Leadership

Cyril Konto, M.D. 

President and Chief Executive Officer

Cyril Konto, M.D. has served as Chief Medical Officer since joining Ichnos and as the company’s Chief Executive Officer since May 2021. Previously, Cyril was Vice President of Clinical Development at Allogene Therapeutics, a spinoff from Pfizer, where he pioneered development of allogeneic CAR T-cell therapies. At Pfizer, he was Executive Director of Early Immuno-oncology Clinical Development. He began his industry career at Bristol Myers Squibb, first in medical affairs, and then in late-stage clinical development as clinical lead for the YERVOY® (ipilimumab) melanoma program. An oncologist by training, Cyril received his medical degree from University René Descartes in Paris and began practicing medicine at Pierre and Marie Curie University, where he held both clinical and academic positions.

Roberto Giovannini, Ph.D.

Chief Process and Manufacturing Officer

Roberto Giovannini, Ph.D., is responsible for leading CMC development at Ichnos Sciences. Roberto has more than 20 years of combined pharmaceutical and academic experience in the biotech sector with a focus on process development, covering all aspects of process development and scale-up. Previously, Roberto held multiple positions at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer Ingelheim, leading chemistry, manufacturing, and control (CMC) development for early- to late-stage development programs. Earlier in his career as a scientist, Roberto was at Bayer HealthCare, where he was in charge of process development for new therapeutics. He has a Ph.D. in purification of proteins from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Geneva.

Patricia Jaquet

Vice President, Global Head of Human Resources

Patricia Jaquet joined Ichnos Sciences in June 2019 as Head of Human Resources for Switzerland and now oversees the function globally. With more than 20 years of experience in Human Resources, Patricia’s responsibilities at Ichnos include providing strategic and operational support to enable employees to give the best of themselves and contribute to the development of new therapies for cancer patients. Prior to Ichnos, she worked at Covance Central Laboratory Services where she held roles of increasing responsibilities in Geneva & Zurich (Switzerland), Indianapolis (USA), Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Singapore. During her career, Patricia has worked across numerous areas of Human Resources, including strategic HR, organizational development, talent management, employee relations, compensation and benefits, talent acquisition and training & development. She holds a master’s degree in Psychology and a certification in Labor law.

Ashok Marín

General Counsel

Ashok Marín, Esq., is a skilled attorney with more than 20 years of legal experience in the life sciences and oncology industries. He provides legal counsel as part of Ichnos’ senior leadership team and contributes to the company’s strategic development. Ashok possesses extensive knowledge of capital markets, business development and licensing, clinical development, regulatory and product commercialization. Prior to joining Ichnos, Ashok served as Chief Legal Officer of Rafael Holdings and as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Privacy Officer at Immunomedics, where he helped launch the novel antibody-drug conjugate Trodelvy^® and provided key legal support for the company’s eventual acquisition by Gilead Sciences. Ashok is a graduate of Fordham College and Fordham University School of Law.

Lida Pacaud, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

Lida Pacaud, M.D. is an accomplished physician and expert in oncology drug development. She has served as medical lead for clinical development strategies and execution of phase one to phase three programs. She has successfully delivered clearance of several Investigational New Drug applications for first-in-human CAR-T cell programs and has extensive experience with health authority interactions for marketing authorization submissions and approvals.

Prior to joining Ichnos, Lida served as Vice President, Head of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Legend Biotech where she led the Janssen J&J partnership for global development of CARVYKTI (BCMA CAR-T) and established the company’s clinical capabilities for early portfolio pipelines (except China territory).

She also previously worked on development of KYMRIAH (CD19 CAR-T) and AFINITOR (mTOR kinase inhibitor) at Novartis and AVASTIN (VEGF inhibitor mAb) at Hoffman la Roche.

Lida received her medical degree and a certification in pediatrics from Tbilisi State Medical University in Georgia and served as a clinical research physician and investigator at Robert-Debré Hospital in Paris.

Michael D. Price

Chief Financial Officer

Michael Price serves as our Chief Financial Officer and has more than 25 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience. Prior to joining Ichnos, he held the position of Executive Vice President and CFO at Akcea Therapeutics, Inc., where he helped manage all aspects of the business and worked closely with the executive team and independent directors on the Ionis Pharmaceuticals takeover. Prior to Akcea, Michael served as CFO at Novelion Therapeutics, Noven Pharmaceuticals, and Bentley Pharmaceuticals. He is a CPA and began his career with Price Waterhouse, now PWC.

Michael received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Auburn University and his Master of Business Administration degree from Florida State University.

Eugene Zhukovsky, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer

Eugene Zhukovsky, Ph.D. is a renowned expert in the field of biotechnology, with over 25 years of international experience in the research and development of novel immuno-oncology therapies. His background includes work in discovery, antibody engineering and translational sciences, and he has successfully built drug discovery platforms.

In addition to Dr. Zhukovsky’s scientific expertise, he has demonstrated extensive leadership skills while serving as an executive at several biopharmaceutical companies and he was a major contributor to the development of a product approved for a hematologic malignancy. Prior to joining Ichnos Sciences, Dr. Zhukovsky was the CSO at Affimed, where he led the advancement of candidates from discovery through clinical development. As the Chief Technology Officer at Go Therapeutics, he created a T Cell Engagement platform to enable the leveraging of the company’s unique cancer cell-targeting antibodies. He also served as the CSO at Biomunex Pharmaceuticals, where he focused on immuno-oncology and T cell engagers based on their bispecific antibody platform.

Dr. Zhukovsky was a co-founder and partner at ZM Scientific, and he has published extensively in scientific journals. He is listed as a co-inventor of more than 15 granted patents and patent applications, including several related to the optimization of antibodies targeting CD3, CD19, CD33, and CD40. Dr. Zhukovsky earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Genentech.