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.
Steve Prince
Chief Commercial Officer
Steve Prince
Chief Commercial Officer
Steve is a results-oriented marketing/sales, strategy and business development executive with a 30-year track record of successfully building new growth opportunities and global markets for medical technology companies of all sizes. He began his career with GE Healthcare where he worked in hospitals across the U.S., Europe and Asia developing the market for nascent technology called positron emission tomography (i.e. PET Imaging), which today is a $2.5 billion global industry. After serving in various VP level roles in Gen-Probe, Cardinal Health, and CareFusion, Steve co-founded CRISI Medical Systems which won the 2015 Frost & Sullivan “North American Award for New Product Innovation”, the 2016 “Medical Design Excellence Award (MDEA)” global competition for drug-delivery devices, and was recently acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Co.
Steve received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from Michigan Tech University, his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University, and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He has over a dozen issued US & international patents.
Dave L. Lopez, Esq., CPA
CFO, General Counsel
Dave L. Lopez, Esq., CPA
CFO, General Counsel
David Lopez has over 30 years of experience in emerging growth situations, primarily in Life Sciences, serving as an attorney and transactional professional. He was a founding team member of Discovery Labs (Nasdaq: DSCO). He was highly instrumental in taking the company public, and served as EVP, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer overseeing legal, regulatory, and medical affairs. He recently served as EVP, CFO and General Counsel of PrescribeWell, a Merck portfolio company. He has provided specialized consulting services to biotech and big pharma, most recently to Insmed (Nasdaq: INSM) and as Senior Promotional Compliance/Regulatory Attorney at Otsuka. Previously, he was a Senior Attorney at a Cravath Swain spinoff, Roberts, Sheridan & Kotel, specializing in life sciences, biotechnology, medical device and high-technology. Prior to that, Mr. Lopez gained investment banking experience at Drexel Burnham Lambert and served as a consultant and auditor in “Big Four” public accounting, both in NYC.
Robert Segal, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Chief Medical Officer
Robert Segal, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Segal has over 30 years of medical and biopharmaceutical / medical device experience including the design, conduct and execution of numerous multi-national, multi-site clinical programs and nonclinical studies. Dr. Segal previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Discovery Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq, now Windtree Therapeutics, Inc.), where, in addition to serving as executive management, he focused on many successful Federal funding opportunities, including important Biodefense initiatives. Dr. Segal has received well in excess of $10 million in NIH awards to evaluate novel drug and drug-device combination therapies. Previously, at Merck he held the position of Director, Cardiovascular Clinical Research where he was a key contributor to the approval and launch of Cozaar® (losartan). Prior to joining Merck, he was an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology / Transplantation at University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine and served as an advisor to the Biotechnology Program at Northwestern University. Dr. Segal received his medical degree from the University of Pretoria Medical School, South Africa. Dr. Segal is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine (with a sub-specialty certification in nephrology and transplantation) and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He completed his internship and residency in Medicine at Sinai Hospital, Baltimore, and a clinical postdoctoral fellowship in General Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He then completed a fellowship in Nephrology in the Division of Nephrology / Transplantation at the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as a research fellowship in Molecular Biology in the laboratory of the esteemed Arnold J. Berk, M.D., at the Molecular Biology Institute, UCLA.
Lawrence Florin
Executive Vice President of Clinical Operations
Lawrence Florin
Executive Vice President of Clinical Operations
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.
Annette Marleau, Ph.D.
Vice President of Research and Development
Annette Marleau, Ph.D.
Vice President of Research and Development
Dr. Marleau is an immunologist with over 15 years of experience in devising and managing R&D programs to support the advancement of therapeutic candidates for immune related diseases. She previously held leadership positions in private and public immuno-oncology companies and research institutions. She has been the Principal Investigator for federally funded initiatives directed toward developing novel technologies for liquid biopsy-based diagnostics and extracorporeal therapies for cancer. She previously co-founded a consulting group that provided strategic and scientific input for new product development programs, regulatory submissions, and IP portfolio expansion for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Her expertise spans numerous areas including infectious diseases, neurological disorders, and regenerative medicine. Dr. Marleau completed a fellowship in immunology at Scripps Research in La Jolla, CA where she specialized in autoimmune disorders. She is a graduate of Western University (Ph.D.), Ontario Veterinary College/University of Guelph (M.S.), and University of Waterloo (B.S.) in Canada.
