Management & Scientific Leadership
Company Leadership
Thibaud Portal
Chief Operating Officer
Thibaud Portal
COO
Thibaud is a co-founder and serves as COO and acting CEO of Alys Pharmaceuticals, having previously co-founded and/or served as CEO of four of the comprising companies, Aldena Therapeutics, Graegis Pharmaceuticals, Granular Therapeutics and Klirna Biotech. Thibaud is a Venture Partner at Medicxi and has had an extended career in the dermatology space.
After obtaining his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Wayne State University in Michigan and his postdoctoral assignment at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, Thibaud went on to hold various roles in his 24 years at Galderma, including Global Head of Research and Global Head of Development Strategy and led multiple global approvals of dermatological drugs. He thereafter led the Prescription Medicines Global Business Unit of Galderma where he transformed the prescription pipeline, portfolio and capabilities to a biologics-able business in line with today's market requirements.
John Harris
Chief Innovation Officer
John Harris
Chief Innovation Officer
Dr. Harris is the Chief Innovation Officer at Alys Pharmaceuticals and has extensive experience in the field of dermatology. Dr. Harris is the founding Director of the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center, founding director of the Autoimmune Therapeutics Institute, and Professor and Chair in the Department of Dermatology at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, MA. Dr. Harris directs the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center at UMass Chan Medical School, which incorporates a specialty clinic for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with vitiligo, as well as a vitiligo research laboratory. Dr. Harris founded Vimela Therapeutics, Aldena Therapeutics, NIRA Biosciences, and Villaris Therapeutics.
He has authored multiple research publications and textbook chapters on vitiligo and other topics and serves on a number of advisory boards and committees, including the Dermatology Foundation, Skin of Color Society, Vitiligo Working Group, Vitiligo Research Foundation, National Alopecia Areata Foundation, American Academy of Dermatology and the New England Dermatology Society, among others.
Lars French
Acting Chief Medical Officer
Lars French
Acting Chief Medical Officer
Prof. French is Chief Medical Officer at Alys Pharmaceuticals. He is a clinician-scientist and the current professor and chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, Germany. Prof. French graduated from the University of Geneva and trained in internal medicine, basic research, and dermatology at the University of Geneva. In 2006 he was nominated as Louis-Jeantet Professor of Medicine at the University of Geneva, in 1999 he spent a year at the Department of Dermatology of the University of Pennsylvania, and between 2006 and 2018 he was professor and chairman of the Department of Dermatology of the Zurich University Hospital, Switzerland.
He is an expert in inflammatory skin diseases and author of over 320 original publications with an h-index of 54, over 13000 citations, and is ranked by Stanford University among the top 2% of scientists globally – all disciplines confounded. In 2012 he was awarded the Otto Naegeli Prize for the promotion of medical research, one of Switzerland’s most prestigious scientific awards.
Nicola De Francesco
Global Head of Finance
Nicola De Francesco
Global Head of Finance
Nicola is a co-founder and the Global Head of Finance for Alys Pharma. He co-founded Graegis Pharmaceuticals Ltd where he led finance, project management and procurement operations.
Prior to Graegis, Nicola was CFO for the Global Research and Development for Galderma where he enabled biologics capabilities transformation of the function. He then became CFO of the Prescription Medicines Global Business Unit of Galderma, which included leading project and portfolio management activities.
He began his career at Nestlé, part of the Mergers & Acquisitions internal practice, and then held several global finance strategic and operational responsibilities in Nutrition and Consumer goods businesses.
Nicola holds a master degree from HEC Lausanne with Finance & Marketing majors.
