HotSpot’s Expert Team

of Drug Hunters

Ms. Jack, a proven leader in the biopharmaceutical industry, brings a broad scope of business and operational experience to HotSpot Therapeutics. She has a highly successful track record in leading financings, forming and negotiating strategic collaborations, facilitating strategy development, and building and leading business, finance and other administrative functions.

She joins the team from Mersana Therapeutics, where she was the Chief Business Officer and played a major role in transforming the company from an early-stage start-up to a publicly traded, clinical-stage organization. She has also consulted with biotech companies and investors on business and financing strategies. Previously, she served as the Chief Business Officer of Pulmatrix, and before that, she was with MedImmune (acquired by AstraZeneca). While at MedImmune Ms. Jack was Managing Director of MedImmune Ventures, where she was responsible for making and managing investments in private biotechnology companies. Prior to MedImmune Ventures, she was in MedImmune’s Business Development group, where she was responsible for in-licensing, out-licensing and research collaborations. Prior to joining MedImmune, Ms. Jack held a variety of positions at Intel Corporation, where she worked in venture investments, corporate strategy and public policy.

Ms. Jack holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in health sciences from The Johns Hopkins University.  Additionally, she is a volunteer puppy raiser for Canine Companions for Independence®, a non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs.

Dr. Reilly has extensive expertise in drug development across a range of therapeutic modalities and disease areas, with a proven track record of success in pharmaceutical R&D. Currently, he leads HotSpot’s drug development efforts focused on the strategy and operational components of bringing our new molecules into clinical development.

He joins HotSpot from Bristol Myers Squibb, where he held positions of increasing leadership responsibility during his 18-year tenure. Most recently he was Senior Vice President, Early Development Program Leadership, where he oversaw the entire early development portfolio spanning multiple modalities and therapeutic areas and established the overall strategic and operational plans from development candidate identification through Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical development. He has made significant contributions to well over 150 clinical stage molecules during the course of his career.

Dr. Reilly is the industry representative to the Network Steering Committee of the Experimental Cancer Medicines Centres (ECMC) established by Cancer Research UK, is on the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Melanoma Research Foundation and serves on the External Advisory Panel for the Purdue University Institute for Drug Discovery. In addition, he sits on the Translation Research Council for CureSMA and is co-founder and Chief Scientific Office of a non-profit organization, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Research Team (SMART). He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, received his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from Wayne State University and completed postdoctoral training in toxicology and cellular/molecular immunology at the National Institutes of Health under the mentorship of Dr. Lance Pohl. Tim was also previously a long-standing board-certified Diplomat of the American Board of Toxicology.

Alison O’Neill, M.D., serves as HotSpot’s Chief Medical Officer. Dr. O’Neill is an accomplished industry leader with over 15 years of experience in the biopharma industry and significant expertise in clinical development strategy and execution.

Dr. O’Neill joined HotSpot most recently from Surface Oncology, Inc., where she served as Chief Medical Officer, overseeing the clinical development of Surface’s pipeline of investigative immune-oncology agents. Dr. O’Neill’s experience spans small biotechnology companies to large pharmaceutical companies, including Radius Health, Inc., Synta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sanofi, to bring novel cancer agents into the clinic in order to benefit patients. During the first portion of her career, Dr. O’Neill was an academic neuro-oncologist, caring for patients with cancers affecting the brain and nervous system, as well as conducting clinical research and teaching.

Dr. O’Neill completed her undergraduate and medical education at the University of Chicago, residency training at the University of Michigan, and fellowship training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Trained as a biologist, Fang has nearly two decades of experience in cell biology and oncology drug discovery, spanning from early target validation through clinical development. Fang played a key role in progressing four molecules from early discovery into patients.  Of these, two molecules have been granted FDA approval.

Prior to joining HotSpot, Fang was Vice President, Biology at Fog Pharmaceutics, where she was responsible for building the biology organization from the ground up while focusing on developing stapled peptide as a new modality. Prior to Fog, Fang held roles of increasing responsibility at Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO). Fang was the lead biologist and pharmacologist for the first-in-class IDH1m and IDH2m programs to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Both enasidenib (Idhifa®) and ivosidenib (Tibsovo®) were granted full approval by FDA for relapsed and refractory AML. Fang was also the founding member and pipeline research leader for Agios’ immuno-oncology research hub. Prior to Agios, Fang was a Senior Scientist at Aveo Pharmaceuticals (AVEO), where she was part of the team that progressed the anti-human HER3 antibody from screening to IND.

Fang received her Master’s degree in Cell Biology and Ph.D. in Molecular Virology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.  Fang completed her post-doc training at The Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School.

Joe has over 15 years of immunologic experience with a focus on autoimmune and inflammatory disease. He has led and supported small and large molecule programs from discovery to the clinic. Joe brings a disease centric approach to drug discovery striving to bring complex cellular and translational systems into programs as early as possible. Prior to joining HotSpot Joe was the Head of Immunology at Verseau Therapeutics where he helped build an early stage pipeline across IO and inflammation. He has also held positions at Boehringer Ingelheim and Novo Nordisk. Joe received his PhD in Cancer Biology at Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida and completed his post-doctoral training at Washington University in St Louis.

