Omnitura’s Leadership Team is comprised of pioneers who have led a diversity of industries in innovation and change. Our shared belief in the need to develop multivalent therapies that address the complex and heterogeneous nature of cancer serves as the foundation that inspires us and our collaborators to develop new medical solutions that address patient needs as well as issues of affordability and accessibility.
Jerry Norskog | Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder
Jerry had an award-winning 30 year career as a senior executive with Johnson & Johnson in North America and throughout Asia and was a central part of a team that built and operated companies for Johnson and Johnson in 15 countries in the Asia Pacific. Serving 10 years in China, Jerry and a talented team helped to found, build and operate Johnson and Johnson’s key franchises: Consumer (BandAid), Medical Device and Diagnostics, OTC (Tylenol) and XJP Janssen Pharmaceutical founded by Dr. Paul Janssen in Xian China. Jerry's close relationship and respect for Dr. Paul led him to pursue drug development and the co-founding of Genyous Biomed and Omnitura Therapeutics.
Dr. Simon B Sutcliffe, MD, FRCP, FRCP(C), FRCR | Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Sutcliffe is a clinical oncologist (retired), having been President & CEO of the Princess Margaret Hospital/Ontario Cancer Institute (1994-1996) and the BC Cancer Agency (2000- 2009). Board appointments include; Premier Diversified Holdings (including Premier Diagnostics Centre/INITIO Medical Innovations); InspireHealth, Omnitura Inc., QuBiologics Inc., the International Cancer Control Congress Association, Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration – INCTR Canada, the Institute for Health Systems Transformation and Sustainability (2010-2016); the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC, 2009-2012), the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR, 2000-7), and Genome BC (2000-2008).
He is an Adjunct Clinical Professor (UBC) and an Associate Scientist (BC Cancer Agency), and has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth 50th Jubilee Gold Medal (2003), the Terry Fox Award of the BC Medical Association (2009), and the LifeSciences B.C. Dr. Don Rix Award (2015).
Dr. Sutcliffe graduated in medicine with honours in 1970, and obtained his Doctoral thesis in 1979.
Dr. Sutcliffe has published extensively in the areas of radiation and medical oncology as applied to the treatment of lymphoma, leukemia, bone marrow transplantation, endocrine malignancies, fertility and gonadal function in cancer patients and cellular immuno-deficiency and immuno-modulation in cancer.
James Levison | Corporate Secretary and Treasurer
James Levison serves as Omnitura’s Secretary and Treasurer and is a member of the finance committee. He is responsible for all equity and compensation transactions, and the management of cash planning and investments. Mr. Levison is a senior finance and operations executive with over forty years of experience. He is skilled in strategic and tactical financial affairs including P&L management, capital raising (public and private sector), negotiations, and treasury and cash management. Mr. Levison is highly experienced in contract management, banking relations, international operations, revenue recognition, taxation and financial reporting. Mr. Levison has previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Zephyr Photonics, Inc., Liquid Engines, Inc., and VP Finance of Think3, Inc. He holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College.
Dr. Norman J Maitland Ph.D. | Chief Scientific Officer
Professor Norman J Maitland graduated with First Class Honors in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow, and holds a PhD in Cancer Studies from the University of Birmingham. Part of his postgraduate research was carried out as a Robertson Research Fellow in Cold Spring Harbor laboratory (NY, USA) where he pioneered the introduction of DNA into mammalian cells to correct genetic defects (published in Cell, 1977). After postdoctoral research in Epigenetics at the University of Edinburgh, he was appointed as the first UK Lecturer in Molecular Pathology at the University of Bristol in 1983, to apply basic molecular biology for the diagnosis and treatment of clinical problems, including childhood, cervical and oral cancers. He remained in Bristol until 1991, until appointment as Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of York, where he was also Director of the Cancer Research Unit and held an honorary Chair in the Hull-York Medical School. His laboratory was the first to prospectively identify cancer stem cells in the human prostate, and established this rare cell type as a therapy resistant root, which promotes tumor recurrence. Norman has held honorary professorships in the Universities of Catanzaro and Parma (Italy), and Erasmus University (Rotterdam) in addition to excellence awards from Parma and Pisa and McGill Universities. In 2009, Prof Maitland was awarded the Chopin Award by the EAU for excellence in translational research, and gave the prestigious Jaipur Oration at the Indian Urological Association in 2016. On his retirement from the University of York in August 2019, he was elected Emeritus Professor in Molecular Biology by the University Senate.