Scientific Program Leads
Carine Blanchard
Aldena – CSO & Program Leader
Carine Blanchard
Aldena – CSO & Program Leader
Dr. Carine Blanchard has the Chief Scientific Officer of Aldena Therapeutics for the last 2 years. She is an accomplished scientist recognized for her 20+ year contributions to the allergy and immunology field. Dr. Blanchard's academic journey includes a notable position as a faculty member at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the University of Cincinnati, where the medical and scientific communities have nurtured her passion for translational and molecular medicine. Holding a PhD in human biology from the University of Lyon, her academic foundation has been a cornerstone of her success in the industrial environment marked by 12 years in different roles at Nestlé Research, including running the Nestlé Scientific Advisory Board and a visiting scientist mandate at Imperial College London. Carine is an inventor of multiple patents leading to the development of commercial products.
Claire Bouix-Peter
Vimela/Aldena – COO & Program Leader
Claire Bouix-Peter
Vimela & Aldena – COO Program Leader
Claire serves as Chief Operating Officer for 3 Alys Pharmaceuticals companies: Aldena Therapeutics, Vimela Therapeutics and Klirna Biotech. Prior to joining Alys Pharmaceuticals, Claire spent over twenty years in industry at Galderma-Nestlé Skin Health, and Sanofi-Aventis in various R&D role including head of Medicinal Chemistry and CMC Lead with a focus on Dermatology and Aesthetics & Corrective areas. Claire has an extensive project leader experience and unique world class knowledge in topical administration. Claire received a MChem from University of Reading and Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Mulhouse, a PhD in organic chemistry from Université de Haute-Alsace and completed post-doctorate studies at Stanford University.
Orla Cunningham
Granular – CSO & Program Leader
Orla Cunningham
Granular – CSO & Program Leader
Following a postdoc in cancer cell biology, Orla returned to Ireland to establish Wyeth’s nascent antibody discovery & engineering group which was subsequently acquired by Pfizer. Throughout her career at Pfizer, Orla led multi-disciplinary project teams internally as well as academic collaborations with universities across Ireland & the UK. She has supported pre-clinical programs from conception through development, with a number of these molecules currently progressing through clinical trial. Before joining Granular Therapeutics as CSO, Orla was Senior Director of Pfizer’s biotherapeutic discovery & optimization group, sitting on the global leadership team. She has published and patented widely in the field of therapeutic antibody engineering.
Yann Dean
Klirna – CDO & Program Leader
Yann Dean
Klirna – CDO & Program Leader
Yann is a co-founder of Alys and Venture Advisor at Medicxi with long standing experience in designing, managing and raising capital for clinical drug development projects out of academia. Yann also serves as General Manager of xSeedD, a biopharma service company based in Geneva. Yann is a co-founder of Alys-comprising companies Aldena Therapeutics, Klirna Biotech and Vimela Therapeutics and serves as the CDO of Klirna Biotech. During his career, Yann has taken ten therapeutic monoclonal antibodies from discovery phase into clinical development and, to date, five of these molecules have secured licensing deals with major pharmaceutical companies.
Yann held various roles at NovImmune, a Geneva-based biotech, including head of the department of experimental biology and pharmacology. He has founded or co-founded a number of companies and headed the Eclosion Foundation, a life-sciences incubator in Geneva and xSeedD, a biotech company supporting early drug discovery programs.
Yann has a PhD from the University of Wales, College of Medicine and completed post-doctorate studies at the Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute. He has published several peer-reviewed scientific articles and is an inventor on multiple patents related to the validation of therapeutic targets and development of biological drugs.
Andrea Epperly
Nira – COO & Program Leader
Andrea Epperly
Nira – COO & Program Leader
Andrea brings more than 25 years of drug discovery and development experience to the company, primarily in the areas of immuno-dermatology, oncology and metabolic diseases. Prior to joining Alys, Andrea was President and CEO of Villaris Therapeutics, which was acquired by Incyte for up to $1 billion, and more recently President and CEO of Nira Biosciences and Vimela Therapeutics. She also previously held roles at Escalier Biociences where she was responsible for project leadership of preclinical and clinical-stage immunology-focused programs. She began her career at GlaxoSmithKline where she held positions of increasing responsibility in R&D and Corporate Development. Andrea received a PhD in chemistry from Virginia Tech.
