About
AffyImmune is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to developing novel, first-in-class, affinity-tuned CAR T cell therapies to transform the lives of patients with cancer.
Leadership
Daniel Janse, PhD
CEO, President, and Board Member
Daniel Janse, PhD
CEO, President, and Board Member
Daniel brings over 15 years of leadership experience in roles spanning corporate strategy, business development, operations and financing. Prior to joining AffyImmune, he was Managing Director at Northpond Ventures where he led investments in private biotechnology companies and provided guidance to executive teams as a Board Director. Previously, Daniel was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer at Arbor Biotechnologies, and also held leadership positions at Juno Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and McKinsey & Company. Daniel was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. He received his Ph.D. in Biological & Biomedical Sciences from Harvard University.
Sonal Gupta, MD, PhD
Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development
Sonal Gupta, MD, PhD
Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development
Sonal brings more than 15 years of industry experience, including leadership roles at AVROBIO, CRISPR Therapeutics and Rubius Therapeutics. She has built and led translational research and medicine teams across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology and rare diseases. In addition, Sonal’s specialties include clinical trial design and execution, medical monitoring, and clinical data management and interpretation, including biomarker strategies. Sonal earned her PhD in cancer research from the University of Bradford in the UK, and her medical degree from the Government Medical College, Surat in India.
Pete Gelinas
Senior Vice President and Head of CMC
Pete Gelinas
Senior Vice President and Head of CMC
Pete brings over 15 years of extensive experience in Manufacturing and CMC Product Development to AffyImmune. Previously, he served as the Head of Manufacturing and Technical Operations at ElevateBio, where he led Technology Transfer, CMC strategy, and oversight of routine clinical manufacturing. During his tenure at bluebird bio, he led both the MSAT and CMC teams for Skysona. He has executed numerous late-phase global technology transfer deals and played a pivotal role in driving the drug product process validation efforts for Zynteglo. Peter has also held various positions at the Connell O’Reilly Cell Manipulation Core Facility (CMCF) at Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), where he contributed to the development and manufacturing of several gene and cell-based therapies.
Dawn Buchanan
Vice President of Clinical Operations
Dawn Buchanan
Vice President of Clinical Operations
Dawn is a seasoned Clinical Operations leader, with over 25 years of industry experience. Her career has held a focus in early development oncology at both large and small pharma. Prior to joining AffyImmune, Dawn led the entire early development Cell Therapy portfolio for clinical trials at BMS. Her tenure at BMS/Celgene includes 5 years in Cell Therapy in both Clinical Operations and Manufacturing roles. She received a B.S. in Business and Marketing from Skidmore College and holds APMP qualification from the Association for Project Management.
Arya Tavana, PhD
Head of Quality
Arya Tavana, PhD
Head of Quality
Arya has twenty-five years of experience at building and leading Process Development, Global Manufacturing, and Global Quality organizations at companies including Novartis, Biogen, Alnylam, and Invivyd. He has contributed to the development and commercialization of eight new drugs across multiple therapeutic areas including auto-immune, genetic, oncology, and infectious disease indications. Arya received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California – Berkely and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Arizona.
Josh Boutin
Vice President, Finance & Operations
Josh Boutin
Vice President, Finance & Operations
Josh brings 10 years of accounting and finance experience to AffyImmune, including 4 years of increasing responsibility at Affy. Josh joined Affy from Deloitte, where he worked with technology and biotechnology clients in the firm’s audit practice. Recently, he has served as an advisor to SaaS, civic-tech, and biotechnology startups with a focus on innovative technology and as a nonprofit Board member. Josh received his B.S. degree from Babson College and is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts.
Board of Directors
Simone Song, MBA
Board Chair
Simone Song, MBA
Board Chair
Simone is the founder and a senior partner at ORI Capital and has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare investment sector. She was the former head of Goldman Sachs Healthcare Investment Banking for Greater China, managing director of Cowen Group, a member of the advisory board of AXA Investment Managers, and an executive board advisor to AXA Asia Pacific Holdings. Simone holds a B.A. in Economics from Fudan University in China and an M.A. in Economics from Claremont Graduate School in the United States.
Rick Rutter, PhD
Board Member
Rick Rutter, PhD
Board Member
Rick Rutter, Ph.D., brings over 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, with a deep expertise in CMC regulatory strategy and drug product manufacturing. Dr. Rutter has held several key positions, including Executive Vice President of Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Sciences at Pfizer. He currently serves as an expert consultant and advises both public and private companies on CMC and supply chain management.
Jorge Nieva, MD
Board Member
Jorge Nieva, MD
Board Member
Jorge Nieva, M.D., is Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and Section Head of Lung and Head/Neck Tumors at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. He served as a standing member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee from 2021-2024. Dr. Nieva’s clinical research teams have been recognized for excellence in the conduct of clinical trials from the National Cancer Institute and the American Association of Oncology Research.
Daniel Janse, PhD
CEO, President, and Board Member
Daniel Janse, PhD
CEO, President, and Board Member
Daniel brings over 15 years of leadership experience in roles spanning corporate strategy, business development, operations and financing. Prior to joining AffyImmune, he was Managing Director at Northpond Ventures where he led investments in private biotechnology companies and provided guidance to executive teams as a Board Director. Previously, Daniel was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer at Arbor Biotechnologies, and also held leadership positions at Juno Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and McKinsey & Company. Daniel was a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. He received his Ph.D. in Biological & Biomedical Sciences from Harvard University.
Scientific Advisory Board
James Mulé, PhD
James Mulé, PhD
Advisor
Dr. James Mulé is the Associate Center Director for Translational Science, Interim Associate Center Director for Basic Science, the Michael McGillicuddy Endowed Chair for Melanoma Research and Treatment, and Scientific Director of Cell Based Therapies at the Moffitt Cancer Center. Dr. Mulé, who was designated a “Master of Immunology” by the American Association for Cancer Research’s journal Cancer Immunology Research, is recognized for his research and clinical trial contributions to cancer immunotherapy, particularly in solid tumors. His clinical research group is involved in developing and validating genomic signatures of immunotherapy response to recognize and destroy tumors. The translational work in these areas has helped to develop new treatments for advanced cancer patients.
Keith L. Knutson, PhD
Keith L. Knutson, PhD
Advisor
Keith L. Knutson, PhD is a Professor of Immunology at the Mayo Clinic in Florida and is internationally recognized in the field of cancer immunology. Dr. Knutson is co-director of the Mayo Clinic Immune Monitoring Core and director of the Mayo Clinic Ovarian Cancer Immunotherapy Program. His research focuses on the immunotherapy of breast and ovarian cancers, both the basic immunobiology and clinical translation. In recognition of his work, Dr. Knutson has received many awards and honors, including the prestigious Howard Temin Award, conferred by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute.
Cassian Yee, MD
Cassian Yee, MD
Advisor
Dr. Cassian Yee is a Professor in the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Department of Immunology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and Director of the Solid Tumor Cell Therapy Program. Dr. Yee is a pioneer in adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy, which involves taking anti-cancer T cells from patients and then enhancing their anti-tumor capabilities before putting them back into patients. In addition to being a member of Cancer Research Institute’s Scientific Advisory Council, Dr. Yee is a leader of the CRI-SU2C Dream Team, serves on the Postdoctoral Fellowship Review Committee, and is a member of CRI’s global clinical investigator network.
Moonsoo Jin, PhD
Moonsoo Jin, PhD
Advisor
Moonsoo is a co-founder of AffyImmune and Professor of Biomedical Engineering in Radiology, Vice Chair of Research at the Houston Methodist Hospital. His lab uses multi-scale, interdisciplinary approaches to develop therapeutic agents and diagnostic tools. Moonsoo completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard and holds a Ph.D. from MIT.
