Combatting cancer: how innovation actors are changing the landscape

Moderator: Rob Chapman

Rob Chapman is an examiner at the EPO (EN/DE). He joined the EPO in 2008 and is a specialist in the area of immunotherapeutics (vaccines and antibodies). In addition to searching and examining patent applications, Rob provides training and seminars for the European Patent Academy. Rob obtained his doctorate of natural sciences from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (Germany) and an MBA from the Open University (UK).

Ilja Rudyk

Ilja Rudyk serves as senior economist at the EPO. He provides expert economic insight into issues relating to innovation and technology commercialisation, and has co-authored several studies on the role of patents and technology in the European economy.

Thomas Baumert

Thomas F. Baumert, MD is professor of medicine, director of the Institute of Translational Medicine and Liver Disease, Inserm U1110, director of the Laboratory of Excellence HEPSYS at the University of Strasbourg and chief of gastroenterology at the Center for Digestive Disease and Hepatology, Strasbourg University Hospitals. Furthermore, he is the founder, advisor and permanent guest to the board of Alentis Therapeutics – a clinical stage biotech company developing novel therapeutics for fibrotic diseases and cancer. He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Heidelberg, Germany and hold positions at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Freiburg, the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the US National Institutes of Health. His research focuses on discovery of therapeutic targets for treatment of fibrosis and cancer using liver disease as a model. He has received numerous awards, published more than 400 scientific articles and is inventor on more than 30 patents and patent applications.

Iordanis Arzimanoglou

Iordanis Arzimanoglou is the Programme Manager for Health and Biotechnology at the EIC, responsible for developing visions for technological and innovation breakthroughs. Iordanis previously worked as an EIC Coach & Senior advisor to genomic/genetic SMEs. He was the CEO of the Thessaloniki Innovation Zone managing company, and prior to that, CEO of the Aarhus Biotech Cluster Company (BMF) and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Aarhus University. Earlier in his career, he was the Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and prior to that, he was Chief of Cancer Genetics Research Program at Lennox Hill Hospital and a research scientist in the Division of Medical Genetics at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Iordanis holds a PhD from the University of Athens, Greece in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, a Boston University Graduate Certificate in international business management.  

Madiha Derouazi

Dr. Madiha Derouazi, an accomplished immunologist, joined AC Immune in January 2024 from Speransa Therapeutics where she had been CEO since inception in 2021, leading development of a novel platform of prophylactic vaccines. She is the winner of the European Inventor Award 2022 in the category SMEs. Previously, she founded AMAL Therapeutics in 2012, an immuno-oncology company developing a new generation of therapeutic cancer vaccines and served as CEO and CSO of the company until 2022. Dr. Derouazi led AMAL’s acquisition by Boehringer Ingelheim for EUR 425 million in 2019. During her career, she has taken numerous biologicals and advanced therapy medicinal products from research through pre-clinical development and first-in-human clinical trials. She holds a PhD in Cellular Biotechnology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, which was followed by postdoctoral work concentrating on tumour immunology and vaccine development.

Jan-Willem van de Loo

Dr Jan-Willem van de Loo, Cancer Theme Lead at the European Commission Directorate-General Research and Innovation since 2019, has been a Policy and Scientific Officer at the European Commission in charge of cancer research since 2003. From September 2019 –to July 2021, he led a team co-creating the Horizon Europe Mission on Cancer. Other policy initiatives include contributions to the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, public-public and public private research and innovation  partnerships. He graduated in biology at the University of Utrecht in 1991, following a year in the UW-Madison Medical School Graduate Program. He worked as a junior scientist on blood coagulation at Sanquin, Amsterdam and obtained his PhD in cell biology at the Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Leuven in 1999. He held three postdoctoral positions in cancer research, including a Marie-Curie postdoctoral fellowship at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan.