Leadership
Building on our team’s broad global experiences and capabilities to develop and commercialize therapies, Immunicom is accelerating the path to make immunotherapies accessible to broad-based patient populations via partnerships with leading hospitals around the world.
Leveraging a proprietary technology platform, we are on a mission to dramatically shorten the time to develop important immunotherapies, sometimes by as much as two-thirds, significantly reducing the time required to bring safe and effective immunotherapies to market.
Collectively, our leadership team and its board members have commercialized more than 50 pharmaceuticals and therapeutic devices, generating billions of dollars in value and bringing meaningful therapies to innumerable patients who need them.
Whether it is securing funding or regulatory approval or overseeing clinical trials and device development, our accomplished team produces results.
Immunicom is developing a revolutionary new treatment that addresses issues still plaguing the healthcare industry: side effects, quality of life, and cost.
Amir Jafri,
CEO & Founder
Our team
Amir Jafri
CEO, Founder
Amir Jafri
CEO, Founder
Amir Jafri is the founder of Immunicom and has served as its President and Chief Executive Officer since the company’s inception in 2013. Amir has over 25 years of experience in healthcare technology and devices. As a senior executive in Fortune 50 companies and his own startups, he has managed multi-billion-dollar products on a global basis and is highly experienced with global regulatory environments. He was COO at West Health Institute; VP/CTO, VP R&D and VP Operations at Cardinal Health managing products with $1B in annual revenue (NYSE: CAH); VP/General Manager Healthcare Division at Manpower Group, responsible for the healthcare practice nationwide across 35 locations (NYSE: MAN). Prior to joining Manpower, Amir founded various healthcare startups that were subsequently acquired. He has successfully managed global businesses and has a track record of success in every business he has led. Amir serves on the Board of various healthcare technology startup companies and non-profit organizations. Amir received his Bachelors of Science Degree from Houston Baptist University with a double major in Chemistry and Biology and a minor in History. He attended medical school at the University of Texas but pursued an entrepreneurial and corporate path.
Raju Chauhan
Chief Operating Officer
Raju Chauhan
Chief Operating Officer
Raju Chauhan has over 30 years of experience working in technology development and managing teams across the globe with a proven record of creating and delivering innovative, cost-effective solutions for mission-critical business problems. Raju has been an integral part of managing projects for several fortune 50 companies as well as startups in healthcare space.
Formerly at Cardinal Health, Raju managed teams spread across several locations in USA. Raju has also managed and worked with many different teams in several countries including Canada, China, India, and Ukraine. Raju has worked in many different industries including Medical device manufacturers, Healthcare, Oil and Gas, Software, Telecommunications, Food and Beverages, Airlines, Credit Bureaus, Background Checks, Real Estate, Professional Services and Utilities.
Raju received his Masters of Computer Science degree from Mississippi State University, Mississippi State. He has developed a passion for hiking and recently hiked to Everest base camp with his wife and friends. He plans to climb Kilimanjaro in the near future and has plans for several other high profiled hikes around the world.
Reza Ilkhani
Chief Financial Officer
Reza Ilkhani
Chief Financial Officer
Reza Ilkhani has more than 25 years of broad finance experience in financial management, financial/economic consulting, and corporate development. In addition to financial management and leadership roles of increasing responsibility, he has led numerous high-profile assignments in valuations (including those of pharmaceutical and healthcare assets), transactions, and sophisticated modeling for strategic planning and financial forecasting. Reza received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley (with Honors), his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth, and his MSc from the University of Oxford, where his dissertation (received with Merit) was regarding healthcare economic evaluation of a CAR-T therapy.
Lawrence Florin
Chief Clinical Officer
Lawrence Florin
Chief Clinical Officer
Lawrence (Larry) Florin possesses extensive clinical development experience helping to found, build and grow Site Management Organizations (SMOs), Clinical Research Organizations (CROs) and clinical technology companies. Larry has served in global leadership roles in these and sponsor companies directly overseeing clinical operations, project management patient engagement, clinical outsourcing as well as business development. He also has led executive consulting engagements focused on strategic program design planning from development through post-marketing and life-cycle management and other value-add activities. Moreover, Larry also has significant financing experience having supported fundraising activities exceeding $75M.
In addition to his considerable experience designing and leading drug and biologic, drug-device combination and device product development programs across multiple therapeutic areas (including oncology and orphan disease indications), Larry is a frequent speaker at and contributor to industry meetings and publications across a range of topics. Larry has been recognized for his efforts in leveraging technology to improve patient recruitment and retention, risk-based monitoring and overall study management—including spearheading the development and marketing of leading-edge enterprise clinical analytics and patient engagement systems.