Patrick Raboisson
Graegis – CDO & Program Leader
Patrick Raboisson
Graegis – CDO & Program Leader
Patrick is the CDO and program Leader of Graegis Pharmaceuticals. He is a drug development expert with over 25 years’ experience across discovery, development and registration in dermatology and neuroscience.
Prior to joining Graegis Pharmaceuticals, Patrick served as Head of Rx Strategic Programs at Galderma leading late-stage programs while managing and coaching Program Leaders working with early-stage programs, and before as Head of R&D Portfolio Management. Earlier in his career, Patrick led several CNS and Pain drug programs from early discovery to clinical development at AstraZeneca (Sweden).
Patrick earned a DDS degree and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Clermont France and conducted postdoctoral research at the INSERM Unit U161 in Paris.
Emmanuel Vial
Granular – CDO & Program Leader
Emmanuel Vial
Granular – CDO & Program Leader
Following a Ph.D. in cancer research in 2000 at the Ecole Normal Supérieure de Lyon in France, Emmanuel completed two post-doctoral fellowships at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and at the CNRS in Nice. His research focused on the mechanisms of tumor cell motility and cancer metastasis. He then joined the pharmaceutical industry in 2007 to lead pharmacology teams initially in oncology at Sanofi and Servier, then from 2012, in dermatology at Galderma. Emmanuel rapidly became global program lead at Galderma on multiple programs at preclinical and clinical stage of development. He joined Granular therapeutics in 2023 as Chief Development Officer. Emmanuel has published over 20 journal articles and is co-author of more than 10 published patents. In his different roles, he has supported for many years the transition of assets in dermatology and oncology from research to the clinic.
Co-founders and Scientific Leadership
John Harris
John Harris
Chief Innovation Officer
Dr. Harris is the Chief Innovation Officer at Alys Pharmaceuticals and has extensive experience in the field of dermatology. Dr. Harris is the founding Director of the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center, founding director of the Autoimmune Therapeutics Institute, and Professor and Chair in the Department of Dermatology at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, MA. Dr. Harris directs the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center at UMass Chan Medical School, which incorporates a specialty clinic for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with vitiligo, as well as a vitiligo research laboratory. Dr. Harris founded Vimela Therapeutics, Aldena Therapeutics, NIRA Biosciences, and Villaris Therapeutics.
He has authored multiple research publications and textbook chapters on vitiligo and other topics and serves on a number of advisory boards and committees, including the Dermatology Foundation, Skin of Color Society, Vitiligo Working Group, Vitiligo Research Foundation, National Alopecia Areata Foundation, American Academy of Dermatology and the New England Dermatology Society, among others.
Brian Kim
Brian Kim
Brian S. Kim, MD, MTR, FAAD is Vice Chair of Research, Department of Dermatology, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of the Mark Lebwohl Center for Neuroinflammation and Sensation. Dr. Kim is one of the top researchers worldwide in the study of patients with itch and other skin conditions. Dr. Kim was previously Co-Director, Center for the Study of Itch and Sensory Disorders, Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, and Associate Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine, Division of Dermatology in St. Louis, MO.
The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Dr. Kim most recently received the American Skin Association Research Achievement Award in Discovery in 2020 and the American Dermatological Association Young Leadership Award in 2019. He has published in many internationally recognized journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, immunity, JAMA Dermatology, European Respiratory Journal, Frontiers in Immunology, European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, Science, and Journal of Immunology.
Lars French
Lars French
Chief Medical Officer
Prof. French is Chief Medical Officer at Alys Pharmaceuticals. He is a clinician-scientist and the current professor and chairman of the Department of Dermatology at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich, Germany. Prof. French graduated from the University of Geneva and trained in internal medicine, basic research, and dermatology at the University of Geneva. In 2006 he was nominated as Louis-Jeantet Professor of Medicine at the University of Geneva, in 1999 he spent a year at the Department of Dermatology of the University of Pennsylvania, and between 2006 and 2018 he was professor and chairman of the Department of Dermatology of the Zurich University Hospital, Switzerland.
