Management
Gary Mathias
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Mathias has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry as an entrepreneur, investor and banker. Over the course of his career, he has raised over $250 million in debt and equity for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. Prior to co-founding Thetis, Mr. Mathias was Managing Director and Healthcare Group Lead at Carter Morse & Mathias, SVP in the Healthcare Group of GE Equity Capital, Chief Operating Officer of Diabetes Support Systems, and EVP of Premier Healthcare, a healhcare private equity firm. Mr. Mathias has a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard College, an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and was a Fulbright Fellow in Colombia, South America.
Gary Mathias
Co-Founder and CEO
John Parkinson, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Prior to joining Thetis in 2021, Dr. Parkinson was the Senior Scientific Director and Head of IBD Drug Discovery at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Dr. Parkinson led the discovery and development of the Lipoxin analog program at Berlex Laboratories. Dr. Parkinson completed post-doctoral studies in hematology and oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and in cardiovascular drug discovery at the Lilly Laboratories for Clinical Research and received a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K.
John Parkinson, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Joyce Steinberg, MD, FACP
Chief Medical Officer
Dr Steinberg is a Board-Certified Medical Oncologist who has over 22 years of biopharma industry experience in drug development. Prior to joining Thetis Pharmaceuticals., Dr. Steinberg held key medical development roles at Searle, Fujisawa, NeoPharm, Abbott, and Astellas specializing in the development of cancer therapies including small molecules and biologics. She has experience in designing, overseeing, and conducting global clinical trials and representing development positions at global regulatory agencies. Dr. Steinberg holds an MD from the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University. Her medical oncology fellowship was done at the University of Toronto.
Joyce Steinberg, MD, FACP
Chief Medical Officer
Frank C. Sciavolino, PhD
Co-founder and CSO Emeritus
Dr. Sciavolino has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including a distinguished 35 year career at Pfizer Global R&D.; At Pfizer, Dr. Sciavolino held various management roles and responsibilities in drug discovery, development, registration and licensing, culminating in a role as Vice President of R&D; Operations, in which he oversaw a team of 1,000 scientists in the United States, Europe and Asia. He was the enabling force behind two of Pfizer’s most notable franchises, Zithromax and Celebrex. After leading the discovery chemistry team responsible for the initial macrolide antibiotic research, he served as principal investigator leading the Phase I evaluation of 11 compounds in first-in-human (FIH) studies, which led to the identification and development of Zithromax, an antibiotic considered one of the most important new drugs of the 20th century. He also played a major role in the licensing of Celebrex, a COX-2 inhibitor that reached $3 billion in peak annual sales globally.
Dr. Sciavolino has served on numerous editorial boards including Annual Reports in Medicinal Chemistry, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and the Journal of Antibiotics. Dr. Sciavolino has more than 30 issued patents and has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan and B.S. in Pharmacy from St. John’s University.
Frank Sciavolino, PhD
Co-Founder and CSO Emeritus
Beverly Paperiello
SVP, Clinical Operations
Ms. Paperiello is a biopharmaceutical executive with over 25 years of experience in the management of clinical development programs and related departments, with responsibility for global clinical research, for large and small molecules and gene therapy, spanning from early stage to late stage development. Her experience includes numerous global development programs and regulatory filings, with portfolio management in excess of ~$1 billion. Ms. Paperiello previously was Senior Vice President, Biopharmaceutical Product Development at Akebia Therapeutics, Head of Clinical Science Oncology at Astellas, Director of Clinical Program Management at Abbott Laboratories, and Manager of Clinical Research at D. Searle/Pharmacia/Pfizer.
Beverly Paperiello
SVP, Development Operations
Wayne Klohs, PhD
Senior Medical Director, Chair of SAB
Dr. Klohs is an R&D executive and scientist with thirty-five years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with increasing levels of responsibility held in positions across the drug development and discovery spectrum. He is currently a consultant for several companies including the SAB for Aeglea Therapeutics, SAB and DOB for MAIA Biotechnology, Chairman of the BOD for Xennials Therapeutics. He also serves as a consultant for Tieos Therapeutics, Kymeris Therapeutics, Petra Pharma, Third Coast Therapeutics, RJS Biologics, and Alacrita Consulting. Dr. Klohs retired from Astellas Pharma Inc. as a Senior Vice President and Therapeutic Area for Oncology for Astellas Pharmaceutical, Inc in June, 2013. In five years, he built Astellas Oncology from 5 people in oncology to ~ 500 and built the oncology pipeline at Astellas from zero compounds to a robust pipeline through internal discovery, in-licensing of key compounds, and the acquisition of OSI Pharmaceuticals. Headed the Global Oncology Strategy team that set the global direction and strategies for oncology at Astellas.
He successfully filed NDAs and MAAs for Xtandi (enzalutamide) and Tarceva. Previously, he served as acting head of Oncology Clinical Sciences at Takeda Global R&D and Executive Director of Drug Development at Pfizer, Inc. At Takeda, he lead both early and late-stage Development Teams in Oncology and was a member of Takeda’s Global Oncology Licensing Team. At Pfizer, he led development from mid-Discovery through POC with additional experience in NDA filings including pentostatin/Nipent and suramin/Metaret. During that time, he led development teams to more than 14 successful IND filings and Phase 1 starts including a pan-erbB irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor, two MEK inhibitors for both oncology and inflammation, a cell cycle inhibitor, several P38 inhibitors among others. Prior to heading up drug development for oncology and inflammation at Pfizer, he led discovery efforts at Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis Pharmaceutical Research in oncology in a number of areas including antiangiogenic agents, multiple drug resistance, histone deacetylase inhibitors, and antifolates.
Wayne Klohs, PhD
Senior Medical Director and SAB Chair
Chris Cimarusti, PhD
Drug Substance
Dr. Christopher Cimarusti brings strong leadership experience in pharmaceutical discovery, development and manufacturing gained over a 37 year career at Squibb Corporation and Bristol-Myers Squibb. As a discovery chemist, Dr. Cimarusti synthesized the anti-hypertensive nadolol and the antibiotic aztreonam for the first time and designed their commercial processes. As a discovery leader, he co-led the antibiotic effort with Richard Sykes and became Director of Organic Chemistry for the Squibb Institute for Medical Research. Subsequently, he was responsible for all biological and chemical process development within Squibb Corporation, including technology transfer directly to manufacturing, monitoring ongoing production and optimization of existing processes. After the merger with Bristol-Myers, he became Vice President of Process R&D within the Pharmaceutical Research Institute. He was appointed Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development and led a global staff of 1,200 engaged in the CMC disciplines for small and large molecules. He also had responsibility for global Clinical Supply Operations, Project Management and Portfolio Management.
Chris Cimarusti, PhD
Senior Director, Drug Substance
Robert Lipper, PhD
Drug Product
Dr. Lipper has 30+ years of experience in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to his present consulting work, Dr. Lipper held international line-management responsibility for Pharmaceutics R&D with Bristol Myers Squibb over a 24 year career. His experience spans the entire R&D pipeline, from compound selection through technology transfer and marketed product support. Dr. Lipper began his industrial career with Pfizer Central Research, Groton, CT, where he was primarily involved with liquid and sterile product development for human and veterinary pharmaceutical products. Dr. Lipper has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Michigan and B.S. in Pharmacy from Purdue University.
Robert Lipper, PhD
Senior Advisor, Drug Product
Belinda Hightower, RN, PhD
VP, Clinical Quality Management
Dr. Hightower joined Thetis in 2023 with nearly forty years of pharmaceutical industry experience as an expert in clinical quality management. She has held leadership roles in quality management and made significant contributions towards the development and marketing of several drugs and has held positions with Abbott Laboratories (AbbVie), Upjohn and GH Besselaar. Dr. Hightower is a Registered Nurse and holds a dual Doctorate and Masters in International Business from the Keller Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor’s of Science degree from DePaul University.
Belinda Hightower, RN, PhD
VP, Quality Assurance