Fouad Azzam, PhD, MBA, joined LSP in 2007. He became a Partner of the firm in that same year. Fouad’s prime focus and responsibility within LSP is to invest in unlisted securities and manage the firm’s North American operations. Prior to joining LSP, Fouad was the Managing Director of Eastman Ventures, the investment arm of Eastman Chemical Company, where he built-up its Healthcare and Advanced Materials practices. In his role as Managing Director, he was responsible for numerous early- and late-stage investments across the US & Europe. Fouad brings a wealth of investment expertise to the LSP team. Prior to his role at Eastman Ventures, Fouad held senior leadership positions at Eastman Chemical including roles in Innovation, Corporate Strategy, Corporate Development (M&A) and New Business Development. His career also includes business, operating, and technology roles at Occidental Chemical and BFGoodrich.

Among others, Fouad is currently a Director at NKarta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: NKTX), Xylocor Therapeutics, Endotronix, and Cardiac Dimensions. Fouad’s academic credentials include a Master’s degree and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron in Ohio. In addition, Fouad obtained an MBA in Finance & Strategy from the University at Buffalo in New York. Fouad lives in the greater Boston area with his wife and two children.

Mr. Carmona currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of ADC Therapeutics, Inc. (NYSE: ADCT), a commercial-stage biotechnology company helping to improve the lives of those affected by cancer with its next-generation, targeted antibody drug conjugates, where he is responsible for all the financial aspects of the business, as well as business development, information technology and procurement. Prior to joining ADC in December 2022, Mr. Carmona served as Chief Financial Officer of Rubius Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RUBY), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is biologically engineering red blood cells to create a new class of cellular medicines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Mr. Carmona previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Radius Health (Nasdaq: RDUS), a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing endocrine therapeutics. Prior to joining Radius, he was Chief Financial Officer of Innocoll Holdings PLC, acquired by Gurnet Point L.P. Previously, he held numerous financial management positions with increasing responsibilities at Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS), in various divisions, as Chief Financial Officer in Europe, North America, Latin America and held other senior global financial roles. Mr. Carmona currently serves on the Board of Directors of Senda Biosciences.

Mr. Carmona received his B.S. in Industrial Civil Engineering from Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria in Valparaiso, Chile, and his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in New York City.

Jill Carroll is a Partner at SR One. Prior to joining SR One in 2011, Jill was a Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Development at Dynavax Technologies, where she was involved in multiple pharma partnering deals as well as substantial private and public financings. She previously was a health care at Clearview Projects and Mercer Management Consulting. Jill earned a BS in chemistry from Duke University and an MS in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University.

Tony W. Ho, M.D., is Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Science Partner at Pivotal Bioventure. He was previously Executive Vice President and Head of R&D for CRISPR Therapeutics between 2017 and 2021, responsible for global R&D across all therapeutic areas. During his tenure, Dr. Ho led and built a world-leading R&D platform with more than 10 product pipelines and lead the development of world first approved CRISPR product Casgevy.  In addition, Dr. Ho and his team have brought three allogeneic CAR-T (CTX110 (CD19), 120 (BCMA), 130 (CD70)), and the first CRISPR edited pancreatic islet progenitor cells (VCTX210, VCTX211) from research bench to the clinic. Prior to CRISPR Therapeutics, Dr. Ho was SVP and Head of Oncology Integration and Innovation at AstraZeneca and oversaw the development and commercialization of Lynparza® (olaparib) and Imfinizi® (durvalumab). Before joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Ho was the head of Neurology and Ophthalmology at Merck, and before Merck, Dr. Ho was the Co-Founder and CSO of Neuronyx.

Dr. Ho received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA. Dr. Ho has published more than 80 papers in a variety of fields and currently serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Omstead is the Head of Healthcare Investments at abrdn, Inc. (formerly Tekla Capital Management LLC). Prior to joining Tekla, Dr. Omstead was President and CEO of Reprogenesis, Inc., a private development stage biotech company which developed therapies in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Before joining  Reprogenesis, Dr. Omstead was Senior Vice President, Research and Development, at Cytotherapeutics, Inc, a public biotech company. Prior to entering the biotech industry, Dr. Omstead was employed for fourteen years in positions of increasing responsibility within the pharmaceutical industry at Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation and at the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, both divisions of Johnson & Johnson, and at Merck, Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories, a division of Merck & Co., Inc. Dr. Omstead provides each Fund with insights into both pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Dr. Omstead holds PhD and Master’s Degrees in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry from Columbia University and a BS degree in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University. He is an emeritus member of the Board of Directors of a non-profit agency that provides emergency shelter, housing and supportive services to homeless and low-income individuals and families in the Boston area. Dr. Omstead was also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Joslin Diabetes Center.

Dr. Richon is a scientifically trained executive with decades of leadership experience in small biotechnology companies, global pharmaceutical companies and academia.  Before joining Ribon, Dr. Richon was the Vice President and Global Head of Oncology Research and Translational Medicine at Sanofi where she led the company’s early oncology efforts.  Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Richon was Vice President of Biological Sciences at Epizyme, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering therapeutics based upon epigenetics.  Earlier in her career, she was Founder and Executive Director of Aton Pharmaceuticals which was acquired by Merck in 2004.  Aton was formed to develop HDAC inhibitors, including vorinostat, an HDAC inhibitor that Dr. Richon developed during her tenure at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and vorinostat was the first HDAC inhibitor approved by the FDA while she was at Merck.

Dr. Richon received her PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and a BA in Chemistry at the University of Vermont.