Our Team | Inhibrx | Meet our experts in biotherapeutics.

Mark P. Lappe

Founder, Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Lappe co-founded Inhibrx in 2010 and has served as Chief Executive Officer since our inception. He also serves as the Chairman of our Board of Directors. Mr. Lappe has extensive expertise in the biotechnology industry with over thirty years of experience in executive management, investment management, and executive recruiting, having built the executive teams of over forty start-up biotechnology and medical device companies. Prior to founding Inhibrx, Mr. Lappe was the founder and Managing Partner of Efficacy Biotech Fund, a fund focused on strategic investment in public biotechnology companies.

Brendan P. Eckelman, Ph.D.

Founder, EVP Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Eckelman co-founded Inhibrx in April 2010 and currently serves as our Chief Scientific Officer. Until October 2021, he also served as our Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy. He served as a member of our Board of Directors from April 2018 until October 2021. From August 2015 to November 2018, he served as our Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Biotherapeutics. From 2010 until August 2015, Dr. Eckelman served as our Vice President of Scientific Operations. Dr. Eckelman is the head of our research team, overseeing several key functional areas spanning discovery and protein engineering to therapeutic development. Prior to co-founding Inhibrx, Dr. Eckelman was a Research Investigator in the biotherapeutics group at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation. He conducted his graduate research at the Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and received a Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology from the University of California, San Diego (“UCSD”), School of Medicine. Dr. Eckelman received his B.S. in Molecular Biology and his M.S. in Biology from UCSD.

Kelly Deck, C.P.A.

EVP, Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Deck currently serves as our Chief Financial Officer and leads our accounting, finance, information technology, and investor relations functions. She joined Inhibrx in October 2018, bringing decades of experience in the life science industry. Prior to joining our team, Ms. Deck held various accounting and finance positions of increasing responsibility with Apricus Biosciences, Inc., Hologic, Inc., Gen-Probe, Inc., and Cytori Therapeutics, Inc. Ms. Deck is currently a member of the board of trustees for the Fleet Science Center. Ms. Deck holds a B.S. and M.S. in Accounting and is an active licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of California.

Ashraf Amanullah, Ph.D.

EVP, Chief Technical Operations Officer

Dr. Amanullah is responsible for the late-stage activities required for the commercialization of our programs. He brings more than 20 years of experience in process development, technical operations, cGMP clinical manufacturing, commercialization and life cycle management of antibody therapeutics, vaccines, gene therapy, cell-based therapeutics, and recombinant proteins.

Prior to joining Inhibrx, Dr. Amanullah held executive and senior-level positions with aTyr Pharma, Gilead Sciences, Genentech, and Merck. He’s the author of 55 peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been presented at over 120 conferences. He’s on the editorial board of the Biotechnology & Bioengineering and mAb journals. Dr. Amanullah received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham (UK) and conducted postdoctoral studies with the University of Birmingham, Novo Nordisk, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, and University College London.

Carlos Bais, Ph.D.

EVP, Translational Sciences

Dr. Carlos Bais joined Inhibrx as the Executive Vice President of Translational Sciences in May 2022. Dr. Bais brings extensive scientific, drug-development, and managerial experience leading large teams across multiple early- and late-stage oncology programs. He is particularly committed to scientific excellence in pursuit of precision medicine approaches that guide the development of new targeted treatments.

Dr. Bais began his career in industry as a research lab head at Genentech and then as a Senior Director and Principal Scientist in the oncology biomarker development department. Later he served as a Director of Translational Medicine for cancer immunotherapy at Medimmune/Astrazeneca, and most recently prior to Inhibrx, as a Senior Director and Principal Scientist in the oncology biomarker development department at Genentech/Roche. Throughout his career, Dr. Bais led impactful research and translational strategies for multiple late-stage programs that resulted in high impact publications and drug approvals in diagnostic-positive patient subpopulations. Some of the drugs Dr. Bais and his team supported included Astrazeneca’s Durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) and Tremelimumab (anti-CTLA-4), and Roche’s Atezoluzimab (anti-PD-L1), Tiragolumab (anti-Tigit), and Bevacizumab (Avastin, anti-VEGF) as well as overseeing biomarker support for early-stage drug candidate development, including T-cell engagers and therapies, along with individualized neoantigen cancer vaccines.

