The Ultimovacs team has broad scientific and industrial experience, from research through to commercialization. The team is based in Oslo, Norway and Uppsala, Sweden.
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- Management
- Team
Management
Carlos de Sousa
Chief Executive Officer
About Carlos Close
30+ years of experience. Extensive industrial experience as MD and from leadership positions at international pharmaceutical companies.
Hans Vassgård Eid
Chief Financial Officer
About Hans Close
20+ years of experience within business development and venture- and private equity investments across multiple industries. Senior management positions within business development, most recently at PHARMAQ, the global leader within aquatic animal health. Consulting experience from McKinsey & Company.
Anne Worsøe
Head of Investor Relations & ESG
About Anne Close
20+ years of experience within strategy, business development, branding, PR and communication from the investment industry. Previous CEO of the Norwegian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and Director of Innovation Norway in San Francisco. Served on the Boards of several early-stage companies, venture capital funds, private and public limited companies. Anne holds a Master of Business and Economics from Norwegian Business School.
Orla Mc Callion
Head of Regulatory Affairs & QA
About Orla Close
20+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Accomplished scientist and leader within regulatory and clinical development. Regularly interacted with EMA, FDA and other national Regulatory Authorities for scientific advice procedures, submissions for serious conditions, orphan designations and pediatric-related activities and to secure clinical trial approvals. Previously Director of Regulatory Affairs at OxThera AB. Orla holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from Queen’s University in Belfast.
Ton Berkien
Chief Business Officer
About Ton Close
15+ years of experience in healthcare business development, both pharmaceuticals and biotech. Senior /Executive management roles in Nycomed, Takeda, Nuevolution and Amgen. Further experiences from venture capital and corporate finance. BA Economics from Saxion University and LSiD diploma from PwC/Harvard/IMD.
Audun Tornes
Chief Technology Officer
About Audun Close
20+ years of experience within pharma industry, incl. international line and project management positions in GE Healthcare. R&D management experience from big-pharma and start-ups. Inventor of more than 10 patents in diagnostics and cancer therapy.
Jens Bjørheim
Chief Medical Officer
About Jens Close
MD PhD with clinical oncology experience and scientific merits within immunology and cancer genetics. 15 years of experience from pharmaceutical industry in Headquarter, Nordic and Baltic positions in Pronova Biopharma (BASF), Novartis, Clavis Pharma and AstraZeneca.
Gudrun Trøite
Head of Project Coordination
About Gudrun Close
15+ years of experience from medium size Norwegian pharmaceutical companies. Project manager for international clinical trials, experience from regulatory pre- and post marketing processes and quality assurance. Previous Clinical Operations Director in Photocure. Holds a PhD in medical physics.
Ingunn Hagen Westgaard
Head of Research
About Ingunn Close
15+ years of experience within R&D from academia and biotech industry within oncology and immunology. Regulatory experience from national and European regulatory authorities. Consulting experience in clinical development and medical communication. Ingunn Westgaard holds a PhD in cell biology.
Øivind Foss
Head of Clinical Operations
About Øivind Close
15+ years of experience within clinical research and development from AstraZeneca, Clavis Pharma and Pharmalink Oncology (Calliditas Therapeutics AB). Previous Director of Clinical Operations at Pharmalink Oncology. Øivind Foss holds a Dr Scient degree in sport physiology from the Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education.
Team
Gustav Gaudernack
Chief Scientific Officer
About Gustav Close
Professor and head of Unit for Immunotherapy at Radiumhospitalet from 1995 to 2011. Initiated over 20 clinical studies in cancer vaccination, including the first peptide vaccine study in cancer world wide (mutant RAS). Has more than 50 patents and 15 licenses of monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines and cancer diagnostics. More than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles.
Marita Westhrin
Translational Research Lead
About Marita Close
10+ years of experience within cancer research spanning the tumor microenvironment, tumor models and cancer vaccines. Experience from project management, research dissemination and industrial property rights within the medical field. Marita holds a PhD in molecular medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Anna Bergqvist
Scientist
About Anna Close
Research background in cancer immunology, and laboratory skills from extensive work in both clinical and academic research laboratories. Holds a MSc in molecular medicine from Lund University, Sweden.
Sara Mangsbo
Chief Innovation Officer
About Sara Close
Simultaneous with her role as the Chief Innovation Officer at Ultimovacs, Sara holds the position of Professor in Protein and Antibody Drugs at Uppsala University. Additionally, she is the co-founder and former Chief Scientific Officer of Immuneed AB, bringing over 15 years of expertise in the immuno-oncology field. Her extensive background encompasses both research and development, as well as market launch activities, demonstrated by her previous role as the Brand Lead in Immuno-oncology at AstraZeneca.
Harsha Madapura
Senior Scientist
About Harsha Close
Research experience in cancer biology and immunology. Preclinical research experience in cancer drug development. Has also worked at EIT Health Scandinavia (Accelerator) - EU supported organization, where innovators, startups & SMEs with transformative products and services in health care, were provided support for commercializing their innovations. Holds a PhD in medical science.
Aikaterini Chourlia
Scientist
About Aikaterini Close
Aikaterini has extensive experience within immunology research, laboratory management and great laboratory skills from Uppsala University. Aikaterini holds a BSc degree in General Biology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and a MSc in Molecular Medicine from Uppsala University (Sweden).
Espen Basmo Ellingsen
Director Medical Affairs
About Espen Close
Espen is a Medical Doctor and holds a PhD in cancer immunology from the University of Oslo. Background in translational research from the Institute for Cancer Research at Oslo University Hospital, focusing on therapeutic cancer vaccination, induced immune responses, and their impact on the tumor microenvironment. Espen integrates clinical and research expertise as Director of Medical Affairs.
Steinar Aamdal
Senior Medical Advisor
About Steinar Close
Professor of Oncology at the Department of Oncology at Oslo University Hospital since 2002 and, since 2004, Head of the Section for Clinical Cancer Research and Resource Development. Active member of several international societies, such as, ESMO, ASCO, AACR. Also member of EMA Scientific Advisory Group for Oncology (SAG-O). More than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles.
Vibeke Lochner
Medical Advisor
About Vibeke Close
15+ years of experience within several functions in the pharmaceutical industry, focusing on medical affairs, clinical research and oncology. Vibeke Lochner holds a Master degree in Dentistry from the University of Oslo.
Wenche Rasch
Head of International Clinical Dev.
About Wenche Close
20+ years of experience within clinical research and development in pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Previous Head of Clinical Development, Aker BioPharma/BioMarine and VP Clinical R&D, Clavis Pharma. Wenche Rasch holds a PhD in human physiology from Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
Vanja Sue Bergersen
Clinical Operations Manager
About Vanja Close
20+ years of experience within Clinical Operations in the pharmaceutical industry including roles as a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) and Lead CRA at AstraZeneca. Comes from a position as Senior CRA at Covance where she has been working with immune oncology trials.
Vanja holds a Master in Marketing Management from BI Norwegian School of Management and has Premedical Studies from Atlantis Medical College.
Gunn Mjelde
Clinical Operations Manager
About Gunn Close
Gunn has 10+ years of extensive experience from clinical trials, previously from Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca. Gunn holds a Bachelor’s degree in bioengineering from Sør-Trøndelag University College (Høgskolen i Sør-Trøndelag) and a Master’s degree within microbiology and immunology from the University of South-Eastern Norway (Høgskolen i Telemark) and the University of Oslo.
Roald Skurtveit
Product Development Manager
About Roald Close
Before joining Ultimovacs, Roald has 14 years experience as project leader in Amersham Health, GE Healthcare and IFE where he has lead projects from early development to filing for marketing approval. Roald also has 10 years experience as senior scientist within research and early stage product development in Nycomed. Roald holds a PhD in physical chemistry.
Marit Rolandsgard
QA & Product Development Manager
About Marit Close
15 years of experience from GE Healthcare within process development and manufacturing of small-scale APIs for clinical testing. Experience from commercialization of processes and commercial production. Marit holds a MSc in organic synthesis from the University of Oslo.
Joachim Midttun
Financial Manager
About Joachim Close
Before joining Ultimovacs, Joachim spent 6.5 years with Deloitte, most recently as Manager within transaction services in Financial Advisory. Acted as interim CFO in Orona Norway, a subsidiary of a European group headquartered in Spain. Joachim Midttun holds a Master of Science in Business and Economics from BI Norwegian Business School.
Torill Trones
Head of Office
About Torill Close
20+ years of experience within office management in pharma-, bio-, and medtech industry. Previous Office Manager at Oslo Medtech and Clavis Pharma ASA.