Larry earned a BS in biology from Ursinus College and an Executive MBA from Temple University.
Christian Shenouda, M.D.
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs
Christian Shenouda, M.D.
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs
Dr. Shenouda joins Immunicom from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he worked in both The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and The Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH). He has worked as a clinician, researcher, and regulator, but has always focused on improving the lives of patients whether it be through direct patient care, clinical trial conduct, or evaluation of drug/device applications for the broad public health. As a regulatory physician, he is responsible for the communication and implementation of strategy enabling an efficient and expedited path to market to ensure patients may avail of novel technologies.
Dr. Shenouda provides regulatory strategy based on his experience in a wide range of device applications including invasive brain computer interfaces (BCI), over the counter products, software as medical device (SaMD), and novel biomarkers. In addition to review of Premarket Approval (PMA), De Novo, 510k and Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) applications, Dr. Shenouda has worked on FDA guidance documents and served as the liaison to military and industry partners. In conjunction with work in device evaluation, he has worked in the Office of Compliance to evaluate Good Clinical Practice (GCP) conduct and brings regulatory and inspectional insights to the conduct of clinical trials.
Prior to his work at FDA, Dr. Shenouda was a supervisory medical officer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he worked in the design and conduct of clinical trials for concussion/traumatic brain injury, which used advanced imaging and blood-based biomarkers.
Dr. Shenouda is a dual board-certified physician with a specialization in neurorehabilitation and completed his fellowship at the University of Washington and residency/chief residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Marilyn Panahi
Vice President of Quality
Marilyn Panahi
Vice President of Quality
Marilyn Panahi has over 35 years of lifescience industry experience in regulatory and manufacturing quality assurance. She has held various quality assurance leadership roles in both public and private lifescience companies in the San Diego area. She has extensive experience in implementation and management of GLP and GMP quality systems including: regulatory compliance; process control and process validation; change control and document control; internal and external audits; equipment calibration and validation; environmental monitoring; material management; deviation or OOS investigation; assay validation; batch release testing; product stability programs; and supporting regulatory submissions. Marilyn received her Bachelors of Science degree in Microbiology from San Diego State University. Marilyn also completed University of California San Diego Specialized Certificate in Science of Regulatory Affairs for the Drug and Biologic Industry and another for Quality Assurance/Control for the Drug and Biologic Industry. She also completed Oriel Stat A Matrix Class for Quality Systems for Medical Devices: FDA’s QSR and ISO 13485
Steven Josephs, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
Steven Josephs, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
Dr. Josephs is one of the leading scientist in our space. He was at NIH and NCI for 15 years working with Dr. Robert Gallo. Dr. Josephs was also a Senior Research Scientist at Baxter Healthcare (NYSE: BAX) where he headed the virology department and molecule design. Dr. Josephs has over 100 peer reviewed articles published in area of molecular and biochemistry, virology, and ligand structure and design. He has over 10 patents to his credit and served as a Visiting Scientist at the La Jolla Institute and University of San Diego. Throughout his career, he has been involved in translational work from the bench to the clinic and in industry.
Adam Ostrowski, M.D.
Medical Director, International
Adam Ostrowski, M.D.
Medical Director, International
Dr. Ostrowski is an internal medicine and medical oncology physician, with broad clinical practice and corporate advisory experience. Dr. Ostrowski recently served as Chair and Medical Director of Oncology at the Multispecialty Regional Hospital in Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland. His clinical expertise covers treatment of all solid tumors.
Dr. Ostrowski has been involved in more than 20 phase II-IV clinical trials, where he has served in capacities including Principal Investigator and led activities ranging from protocol development and clinical trial investigator/site selection, to regulatory body and ethics committee submissions, to monitoring audits and managing study closeouts. Dr. Ostrowski has served as a lead medical consultant and/or advisor to many international companies including Hoffmann La Roche, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, ZLB Behring and Windtree Therapeutics. He is an active member of numerous international committees providing drug development safety oversight such as the International Safety Assessment Committee for Tracon Pharmaceuticals and the Data Monitoring Committee for Agenus Inc. Dr. Ostrowski is also Chairman of the regional branch of the National Cancer Registry in Poland.
Dr. Ostrowski received his medical degree from the Nicolaus Copernicus University, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Poland and his medical oncology training in the Center for Postgraduate Medical Education and Oncology Institute in Warsaw, Poland.