Dr. Bais holds a Ph.D. from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He received his postdoctoral training at Columbia University in New York.

Josep Garcia, Ph.D.

EVP, Chief Clinical Development Officer

Dr. Josep Garcia joined Inhibrx in April 2023 as Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Development Officer. Dr. Garcia brings extensive clinical development experience leading complex programs and global teams across multiple oncology indications. He has broad drug development knowledge and has contributed to numerous scientific publications. Dr. Garcia joined Inhibrx from Roche, where he served as the global development leader responsible for large programs such as Avastin, as well as the overall supervision of the clinical development to regulatory approval cycle. He also led the overall strategy for different indications such as glioblastoma and prostate cancer, among multiple other contributions. During his time at Roche, he also acted as the Basel site head for the hematological and oncology clinical department.

Dr. Garcia holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology of Cancer from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) School of Medicine. He received his B.S. and his M.S. in Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Barcelona.

David Matly, M.B.A.

EVP, Chief Commercial and Business Development Officer

Mr. Matly is responsible for all commercial, medical affairs, market access and business development functions at Inhibrx. He brings extensive commercial launch and business development experience across both biotech and big pharma companies. Mr. Matly joins us from Novartis where he served as the global Vice President of the MDS/AML franchise, one of the largest potential growth areas of Novartis Oncology. In this role, he was responsible for the launch preparation of their flagship program and building the AML/MDS portfolio, including the evaluation of in-licensing and M&A opportunities. Prior to this role, Mr. Matly was the global commercial lead of the sickle cell disease therapeutic area, leading the launch of ADAKVEO, and also serving as the global commercial lead of PROMACTA/REVOLADE, the largest growth driver of Novartis Oncology. Prior to Novartis, Mr. Matly was the VP of Business Development at Chrono Therapeutics. Mr. Matly began his career at Eli Lilly, holding several positions of increasing responsibility in sales and marketing, most notably leading the US launch of CYRAMZA in metastatic lung cancer.

Mr. Matly received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Bonne Adams, M.B.A.

VP, Operations

Ms. Adams joined Inhibrx in November 2023 as the Vice President of Operations. Ms. Adams brings extensive experience in both early and late-stage oncology studies of small molecules as well as biologics in the areas of lymphoma, lung, head and neck, gastrointestinal, ovarian, kidney, CNS, sarcoma and breast cancers as well as non-oncology programs in the areas of allergy and pulmonary disease. Prior to joining Inhibrx, Ms. Adams served as the Chief Operating Officer for Tracon Pharmaceuticals where she was employed from 2006 to 2023 and has also held management positions in Clinical Operations at Pfizer, Inc., Biogen Idec, Inc., and IQVIA. During this time, Ms. Adams contributed to approvals and post-approval commitments for Sutent®, Zevalin® and Rituxan®. Ms. Adams received a B.A. in Kinesiology and Biology from the University of Colorado and an M.B.A. in Technology Management from The University of Phoenix.

Robert Boothroyd, PharmD

VP, Medical Affairs and Business Development

Dr. Robert Boothroyd joined Inhibrx in January 2022 and is responsible for Medical Affairs and Business Development. Dr. Boothroyd brings over 12 years of clinical and pharmaceutical industry experience in both hematology and oncology.

Prior to joining Inhibrx, Dr. Boothroyd held various roles in large pharma including roles within Medical Affairs and Marketing. Most recently, he was U.S. Marketing Lead at Merck, responsible for the Lung and Thoracic Cancer indications including its blockbuster drug, KEYTRUDA^® (pembrolizumab). Prior to Merck, Dr. Boothroyd spent 8 years at Novartis Oncology where he held diverse roles of increasing responsibility in both Global Medical Affairs and Marketing. These roles included working on a wide range of launches in both the hematology and oncology space, specifically ADAKVEO^® (crizanlizumab) in Sickle Cell Disease, KISQALI^® (ribociclib) in HR+ breast cancer, JAKAVI^® (ruxolitinib) in polycythemia vera and myelofibrosis, and TASIGNA^® (nilotinib) in chronic myeloid leukemia.

