Expert Advisers

Dr. Gisli Jenkins

Fibrosis Expert Adviser

Professor of Thoracic Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London

Dr Jenkins’ research focuses on the mechanism by which injury leads to scarring in the lung. Lung scarring is the central process leading to disability and death in people with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, and also occurs in diseases such as chronic asthma where it promotes airway remodelling and impaired lung function. Following injury to the lung various cells activate TGFb via integrins in a spatially restricted manner. The activated TGFb then leads to cellular changes that promote the development of scarring. Much of the work is focused on two integrins in two cell types within the lung.

Professor Scott Kopetz, M.D., Ph.D., FACP

RXC004 Phase 2 Chief Investigator for Redx

Professor, Deputy Department Chair, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Dr. Kopetz joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2006 and is Professor and Deputy Chair in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology. Dr. Kopetz is board-certified in internal medicine and in medical oncology. He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, JAMA, Cancer Discovery, and Nature Medicine. He is the principal investigator of several practice changing clinical trials, including trials for patients with BRAF mutated colorectal cancer that led to new standards of care. Dr. Kopetz leads the MD Anderson Gastrointestinal Cancer Center Program and is chair of the NCI Colon Cancer Task Force.

Dr. Natalie Cook

RXC004 Phase 1 & 2 Chief Investigator for Redx

Senior Clinical Lecturer in Experimental Cancer Medicine and Honorary Consultant, Christie Hospital, Manchester, England

Dr Cook’s research focuses on development of early phase clinical trials of experimental anti-cancer therapies, translational assay development and early phase trials for gastrointestinal cancers.

Dr Cook attended medical school at the University of Sheffield, gained MRCP and was accepted into the specialist training program in Medical Oncology at Cambridge University Teaching Hospitals Trust. She completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge, funded by a CRUK Clinical Training fellowship, and investigated the role of the Notch pathway in pancreatic cancer.

In 2012 she was awarded the Rothwell Jackson Postgraduate Travelling Fellowship and travelled to Canada to undertake a 2 year drug development research fellowship, based at the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. She is now based at the Clinical Trials Unit, Oak Road Treatment Centre, Manchester and works with the Experimental Cancer Medicine Team delivering early phase trials to patients, whilst developing her research interests in translational assay design and gastrointestinal oncology.

Professor Juan Valle, MB ChB MSc FRCP

RXC004 Phase 2 Chief Investigator for Redx

Professor and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology, University of Manchester & The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester

Professor Valle’s outpatient clinics include a weekly research clinic, a chemotherapy and review clinic and a dedicated neuroendocrine clinic which also includes clinical trials. Multidisciplinary team meetings include attendance at the specialist hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) multi-disciplinary team (MDT), held at Central Manchester Foundation Trust; the specialist neuroendocrine MDT and a gastrointestinal radiology meeting (on the alternate weeks). Under his clinical leadership, The Christie was awarded recognition as a Centre of Excellence bythe European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (ENETS) for neuroendocrine tumours.

Professor Valle was previously the Chair of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) neuroendocrine tumour sub-group; he is a member of the NCRI upper gastrointestinal clinical studies group; member of the NCRI pancreatic sub-group; and member of the NCRI hepatobiliary sub-group.

Professor Valle was appointed as a Consultant in Medical Oncology at The Christie having completed his training in Medical Oncology in Manchester in 2000. He works within the gastrointestinal disease group and has developed a specialist interest in HPB and NETs.

Major achievements include international recognition for research in the field of biliary tract cancers, particularly through establishing the reference treatment for patients with advanced disease [ABC-02 study, published in the prestigious New Engl J Med in 2010]. This has provided a platform for follow-on studies as well as studies in other stages of the disease [adjuvant capecitabine in the BILCAP study (Lancet Oncology 2019) and FOLFOX in second-line from the ABC-06 study (Lancet Oncol 2021)]. He has also been involved in practice changing studies in NETs [also published in New Engl J Med in 2011].

Professor Toby Maher, M.D., Ph.D

RXC007 Phase 2 Chief Investigator for Redx

Professor of Clinical Medicine at Keck Medicine of USC.

Professor Maher is currently a Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director of the ILD program at Keck Medicine of USC, one of only two university-based medical systems in the Los Angeles area. Encompassing academic excellence, world-class research and state-of-the-art clinical care.

Prior to this Professor Maher previously worked as Consultant Respiratory Physician on the Interstitial Lung Disease Unit at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He remains a Professor of Interstitial Lung Disease at Imperial College, London.

Professor Philip Molyneaux

RXC007 Phase 2 Chief Investigator for Redx

Asthma+Lung UK Chair of Respiratory Research and director of the NIHR Cardiorespiratory Clinical Research Facility at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Dr Philip Molyneaux qualified at Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine in 2004, where he completed an intercalated BSc. in Molecular Genetics. He undertook his senior house officer training at Guy’s and St Thomas’ followed by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellow position in respiratory medicine at Imperial College, London.