Paul Freiman | Senior Vice President Business Development
Mr. Freiman’s career spans more than 50 years in healthcare, starting as a salesman at ER Squibb & Sons in 1958, before joining Syntex as a salesman in 1962 and rising through the ranks. By the time of its acquisition by Roche in 1993 for $5.3 Billion, Mr Freiman had become its CEO and Chairman. During his Syntex career, Mr. Freiman served on the Board of PhRMA including its Chairmanship during the Bill and Hillary Clinton attack on the industry from 1994-96, he founded and owned Third Age Consulting, San Francisco, consulting on Pharmaceuticals and Boards of Directors. From 1996-2009, Mr. Freiman was CEO of Neurobiological Technologies Inc, a California-based biotech company. More recently (2009-14), he has been a partner in BB Investments, Rio de Janeiro, helping to discover and fund a nascent Brazilian biotech industry as well as the delivery of healthcare in Brazil. Mr Freiman served as Chairman of Neurotrope, an Alzheimer focused company. He has served on the boards of numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including the US subsidiary of Otsuka and currently serves on the board of NovaBay, a publicly traded company and Chronix a private firm in the field of liquid biopsy.
Mr. Freiman is a native New Yorker, a graduate of Fordham University College of Pharmacy, receiving numerous awards in the field of pharmacy including an Honorary Doctor's degree from the Arnold and Marie Schwartz Collage of Pharmacy in NY. He has served on a number of non-profit boards including Chairmanship of United Way Silicon Valley, Founding Chair of the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley and is currently on the Fordham University Scientific Advisory Board.
Jack Troia | Director and Audit Committee Chair
Jack Troia was a partner at Deloitte & Touche for fourteen years and in public accounting for over twenty-five years. Mr. Troia was a National Director of the Financial Services Practice and responsible for the financial services groups in the local offices of Deloitte & Touche in Washington, DC and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has significant experience in accounting and auditing for public and private companies, mergers and acquisitions, initial and secondary public offerings, financial management, and general business matters. Over the years he has worked with a significant number of businesses, in all aspects of financial management, business planning, accounting, and information systems.
After retiring from Deloitte & Touche, Mr. Troia assumed a position at Georgetown University as an adjunct professor. For over five years Mr. Troia was involved with dynamic growing companies as both COO and CFO. He was responsible for all financial and operating aspects including accounting, treasury, human resources, management information systems, and operations.
Tom Dao | Co-Founder, Director Emeritus, Sourcing and Manufacturing
Established raw materials supplies and quality control. Developed product manufacturing process and established third party manufacturing for Aneustat™. Drafted plans for future larger scale manufacturing. Tom has matriculated through Stauffer Chemical Corporation for over 22 years in areas of research; operation; licensing technical; business development; Regional management and Corporate (Senior Research Engineer, Senior Process Engineer, Area Manager Development-Far East, Reginal Manager-South East Asia, General Manager- Stauffer Far East, Senior Business Analyst- Corporate Planning). He was responsible for process development and plant design on many new chemical products while in research such as the Stauffer’s Agricultural chemical Complex in Little Rock, Arkansas. Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Complex Expansion in Louisville, KY. While in Licensing, He was responsible in technology transfer, technical operating personnel training and plant startups for many large chemical plants. In the U.S. such as Shell Chemical’s VCM Complex at Deer Park, TX, Continental Oil’s VCM Complex at Lake Charles,LA. Numerous International Chemical Plants such as BASF of Germany, AKZO of Holland, Sumitomo Chemical of Japan, Formosa Plastics of Taiwan, ICI of England). While in Southeast Asia, initiated the use of bulk ocean transport for shipping solid and liquid Chemicals to enable U.S. able to economically compete in the Far East market.
In 1978 , he founded Central Pacific Ex-Im corp. Engaging in International trade of specialty and commodity chemicals; Timber Products and Harvesting; Ag. Chemicals Manufacturing; Joint Venture and Project Investment such as thus far, the world’s only coal Slurry transport “Black Mesa Pipeline” in Arizona. Managed Central Pacific Corp. for 36 years until 2013. Tom has received his B.S in Chemical Engineering at U.C. Berkeley in 1958. Attended three Years of further studies in evenings at U.C. Berkeley, Extension.
Shantanu Basu | Patent Attorney
International patents, 20+ years of experience in patent law, Post-grant procedures, patent interference, reexamination and reissues, Patent life cycle management, Corporate due diligence, Strategic counseling, IP portfolio analysis and counseling, Patent litigation and arbitration, Legal opinions, validity, and Technology transactions, licensing. Technical areas of expertise include Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals, Biologics & Biosimilars, Immunotherapy, Drug discovery, Bioinformatics, Clinical Diagnostics, and Nutraceuticals.