Dr. Boothroyd received his PharmD from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in Boston, MA and completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship from Rutgers University.

Darren Brown, Ph.D.

VP, Analytical Development and Quality Control

Dr. Brown joined Inhibrx in 2019 and is responsible for analytical development and quality control for our early and late-stage clinical programs. He brings over 18 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience in analytical development, quality control, and characterization of antibody and fusion protein-based therapeutics, viral vector-based vaccines, and cell-based therapeutics.

Prior to joining Inhibrx, Dr. Brown was Director of Analytical Operations for biologics at Gilead Sciences and managed CMC activities related to analytical development, product characterization, and quality control for multiple early and late-stage clinical programs. Prior to Gilead Sciences, Dr. Brown led technical teams at Illumina, Genentech, and Biogen in various roles, supporting innovative new product development and managing CMC analytical activities for dozens of novel biologics in clinical development. Dr. Brown received his B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from UCLA and his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the UCLA School of Medicine. He conducted postdoctoral studies at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla.

Dana Ebbets-Reed, Ph.D.

VP, Quality Assurance

Dr. Ebbets-Reed joined Inhibrx in November 2018 as the head of Quality Assurance and brings over 20 years of experience in the Quality Assurance and Quality Control field. Dr. Ebbets-Reed.

Dr. Ebbets-Reed began her career as a bench scientist, transitioning to Quality Assurance in 2002. Dr. Ebbets-Reed has provided Quality Asssurance and Quality Control expertise over the course of her career at Chiron Corporation Center for Gene Therapy, Genset Corporation, and ValiGen Corporation. Dr. Ebbets-Reed served for 15 years as the Head of Quality Assurance at Molecular Diagnostic Services, hosting regulatory inspections and over 100 client audits. Prior to joining Inhibrx, Dr. Ebbets-Reed owned her own quality consulting company, providing services to local corporations, including Inhibrx.

Dr. Ebbets-Reed holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Microbiology from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

David Kao, PharmD, M.B.A., RPh

VP, Regulatory Affairs

Dr. Kao joined our team in 2021 as VP of Regulatory Affairs. He brings over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in drug development, overseeing programs from initial IND submission to marketing registration and life-cycle management. Prior to Inhibrx, Dr. Kao served as a regulatory lead collaborating on the design of integrated development strategies to support global registration for novel therapies in the oncology, immunology, neurology and cardiovascular therapeutic areas. He comes with considerable regulatory experience in the management of complex clinical programs and in the preparation of regulatory marketing applications from global organizations including Eisai, Roche, Daiichi-Sankyo and Celgene. He most recently served as Development Program Leader at BMS, responsible for the successful delivery of all aspects of drug development for a specific immunology project. Dr. Kao is a registered Pharmacist and received his BS in Pharmacy from Rutgers University, MBA in Marketing from Rutgers Business School, and PharmD from Shenandoah University.

Brian Lobo, Ph.D.

VP, Formulation Development and Drug Product Manufacturing

Dr. Lobo joined Inhibrx in 2020 and is responsible for the formulation development and drug product manufacturing of early and late-stage molecules in the Inhibrx pipeline. He brings over 20 years of biopharmaceutical industry experience in biophysical characterization, drug delivery, formulation development and parenteral manufacturing of small molecule and biologic drugs, including antibody and fusion proteins, peptides, antibody-drug conjugates and mRNA-based lipid nanoparticle modalities.

Prior to joining Inhibrx, Dr. Lobo has led development teams and developed drug products at Merck, Genentech, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, MedImmune/AstraZeneca and Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical.

Dr. Lobo received his B.S. in Pharmacy from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Kansas.

Melissa Masterson

VP, Value, Access and Distribution

Ms. Masterson leads our Value, Access and Distribution function, bringing over 25 years of commercialization experience with a focus in market access, reimbursement, patient services, distribution and commercial operations. She has played a key role in transforming biopharmaceutical companies from R&D to RD&C as a commercial executive, building and leading market access teams to support numerous successful product launches and accelerate growth of marketed products across multiple therapeutic areas.

