About

Our Mission:

Working together to deliver cell and gene therapies for people impacted by serious diseases. Our strategy to harness the promise of genetic medicine to transform the lives of patients is inspired by our vision, to realize a world where cure is the new standard of care.

Gene therapy is the use of DNA as a potential therapy to treat a disease. In many disorders, particularly genetic diseases caused by a single genetic defect, gene therapy aims to treat a disease by delivering the correct copy of DNA into a patient's cells. The functional copy of the therapeutic gene then helps the cell function correctly.

Management Team

>Vishwas Seshadri, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Vishwas Seshadri, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Chief Executive Officer, Director
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Dr. Vishwas (Vish) Seshadri, Ph.D., M.B.A., joined Abeona as Head of Research & Clinical Development in June 2021 and was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Company’s Board of Directors, in October 2021. Dr. Seshadri has more than 20 years of experience including academia and various senior and executive leadership roles in the life sciences industry overseeing product development, regulatory submissions, and commercialization for novel therapies including personalized, autologous cell and gene therapies. Prior to joining Abeona, Dr. Seshadri served in roles of increasing responsibility at Celgene Corporation, now a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS), where he focused on development and commercialization of novel therapies in hematology and oncology. Most recently, he led the team responsible for the launch of Breyanzi® (lisocabtagene maraleucel; liso-cel), an autologous CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. Previously, he was Head of Early-Stage Upstream Process Development for Biologics at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories. Dr. Seshadri completed his Ph.D. in Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Biology and his post-doc in epigenetics at University of Arizona, and earned his M.B.A. in Finance and Healthcare from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

>Dmitriy Grachev, M.D., Ph.D.

Dmitriy Grachev, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief Medical Officer
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Dmitriy Grachev, M.D., Ph.D. has over 20 years of industry experience and a track record that includes multiple global drug approvals while leading clinical development programs at pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations. Dr. Grachev was appointed as Chief Medical Officer in February 2023 after serving as Abeona’s consulting Head of Clinical Development since August 2021. Prior to Abeona, Dr. Grachev served as Vice President, Clinical Development at Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to that role, he was Chief Medical Officer at Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. Previously, he served as Global Development Leader and Head of Innovative Clinical Trials Initiative, R&D for TEVA Branded Specialty Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Grachev also served in clinical development and medical affairs leadership roles at GE Healthcare, Novartis, GSK plc, Merck, Schering-Plough Corporation, Sanofi-Aventis, and BioClinica. Dr. Grachev earned his M.D. with highest honor in General Medicine from Bogomolets National Medical University, and his Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the Shupyk National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education.

>Brian Kevany, Ph.D.

Brian Kevany, Ph.D.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER & CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER
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Brian Kevany, Ph.D., joined Abeona at the beginning of 2018 as a scientist in the product development department bringing 15+ years of molecular biology and biochemistry research training to Abeona. Prior to joining Abeona, he managed a small biotechnology startup company which utilized next-generation sequencing for high throughput genotyping in both the medical and agricultural spaces. A postdoctoral research position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, working on developing new first-line antibiotics to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis, and a Fellowship at Case Western Reserve University, studying a wide range of vision research topics, resulted in an exemplary publication record in a wide range of peer-reviewed journals. His research at Case Western, under the mentorship of Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski, involved studying both the biochemical basis of retinal development as well as the pathophysiology of animal models of blinding diseases. Prior to his postdoctoral research, he earned a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Florida and a B.S. degree with honors from Michigan State University.

>Joseph Vazzano

Joseph Vazzano

Chief Financial Officer
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Joseph (Joe) Vazzano joined Abeona as Chief Financial Officer in March 2022. Before joining Abeona, Mr. Vazzano served as Chief Financial Officer of Avenue Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATXI) (“Avenue”) from February 2019 to January 2022. Prior to that, he served as Avenue’s Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller since August 2017. During his tenure at Avenue, Mr. Vazzano secured multiple equity financings for Avenue and served in a leadership role for signing a complex, two-stage acquisition of Avenue with future contingent value rights. Previously, Mr. Vazzano served as Assistant Corporate Controller at Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICPT) from October 2016 to July 2017, where he helped grow the finance and accounting department during the company’s transition from a development-stage company to a fully integrated commercial organization. Mr. Vazzano has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Lehigh University and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New Jersey.