He is an expert in inflammatory skin diseases and author of over 320 original publications with an h-index of 54, over 13000 citations, and is ranked by Stanford University among the top 2% of scientists globally – all disciplines confounded. In 2012 he was awarded the Otto Naegeli Prize for the promotion of medical research, one of Switzerland’s most prestigious scientific awards.
Jonathan Silverberg
Jonathan Silverberg
Jonathan Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC. He is the Director of Clinical Research and Contact Dermatitis.
Dr. Silverberg's area of clinical subspecialty is inflammatory skin disease, particularly atopic and contact dermatitis. He has extensive experience in the advanced management of atopic dermatitis, hand eczema, chronic itch, psoriasis, hidradenitis and many other chronic inflammatory skin disorders. He is also a national expert in allergy patch testing, phototesting and photopatch testing.
Dr. Silverberg's research interests include drug development, clinical trial design, biomarkers, dermato-epidemiology, health services research, patient-reported outcomes, comorbidities and burden of itch and inflammatory skin disease and evidence-based dermatology. His publications include more than 600 peer-reviewed articles, abstracts and book chapters. He is also the author of the Clinical Management of Atopic Dermatitis handbook (2018).
Dr. Silverberg has also been a local, national and/or international principal investigator for numerous clinical trials for novel treatments in atopic dermatitis and other inflammatory disorders. He has been recognized with several honors, including the Young Leadership Award from the American Dermatological Association in 2017, Teacher of the Year Award in the department of dermatology in 2015, Outstanding Teacher's Award from the Feinberg School of Medicine in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and the inaugural Rajka Award from the International Society for Atopic Dermatitis in 2014. He is an associate editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, British Journal of Dermatology and Current Dermatology Reports. Dr. Silverberg is a member of the International Eczema Council, North American Contact Dermatitis Group the American Society of Contact Dermatitis. Dr. Silverberg is also the chair of the annual Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis global multidisciplinary conference.
Thibaud Portal
Thibaud Portal
Chief Operating Officer (Acting CEO)
Thibaud serves as Acting CEO of Alys Pharmaceuticals, having previously held the same position at two of the comprising companies, Aldena Therapeutics and Graegis Pharmaceuticals. Thibaud is a Venture Partner at Medicxi and has had an extended career in the dermatology space.
After obtaining his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Wayne State University in Michigan and his postdoctoral assignment at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, Thibaud went on to hold various roles in his 24 years at Galderma, including Global Head of Research and Global Head of Development Strategy and led multiple global approvals of dermatological drugs. He thereafter led the Prescription Medicines Global Business Unit of Galderma where he transformed the prescription pipeline, portfolio.
Craig Mello
Craig Mello
Dr. Craig Cameron Mello is the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine, Co-Director of the RNA Therapeutics Institute, and a Distinguished Professor at UMass Chan Medical School. He holds a joint appointment as an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Center. Dr. Mello is known for his research in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Z. Fire to discover RNA interference (RNAi), or the use of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) to induce gene silencing. Dr. Mello and Dr. Fire were co-awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work with RNAi in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans.
Mark Prausnitz
Mark Prausnitz
Mark Prausnitz is a Regents‘ Professor, the J. Erskine Love Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and director of the Center for Drug Design, Development and Delivery at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Prausnitz has co-founded eight start-up companies, including Aldena Therapeutics and Vimela Therapeutics, and has published over 325 peer-reviewed journal articles.
Mark R. Prausnitz earned a BS degree from Stanford University and PhD degree from MIT, both in chemical engineering. Dr. Prausnitz and colleagues carry out research on biophysical methods of drug delivery using microneedles, lasers, ionic liquids and other microdevices for transdermal, ocular and intracellular delivery of drugs and vaccines.