In her most recent role prior to joining Inhibrx, Ms. Masterson was Vice President of Market Access at MyoKardia, where she was responsible for leading the creation of the launch strategy and building the payer, distribution and patient services functions for Camzyos^™ prior to MyoKardia’s acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb. Ms. Masterson received her B.S. from the University of Kansas.

Leah Pollema, J.D.

VP, General Counsel

Ms. Pollema serves as our General Counsel, managing our legal affairs. Prior to joining Inhibrx, she spent 10 years in private law practice with two large full-service law firms where she counseled both public and private companies in a range of transactional and corporate matters, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financings, corporate governance, and general corporate matters. Ms. Pollema received her Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

Shahram Salek-Ardakani, Ph.D., MSc

VP, Research

Dr. Salek-Ardakani joined Inhibrx in November 2023 as Vice President, Research, bringing over 20 years of experience in drug development and scientific leadership. He specializes in developing multifunctional biologics targeting immune receptors and cytokines, many of which have advanced into clinical development. Prior to joining Inhibrx, Dr. Salek-Ardakani held leadership roles at biotech and pharmaceutical companies. As Chief Scientific Officer at 3T Biosciences and Janux Therapeutics, he led research programs focused on using the immune system to combat cancer. At Janux Therapeutics, he advanced tumor-activated T cell engagers (JANX007 and JANX008) into clinical trials. At Pfizer Inc., he led efforts to develop immunomodulatory therapeutics for cancer treatment, advancing multiple projects into preclinical and clinical development. Some of the drugs Dr. Salek-Ardakani’s team developed or supported included sasanlimab (PD-1), PDL1-1xCD47 dual antagonist, Lymphotoxin beta receptor agonist, ivuxolimab (OX40), utomilumab (4-1BB), Avelumab (PDL-1), and several others. His leadership also extended to academia, where he served as an Associate Professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine and Principal Investigator at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, conducting groundbreaking research on T cell and myeloid biology, mucosal vaccines and immune regulation by TNF/TNFR and Ig superfamily members. Dr. Salek-Ardakani’s contributions have earned him acclaim from institutions like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with numerous awards, patents, and high-impact publications. Dr. Salek-Ardakani received his Ph.D. in Oncology and an MSc in Immunology and Immunogenetics from the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research at Manchester University, U.K.

Our collaborative crew.

The Inhibrx Management Team

The Inhibrx Board

Mark P. Lappe

Brendan P. Eckelman, Ph.D.

Kelly Deck, C.P.A.

Ashraf Amanullah, Ph.D.

Carlos Bais, Ph.D.

Josep Garcia, Ph.D.

David Matly, M.B.A.

Bonne Adams, M.B.A.

Robert Boothroyd, PharmD

Darren Brown, Ph.D.

Dana Ebbets-Reed, Ph.D.

David Kao, PharmD, M.B.A., RPh

Brian Lobo, Ph.D.

Melissa Masterson

Leah Pollema, J.D.

Shahram Salek-Ardakani, Ph.D., MSc

Mark P. Lappe

Douglas G. Forsyth

Jon Faiz Kayyem, Ph.D.

Kimberly Manhard

Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Ph.D.

Igor Barjaktarevic, M.D., Ph.D.

Mark Brantly, M.D.

Kenneth R. Chapman, M.D., MSc, FRCPC, FACP, FERS

Noel Gerry McElvaney, M.D., BCh, BAO, FRCPI, FRCPC

Robert A. Sandhaus, M.D., Ph.D., FCCP

James Stoller, M.D., M.S.

Our collaborative crew.

Mark P. Lappe

Brendan P. Eckelman, Ph.D.

Kelly Deck, C.P.A.

Ashraf Amanullah, Ph.D.

Carlos Bais, Ph.D.

Josep Garcia, Ph.D.

David Matly, M.B.A.

Bonne Adams, M.B.A.

Robert Boothroyd, PharmD

Darren Brown, Ph.D.

Dana Ebbets-Reed, Ph.D.

David Kao, PharmD, M.B.A., RPh

Brian Lobo, Ph.D.

Melissa Masterson

Leah Pollema, J.D.

Shahram Salek-Ardakani, Ph.D., MSc

Mark P. Lappe

Douglas G. Forsyth

Jon Faiz Kayyem, Ph.D.

Kimberly Manhard

Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Ph.D.