>Carl Denny

Carl Denny

Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
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Mr. Denny has over 20 years of experience in Chemistry Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) and regulatory affairs in the registration of gene therapies and mRNA products including AMONDYS 45 (casimersen) and AAV-based gene therapy Zolgensma® (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi). Carl has also served in multiple roles of increasing responsibility at Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., AveXis, Inc., GE Healthcare, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Catalent Pharma Services, Abbott Laboratories and Eli Lilly.

>Greg Gin

Greg Gin

Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
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Greg Gin joined Abeona as Vice President, Investor Relations in May 2020. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of Abeona’s investor relations program, along with involvement in wider communications programs and supporting the company’s financing activities. Mr. Gin has served as the Head of Investor Relations at four public companies and brings more than 25 years of investor relations, communications, and capital markets experience with small- and mid-cap biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies developing novel treatments for orphan diseases and areas of high unmet medical need. Immediately prior to joining Abeona, Mr. Gin was Head of Investor Relations at Affimed, an immuno-oncology company, where he was responsible for the company’s global investor relations program.

>Alison Hardgrove

Alison Hardgrove

Vice President, Human Resources
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Ms. Hardgrove joined Abeona with over 16 years of human resources experience, including various senior leadership roles within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Ms. Hardgrove has worked at The Medicines Company, Bausch Health, and Bayer. Most recently Ms. Hardgrove served as Sr. Director, Human Resources at Acceleron Pharma, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck.

Ms. Hardgrove has supported diverse client groups as a HR Business Partner including Corporate Functions, Product Supply, R&D, Medical Affairs, and Commercial, and served as the HR Lead for Bayer’s Pharmaceutical Region Americas business, where she was responsible for leading the HR strategy for more than 5,000 employees across several countries. Ms. Hardgrove’s expertise includes building new teams, large-scale global reorganizations, talent acquisition, change management and employee development. Ms. Hardgrove has a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and Juris Doctor and MBA degrees from the University at Buffalo.

>Amanda Moore, MSHS

Amanda Moore, MSHS

Vice President, Program Leadership and Clinical Operations
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Amanda Moore has nearly 20 years of clinical operations and development experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with a track record of leading innovation in clinical trials, pioneering operating committee relationships, and oversight of global development programs. Ms. Moore joined Abeona in October 2020, holding positions of increasing responsibility, and most recently served as Senior Director, Head of Program Leadership. Previously, she has served in clinical operations and development roles with Biogen, Reckitt Benckiser, Sage Therapeutics and Intercell. Ms. Moore holds a master’s degree in Health Science from the George Washington University.

>Brendan O’Malley, J.D., Ph.D.

Brendan O’Malley, J.D., Ph.D.

Senior Vice President, General Counsel
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Brendan O’Malley, J.D., Ph.D., joined Abeona in 2019 as Chief IP Counsel, bringing significant technical and legal expertise to the Abeona team.  Prior to joining Abeona, he was a partner at the prominent New York patent litigation firm Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto, where he started his career as a summer associate in 2006, and then at Venable LLP, which merged with Fitzpatrick in 2018.  While at Fitzpatrick and Venable, Dr. O’Malley litigated a wide variety of biopharmaceutical patent cases in the United States District Courts, at the Federal Circuit, and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, negotiated numerous settlement and license agreements, and provided many patent opinions in connection with M&A due diligence in the biotech space. 

While attending law school at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Dr. O’Malley served as a judicial intern to Judge William H. Pauley in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

Before law school, he earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology & Microbiology from Tufts University School of Medicine, where he studied the role of protein-protein interactions in hepatitis virus assembly, and a B.S. degree magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

>Madhav Vasanthavada, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Madhav Vasanthavada, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer & Head of Business Development
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Prior to Abeona, Dr. Vasanthavada served in commercial leadership roles at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Celgene, where he led the marketing team in the Global CAR-T Cell Therapy Franchise to launch two autologous cell therapies, Breyanzi® (lisocabtagene maraleucel) and Abecma® (idecabtagene vicleucel), in key worldwide markets. Previously, Dr. Vasanthavada served in a variety of U.S. commercial roles at Bayer in marketing, market access and sales, and was ultimately the brand leader for Xofigo® (radium Ra 223 dichloride). He began his career as a scientist in Novartis R&D where his work led to multiple patents and publications. Dr. Vasanthavada holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Rhode Island, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Board of Directors

Michael Amoroso
Chairman of the Board

Prior to joining Abeona, Mr. Amoroso held various senior level commercial positions at leading biopharmaceutical companies, including Kite, Eisai Inc., Celgene Corporation (now a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company), and Sanofi. At Kite, he was responsible for the company’s worldwide commercial organization leading the commercialization efforts for the autologous CAR T-cell therapy, YESCARTA®, and the future cell therapy pipeline. Before Kite, Mr. Amoroso was Senior Vice President, Americas for Eisai’s Commercial Oncology Business Group, where he was accountable for teams charged with creating and driving commercial strategy and implementation for the company’s approved products and earlier-stage assets. Previously, Mr. Amoroso worked at Celgene for six years in several commercial roles before serving as the organization’s Commercial Lead for CAR T-cell therapy programs. In this capacity, he helped Celgene develop an organizational model to commercialize cell therapies including specialized manufacturing and customer services for patients with lymphoma and myeloma. Before joining Celgene, Mr. Amoroso held various marketing and sales leadership positions over his 10-plus year tenure at Sanofi. Mr. Amoroso earned his M.B.A. in Management from the Stern School of Business, New York University, and his B.A. in Biological Sciences, summa cum laude, from Rider University.

Vishwas Seshadri, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Chief Executive Officer, Director

Dr. Vishwas (Vish) Seshadri, Ph.D., M.B.A., joined Abeona as Head of Research & Clinical Development in June 2021 and was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Company’s Board of Directors, in October 2021. Dr. Seshadri has more than 20 years of experience including academia and various senior and executive leadership roles in the life sciences industry overseeing product development, regulatory submissions, and commercialization for novel therapies including personalized, autologous cell and gene therapies. Prior to joining Abeona, Dr. Seshadri served in roles of increasing responsibility at Celgene Corporation, now a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS), where he focused on development and commercialization of novel therapies in hematology and oncology. Most recently, he led the team responsible for the launch of Breyanzi® (lisocabtagene maraleucel; liso-cel), an autologous CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. Previously, he was Head of Early-Stage Upstream Process Development for Biologics at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories. Dr. Seshadri completed his Ph.D. in Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Biology and his post-doc in epigenetics at University of Arizona, and earned his M.B.A. in Finance and Healthcare from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Christine Silverstein
Director

Christine Silverstein brings over 15 years of experience in corporate finance and capital markets strategy. Christine serves as Chief Financial Officer at Excision Biotherapeutics, a CRISPR gene-editing company for viral infectious dieseases. Prior to her current role, she was the Chief Financial Officer of Emendo Biotherapeutics, a gene editing company (acquired by Anges Inc, a gene-based medicines company in December 2020). Silverstein formerly served as Chief Financial Officer and Principal Financial Offer for Abeona. She has held various executive roles within the biotechnology industry including Head of Investor Relations at Relmada Therapeutics, Inc., Vice President of Corporate Development at PlasmaTech Biopharmaceuticals, and Managing Director at SCO Financial Group, a life sciences fund. Earlier in her career, she held senior positions at leading New York corporate and capital market advisory firms. Silverstein began her career in financial services as an investment advisor at Royal Alliance Associates. A member of the National Investor Relations Institute, Ms. Silverstein holds a B.S. from the Peter Tobin College of Business at St. John's University and has earned various accreditations from the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency.

Faith L. Charles
Director

Ms. Charles is a corporate transactions and securities partner at Thompson Hine with 30 years of legal experience. She leads Thompson Hine’s Life Sciences practice, advising public and emerging biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and internationally. Ms. Charles negotiates complex private and public financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, licensing transactions and strategic collaborations. She serves as outside counsel to a myriad of life sciences companies and is known in the industry as an astute business advisor, providing valuable insights into capital markets, corporate governance and strategic development.

Ms. Charles serves on the Board of Directors of Entera Bio (Nasdaq:ENTX) as a member of the Audit Committee and Chair of the Compensation Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of several private life science companies. Ms. Charles founded the Women in Bio Metro New York chapter and chaired the chapter for five years. She currently serves on the national board of Women in Bio. Ms. Charles is also a member of the board of Gilda's Club New York City. She has been recognized as a Life Sciences Star by Euromoney’s LMG Life Sciences, has been named a BTI Client Service All-Star, and was named by Crain’s New York Business to the list of 2020 Notable Women in the Law. Ms. Charles holds a J.D degree from The George Washington University Law School and a B.A. in Psychology from Barnard College, Columbia University. Ms. Charles is a graduate of Women in Bio's Boardroom Ready Program, an Executive Education Program taught by The George Washington University School of Business.

Mark Alvino
Director

Mr. Alvino has provided leadership and experience in the areas of financial management and business strategy as a member of the Board of Directors of multiple life sciences companies, including PainQx, a company with a patented method for objective, quantitative assessment of chronic pain, and previously serving on Abeona’s Board of Directors. He has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries through a range of disciplines including healthcare investment banking, communications, business consulting, market research and health and medical marketing communications. In his role at Hudson Square Capital, Mr. Alvino provides strategic advisory to emerging growth and turnaround biotechnology and medical technology companies. Mr. Alvino is also Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bridge Back Foundation, focused on addressing the broad underlying issues behind the deadly opioid crisis in America. Previously, he led the Life Sciences team at broker dealer Bradley Woods & Co. Ltd. and served as Managing Director at Griffin Securities and at SCO Financial Group, LLC. Earlier in his career, he spent several years working with Wall Street brokerages including Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co. and Martin Simpson & Co. Mr. Alvino received a B.B.A in Economics and Public Policy from the George Washington University.

Leila Alland, M.D.
Director

Dr. Alland, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist and accomplished physician-scientist, has been working in the biopharmaceutical industry since 2001 to bring novel therapies to patients. Dr. Alland is currently Chief Medical Officer of PMV Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a precision oncology company pioneering the discovery and development of small molecule, tumor-agnostic therapies targeting p53 mutants. Previously, Dr. Alland served as Chief Medical Officer at Affimed, and prior to that she held the same position at Tarveda Therapeutics. Dr. Alland also held leadership positions at AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Schering-Plough, where she worked on a broad range of oncology products from early to late-stage development and contributed to multiple successful drug approvals.

Dr. Alland obtained her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine, and her B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency in Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and her fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at The New York Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Earlier in her career, Dr. Alland served as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she was awarded the James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award and pursued basic cancer research while also caring for children with cancer and blood disorders. Since 2020, Dr. Alland has served on the Board of Directors of Cytovia Therapeutics, Inc., an immuno-oncology company developing engineered cellular and antibody therapies to treat cancer. Dr. Alland is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of Columbia University's Center for Radiological Research and serves as a scientific reviewer for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

Donald Wuchterl
Director

Mr. Wuchterl brings over 29 years of experience in the life sciences industry, with senior roles in operations and Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC). He has significant experience building and leading current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) manufacturing organizations and facilities. Mr. Wuchterl currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Manufacturing Officer at T-knife Therapeutics, a next-generation T-cell receptor company developing innovative therapeutics for the benefit of solid tumor patients and their families. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations & Quality at Audentes Therapeutics (an Astellas Company), a gene therapy company focused on developing and commercializing innovative products for patients living with serious, life-threatening rare neuromuscular diseases. Prior to Audentes, Mr. Wuchterl served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Cytovance Biologics, and held positions of increasing responsibility with Dendreon, Shire HGT, Amgen, Biogen Idec and Roche. Mr. Wuchterl has a B.S. in Business Administration from Colorado Technical University and an M.B.A. from Fitchburg State University.

Scientific Advisory Board

Steven Gray, Ph.D.

Steven Gray, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW). Dr. Gray earned his PhD in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University in 2006, after earning a BS from Auburn University. He performed a postdoctoral fellowship focusing on gene therapy in the laboratory of Jude Samulski at UNC-Chapel Hill. Dr. Gray is the director of the UTSW Viral Vector Facility and maintains affiliations with the Department of Molecular Biology, the Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics, the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, and the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at UTSW.

Dr. Gray's core expertise is in AAV gene therapy vector engineering, followed by optimizing approaches to deliver a gene to the nervous system. As AAV-based platform gene transfer technologies have been developed to achieve global, efficient, and in some cases cell-type specific CNS gene delivery, his research focus has also included preclinical studies to apply these reagents toward the development of treatments for neurological diseases. