Board of Directors

Justin was a Professor of Cancer Medicine and Oncology and a Consultant Oncologist at Imperial College, London, and is now a member of the board of Directors here. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Editor-in-Chief of Springer Nature's cancer journal Oncogene, sits on the advisory Boards of a number of international cancer committees and chaired the BB biotech healthcare Trust board. Justin holds a first class degree in medicine from Trinity College, Oxford, and a PhD from Imperial, has published over 650 papers, and a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He works as a consultant for Lansdowne and Vitruvian Partners.

Marina Konopleva, MD, Phd, is Professor, Oncology, Professor, Molecular Pharmacology, Director, Leukemia Program and Co-Director, Blood Cancer Institute, at Montefiore Einstein. Her clinic focus centers on treating patients with hematologic malignancies, with an emphasis on acute myeloid and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She has additional expertise in treating patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome and chronic myeloid leukemia. After obtaining her Doctor of Medicine in 1990 from First Pavlov Medical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dr. Konopleva completed her postgraduate training in internal medicine at I.P. Pavlov State Medical Institute in 1993. In 1998 she obtained her PhD in experimental hematology from the Federal Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion as well as her postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Hematology with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Konopleva conducts laboratory research focusing on approaches activating cell death, metabolic inhibitors and immune-oncology in AML. Her key contributions include the identification of dependency of AML cells on the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-2 and the FDA approval of the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax in combination with low-intensity chemotherapy in elderly patients unfit for standard chemotherapy. This therapy provides both low toxicity for elderly patients with AML and documented survival benefit. Dr. Konopleva’s ground-breaking research greatly benefited leukemia research, clinical research and the lives of patients. She is a scholar of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and her research is funded by the NIH, Department of Defense and various private foundations. Her work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and she has presented both nationally and internationally. Dr. Konopleva is board certified by the Russian Board of Hematology, the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine - Hematology. She is a member of numerous professional societies including the American Society of Hematology, the American Association of Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Society of Hematologic Oncology. Dr. Konopleva has won many awards for her work, such as the R. Lee Clark Prize - Basic/Translational Science and the Students' Faculty Choice Award from MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2019, the Otis W. and Pearl L. Walters Faculty Achievement Award in Clinical Research from MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2020 and the Mentor of the Year award from the Division of Cancer Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2022.

Before joining Petrovax in 2022, Mikhail gained extensive experience in different fields of pharmaceutical business. From 2022 to present – Biotechnology Sales and Export Director of NPO Petrovax Pharm LLC (part of the Interros Group). From 2012 to 2022 – General Director of Atlant Clinical. Mikhail started his career at GlaxoSmithKline. He left the company being Regional Director of Health Services of the commercial Department. Mikhail graduated from the biological faculty of the Moscow State University with a master’s degree in biochemistry.

• Experienced executive and scientific leader in the non-profit, biotech and academic space. • Proven leadership and expertise in precision medicine, with history of applying patient-centered, disruptive thinking to advance biomedical innovations and bring solutions to improve patient care. • Mission driven, enthusiastic and naturally positive leader and communicator with proven ability to effectively build, engage and inspire cross-functional teams. • Possess in-depth scientific knowledge in pre-clinical and translational research, immunology, oncology, inflammation, cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry and multi-omics approaches with an established track record of scientific communications and publications. • Strong Lecturer and experienced public speaker with excellent liaison and communication skills. • Talented in establishing, managing and maintaining strategic partnerships with various stakeholders. • Proven success in developing and leading global programs in collaboration with external partners. • Extensive experience in strategic management and planning, and proven abilities for effectively navigating large networks of systems and people. FIELDS OF EXPERTISE Immunology, oncology, inflammation, autoimmune and auto-inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, enteric infections, sepsis, gastroenterology, inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, innate immunity, functional genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, signaling pathways, mucosal immunity, host-pathogen and host-microbiota interactions, intestinal epithelial cells, barrier function, testing small and large molecules, pre-clinical and translational science, observational and experimental studies, reverse translation, biomarker discovery, new target identification and validation, precision medicine.

Ashot Papoyan, PhD is the co-founder and CEO of Elm Tree Research, as well as managing partner at Elm Tree Clinic. He oversees the Research and Development efforts and execution of clinical trials. Previously, Dr. Papoyan was the Associate Director at TetraGenetics, where he was involved in the discovery of therapeutic antibodies against ion channels. His research interests are related to pain, addiction and autoimmune disorders. He has authored numerous scientific publications in peer reviewed journals and is an inventor of several patents. Dr. Papoyan holds a doctorate degree in Molecular Biology from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in Biophysics from Yerevan State University