Eric Deutsch
Eric Deutsch
Eric Deutsch, MD, PhD is a Professor in Oncology and Radiotherapy at Université Paris-Saclay, a position he has held since 2010, Director of Inserm Molecular Radiotherapy and Novel therapeutic innovation UMR1030, a position he has held since 2012, and Chair of the Radiation Oncology Department at Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, a position he has held since 2012. Prof. Deutsch trained as a Radiation Oncologist at Paris-Diderot University. He gained a PhD degree in the fundamental basis of oncogenesis in 2003 at South Paris University XI and completed his training with a post-doctoral fellowship in the Radiation Oncology Department, at the University of Pennsylvania, United States.
Prof. Deutsch became a tenure-track and full-time cancer specialist at Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus in 2006. With a strong background in research, he leads several clinical trials translating innovative approaches into the clinic, namely in the field of radiation therapy and immunotherapies. He is currently Head of the RHU LYSAIRI Project and manages more than 150 people in clinic and research, under his leadership. Prof. Deutsch is a board member of the Gustave Roussy transfer office and is well versed in transfer, valorization and contracting aspects of research. He is also involved in the Early Drug Development Department (DITEP) at Gustave Roussy. Prof. Deutsch has contributed to over 250 peer-reviewed publications. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the ESTRO journal in Radiotherapy and Oncology. His field of expertise includes early clinical trials and phase I, macrophages and immunotherapy, radiomics and artificial intelligence, novel anticancer drugs, radiation biology, HPVs related tumors, combination with new drugs and radiotherapy.
Sunny Zhou
Sunny Zhou
Professor Zhaohui Sunny Zhou’s laboratory at Northeastern University in Boston applies protein chemistry, analysis and engineering to biology and medicine. One area of drug development is the conditional release and activation of therapeutics, such as by light (photomedicine), i.e., smart drugs. Sunny has served as a consultant or collaborator for over 20 biopharma companies on antibodies, enzymes and conjugated proteins; and an expert witness in over a dozen of intellectual property cases. He is also an editor of mAb and Antibody Therapeutics.
Anastasia Khvorova
Anastasia Khvorova
Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, has more than twenty years of experience developing oligonucleotide technology and therapeutics. She is a professor in the RNA Therapeutics Institute (RTI) and Program in Molecular Medicine at the UMass Chan Medical School (UMass Chan). Her lab brings together hardcore organic and oligonucleotide chemists, RNA biologists, pharmacologists, and bioinformaticians to develop novel approaches and solutions to understanding natural and therapeutic RNA trafficking and delivery. She established the RTI Nucleic Acid Chemistry Center, which provides expertise in RNA chemistry to labs within and outside UMass Chan, and is the only non-profit center in North America capable of synthesizing complex RNAs at scales necessary to support both in vitro and in vivo studies.
Dr Khvorova joined UMass Chan after several years in industry, during which she served as Chief Scientific Officer at lead biotech companies (Dharmacon, ThermoFisher; RXi Pharmaceuticals) and co-founded several startups. She served as director of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society from 2011 to 2018 and currently is director-at-large/scientific & research council chair of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.
Dr Khvorova is named as inventor on more than 150 patents and 300 patent applications, and she has authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, including seminal articles in Cell, Nature, and Nature Biotechnology (citation index exceeding 2000 per article) defining the field of RNAi drug design and development. Dr Khvorova is principal investigator on four major National Institutes of Health grants.
Jonny Finlay
Jonny Finlay
Jonny is a Biotech entrepreneur and founder with two decades of experience in biologics discovery and development in academia, government and pharma. His career has spanned CBER-FDA to Wyeth and Pfizer before founding multiple companies, including Granular Therapeutics. Jonny has published and patented widely in the field of antibody engineering and acts on the Board of several leading biotech firms.
