The Termeer Foundation Awards Fellowships for 2020 and Opens 2021 Application Process

The Termeer Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on connecting life science innovators and catalyzing the creation of new medicines, today announced the recipients of the Henri Termeer Fellowship for 2020 and opened its application process for 2021.

The Henri Termeer Fellowship is awarded each year to up-and-coming company founders, CEOs or heads of life science organizations who are working to bring life-changing treatments to patients. Recipients are often early in their leadership career trajectory, such as first-time CEOs, and place a high priority on connectivity, community, mentoring, and seeing the value in other people from all walks of life. Fellows receive membership in The Henri Termeer Network, an ever-expanding group of emerging and established healthcare leaders who pool their collective experience to advance cures. Additional Fellowship benefits include quarterly mentor presentations, monthly peer-to-peer learning presentations, individual 1:1 mentoring, and access to other events and initiatives sponsored by The Termeer Foundation.

“The Henri Termeer Fellowship Program is inspired by Henri, who was deeply committed to supporting and mentoring life science professionals. Henri was actively mentoring nearly 50 CEOs at the time of his passing and coached hundreds more throughout the course of his career,” said Belinda Termeer, President of The Termeer Foundation. “The Termeer Foundation believes many healthcare challenges can be solved through the mentoring, support, communication and shared experience provided through our network.”

THE 2020 HENRI TERMEER FELLOWS

Hasan Celiker, Xeno Biosciences

Hasan is the founder and CEO of Xeno Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics for obesity and related metabolic diseases. He previously worked as a consultant at start-up companies in diverse technology areas such as synthetic biology, nanotechnology to agriculture. He earned his Ph.D. at MIT in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and completed doctorate work on the evolution of cooperation and interspecies interactions in microbial ecosystems.

Tim Knotnerus, AgomAb Therapeutics

Tim is CEO of AgomAb Therapeutics, a privately held Belgian based biotech company developing hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) mimetic antibodies. While the company’s antibodies maintain the full therapeutic potential of HGF, they display the excellent drug-like properties of antibodies, holding the promise for regeneration of tissues in a variety of clinical indications. In March 2019, the team closed a $23 million series A financing round from a syndicate of venture capital and strategic investors to fund the non-clinical development of the lead compound. Prior to AgomAb, Tim was VP Corporate Development at AM-Pharma where he and the team conducted a phase IIb trial in patients with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury, signed a $600M option-to-acquisition deal with Pfizer and raised a $133M private financing round. Prior to that, Tim was a senior associate at Aescap Venture, a venture capital fund investing in European medical companies. Tim holds an executive MBA from IMD (Switzerland), where he was named Valedictorian, and gained a Science and Innovation Masters and a Drug Innovation Masters, both with honors from Utrecht University (NL).

 Natalie Yivgi Ohana, Minovia Therapeutics

Natalie the scientific founder and CEO of Minovia Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing innovative cell therapies for mitochondrial diseases. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from The Hebrew University and performed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She has over twenty years’ experience in mitochondrial research and currently leads the global organization in Israel, the U.S. and Switzerland.

Stan Wang M.D., Ph.D., Thymmune Therapeutics

Stan is founder and CEO of Thymmune Therapeutics, an innovative cell therapy company working to address high unmet needs across immunology. Previously, Stan was Founding Chief Scientific Officer at Cellino Biotech, where he led R&D and application of its technology to rapidly engineer cells. Stan received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and his M.D. from Columbia University. He was a postdoctoral fellow in cell and gene therapy with George Church at Harvard Medical School.

Minmin (Mimi) Yen, PhagePro

Mimi is CEO and Co-Founder of PhagePro, an early-stage biotechnology therapeutics company that develops bacteriophage-based products to help the world’s most vulnerable communities. Previously Mimi earned her Ph.D. in microbiology at Tufts University and completed research on cholera in the Camilli Lab. She also pursued a Master’s in Public Health at Boston University, specializing in Program Management and Global Health.

Applications are now open for the Henri Termeer Fellows class of 2021 and will be accepted through December 31, 2020. Apply online at www.termeerfoundation.org. Applications are reviewed by The Termeer Foundation Board of Directors and a rotating group of Mentor volunteers. Notifications will be sent out in the first quarter of 2021. The Termeer Foundation is committed to ensuring the inclusiveness of its Fellowship program, particularly in recognition of the underrepresentation of women and Black, Brown and Indigenous People of Color at the CEO level within the biopharmaceutical industry.