Scientific
Advisory Board

Dr. David Gilham
Executive Scientific Advisor
Dr. David Gilham first joined Celyad Oncology in April 2016 as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. As of September 1, 2016, David became Vice-President R&D, heading the implementation of our research and development strategy for our programs in immuno-oncology.

Prior to joining Celyad Oncology, David was a Reader in the Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, UK and led the Clinical and Experimental Immunotherapy Group based within the Manchester Cancer Research Centre.

Mr. Gilham received his P h.D. in Molecular Pharmacology at the University of Dundee prior to moving to Bristol University in 1996 to work on CAR T cells with Professor Robert Hawkins. The group moved to Manchester in 1998 where his research activity has focused on engineering T cells for cancer therapy and developing the necessary pre-clinical studies to support translation of this therapy into Phase 1/2 clinical trials in Manchester.

Prof. Dr. Chiara Bonini
Vita-Salute San Raffaele University
Medical School
Her main research focus is the development, preclinical and clinical validation of cell and gene therapy approaches to treat cancer. She pioneered the clinical use of genetically engineered lymphocytes in the context of stem cell transplantation, leading to the first cell-based gene therapy product approved by EMA for oncologie diseases. Her group has extensive experience on cancer immunotherapy, genetic manipulation of T cells, including TCR/CAR gene transfer. In particular, she developed the TCR gene editing approach to completely and permanently redirect T cell specificity. An additional relevant activity of Bonini's Team is represented by the Immunomonitoring sub-Unit. This section of the lab is dedicated to the analyses of immunological correlates with clinical outcome in the context of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Prof. dr. Hans J Stauss
Director of Immunity & Transplantation,
University College London
Prof. dr. Hans J Stauss is Director of the University College Londen Institute of Immunity & Transplantation.

The main focus of his research is the analysis of antigen-specific T lymphocyte responses and the development of immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer, chronic infection, transplant rejection and autoimmune conditions. His group has been amongst the pioneering labs developing TCR gene therapy using conventional and regulatory T cells and developed strategies to improve the expression and function of therapeutic TCR. Additional activities are focussed on genetic engineering to regulate the metabolic activity of gene modified T cells, with the goal to enhance effector T cell differentiation and memory formation in vivo. The group uses the CRISPR technology to perform targeted gene editing to disrupt genes that might impair the function of therapeutic T cells.

Mr. Stauss holds a medical degree at the Medical School at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and obtained his PhD in cancer immunology at the University of Chicago and the University of California Berkley. After 7 years in the USA, he move to Londen to continue his research into cancer immunotherapy.

Prof. Dr. Henk M.W. Verheul
Professor of Medical Oncology,
Erasmus MC
Prof. Verheul brings extensive experience in clinical oncology and has been Principal Investigator in more than two dozen clinical trials. He is currently Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Prior to that, he was senior staff member, research coordinator and scientific director of the Oncology Center at the Department of Medical Oncology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Moreover, he has been Visiting Professor at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA, since 2009. Previous academic positions include Chair, Internal Medicine Division and Co-Scientific Director of the Cancer Center at VU Medisch Centrum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Prof. Verheul holds an MD from Medical School of Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and a PhD from the Department of Internal Medicine, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.