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.

Eric J. Feldman, M.D., CMO

Chief Medical Officer

Eric J. Feldman, M.D., who is internationally recognized for his work in the development of new therapies for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, is responsible for leading pipeline development activities at Ichnos Sciences. Before joining Ichnos he served as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, at GlycoMimetics, leading both late stage registrational and early-stage studies in both liquid and solid tumors. Dr. Feldman has served as Chief Medical Officer at Amphivena, pursuing bispecific antibody therapies for blood cancers, and at Seattle Genetics, where he directed the myeloid leukemia antibody-drug conjugate program. Dr. Feldman’s extensive academic career includes faculty positions at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and most recently as Professor of Medicine and Director of the Hematological Malignancies Service at Weill-Cornell/New York Presbyterian Hospital. He has authored over 150 scientific articles and was formerly Editor-in Chief of the journal, Leukemia Research. He earned his medical degree at New York Medical College and holds a B.A. from Tulane University.

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.

Grace Maguire, M.B.A.

Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs

Grace Maguire leads communications and corporate affairs at Ichnos Sciences. With more than 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience across several therapeutic categories, Grace’s responsibilities have included setting commercial strategy, product launch, brand communications, and lifecycle management. Prior to Ichnos Sciences, she worked at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals as Vice President of Commercial for Specialty and Innovative Products, and at Forest Laboratories, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and Warner-Lambert. She began her career as a sales representative for Zeneca Pharmaceuticals in the New York City area. She has a master’s degree in business administration from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from St. John’s University in New York.

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.