Celldex is a clinical stage biotechnology company leading the science at the intersection of mast cell biology and the development of transformative therapeutics for patients. Our pipeline includes antibody-based therapeutics which have the ability to engage the human immune system and/or directly affect critical pathways to improve the lives of patients with severe inflammatory, allergic and autoimmune and other devastating diseases.
Mr. Marucci was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Celldex in September 2008 and as a director of Celldex in December 2008. Since May 2003, Mr. Marucci has held a number of roles with Celldex, including as a founder, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary. In addition, he was Treasurer of Medarex, Inc. (now a part of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.) from December 1998 to March 2004. Mr. Marucci held a series of senior financial positions at Medarex from December 1998 to May 2003. Since May 2021, Mr. Marucci serves as a member of the board of directors of Genenta Science S.p.A., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Marucci is a member of the Board of Trustees of BioNJ Inc. and also served as its Treasurer through 2010. Mr. Marucci is also a member of the Board of the College of Business and Public Management at Kean University. Mr. Marucci received his M.B.A. from Columbia University and his M.H.L. from Brown University.
Dr. Keler is a Founder of Celldex and serves as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to this appointment in 2014, he was Senior Vice President of Research and Discovery at Celldex. Previously, Dr. Keler was Senior Director of Preclinical Development and Principal Scientist at Medarex (now a part of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.) from September 1993 to March 2004. While at Medarex, he was responsible for the preclinical development of a number of Medarex clinical product candidates. In addition, Dr. Keler was responsible for the development of Celldex’s core technology and related products. Dr. Keler received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Young joined Celldex in July 2019 as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer. Prior to joining Celldex, she was the Chief Medical Officer of GTx, Inc., a public biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutics that target nuclear hormone receptors. Previously, she spent 13 years at Novartis Oncology in senior leadership roles in global clinical development and medical affairs. As the Head of Oncology Clinical Development, she directed the clinical programs leading to successful regulatory approvals for EXJADE®, GLIVEC®, FEMARA®, AFINITOR®, RYDAPT®, JAKAVI® and FARIDAK® among others. Prior to Novartis, Diane held senior leadership positions in clinical development at the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Johnson & Johnson, Hoffman-La Roche and Sandoz. Dr. Young received her A.B. in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard University and her M.D. from Harvard Medical School. Her postdoctoral training included an Internal Medicine Residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Vanderbilt Hospital, followed by an Oncology Fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.
Elizabeth Crowley is Senior Vice President, Chief Product Development Officer of Celldex. Ms. Crowley joined Celldex in 2009 as Vice President, Clinical Development. Prior to that, she held several senior level roles at CuraGen Corporation, most recently serving as the Vice President of Development Operations, responsible for strategic and operational development activities of the oncology and oncology supportive care portfolio, regulatory affairs, clinical operations and data management. Ms. Crowley started her career at Bayer Corporation in 1992, holding various positions providing leadership of clinical research and project management prior to completing her tenure there as the Director of Global Study Audit Management, assuring the highest standards for program execution. Ms. Crowley received her BS in Chemistry with a concentration in Business from Boston College.
Mr. Martin joined Celldex in April 2009 as Director of Financial Reporting, Planning and Analysis and most recently served as Vice President, Finance. Prior to joining Celldex, Mr. Martin served as the Director of Finance and Corporate Compliance for Alseres Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for managing the financial and SEC reporting and the annual budget and planning process. Mr. Martin began his career at Ernst & Young, holding various positions prior to completing his tenure as Audit Manager, where he provided audit, review, due diligence and consulting services to public and private companies in the biotechnology, medical device, health care, high technology, manufacturing and consumer product industries. Mr. Martin received an M.B.A. from Boston University, a B.S. from Skidmore College and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Dr. Pepin joined Celldex in July 2011 as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer. He previously served as Vice President at Shire Pharmaceuticals. From 2000 – 2009, as Senior Vice President, Business Development at Medarex, Inc. (now a part of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.), he was instrumental in establishing more than forty collaborations with global biopharmaceutical companies. Earlier in his career, he served as Executive Director of External Science and Technology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Pepin received his B.A. from Tufts University and his Ph.D. in Genetics from Georgetown University.
