexandre (Chairman of French & European Drug Committee). Her expertise field is the clinical development of antimicrobials and the strategy of registration. Annie started her career at the French Regulatory Agency (AFSSAPS), as Manager of anti-infective working group. She then had various responsibilities as consultant or senior director in anti-infective development for or in several companies (Centocor, Aventis, SB, GSK, Novexel) in France and in the UK. In total, she had the opportunity to oversee at least 10 clinical programs in all development phases of antimicrobials and sepsis products. From 1989 to 2005, Annie continued to be a part-time Hospital practitioner in the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit of Pr. Rozenbaum in Paris and has therefore remained deeply connected to patient care as well as drug development.
Karine Bertrand
Chief Technical Officer
Karine graduated from ESPCI ParisTech (“Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles”) before obtaining her Ph.D in medicinal and organic chemistry from the University of Lille. She started her career at UCB before joining the leading European biopharmaceutical company, Genfit, from its inception. She has held several management positions as Director R&D Chemistry, CMC Development, Strategic Planning and Program Management, and EVP, Corporate Development. With her broad understanding of the healthcare industry environment, Karine brings to Da Volterra her high operational and technical expertise in research and development of therapeutic products, including her skills in discovering, developing and executing product decisions, and the definition and implementation of product roadmaps and go-to-market strategies.
Stéphane Postic
Chief Financial Officer
Stéphane, business graduate from the EM Lyon University, has held several financial management positions in large international distribution companies such as Pinault-Printemps-Redoute and Carrefour. He has been responsible for financial reporting and management of several business units in France and in the UK and has gained solid experience in profit centre management. Since April 2002, he had supervised the administrative and financial teams at Genfit and managed the Financial and Business Control, General Administration, Human Resources and Corporate Reporting functions, in close collaboration with the CEO and COO. In charge of the IPO of Genfit in 2006, he gained a strong experience in biotech financing. Working part-time as CFO of Da Volterra, Stephane brings both his high technical expertise in finance and corporate administration and his strategic advice to the CEO.
Pierre-Alain Bandinelli
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Business Officer
Pierre-Alain joined Da Volterra’s team in late 2009 after graduating from the “Ecole Polytechnique” and “Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris” with majors in biology and biotechnology management. He previously worked in Dr. Elisseeff’s team in Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, USA) on innovative tissue engineering techniques to heal cartilage defects. He is today Chief Business Officer at Da Volterra, and takes an active part in identifying and setting up the company’s partnerships, grant consortia, and coordinates IP portfolio management, market intelligence and strategic analysis at Da Volterra.
Pr. Antoine Andremont, MD, PhD
Co-Founder and President of the Scientific Board
Professor Antoine Andremont is amongst the leading international experts in the field focused on the consequences of antibiotherapies on the evolution of bacterial resistance and on the occurrence of nosocomial infections. He is the author of over 140 international publications and has filed 5 patents dealing with mechanisms of resistance. Pr. Antoine Andremont is also part of the WHO Advisory Group on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR) and the EU Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) as an expert and a scientific advisor.
Primarily trained as a pediatrician and microbiologist, both in France and in the USA, he acted as medical microbiologist at the Institut Gustave Roussy, moved as Professor at the School of Pharmacy of University of Paris XI, and then joined University of Paris VII Denis Diderot Medical school and still leads there a research group focusing on the emergence of bacterial resistance in the commensal flora. At the medical level, Pr. Antoine Andremont heads the clinical bacteriology laboratory of the Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris, being confronted daily with the continuous rise in bacterial resistance and the consecutive difficulties to treat infected patients. Co-Founder of Da Volterra, the expertise of Pr. Andremont, with a long tradition in the evaluation of innovative treatments of infectious diseases, is a major success factor of the company products positioning and development strategies towards patient needs.
Pr. Mark Wilcox, MD, PhD
Professor Mark Wilcox is the Lead on Clostridium difficile for the Public Health England (PHE). He is a Consultant Microbiologist, Head of Microbiology and Academic Lead of Pathology at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTHT), Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Leeds (Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine). He has formerly been the Director of Infection Prevention (4 years), Infection Control Doctor (8 years) and Clinical Director of Pathology (6 years) at LTHT.
Pr. Thomas Louie, MD
Dr. Thomas J. Louie, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine in the department of medicine and microbiology-immunology & infectious diseases at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. He serves as an Infection Prevention & Control officer at Alberta Health Services and as a Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control for NE Community Portfolio of Calgary Health Region. His main area of research is hospital epidemiology, specifically, ecology of nosocomial gram-negative bacilli in patients receiving third generation Cephalosporins. He also has research interests in evolution of control policies regarding multi-antibiotic resistant organisms and community infection control needs and processes.
Pr. Oliver Cornely, MD
Oliver Cornely is Professor of Internal Medicine and Attending Physician at the 1st Department of Internal Medicine, and Medical Director of the Center of Clinical Trials (ZKS) at the Medical Faculty, both located at the Uniklinik Köln, Cologne, Germany. Dr. Cornely’s research interests include invasive fungal diseases in haematology/oncology and in the ICU setting and he is also a clinical infectious diseases consultant at the University Hospital of Cologne.
Pr. Yehuda Carmeli, MD, PhD
Professor Yehuda Carmeli is the chief of the Division of Epidemiology, National Center for Antibiotic Resistance, and a Senior Staff physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Tel Aviv Medical Center. He is also on the research staff at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Pr. France Mentré, PhD
France Mentré is a biomedical expert in Public health and Pharmacology & Toxicology. Her researches are focused on biostatistical modelling and pharmacometrics for more than 25 years. Since 2000, France Mentré is a Professor of Biostatistics at University Paris Diderot, School of Medicine.
Pr. Jennifer Dressmann, PhD
Professor Jennifer Dressman is teaching Pharmaceutical Technology at J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. She is expert in predictive models for the delivery of drugs via the gastrointestinal tract. Specialist in gastroenterological physiology and drug delivery/absorption in the GI tract, Pr. Dressman advises Da Volterra on the development and testing of colonic drug delivery systems.
Pr. Stephen Harbarth, MD
Professor Stephan Harbarth, Chief of the Prevention Unit for Nosocomial Infections of the Geneva Hospital, is a distinguished infectious diseases specialist and hospital epidemiologist who has published more than 40 original articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Pr. Ed Kuijper, MD, PhD
Dr. Ed Kuijper is an infectious diseases specialist. He is Head of the Department of Experimental Microbiology at the Leiden University Medical Center and Head of the National Reference Laboratory of Clostridium difficile. His research focuses on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Clostridium difficile. He serves as the chairman of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) Study Group for Clostridium difficile and has made presentations on behalf of the study group at numerous scientific meetings. Dr. Kuijper is a Co-author of the ESCMID Clostridium difficile treatment guidance document
Pr. Marc Bonten, MD, PhD
Marc Bonten is head of the Department of Medical Microbiology and leading the research group of infectious Disease Epidemiology of the Julius Center of Health Sciences and Primary Care, both at the UMC Utrecht, where he is professor of molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases. His experience covers the full range of epidemiologic study designs including clinical trials, cohorts, case-control studies and mathematical modelling to study antibiotic resistance and infection prevention. He is also the Scientific Director of the research theme “Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance” of the Netherlands Centre for One Health and the chairman of the focus area Infection & Immunity at the UMC Utrecht, and board member of the Netherlands Antibiotic Development Platform.
Dr. Renaud Buffet, MD
Dr. Renaud Buffet is a researcher at the Saint-Louis Hospital (Paris, France) and a consultant in Translational and Clinical Research in Onco-hematology and Immunotherapy. He also has extensive experience in clinical development in the United States and Europe, including immune checkpoint inhibitors’ Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical study design.
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