Board of Directors

Johanna Holldack has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years, where she has held key positions in both start-up and large pharma companies. Her experience includes management and executive positions at Behringwerke, Chiron, MediGene, Borean Pharma, Telormedix and Trethera.

Johanna has a medical degree from Georg-August-University in Gottingen, Germany and is a Board Certified paediatrician. In addition, she has held positions as an Assistant Professor at the University of Essen, research fellow for the Deutsche Krebshilfe and a research associate at Harvard Medical School.

Madiha Derouazi founded AMAL in 2012 as a spin-off from the University of Geneva, Switzerland

She has been working on vector engineering and therapeutic cancer vaccines for over 10 years. She has a strong background in applied molecular and cellular biotechnology, with research interests at the interface of fundamental and translational research, the so called bench-to-bedside.

In the Laboratory of Tumour Immunology of the University of Geneva, she designed and characterized the CPP-based multi-epitopic cancer vaccine that is currently being progressed by AMAL Therapeutics.

Madiha holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland and a Master in Biotechnology Engineering from the University of Technology of Berlin, Germany.

Diego Braguglia has over 20 years’ experience in life sciences, medical devices and pharmaceuticals in Europe and the US. Prior to joining VI Partners as General Partner, Diego held various managerial positions in the pharmaceuticals and medical devices sectors. Diego currently represents VI Partners in various biotech start-ups companies, including AMAL Therapeutics.

Diego holds a MSc in Microbiology from the Biocenter of the University of Basel, Switzerland and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the Swiss Cancer Research Institute (ISREC) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Dr Karin Hehenberger is an experienced life sciences executive, who has dedicated her career to applying medical science to impacting people living with chronic disease. Dr Hehenberger has 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, which she entered after obtaining M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and conducting her post-doctoral work as a JDRF fellow at the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School.

Dr Hehenberger has held leadership positions in the biopharmaceutical industry including at Johnson & Johnson, Eyetech pharmaceuticals and Coronado biosciences, as well as on the investment side of healthcare at both private and public multi-billion dollar funds. Dr Hehenberger is considered an expert in the field of Metabolic disease and is an invited speaker at numerous conferences and at corporate strategy sessions on this topic, as well as the subject of patient impact, innovation and alternative financing methods for early stage research.

Dr Hehenberger is a Senior Advisor, Biotechnology and Medical Innovation for the Department of Endocrinology and Surgery at the Karolinska Institute, the Scientific Advisor to the CEO of Helsinn, and sits on the several corporate and advisory boards. She is a Swedish citizen, but based in New York City.

Andreas Wallnöfer joined BioMedPartners as a new Partner in 2016. He is a senior executive leader with more than 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including 12 years as a member of the F. Hoffmann-La Roche Pharma R&D Leadership and Portfolio Committee. He led the Roche Pharma Cardiovascular & Metabolism Disease Area and left Roche in 2015 after the company strategically decided to exit these research areas.

At Roche he was involved in several successful product development programs. As Head of Clinical Research & Exploratory Development Andreas and his groups were involved in the Due Diligence evaluations for in-licensing projects and product acquisitions. He also played a key role in the integration of the Roche and Genentech Development organisations and subsequently led Early Development and Portfolio Management at Roche.

Andreas has a PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Basel, Switzerland and trained as a fellow in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. He holds a Master of Technology Enterprise and an Executive MBA from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.

Frank Kalkbrenner is Managing Director of the Boehringer Ingelheim Corporate Venture Fund (BIVF). Over the last eight years, he has been involved in numerous investments and exits of the fund. Currently, he serves as Board member of Eyevensys in Paris, Amal Therapeutics in Geneva, Acousia Therapeutics in Tübingen, Brainomix in Oxford and Inserm Transfer Initiative, a French Seed Investment Fund.

Frank studied medicine and holds a degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology. He spent more than 10 years in academic research in the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin and in the Institute of Pharmacology of the Freie Universität, Berlin. His academic research focused on gene regulation and membrane signal transduction.

In 1997, he started his industrial career by joining Schering AG as senior scientist in Experimental Dermatology. In 1999, Frank joined Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) and subsequently held several positions in Pulmonary Research. In 2005, he took over the responsibility for the Licensing Department of BI Germany. In 2010, he joined the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.