Dr. Wright is Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Celldex. He joined Celldex in 2012 as Vice President of Commercial Operations. Prior to Celldex, Dr. Wright was Managing Director at Navigant Consulting, where he led a Life Sciences practice focused on commercial strategy for oncology, immunology and rare disease therapies. Previously, Dr. Wright was at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he held senior leadership roles including Senior Vice President of the U.S. Immunology Business and Vice President and Global Commercial Lead for the Immunology Franchise. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, he was responsible for CTLA4-Ig immunotherapies including the blockbuster drug ORENCIA® and the orphan drug NULOJIX®. In these roles he was charged with setting overall business strategy, commercializing the Company’s broad immunology franchise and managing the U.S. marketing and sales organizations. Dr. Wright began his career at Novartis Pharmaceuticals (Sandoz), where he led research aimed at discovering novel inhibitors of cell migration and metastasis, inhibition of tumor-induced angiogenesis and induction of immune tolerance. At Novartis, he later held several roles in new product commercialization, marketing and salesforce leadership in its Transplant and Immunology Business Unit and was responsible for NEORAL®, SIMULECT®, CERTICAN® and MYFORTIC®. Dr. Wright received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (Rutgers University). He received an M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance from Columbia University.
Ms. Cavanaugh joined Celldex in August 2012 as Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Prior to joining Celldex, she served from 2007 to 2012 as a Vice President at MacDougall Biomedical Communications, a strategic communications and investor relations firm for the life sciences industry, where she developed and implemented programs for more than 20 biopharmaceutical companies and served as the in-house oncology expert. Ms. Cavanaugh has served in a number of leadership positions in the health care and life sciences industry, including Director of Corporate Communications for Point Therapeutics, an oncology-focused biotech company, and Director of Corporate Communications for Fallon Community Health Plan, a leading Massachusetts managed care organization. She began her health care career at the American Cancer Society, holding various positions providing leadership in physician education, corporate communications, government relations and marketing. She completed her tenure there as Division Communications and Marketing Director for the Mid-South Division, where she was responsible for managing the efforts of marketing and communications staff across six states. Throughout her career, Ms. Cavanaugh has played a leadership role in organizational development and employee relations/communication. Ms. Cavanaugh received her B.A. from the University of New Hampshire.
Dr. Heath-Chiozzi joined Celldex in October 2017 as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs. Prior to joining Celldex, she was Vice President, Global Submissions and Regulatory Policy at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, where she provided executive global regulatory strategy leading to nine product approvals. Previously, she served as Vice President, Global Regulatory Strategy, contributing to several business units including oncology, immunology, virology and genetically defined diseases. While at Bristol-Myers Squibb, she supported the global launches of several successful therapies in the areas of oncology, inflammation and infectious disease, including Yervoy®, Erbitux®, Orencia®, Sprycel®, Daklinza®, Sunvepra, Baraclude®, Atripla® and Reyataz®. From 1995 to 2003, Dr. Heath-Chiozzi served in roles of increasing responsibility at Abbott Laboratories, including Medical Director, Pharmacogenetics; Senior Director, Global Marketed Product Development and Outcomes Research; and Global Project Head, Abbott/Millennium Obesity/Diabetes Alliance. Before joining Abbott, she was appointed to the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, where she served as Assistant Professor, and was concurrently Director of the HIV Research Clinical at the Queen’s Medical Center as well as Director of the Women’s Immunology Clinical at the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, in Honolulu. Dr. Heath-Chiozzi received her B.S. and M.D. from the University of Utah. She received further medical training in internal medicine at Duke University and completed fellowships in infectious disease at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Mr. Jimenez is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Celldex. Mr. Jimenez joined Celldex in 2016 as Vice President, Law and Compliance, serving as the Company’s chief counsel and compliance officer as well as providing executive leadership of information technology. Prior to joining Celldex, Mr. Jimenez spent 23 years at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in various roles, including head of the pharmaceutical regulatory legal group for J&J where he coordinated legal strategy, deployment, and provided advice and counsel regarding regulatory, compliance, and fraud and abuse matters. Mr. Jimenez also worked in the Food & Drug Practice at the Washington DC-based law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He is Chair of the Board of Directors for the Food and Drug Law Institute and has authored numerous publications focused on regulatory law and compliance. Mr. Jimenez received his JD from the Rutgers School of Law – Newark and completed his undergraduate work at Brandeis University with a B.A. in Biology and Certificate in the Legal Studies Program.
