accomplished Team

Sauvie’s team is highly experienced in driving organizational growth through development, commercialization and sustainable financial management.

Executive Team

Ken Suh

Chief Executive Officer
Prior to being appointed as the CEO of Sauvie Inc., Ken founded Willow Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in 2015 and served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. In 2018, Willow was acquired and became a subsidiary of VIVUS, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company at the time listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Ken was subsequently appointed as president of VIVUS. Today, VIVUS is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ: IEP). Prior to establishing Willow, he founded KRIM Biopharma Inc., where he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. Before establishing KRIM, Ken held multiple roles of increasing responsibility for Novartis Pharma Canada as well as being part of various global commercial operations teams. He received a Bachelor of Commerce, Honors Program from the University of Guelph, Ontario.

Audrey Haukioja

Chief Development Officer
Audrey is a globally experienced senior pharmaceutical executive with extensive experience in the product development. Audrey spent 20 years with Hoffmann-La Roche and Genentech where she was the Global Vice President of Clinical Operations responsible for the conduct of Phase II-Global IV clinical programs across Oncology and numerous other therapeutic areas. Prior to this Audrey spent 7 years at Glaxo in roles of increasing responsibility in Clinical Operations. Prior to being appointed Chief Development Officer at Sauvie Inc, Audrey led Haukioja Consulting Inc. working with a number of mid-sized and small cap pharmaceutical companies to deliver on high quality pre-clinical and clinical programs as well as to help optimize their organizational effectiveness. Audrey is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Zyus Life Sciences Inc. She received her Masters of Science (Pharmacology & Toxicology) degree from the University of Toronto.

Board of Directors

John Canan

Chairman
John is an accomplished business Senior Executive with extensive global and domestic experience across multiple industries, including many years in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare. John has served on the Boards of REV Group (NYSE:REVG), Acasti Pharma (NASDAQ, TSX:ACST), Lectra Group S.A. (Euronext Paris:LSS), Angkor Hospital for Children, Siam Reap, Cambodia, and others. With progressive assignments with Price Waterhouse and Merck & Co., he leadership roles in multiple strategic mergers and acquisitions. John has and continues to be involved in both public and private companies, utilizing the rich set of senior financial, strategic, business development and operational leadership experiences developed throughout his career. John is an alumnus of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and is a Canadian CPA.

Scott Oehrlein

Independent Board Member
Scott is an accomplished senior commercial leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently he served as Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Incorporated US VP of Commercial Excellence and was instrumental in leading a two year go to market transformation and acceleration of top and bottom line performance. Prior to that Scott was the Chief Operating Officer of VIVUS, Inc. where he rebuilt their commercial strategy and organization. Scott has experience in biopharma startup serving as Chief Operating Officer for Willow Biopharma Inc. prior to their acquisition by VIVUS, Inc. Scott also worked as US VP and Head of Sales for both Sanofi and Novartis and has worked internationally as Novartis Canada VP and Primary Care Business Unit Head and Pharmacia Head of Neurology Marketing in Europe and Latin America. Through his career Scott has demonstrated industry leadership in commercial strategic planning, brand marketing & launch, sales leadership and driving highly engaged & highly effective cultures. Scott has a B.A. of Biology and Pre-Medicine from Franklin and Marshall College.

Ken Suh

Board Director
Prior to being appointed as the CEO of Sauvie Inc., Ken founded Willow Biopharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, in 2015 and served as President and Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. In 2018, Willow was acquired and became a subsidiary of VIVUS, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company at the time listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Ken was subsequently appointed as president of VIVUS. Today, VIVUS is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ: IEP). Prior to establishing Willow, he founded KRIM Biopharma Inc., where he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Board Director. Before establishing KRIM, Ken held multiple roles of increasing responsibility for Novartis Pharma Canada as well as being part of various global commercial operations teams. He received a Bachelor of Commerce, Honors Program from the University of Guelph, Ontario.