Thibaut De Smedt
Thibaut De Smedt
Thibaut is a Venture Partner at Medicxi, co-founder of Alys and co-founder of Alys comprising companies Aldena Therapeutics, Vimela Therapeutics and Klirna Biotech. Prior to joining Medicxi, Thibaut co-founded three early-stage biotechnology companies (AiDD, Immuthes and xSeedD). He was previously Research Director at Addex Therapeutics (focused on allosteric drug development), Senior Group Leader at Apoxis (a spinout from the University of Lausanne) and Research Scientist at Amgen (developing therapies for cancer and inflammation).
Thibaut received a PhD in Molecular Biology and Immunology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium and conducted postdoctoral research at Immunex in Seattle, USA.
Andrew Tadros
Andrew Tadros
Dr. Andrew Tadros (MD, PhD) is a physician-engineer and entrepreneur with expertise in dermatologic innovation, drug delivery, cutaneous immunology, and micro-fabrication. Dr. Tadros received his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology and his MD from Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Tadros is a serial innovator with several patent applications and start-up companies in the biotech space. Dr. Tadros is currently a dermatology resident at Johns Hopkins University with plans to continue his pursuit of bringing forward disruptive dermatologic innovations that improve medical care and expand healthcare access for all patients.
Christian Bloy
Christian Bloy
Christian has more than 40 years of experience in R&D, Manufacturing and Regulatory affairs on chemical and biological products. Before founding Clevexel Pharma, Christian was site manager and senior director of drug development for Europe at Cephalon Inc.. Prior to Cephalon, he was Senior Director of R&D in Immune Mediated Diseases and Transplant at Genzyme.
He also has been on the Board of Directors at Cassenne Laboratory (Hoechst Marion Roussel group), Flamel Technology, and Genzyme Polyclonals. Dr. Bloy is the author of more than 35 peer-reviewed articles, 6 patents and holds a Ph.D. in Immuno-hemathology from the Paris VI University.
Bryan Spring
Bryan Spring
Bryan Q. Spring is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Physics and an Affiliated Faculty of Bioengineering (Northeastern University, Boston). He is a Visiting Scientist at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (Massachusetts General Hospital and at the Harvard Medical School) and at the Fetal–Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center (Boston Children’s Hospital). He developed patented technology for molecular imaging and selective treatment of cancer micrometastases during his postdoctoral fellowship in Tayyaba Hasan’s laboratory (Wellman Center for Photomedicine). Since joining the faculty at Northeastern University in 2015, Prof. Spring received The NCI Transition Career Development Award (K22) as well as an award from the Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research. In 2021, he was selected as a Scialog Fellow for Advancing Bioimaging.
Eric Kercher
Eric Kercher
Eric Kercher, PhD is a co-founder of Nira Biosciences and expert in photomedicine. He currently heads translational research and pre-clinical development work for Nira. He received a B.S. in Physics from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Ph.D. in nanomedicine and photomedicine from Northeastern University.
He studied nanomedicine and photomedicine while working under the guidance of Dr. Bryan Spring. His dissertation work consisted of the development of novel methods and tools for photomedicine research, including new LED light sources for benchtop phototherapy and understanding cell-specific destruction with photosensitizer-antibody conjugates using co-culture models. He also completed a POE internship at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in which he discovered a passion for pursuing translational research and drug development.
Amissi Sadiki
Amissi Sadiki
Dr. Amissi Sadiki is a Co-Founder and Chemistry Lead at Nira Biosciences, a subsidiary of Alys Pharmaceuticals, and a collaborator at UMass Chan Medical School.
He earned a PhD in Chemistry from Northeastern University. His thesis focused on developing methods to engineer proteins and confer novel functions. While in graduate school he was a visiting scientist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, developing new approaches to engineer cellular immunotherapies. In addition to his academic research, he served in leadership roles in student-run organizations advocating for graduate students and working on increasing diversity in academia and industry. He received a BS in Biochemistry from the California State University, Fullerton.
Amissi has a passion for working at the intersection of chemistry, protein engineering, and biology to discover and develop innovative medicines. He is an inventor on multiple patent applications and has authored several research publications.