Ms. Shoos was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of Celldex in June 2019. Ms. Shoos has been a director of Celldex since the merger in March 2008 between Celldex and AVANT Immunotherapeutics and had been a director of AVANT since May 2001. Since November 2015, Ms. Shoos has been a member of the Managing Committee for the Maryland Tech Council Venture Mentoring Services Program. From May 2013 to September 2016, Ms. Shoos was Principal Investigator, AABB International Technical Assistance, a professional standards setting and accrediting organization in the fields of blood and cellular therapies, and from 1994 to 2013, she was the Chief Executive Officer. From 1984 to 1994, she held senior positions at the American Red Cross, including Acting Senior Vice President, Biomedical Services, as well as General Counsel and Secretary. Prior to the American Red Cross, Ms. Shoos was a lawyer in private practice. She received her B.A. from Yale University and J.D. from Case Western Reserve University.
Mr. Brownlie has been a director of Celldex since June 2017. He was employed by the accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP from 1974 to 2010, where he served as audit partner for numerous public companies and was the Life Sciences Industry Leader for the New York metropolitan area. He served as a member of the boards of directors and chair of the audit committees for multiple publicly-held biopharmaceutical companies including Soligenix, Inc., Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (formerly RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation), EpiCept Corporation and Cancer Genetics, Inc. Mr. Brownlie received a B.S. in Accounting from Lehigh University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Mr. Conrad has been a director of Celldex since March 2004. He was President of Roche Pharmaceuticals in the United States from 1982 until his retirement in 1993. Mr. Conrad currently serves on the board of Matinas BioPharma Holdings, a publicly held biopharmaceutical company, and as an advisor to the Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai Hospital. He previously served as Chairman of Pharmasset, GenVec and Bone Care International, and he served as a director of Arbutus Biopharmaceuticals and Reliant Pharmaceuticals, where he was a co-founder. Mr. Conrad received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy and an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Long Island University.
Mr. Marino has been a director of Celldex since March 2017. Mr. Marino has served as a member of the board of directions of Traws Pharma, Inc., (formerly Onconova Therapeutics, Inc.), a publicly held biopharmaceutical company, since July 2015. Prior to July 2015, Mr. Marino was a partner at the global law firm Dechert LLP for 28 years, where he served as Managing Partner of the Princeton, N.J. office. His practice encompassed the representation of biotechnology companies in public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic alliances. Previously he served on the Board of Directors of Pharmacopeia, Inc. He was a co-founder of BioNJ, a trade association of biotechnology companies based in New Jersey, and served as its counsel. Mr. Marino has worked in advisory capacities and on the boards of many non-profit organizations, including Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and Wake Forest University where he serves as a Life Trustee. Mr. Marino received his B.A., M.B.A. and his J.D. from Rutgers University.
Mr. Marucci was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Celldex in September 2008 and as a director of Celldex in December 2008. Since May 2003, Mr. Marucci has held a number of roles with Celldex, including as a founder, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary. In addition, he was Treasurer of Medarex, Inc. (now a part of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.) from December 1998 to March 2004. Mr. Marucci held a series of senior financial positions at Medarex from December 1998 to May 2003. Since May 2021, Mr. Marucci serves as a member of the board of directors of Genenta Science S.p.A., a publicly held biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Marucci is a member of the Board of Trustees of BioNJ Inc. and also served as its Treasurer through 2010. Mr. Marucci is also a member of the Board of the College of Business and Public Management at Kean University. Mr. Marucci received his M.B.A. from Columbia University and his M.H.L. from Brown University.
Mr. Penner has been a director of Celldex since the merger in March 2008 between Celldex and AVANT Immunotherapeutics and had been a director of AVANT since January 1997. In 2001, he founded Nascent BioScience, a firm engaged in the creation and development of new biotechnology companies, where he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2001 to June 2023. From 1993 to 2001, Mr. Penner was President, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of Neurogen Corporation. From 1985 to 1993, he was an Executive Vice President of Novo Nordisk A/S, serving from 1988 to 1993 as Executive Vice President for North America and from 1985 to 1988 as the company’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel in Denmark. In addition to having served on the board of directors of several public and privately held life science companies, Mr. Penner is currently Chair of Neurocyte Therapeutics, Inc. He has served as BioScience Advisor to the Governor and the State of Connecticut, Chair of BioCT, Chair of the Connecticut Board of Governors of Higher Education and Chair of the Connecticut Technology Council. Mr. Penner received a B.A. from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from Fordham University and an L.L.M. in International Law from New York University.