Board of directors
Michael Perry – Chairman of Board
Michael Perry – Chairman of Board
Mr. Perry has over 30 years of leadership experience in medical technology businesses and currently is the Executive Chairman of Avive Solutions. He has served as CEO, founder, board member, investor and senior executive in private and public healthcare technology companies whose successful exits have generated over $1 billion in shareholder value. He is a visionary entrepreneur who built two companies from start-ups through to completed acquisitions. Mr. Perry was named San Diego’s 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year for Medical Products and Technology. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from General Motors Institute. He served on the UCSD Cardiovascular Center Board of Advisors for over 20 years and the Perry family were founders of Pacific Ridge School, a highly successful independent school in North County San Diego.
Amir Jafri
Amir Jafri
Amir Jafri is the founder of Immunicom and has served as its President and Chief Executive Officer since the company’s inception in 2013. Amir has over 25 years of experience in healthcare technology and devices. As a senior executive in Fortune 50 companies and his own startups, he has managed multi-billion-dollar products on a global basis and is highly experienced with global regulatory environments. He was COO at West Health Institute; VP/CTO, VP R&D and VP Operations at Cardinal Health managing products with $1B in annual revenue (NYSE: CAH); VP/General Manager Healthcare Division at Manpower Group, responsible for the healthcare practice nationwide across 35 locations (NYSE: MAN). Prior to joining Manpower, Amir founded various healthcare startups that were subsequently acquired. He has successfully managed global businesses and has a track record of success in every business he has led. Amir serves on the Board of various healthcare technology startup companies and non-profit organizations. Amir received his Bachelors of Science Degree from Houston Baptist University with a double major in Chemistry and Biology and a minor in History. He attended medical school at the University of Texas but pursued an entrepreneurial and corporate path.
Gary Pace, Ph.D.
Gary Pace, Ph.D.
Dr. Pace is a seasoned biopharmaceutical executive with over 40 years of experience in the industry. He has held senior positions in global product development in major biotech and medtech companies and has also co-founded several early stage life science companies, where he moved products from the laboratory to commercialization. He is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, as well as author and co-author of over 70 research papers, reviews and patents. Currently Dr. Pace is also a Director of Pacira Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PCRX), Simavita Ltd (ASX: SVA), Antisense Therapeutics (ASX: ANP) and Invitrocue (ASX: IVQ) and several private companies. In 2003, Dr. Pace was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Australian Government for service to Australian society in research and development. Dr. Pace holds a Ph.D. from MIT, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
D. John Miller
D. John Miller
In the 25 years since founding DJM Capital Partners, D. John Miller’s sharp entrepreneurial instincts, impeccable market timing and real estate investment acumen have grown the company to $1 Billion in assets.
In commercial real estate for over 30 years, Miller formed his company in the early 90s to participate in the massive liquidation of commercial real estate resulting from the savings and loan crisis, opportunistically acquiring $75 million in bank-owned assets in California, selling the portfolio at a significant return.
With a smart acquisitions strategy and value-add approach through property renovation, re-leasing, change of use and creative financing, the company’s growing portfolio, held by DJM’s various equity funds, continues to generate attractive returns for investors.
Miller holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated cum laude.
Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett
Mr. Barrett is president and CEO of Whitespire Ventures, a private equity firm. He has 28 years of experience in the energy industry. As a senior partner for Vitol, he built a North American crude oil trading business worth over $50 million in annual profits. Vitol is the largest private energy trading company in the world. Barrett is also heavily invested in non-profits serving on various leadership teams and boards. He currently serves as vice-chairman of the board of Yes Prep Public Schools, a nationally acclaimed charter school network serving 14,000 underprivileged students. Barrett graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He started his career with Chevron rising to Area Manager of Crude Oil Trading before joining Vitol.
Peter C. Farrell, PhD, DSc, AM
Peter C. Farrell, PhD, DSc, AM
Peter Farrell is the founder and Chairman of the board of ResMed and has been Chairman and a director since its inception in 1989. Dr. Farrell served as chief executive officer and/or Executive Chairman from the company’s inception in 1989 until January 2014. He remains a non-officer employee of ResMed and is still Chairman.
From July 1984 to June 1989 Dr. Farrell served as vice president, research and development at various subsidiaries of Baxter International, Inc. and from August 1985 to June 1989 he also served as managing director of the Baxter Center for Medical Research Pty Ltd, a Baxter subsidiary. From January 1978 to December 1989 he was foundation director of the Graduate School for Biomedical Engineering at the University of New South Wales where he currently serves as a Visiting Professor and as Chairman of the UNSW Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He served on the Visiting Committee of the Harvard/MIT Health Sciences & Technology Program (1998-2018) and currently serves on the MIT Dean of Engineering’s Advisory Council. In addition, he serves on two faculty advisory boards at the University of California San Diego: the Rady Business School and the Jacobs School of Engineering. He holds a B.E. in chemical engineering with honors from the University of Sydney, an S.M. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and bioengineering from the University of Washington Seattle and a D.Sc. from the University of New South Wales for research contributions in the field of treatment with the artificial kidney.