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.
Farah Awan
Vice President of Business Operations
Farah Awan
Vice President of Business Operations
Farah is an accomplished, highly motivated, and results-oriented executive with over 17 years of progressive experience with start-ups and global multi-million companies across the retail, technology, telecommunication, and life science industries. She has demonstrated the ability to build strong teams, streamline business operations that increase efficiencies, and contribute to the profitable growth of a corporation. She is dedicated to assist executive management teams in understanding and adhering to the financials and operations of the organization. She is skilled in developing models, implementing controls, and MD&A (Management Discussion & Analysis) preparations, to drive business and strategic decisions towards attainment of financial and operational goals. She is a team player with the strong ability to build productive relationships at all levels of staff and management, through outstanding communication and interpersonal skills. At Immunicom, Farah is handling all operations, including but not limited to Finance, Accounting, International requirements, and shareholder documentation.
She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Finance/Economics from Rockhurst University, Kansas City, and her Executive MBA from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. In her free time, Farah likes to spend time at the beach, hiking, and exploring through national and international travels.
Johan Louw
Vice President of Strategic Programs
Johan Louw
Vice President of Strategic Programs
With over twenty years of heightened expertise in financial management, government logistics and customer and investor relationship management, Johan Louw now serves as Vice President of Funding and Investor relations at Immunicom. As a senior executive, Johan is extremely motivated and determined.
Johan started his investment banking career with Morgan Stanley in New York and from there, moved on to become Vice President and Partner at Calton Hill Capital Markets; working with a focus on development and business acquisition at this time aided in Johan’s strategic abilities he emulates in his work today. From Calton Hill, Johan ventured on to become the Chief Operating Officer for a medical service company that was subsequently acquired. Throughout his career, Johan has fostered multiple advisory roles within numerous startup entities. With a high success rate regarding raising the capital needed for a variety of industries (ranging from startups and land acquisition all the way the oil services industries), Johan encompasses a unique and strategic skill set for the world of investments.
Originally hailing from South Africa where he received his BCom from the University of Stellenbosch, Johan has a diverse history. He also proudly served in the armed forces for two years. In his free time, he loves getting involved with sports; especially golf, surfing and rugby. Johan’s track record speaks for itself. His successful projects were in capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, and turnaround management. Through the course of his career, he’s been able to consistently find the capital needed for a business to grow, acquire or expand, while nurturing client relationships and closing key accounts.
Marilyn Panahi
Director of Quality Assurance
Marilyn Panahi
Director of Quality Assurance
Marilyn Panahi has over 25 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
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
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.
David Schlotterbeck
David Schlotterbeck
David has over 45 years of experience in healthcare and technology. He has been Chairman and CEO of 3 public NYSE companies and 2 private companies. He was Vice Chairman of Cardinal Health, a $90B Fortune 20 global healthcare company. David also ran the 5th largest medical technology company in the world. He has successfully completed 2 IPOs, and generated over $11B in shareholder returns over the last 10 years of his career. He has a proven track record of bringing innovative healthcare technologies to market where 8 out of the 9 companies where he was either Chairman or CEO, became multi-billion dollar businesses and the global leader in their market segment. David has served on over 20 public and private company Boards in addition to several healthcare institutional nonprofits at the national level.
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 Perry
Michael Perry
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.
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.
Cooper H. Miller
Cooper H. Miller
With more than a decade of experience advising large-scale enterprises in the design and implementation of complex learning strategies across their organizations, Mr. Miller’s most recently founded SkillSource Learning Partners, a privately-held Professional Services firm where he currently serves as CEO. Through a combination of proprietary technology, data science, and intensive industry expertise, SkillSource enables its clients to more efficiently scale their training resources and easily adapt to rapidly changing needs across the business. His skillsets include aligning the unique training and professional development needs of employees with the broader business strategy and goals of the organization.
Mr. Miller began his business career in sales and had earned numerous certificates in leadership and organizational development that have built on his industry accomplishments. In addition to his professional experience, Mr. Miller holds a B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley
John Rompon
John Rompon
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.
Wayne Jonas, M.D.
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