Scientific Advisory Board

Bob Uger, PhD

Board Advisor
Dr. Uger has spent 20+ years developing novel agents targeting the immune system. He began his industry career in cancer vaccine research with Aventis Pasteur, and then joined start-up Trillium Therapeutics as Director, Research & Development, later serving as Vice President, Research & Development, and then Chief Scientific Officer until the company was acquired by Pfizer in 2021 for $2.3B. At Trillium, Dr. Uger was responsible for the company’s scientific strategy and guided several compounds from concept to clinic. His expertise spans both innate and adaptive immunology, and he has overseen programs in the fields of immuno-oncology, autoimmunity and transplantation. He received his PhD in immunology from the University of Toronto.

Albert Agro, PhD

Board Advisor
Albert is the CEO and President of Colomba Therapeutics Inc., a US-based biotech developing novel therapeutics in Celiac Disease. Most recently, Albert was the CEO of Sublimity Therapeutics and previous to that the Chief Medical Officer for Cynapsus Therapeutics, where he was instrumental in initializing the company’s IPO, NASDAQ listing, and $841 million acquisition by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals.
Dr Agro is also the Co-Founder of GRi Bio, a clinical-stage company in IPF and has held executive positions at Kalgene Inc (CMO), PurMinds Inc (CMO), Versanum (CEO), Ironshore Pharma (CMO), Trillium Therapeutics Inc. (CMO), Stem Cell Therapeutics (CMO) and TransTech Pharma (EVP, Clinical Development).
He has maintained a position as Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario since September 1996. Albert was the recipient of a Michael J. Fox Foundation Clinical Scholarship for his work on Apomorphine.

Luis Montaner, PhD

Board Advisor

Dr. Luis J. Montaner is Vice President for Scientific Operations, Herbert Kean, MD Family Professor, and Director of the HIV-1 Immunopathogenesis Laboratory at The Wistar Institute, the nation’s first independent research institution devoted solely to biomedical science and a world leader in cancer, immunology, virology, and infectious disease research.

The Montaner Laboratory oversees HIV cure-directed research, including studies on the mechanisms of rebuilding the immune system in persons living with HIV-1 (PLWH) with substance use disorder. In addition to investigating innate immunity with regards to HIV, the Lab studies diseases such as SARS-Co-V2 and cancer with particular interest in macrophage biology in cancer microenvironments. By combining immune system-based research using laboratory models of viral infection or cancer and working with patient cohorts, the Lab explores new ways to boost or modulate the natural function of the immune system to combat infection or cancer. Broader research goals for the Montaner Lab include the identification of new cure-directed strategies to eradicate HIV; driving forward immune reconstitution and vaccine responses in PLWH and substance use disorders; and developing novel therapy strategies targeting antiviral responses and the tumor microenvironment.

The Montaner Lab works with an extended network of national and international collaborators and engages in partnerships with the local patient community to offer participation in research studies and education on the latest research. Dr. Montaner currently leads one of the largest NIH-supported collaboration groups focused on advancing HIV cure research under the Martin Delaney Collaboratory (beat-hiv.org). Dr. Montaner serves on the board of directors of community health center, Philadelphia FIGHT, with whom he has partnered for more than 25 years. He also leads cancer patient participation networks for analysis in Wistar Institute laboratories inclusive of the Montaner program.

Dr. Montaner has authored more than 195 papers and serves as a reviewer and scientific advisor for multiple national and international projects and/or organizations. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology from 2009-2023 and is a sought-after national and international lecturer.

Dr. Montaner, originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and obtained his D.V.M. degree from Kansas State University in 1989 and his D. Phil. in experimental pathology from the University of Oxford, UK in 1995 as a Marshall Schholar. He joined The Wistar Institute in 1995 as an assistant professor and was promoted to professor in 2007. Dr. Montaner is a member of Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), Wistar Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and Wistar Professor of Infectious Disease at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Sauvie's team has the capabilities and experience to build a premier oncology company.

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