Ms. Cohen has been a director of Celldex since June 2022. Ms. Cohen has served as President of CLC Consulting, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology consulting firm that specializes in new product start-ups and commercialization. From August 2011 to July 2014, Ms. Cohen served as Chief Commercial Officer of Medivation, Inc., where she built the company’s commercial organization and lead her team to successfully launch the oncology drug, Xtandi®. Prior to joining Medivation, Ms. Cohen spent over ten years at Johnson & Johnson, most notably as Vice President of the Rheumatology Franchise. Ms. Cohen began her career at Solvay Pharmaceuticals in management and sales. Ms. Cohen currently serves on the Board of Directors of Immunity Bio (previously NantKwest) and previously served on the Board of Directors of MEI Pharma and Ignyte Acquisition Corp., all of which are publicly traded companies. She earned a B. A. degree from Saint Joseph College.
Dr. Neil has been a director of Celldex since June 2022. Dr. Neil currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board at Avalo Therapeutics, a publicly held biotechnology company. Prior to that, Dr. Neil was Senior Scientific Adviser and Chief Scientific Officer at Avalo since its February 2020 merger with Aevi Genomic Medicine, Inc., a biotechnology company where Dr. Neil had served as Chief Scientific Officer from September 2013 to February 2020. Prior to joining Aevi, Dr. Neil was a Partner at Apple Tree Partners, a life science private equity firm, from September 2012 to September 2013, and held a number of senior positions in the pharmaceutical industry, including most recently Corporate Vice President of Science & Technology at Johnson & Johnson from November 2007 to August 2012. Prior to these roles, Dr. Neil served as Group President at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Vice President of Research & Development at Merck KGaA/EMD Pharmaceuticals, and Vice President of Clinical Research at AstraZeneca and Astra Merck. Dr. Neil has served on the Board of Directors of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since February 2017 and as its Chair since February 2021. He previously served on the boards of Zura Bio Limited and GTx, Inc. both publicly traded biopharmaceutical companies. He is a member of the board of the Center for Discovery and Innovation of the Hackensack Meridian Medical School in Hackensack, New Jersey and is the Founding Chairman of TransCelerate Biopharma, Inc., a non-profit pharmaceuticals industry Research & Development consortium, and is a past member of the TransCelerate Board from 2012 to 2019. He served on the board of Reagan Udall Foundation for the FDA from 2007 – 2021, the board of Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 2010 – 2012 and on the Science Management Review board of the NIH from 2010 – 2012. Dr. Neil is also the past Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) Science and Regulatory Executive Committee and the PhRMA Foundation board. Dr. Neil holds a B.S. from the University of Saskatchewan and an M.D. from the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine. He completed postdoctoral clinical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Neil also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic.
Dr. Jain has been a director of Celldex since February 2023. Dr. Jain is a rheumatologist. She previously served as Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer of ChemoCentryx, Inc., Chief Medical Officer of Immunovant, Inc. and prior to that, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. Before joining Akebia, Dr. Jain served as Vice President of Men’s and Women’s Health and Metabolic Development at AbbVie, Inc. and in various leadership roles at Abbott Laboratories, including Divisional Vice President. Prior to her time at Abbott, she held management positions in the Arthritis, Inflammation and Pain Group at G.D. Searle, which was acquired by Pharmacia and, later, Pfizer. She was responsible for leading the design and execution of multiple late-stage programs, including for Orilissa® and Oriahnn® and has also led programs across a diverse set of therapeutic areas, including immunology, inflammation, pain and nephrology. Additionally, Dr. Jain served as Chief Executive Officer of Heartwood Biopharma Group, a private consulting group, and, earlier in her career, as a faculty member at North Shore University Hospital in New York. Dr. Jain currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors AnaptysBio, Inc. She previously served on the Board of Directors of Provention Bio, Inc., until its acquisition by Sanofi, ChemoCentryx, Inc., until its acquisition by Amgen, and on the supervisory board of AM Pharma. Dr. Jain received her M.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine and her B.S. in Biology from Long Island University.
Carl June, M.D. is Professor, Director of Translational Research at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and is an Investigator of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, 1979. He had graduate training in Immunology and malaria with Dr. Paul-Henri Lambert at the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland from 1978-1979 and post-doctoral training in transplantation biology with Dr. E. Donnell Thomas at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle from 1983 – 1986. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. He founded the Immune Cell Biology Program and was head of the Department of Immunology at the Naval Medical Research Institute from 1990 to 1995. He rose to Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Cell and Molecular Biology at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland before assuming his current position as of February 1, 1999. He maintains a research laboratory that studies various mechanisms of lymphocyte activation that relate to immune tolerance and adoptive immunotherapy. He is the scientific founder of Xcyte Therapies, Inc. and Tmune Therapeutics, Inc.
Michel Nussenzweig, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Molecular Immunology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Rockefeller University. Dr. Nussenzweig is also Sherman Fairchild Professor and Senior Physician at Rockefeller. He obtained his Ph.D. degree for work on dendritic cells with Ralph Steinman at Rockefeller. He earned an M.D. degree from New York University Medical School. Dr. Nussenzweig trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. His postdoctoral research was done with Philip Leder at Harvard Medical School on immunoglobulin genes and B cell development.
Marc E. Rothenberg MD, PhD is the Director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, a tenured Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine (UCCOM), the Founder and Director of the Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders (CCED), the Founder and Director of the NIH-sponsored, national Consortium of Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disease Researchers (CEGIR) and the incumbent of the Bunning Chair of Allergy and Immunology. He graduated summa cum laude with Highest Honors in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Brandeis University being mentored by Professor W. P. Jencks. At Harvard Medical School (HMS), he completed the combined MD/PhD program with graduate studies in Immunology in the laboratory of Professor K. Frank Austen. Dr. Rothenberg did a pediatric residency and combined fellowship in Allergy/Immunology and Hematology at Children’s Hospital in Boston and a postdoctoral training genetics at HMS. His research is focused on molecular analysis of allergic inflammation, primarily on the pathogenesis of eosinophilic diseases.
Joseph Schlessinger has been the William H. Prusoff Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine since 2001. He served as the Director of the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine at New York University (NYU) Medical Center and the Milton and Helen Kimmelman Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at NYU Medical School. He was a faculty member of the Weizmann Institute and the Ruth and Leonard Simon Professor of Cancer Research in the Department of Immunology. Dr. Schlessinger was a Research Director for Rorer Biotechnology. He founded Sugen, Inc. in 1991, Plexxikon in 2001, Kolltan in 2008, Inozyme in 2018 and Opna in 2020. Dr. Schlessinger holds a B.Sc. in chemistry and physics and an M.Sc. in chemistry from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He earned his Ph.D. in biophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1974. Dr. Schlessinger was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Chemistry and Applied Physics at Cornell University, and he was a visiting fellow in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute of NIH.
Louis Weiner, M.D. is Director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center, where he is the Francis L. and Charlotte G. Gragnani Chair and Professor, and Chairman of the Department of Oncology. He also serves as Director of Cancer Services at Georgetown University Hospital. He was previously Chairman of Medical Oncology and Vice President for Translational Research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. A medical oncologist trained in research, Dr. Weiner developed and directed the medical oncology fellowship program before becoming department chairman at Fox Chase. He specializes in treating patients with cancers of the gastrointestinal system. Dr. Weiner’s laboratory and clinical research focus on new therapeutic approaches that mobilize the patient’s immune system to fight cancer using monoclonal antibodies. He has organized numerous international meetings on antibody engineering and immunotherapy, published more than 150 scientific papers, and lectures extensively on targeted therapies for cancer. Dr. Weiner earned his BA with honors in biology at the University of Pennsylvania and his MD at Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University in New York City. After completing his internship, residency, and chief medical residency at the University of Vermont’s Medical Center Hospital, he held clinical and research fellowships in hematology and oncology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Dr Weiner is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine.