Team

Board of Directors

Bio

Ali Salanti

Chief Executive Officer

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Ali has a PhD in Medicine and is a Professor and Head of the Centre for Translational Medicine & Parasitology at the University of Copenhagen. Ali has authored over 150 scientific publications and 10 patent families, raised over €50M and launched 5 spinouts.

Bio

Mads Daugaard

Executive Chairman of the Board

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Mads has a PhD in Molecular Cancer Biology and is currently Head of the Molecular Pathology Unit at the Vancouver Prostate Centre and an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia (Canada). Mads has authored over 60 scientific publications and 10 patent families, raised over €50M and launched 4 spinouts.

Bio

Thor G. Theander

Chief Medical Officer

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Thor is an MD DSc. He is the Founder and former Head of the Center for Medical Parasitology at Univ. Copenhagen. Thor has authored over 300 scientific publications, co-founded 7 companies and raised over €100M. Thor has participated in the design and execution of over 10 phase I-III clinical trials, including the first licensed malaria vaccine.

Bio

Poul Sorensen

Board Member

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Poul is an MD PhD, board-certified anatomic pathologist and Professor at the University of British Columbia (Canada). Poul specializes in genetics and biology of pediatric cancers, has authored over 100 scientific publications, and raised over €50M.

Bio

Peter Schröcksnadel

Board Member

Peter is a seasoned Austrian entrepreneur that founded and managed several companies. He joined the Board of VAR2 Pharma in 2016 and co-founded VarCT Diagnostics in 2017. He brings extensive business experience and vast networks from decades in the broadcasting/marketing industry and international alpine skiing organizations.

Team

Bio

Ali Salanti

Chief Executive Officer

Bio

Dorte Holler Johansen

Chief Financial Officer

Dorte has a MSc in Business Administration and over 20 years of business, financial and admin experience intersecting public-private sector in multiple companies. She has managed over 100 projects, incl. large, publicly funded multi-stakeholder consortia (incl. EU actions).

Bio

Elena Vidal-Calvo

Research Scientist

Elena Vidal-Calvo has a PhD in Health and Medical Science (Clinical Cancer Research) and joined VAR2 Pharma in 2018. Elena has spent her PhD developing and characterizing Vartumabs and is now focused on understanding ofCS’s fundamental and clinical properties.

Bio

Frederico M. Pimenta

Chief Operating Officer

Fred has a PhD in Chemistry and joined VAR2 Pharma in 2024. Before joining VAR2 Pharma, Fred worked as a consultant to deep-tech startups, advising on soft funding strategy and helping secure over €20M in non-dilutive funding by supporting grant applications with market research, competition analysis, drafting business plans and coordinating consortia.

Bio

Lara Duvnjak

PhD Fellow

Lara has a MSc in Health and Medical Science (Immunology and Inflammation) and joined VAR2 Pharma in 2022. Currently doing her PhD in Var2 Pharma, her work is primarily focused formulation and stability testing for ADCs, as well as designing and testing bispecific constructs.

Bio

Nader Al Nakouzi

Senior Scientist - Preclinical Development

Nader al Nakouzi has a PhD in Cancer Biology and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Marketing. He joined VAR2 Pharma in 2016, bringing over 15 years of technical and scientific expertise in preclinical development, drug development, and cancer biology. Nader has directed multiple successful research programs, authored numerous scientific publications, and holds four international patents.

Bio

Robert Dagil

Senior Scientist - CMC Development

Robert Dagil has a PhD degree in the field of protein science and joined VAR2Pharma in 2017. Robert is leading the bispecific protein production team and brings technical and scientific expertise within protein engineering and CMC process development.

Bio

Swati Choudhary

Senior Scientist - CMC Development

Swati has a PhD in Biotechnology and joined VAR2 Pharma in 2016. She is leading the preclinical development of the ADC conjugate program including efficacy, localization and pharmacokinetics and preclinical tox studies. She also brings in expertise in potency assay development including ELISA based and in vitro cell based killing assays.