Expanding the life-changing benefits of cell therapies

Jeroen is a co-founder of Orca Bio and serves as President, overseeing the operational activities across all company functions. Before joining Orca Bio, Jeroen was the head of Merck KGaA’s innovation center in Silicon Valley, where he was responsible for shaping and onboarding science and technology opportunities from universities and emerging biotech companies across Merck KGaA’s pharma and life science sectors. Prior to this, Jeroen held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in Johnson & Johnson’s Supply Chain group, most recently as director, worldwide engineering and technical operations, overseeing the EMEA portfolio. Jeroen started his career as a researcher at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He holds a master’s and Ph.D. in computer science engineering from Ghent University. He was a Gustave Boël-Sofina Fellow and also holds a master’s degree in management from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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Nate is a co-founder of Orca Bio and holds the position of Chief Executive Officer. He is one of the inventors of Orca-Q, a high-precision cell therapy for patients with high-risk blood disease. Prior to Orca Bio, Nathaniel was a Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Postdoctoral Scholar in the Irving Weissman laboratory at Stanford University. He holds a PhD in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and bachelor’s degrees in biological sciences and mathematics from Stanford University. Nate has several publications in peer-reviewed journals, as well as patents and patent applications. He currently serves on the board of the ML4 Foundation.
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Allison brings deep experience as a legal and operations leader in the life sciences industry, with a focus on translating complex legal and regulatory challenges into clear, strategic solutions. Prior to joining Orca Bio, Allison served as the Chief Administrative Officer at Kronos Bio, where she oversaw a broad portfolio including legal, HR, facilities, IT and compliance. She also held senior legal roles at Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Bristol Myers Squibb, advising on product development, commercialization and regulatory strategy. Allison began her legal career in private practice, representing life sciences companies in litigation and investigations.
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With extensive experience spanning over 30 years in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, Steve specializes in the commercialization of cell and gene therapies, focusing on cancer and rare diseases. Prior to joining Orca Bio as Chief Commercial Officer, Steve served as the Senior Vice President, Global Cell Therapy Commercial Development at Legend Biotech.There, he led global commercial development efforts for multiple myeloma therapies, creating market strategies, aligning access plans, and building operational models for the company’s portfolio of CAR-T therapies. Prior to Legend Biotech, Gavel led U.S. commercial strategy and development at Celgene (now Bristol Myers Squibb). Before then, he held commercial roles of increasing seniority at companies including Millennium Pharmaceuticals, IMS Health, West Pharmaceutical Services and Discovery Labs.
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Colm has been successfully building and running high-tech factories in Europe, US, and Asia for over 20 years. Since 2016, Colm has led the engineering team at Orca Bio, developing automation for the next generation cell sorting technology. Prior to Orca, he founded Alkimos Technology, to support clients by bringing products from concept to volume production for a variety of companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500. Prior to founding Alkimos, Colm held various management and engineering roles in Silicon Valley and Europe. Colm holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of South Wales.
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Scott joined Orca Bio in 2018 and leads clinical development for the company. Scott has 13 years of research and development in the fields of oncology and malignant hematology. Prior to joining Orca, Scott was most recently a Medical Director at Genentech in early clinical development (oncology) where he led numerous clinical programs evaluating T cell-directing bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates for lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Prior to that, Scott was a Resident and Fellow in hematology and oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He later served as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford, treating patients in the hematology clinic at the Palo Alto VA Hospital and performing research on acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Scott received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Birmingham-Southern College followed by an MD and a PhD in immunology from Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.
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Josh Murray leads finance, strategy and investor relations at Orca Bio. Prior to joining Orca Bio, Josh spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division, where he advised a wide array of biotechnology and life sciences companies. Josh currently serves on the board of Corcept Therapeutics. He received an AB in History and Economics from Harvard College.
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Lauren leads quality for Orca Bio. Lauren has been in the biotech industry for over 18 years with experience in small molecule, large molecule therapies including cell and gene therapies. Most recently, Lauren worked with Catalent where she was the Vice President of Quality for Cell and Gene Therapy and Biologics and supported the development and launch of numerous therapies. Lauren has a master’s degree and a B.S. in Biology with a focus on Microbiology from the University of Akron. Lauren currently sits on the board (compliance chair) for Axess Pointe-HRSA regulated community health centers.
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Jesus has over twenty years of biotech industry experience leading HR at companies that have undergone accelerated growth in preparing for commercialization and supporting product launches. Before joining Orca Bio, Jesus held HR leadership roles driving the build-out and scaling of companies including teams at Avanir, Kite Pharma, Mirati Therapeutics and most recently at Reneo Pharmaceuticals. Jesus holds degrees in Criminology and Psychology from the University of California, Irvine.
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