ABOUT US
Our teams are equal parts tech and science, and deeply rooted
in innovation. We bring together experts in data science,
biology, machine learning, automation, chemistry and software
engineering to compassionately contribute to solving cancer.
CEO
Usama is the CEO and a board member of Fore Biotherapeutics. In this role, Usama is responsible for working with the board and key stakeholders to build and scale the preeminent precision oncology company that is committed to treating and curing hard-to-treat cancers using its patent-protected functional genomics platform that identifies high unmet need populations with few existing treatment alternatives. Usama recently joined Fore from Immunomedics Inc. As CFO and CBO at Immunomedics, Usama led the day-to-day transformation of the company over four years and concluded a precedent-setting $21 billion transaction to Gilead in 2020.
Usama has over 25 years of experience in the technology, telecoms, and healthcare industries in key leadership roles ranging from corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, venture investing, product development, and general management. He has worked on large-scale transformations across Fortune 500 companies, while helping to scale and grow numerous venture-backed and mid-sized organizations. He has led key strategic efforts to bolster company balance sheets, take out costs, generate new revenue streams, raise capital, and lead multibillion-dollar M&A transactions.
CBO/CSO
Dr. Vidne is Fore’s Chief Business & Strategy Officer, having previously served as CEO and Chief Commercial Officer. Before joining Fore in 2012, Dr. Vidne was a consultant with McKinsey & Co.
Dr. Vidne received his PhD in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University where he was affiliated with the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience and conducted his research on Artificial Neural Networks.
CTO
Dr. Tarcic is Fore’s Chief Technology Officer. Before joining Fore, Dr. Tarcic was a Post-Doctoral fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he also earned a Ph.D. in Prof. Yosef Yarden’s lab studying Modular Regulation of Signal Transduction Networks.
Executive Clinical & Regulatory Advisor
Steven D. Averbuch, M.D. is a medical oncologist and pharmaceutical industry veteran with more than 35 years in oncology drug development and more than a decade in biomarker and drug diagnostic co-development. He has contributed to multiple drug and companion diagnostic approvals in the U.S. and other major markets.
Prior to joining industry, Dr. Averbuch held academic appointments at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) School of Medicine. He received his M.D. and Internal Medicine training from the University of Illinois, Chicago and his Medical Oncology training at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.
VP Finance & Operation
Mr. Shimon is Fore’s VP Finance & Operation. Before joining Fore in 2016, Mr. Shimon was a consultant and an auditor with PwC Israel.
Mr. Shimon is a certified CPA, and earned his BA in Accounting from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and MA in Internal Audit and Public Policy from Bar Ilan University.
VP R&D
Dr. Barbash joined Fore in 2014 and currently serves as the VP of Research & Development. Before that she was a researcher at EventusDx.
Dr. Barbash earned her PhD in Biology from the Sheba Medical Center under the supervision of Prof. Gideon Rechavi, and was a Post-Doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD.
Sr. Director, Clinical Operations
Ms. Rine has nearly 20 years of experience in clinical research. Prior to joining Fore, she spent 9 years at Novartis, supporting the launches of two new molecular entities and the first commercially approved CAR-T cell therapy. Most recently, she served as the Director of Clinical Operations at Marker Therapeutics.
CFO
Ms. Brennan has served on management teams of publicly traded life science companies for the past 15 years, raising approximately $2 billion, building finance organizations and supporting operations from early development stage into commercialization. She previously served as Chief Financial Officer of TELA Bio, Inc., where she guided the company through a successful IPO and follow-on financing. Prior to TELA Bio, Inc., she was the Chief Financial Officer of Xeris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where she oversaw the finance function and execution of company strategy. Previously, Ms. Brennan spent 11 years as the Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations at Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation, where, among her many accomplishments, she successfully integrated 18 acquisitions leading to significant revenue growth for the company. She earned her B.A. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received her MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
CMO
Dr. Shepherd served as Senior Vice President of Clinical Development at QED Therapeutics before joining Fore, where she led oncology program clinical development, operations and translational science. Prior to QED Therapeutics, she served as Vice President, Oncology at Corcept Therapeutics, where she established a translational research program, and at AbbVie, where as Senior Medical Director she led clinical development of PARP inhibitor programs in ovarian cancer and BRCA-mutated breast cancer. Dr. Shepherd received her M.D./Ph.D. in Medicine and Neuroscience through the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and trained in Pediatrics at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Endocrinology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
SVP, Manufacturing
Dr. Basu brings over 25 years of experience in global leadership roles of increasing responsibility in the biotechnology industry and has strong expertise in outsourced development, manufacturing and GMP testing activities, asset valuation and financial planning. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Pharmaceutical Sciences, R&D at Takeda and previously worked at Shire as Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development, Technical Operations, where he supervised product development and clinical manufacturing for a broad array of programs. Prior to Shire, Dr. Basu served as Vice President at Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, where he led product development and facilitated alliance and licensing agreements with other biotechnology companies. He has also held positions in chemistry, manufacturing & controls (CMC) at Altus Pharmaceuticals, Alkermes, Inc. and Sarabhai Chemicals, A.S.E. Ltd. Dr. Basu has a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Southern California and earned his Master of Pharmaceutical Engineering and Bachelor of Pharmacy degrees from Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India. He holds a Certificate in Management from Harvard University.
