Advisory Board
The advisory board of Harlem Biospace — composed of the region’s leading professionals in life-science investment, industry, and technology licensing — will guide our activities in the future and participate in the selection of members into the incubator space.
Philippe Chambon, MD-Ph.D. – Managing Director, New Leaf Venture Partners
Philippe Chambon is a Managing Director and founder of New Leaf Venture Partners, a spin-off from The Sprout Group. He invests broadly in healthcare technology companies and he currently sits on the boards of Karos Pharmaceuticals, VaxInnate Corporation, Truveris, Inc., Principia Biopharma, and Treato Pharma. Past representative investments include Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (AUXL), Cephalon, ePocrates (EPOC, acquired by athenahealth), NxStage Medical (NXTM), Phase Forward (PFWD, acquired by Oracle), and Spotfire (acquired by Tibco).
Previously, Philippe served as Manager in the Healthcare Practice of The Boston Consulting Group and as Director of New Product Management for Sandoz Pharmaceutical. Philippe did graduate research in molecular immunology at The Pasteur Institute and earned a MD-Ph.D. from the University of Paris along with an MBA from Columbia University in New York.
Albert Hwang, MD, MBA – Investment Banker
Albert is is an investment banker with 15 years of experience in capital raising and M&A advisory. His clients include large and small cap biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to a career in investment banking, Albert was trained as a physician, specializing in orthopedic surgery.
Chau Khuong, MPH – Partner, Private Equity Team, OrbiMed
Chau joined OrbiMed Advisors in 2003 and is a Partner on the Private Equity team. Previously, Chau was responsible for operations and business development at the start-up Veritas Medicine, Inc. and has conducted research at the Yale School of Medicine and at Massachusetts General Hospital. At OrbiMed, Chau played an active role in investments in Arius Research, Inc. (acquired by Roche in 2008), Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson, Inc., in 2005), Cerexa, Inc. (acquired by Forest Laboratories, Inc., in 2007), Adiana, Inc. (acquired by Cytyc Corporation in 2007), Avanir (NASDAQ: AVNR), and Biodel, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOD).
He currently serves as Director or Observer on the Corporate Boards at Rempex, Cerapedics, Glaukos, Intercept Pharma (NASDAQ: ICPT), Sonendo, and Pieris AG. Chau holds a B.S. in molecular biology with a concentration in biotechnology and an M.P.H. with a concentration in infectious diseases, both from Yale University.
Lance Ladic, Ph.D. – Director, Strategic Innovation, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics
Lance’s primary responsibility is scouting, evaluating, and leading collaborative innovation projects related to emerging technologies. Lance participates in several external activities, such as ISO TC 229 (Nanotechnology), as well as serving on University Industrial Advisory Boards for Bioengineering. Prior to joining Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, he worked for both Siemens Corporate Technology and GE Healthcare. His interests and expertise are diverse and include in vitro diagnostics, in vivo imaging, advanced informatics/IT, and mobile health technologies. Lance has a B.Sc. in genetics/cell biology and an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in neurophysiology and computer science, both from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Ron Newbold, Ph.D. – Vice President, Strategic Research Partnerships within External R&D Innovation, Pfizer
Ron is Vice President, Strategic Research Partnerships within External R&D Innovation (ERDI) at Pfizer. Ron and his group support established Worldwide Research & Development (WRD) alliances with numerous universities and biotechnology companies. Ron has significant experience archestrating partnerships within the Life Sciences field from his previous work in large Pharma as well as entrepreneurial experience from work with 3 early-stage biotech companies.
After receiving his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Rochester and a postdoctoral fellowship with Nobel Laureate E.J. Corey at Harvard University, he joined Merck where he founded and led their Strategic Research Initiatives licensing team from 1996-2004. Ron earned an MBA from Columbia Business School in 2003. Following 14 years with Merck, Ron led business development for Sentigen Biosciences (founded by 2004 Nobel Laureate Richard Axel of Columbia University); Celldex Therapeutics (an Abingworth company); and Auspex Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Chief Business Officer, prior to joining Pfizer in 2010.
Frank Rimalovski, MBA – Managing Director, NYU Innovation Venture Fund
Frank is managing director of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund, a $20 million seed-stage venture fund formed exclusively to invest in startups founded by and/or built upon technologies and intellectual property developed by NYU students, faculty, and researchers. He is also the founder and Executive Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute, which was formed to create a pan-University entrepreneurial ecosystem to encourage and support the development of new ventures founded by NYU students, faculty, and researchers.
Frank brings 20 years of experience in venture capital, early-stage investing, spinouts, and technology commercialization. He was a founding partner of New Venture Partners, the leading global venture capital firm dedicated to funding technology spinouts based on corporate innovations. He joined New Venture Partners from Lucent, where he was a director and entrepreneur-in-residence within Lucent’s New Ventures Group. For six years prior, he held various positions in marketing, business development, and product management in Silicon Valley at JavaSoft/Sun Microsystems, Apple, and NeXT. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker in the mergers and acquisitions groups of Bear Stearns and Rodman & Renshaw. Frank holds a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University and a MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.