He completed a PhD studying the role of infection in the pathogenesis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) at Imperial College. He was subsequently awarded the  Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis Mike Bray Fellowship which enabled him to establish an active clinical and translational research program that oversees a team of basic scientists and clinical trial research staff.

Dr. Florian Rieder, MD

RXC008 Expert Advisor

Vice Chair and Co-Section Head of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Cleveland Clinic, OH.

Dr. Rieder is an investigator at the Department of Inflammation and Immunity and a Full Staff at the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. His clinical focus is patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) with a special emphasis on the field of pathogenesis, prediction and therapy of IBD.

Dr. Rieder has published more than 150 articles and book chapters and has been recognized for his expertise as indicated through invitations to the steering committee of the 2nd European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO) scientific workshop on ‘Intestinal healing’, group leader of the 4th ECCO scientific workshop on ‘Intestinal fibrosis’, invitations as a full member of the consensus panel of the ECCO guidelines on Crohn’s disease, lead author of the ECCO guidelines on Ulcerative colitis and lead author of the first ECCO clinical consensus on ‘Diagnosis and Management of Intestinal Fibrosis’ as well as multiple international invitations as a speaker, session chair or conference faculty.

Dr. Rieder serves as an abstract reviewer for all major GI conferences, he is/was an associate editor (Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology) and on several editorial boards of medical journals (Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Fibrogenesis and Tissue Repair, American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology). He is proud of his significant ties to the ECCO, which he served as the chair of Y-ECCO, member of the ECCO operational board and member of the scientific committee. He was chair of REACH-IBD and is currently co-chair of the Professional Education Committee of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.

Dr. Reider leads the STAR consortium, a group seeking to identify and develop novel biomarkers and endpoints to help establish effective therapeutics for Crohn’s disease patients with fibrosis.

Dr. John C Davis, Jr, MD, MPH, MS, FACP, FACR

Medical Adviser – Fibrotic Diseases

Dr. Davis currently serves as a member of the board of directors and chair of the science committee at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco and Seattle and president of Norte Health Consulting, LLC in Cambridge, MA. He also was most recently the interim chief medical officer at Sonoma Bio. He continues to serve as a strategic advisor and scientific advisory board member of several companies including Human Immunology Biosciences (HiBio), Oak Hill Bio, Graphite Bio, and multiple earlier companies and biotech-focused venture capital groups. He previously served on the board of directors for Rheos Medicines and the scientific advisory board at Magenta Therapeutics.

He served as Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Magenta Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA. In this role he was instrumental in driving the company forward as Magenta offered its IPO and becoming a clinical stage company. He has continued to build and grow the research and development organization across multiple platforms and multiple therapeutic areas including gene therapy, rare metabolic diseases, and blood cancers. Prior to joining Magenta, Dr. Davis was Senior Vice President and Head of Early Clinical Development at Pfizer Inc. where he oversaw multiple functional groups across global sites. In his role at Pfizer, he was responsible for bringing 17 groups under one organization across multiple therapeutic areas of focus on a global basis. Prior to his role at Pfizer, Dr. Davis served as Vice President and Global Therapeutic Area Head of Immunology across research and marketed products at Baxalta which was acquired by Shire. Dr. Davis held multiple leadership roles at Genentech and ultimately was Head of the Inflammation and Cardiovascular/Metabolism Group in the Early Clinical Development Group at Genentech.

Dr. Davis spent many years on faculty at The University of California San Francisco leading international clinical research programs in autoimmune disease and became Professor of Clinical Medicine. He continues to see patients, teach, and serve as volunteer faculty at the Boston VA Medical Center. He is a Fellow of The American College of Physicians and The American College of Rheumatology. He has authored over 120 publications and book chapters and has help international leadership positions in his areas of research focus in autoimmune disease.

Dr. Davis earned an MD from the University of Maryland summa cum laude. Dr. Davis trained in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at The University of California San Francisco. He continued training in clinical research and rheumatology at The National Institutes of Health NIAMS Intramural Program. He holds a Masters of Public Health Degree in Epidemiology from the University of California Berkeley, and a Master of Science Degree in Anatomy from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Jane Robertson

Medical Adviser

Jane was Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at Redx Pharma from March 2021 to December 2023. Prior to her time at Redx, Jane was CMO at Achilles Therapeutics Ltd, a biotech company focused on the creation of a personalized T cell therapy directed against clonal tumour neoantigens. During her tenure at Achilles, the Company progressed its two lead clinical candidates into Phase 2 clinical development

Jane has previously also served as the CMO at Nucana Biomed Ltd and at Kesios Therapeutics Ltd and held several senior R&D leadership roles at AstraZeneca Oncology, notably leading the development of the first-in-class PARP inhibitor, Olaparib (Lynparza).

Jane originally trained in general medicine and haematology, working in clinical practice and translational research settings, and sub-specialising in haemato-oncology. Jane returned to the clinic in January 2024, taking up a role as a Consultant Haematologist with special interest in Early Phase Clinical Trials at the Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK. Jane remains an advisor to the Company principally focussing on the zamaporvint and zelasudil clinical development plans.