Industry Expert, Chairman
Dieter Weinand is the former CEO of Bayer Pharma AG, and is an experienced business leader with over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He earned an M.S. in pharmacology and toxicology from Long Island University, New York, and a B.A. in biology from Concordia College, New York. During his career, he has held various responsibilities in general management, commercial, operational and strategic leadership roles, leading business operations globally, for companies including Bayer, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Sanofi. He has also led the launch and marketing of products across primary care, speciality care, and oncology therapeutic areas. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Replimune (REPL), Member of the Board of Directors FieldTrip Health (FTRPF), Chairman of the Board of Directors Ammune, and Executive Chairman of the Board of ZielBioPharma.
Senior Managing Director at Orbimed
Erez Chimovits is a Senior Managing Director. Erez has 14 years of operational experience, including 10 years of senior managerial experience in public companies. Prior to joining OrbiMed Erez was the CEO of NasVax (TASE:NSVX). NasVax acquired Protea and struck agreements with GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis. Previously, Erez spent more than seven years with Compugen (Nasdaq:CGEN), as President, Compugen USA Inc. and Executive V.P., Commercial Operations. At Compugen, he had P&L responsibility for more than 100 people and led multiple transactions including J&J, Novartis, Teva, Abbott, Medarex and others. Erez earned his M.B.A., M.Sc. in Microbiology and his B.Sc. from Tel Aviv University.
Partner at Pontifax
Tomer is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pontifax. He serves as an active board member of many of the funds’ portfolio companies, assuming a special responsibility for strategic planning. Among other positions, Tomer serves as the chairman at Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, board member in Cathworks, Keros Therapeutics, Ocon Healthcare, and V-Wave. During the 10 years prior to establishing Pontifax, he held senior management positions at top Israeli financial institutions, playing a key role in investing in, nurturing and managing technology-driven startups. Tomer holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School
Partner at HBM Partners
Chandra joined the private equity team at HBM Partners in 2007. He has been responsible for investments in over 20 private biotech, medical device and diagnostics companies in the United States and Europe, in most cases as a board member or board observer. These companies have so far generated seven NASDAQ IPOs, five M&A transactions, and five FDA-approved marketed products. He currently serves as a director on the boards or of Galecto, Gynesonics, Monte Rosa Therapeutics and Fore.
Prior to joining HBM, Chandra worked as a postdoctoral scientist at Stanford University, as a physician at the University Hospital Leipzig and as a principal at Wellington Partners Venture Capital. He earned an MD from the Freie Universität Berlin (Charité), an MAS in Medicines Development from the University of Basel and an MBA with distinction from INSEAD.
Partner at SR One
Matthew is a Partner at SROne in its London office. Matthew has 20 years of investment and finance experience, having been part of SROne since 2011 and previously at Greenhill & Co. In addition to Fore, he currently serves on the boards of PsiOxus Therapeutics, Pulmocide, Decibel Therapeutics, AtoxBio and Rockend. His academic background is in molecular biology from the University of Oxford.
Managing Director at NVF
Michal Silverberg is a Managing Director at the Novartis Venture Fund in Cambridge, MA, USA. Prior to joining NVF, she was a Senior Partner at Takeda Ventures and, before that, worked at Novo Nordisk in roles of increasing responsibility including as Senior Director Business Development and New Product Commercialization, serving as a member of the BioPharm leadership team. Since 1998, Michal has held positions in various sectors of the life science industry including in the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel (The Incubator program), venture capital (Ofer Brothers Hi Tech) and global pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including various positions at MGVS, an Israeli biotech company and at OSI Pharmaceuticals in a business development role. She received her B.A. in Economics and Business Management from Haifa University, her M.B.A from Tel-Aviv University in Israel and her Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Columbia University in New York
Head of Strategic Investments at Helsinn
Dr. De Ponti, a Pharmacist by training and an EU Qualified Person, is Head of Corporate New Ventures and Strategic Investments for Helsinn International Services (part of the Helsinn Group). Dr. De Ponti has more than 35 years of experience in the health care industry. Prior joining the Helsinn Group, Dr. De Ponti held responsibilities for in and out-licensing for Indena, a leading natural derivatives company with pharmaceutical products fighting cancer. Before that he served as Site Lead and Head of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Oncology Italian site of Pharmacia and Pfizer which was eventually spun-off and where he brought the Pharma Science business unit to breakeven. Dr. De Ponti has held several patents covering the development and the commercialization of oncology drugs. Dr. De Ponti serves as Director in several portfolio companies of the Helsinn Fund in Europe and in the United States.
CEO
Usama is the CEO and a board member of Fore Biotherapeutics. In this role, Usama is responsible for working with the board and key stakeholders to build and scale the preeminent precision oncology company that is committed to treating and curing hard-to-treat cancers using its patent-protected functional genomics platform that identifies high unmet need populations with few existing treatment alternatives. Usama recently joined Fore from Immunomedics Inc. As CFO and CBO at Immunomedics, Usama lead the day-to-day transformation of the company over four years and concluded a precedence-setting $21 billion transaction to Gilead in 2020.
Usama has over 25 years of experience in the technology, telecoms, and healthcare industries in key leadership roles ranging from corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, venture investing, product development, and general management. He has worked on large-scale transformations across Fortune 500 companies, while helping to scale and grow numerous venture-backed and mid-sized organizations. He has led key strategic efforts to bolster company balance sheets, take out costs, generate new revenue streams, raise capital, and lead multibillion-dollar M&A transactions.
Industry Expert
Member of the Board of Directors and R&D/Science Chair
Dr. Blackwell is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Tempus Labs, a company applying artificial intelligence to advance precision medicine. Prior to Tempus, she worked at Eli Lilly, where she was Vice President of Early Phase Oncology and Immuno-oncology. Before joining the drug development industry, Dr. Blackwell was a Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University, where she directed the Women’s Cancer Program, Strategic Collaborations, and the Precision Medicine Initiative for the Duke Cancer Institute. She received her M.D. from Mayo Clinic Medical School, followed by training in internal medicine and hematology-oncology at Duke University.
MD, Executive Clinical & Regulatory Advisor, Head of the SAB
MD, SAB Member
MD, SAB Member
MD, SAB Member
Fore is backed by top investors with deep knowledge & experience in company formation.
Pontifax is a healthcare-dedicated venture capital firm, with approximately $1B under management. The fund focuses on innovative bio-pharma opportunities.
OrbiMed Advisors is a healthcare-dedicated investment firm, with approximately $16B in assets under management.
HBM Healthcare Investments With more than $1.8 billion in assets, HBM Healthcare Investments holds and manages an international portfolio of promising companies in the biotechnology, medical device and diagnostics sectors and related areas. HBM Healthcare Investments has an international shareholder base and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange
Wellington serves as an investment adviser to more than 2,200 institutions located in over 60 countries and manage more than S$1 trillion in client assets.
Cormorant Asset Management is a leading life science investor with over $2 billion assets under management, having invested from series A to public companies. Cormorant is a long-term oriented investor which supports scientific innovation to help address patient needs.
Novartis Ventures Fund is a healthcare fund, focusing on the development of novel therapeutics and platforms. NVF investments dedicated to look for unmet need and clinical impact, novel proprietary science and understanding of mechanism, management and board experience and capital efficiency in the program
SROne is a leading global venture capital firm founded by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and has been an integral part of the biotech ecosystem since 1985. It invests only in the most innovative technologies, developing medicines to radically improve patient outcomes. The current team has invested in over 60 companies since 2008, across a wide range of diseases and development stages, including incubating companies from scratch and continuing to invest and build them into patient trials and beyond.
Helsinn is a privately owned Swiss pharmaceutical group with an extensive portfolio of marketed cancer products and a broad development pipeline.