From 2005 through May 2018 Dr. Farrell was a director of NuVasive, Inc. a NASDAQ-listed company which develops and markets products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders. In May 2018, Dr. Farrell was named Chairman of the board of Arcturus Therapeutics Ltd (NASDAQ ARCT), an RNA therapeutics company. He also chairs Cambridge-based WaveGuide, a company founded on NMR technology developed within Harvard’s School of Physics.
Dr. Farrell is a fellow or honorary fellow of several professional bodies including being a member of the National Academy of Engineering to which he was elected in 2012. Dr. Farrell was named 1998 San Diego Entrepreneur of the Year for Health Sciences, Australian Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001 and US National Entrepreneur of the Year for Health Sciences in 2005. Dr. Farrell joined the Executive Council of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1998, served as vice chairman from 2000 until 2010 when he became chairman, he served in that capacity until May 2013. In 2012 he joined the board of trustees of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA.
Michael E. Lehman
Michael E. Lehman
Michael Lehman is a financial and operating executive with extensive experience as CFO and COO for high-growth technology companies. He has had direct corporate management of key operating functions, including finance, legal, human resources, information technology, manufacturing operations and supply chain, facilities/real estate, and corporate strategy/development and planning. After starting his career at Price Waterhouse, he joined Sun Microsystems, where he eventually held the position of CFO for 13 years over two stints at the company. He then lent his experience as CFO to two pre-IPO companies, Palo Alto Networks and Arista Networks, successfully executing operating plans to develop and scale their systems and processes to support subsequent IPOs. In the last five years, he has served his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the role of special advisor to the Chancellor, stepping in to fill key operating roles, including Chief Information Officer, on an interim basis for the University. Mr. Lehman has held an interim CEO position for a pre-IPO company, and he is well-known for identifying, developing, and mentoring executives, ranging from CFOs and General Counsels to CIOs and HR VPs. He has been on the board of numerous public and private companies, and is currently lead independent director and chair of the Management Development, Nominating and Governance Committee for an NYSE listed company, and Audit Committee chair for a NASDAQ listed company.
John Rompon – Board Observer
John Rompon – Board Observer
Over the course of his 25-year career, John has played a leading role in nearly every aspect of private company activity and family office investing. He has structured transactions as a lawyer, improved operations and developed strategy as a management consultant, started companies as an entrepreneur, lead management teams as a CEO and Board Member, advised families regarding their investments, and deployed family office capital as an investor. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Marjo Investments LLC, a private holding company focused the active governance of private companies with other family offices. During the last 6 years, John has led or co-led investments in companies with an aggregate enterprise value of more than $1.2 billion. Prior to founding Marjo Investments, John was the co-founder, Managing Partner and Chief Compliance Office of McNally Capital LLC, where he oversaw the firm’s investment and private capital activities. In addition to leading Marjo, John serves as an Affiliate Partner at Lindsay Goldberg, a private equity firm, and is a member of the founding team of the Family Office Center at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Previously, John lead a significant division at Hewlett-Packard, served as CEO of Brigade, a General Atlantic Partners portfolio company based in Hyderabad, India, and served as a senior associate with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and as an associate with the law firm Latham & Watkins. John sits on a variety of private company boards and is a Trustee and Investment Committee member of The Newberry Library. John holds a B.A. in Economics and History from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Indiana University – Bloomington.
Wayne Jonas, M.D. – Board Observer
Wayne Jonas, M.D. – Board Observer
Dr. Jonas is the Executive Director of Integrative Health Programs at Samueli Foundation, an effort supported by Henry and Susan Samueli to increase awareness of and access to integrative health.
Dr. Wayne Jonas is a practicing family physician, an expert in integrative health and health care delivery, a widely published scientific investigator and author of the book How Healing Works.
From 2001-2016, he was Chief Executive Officer of Samueli Institute, a nonprofit medical research organization supporting the scientific investigation of healing processes in the areas of stress, pain and resilience. Dr. Jonas was Director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the NIH from 1995-1999, and prior to that served as Director of the Medical Research Fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of the American Medical Association, Nature Medicine, Journal of Family Practice, Annals of Internal Medicine, and The Lancet.
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our team
our team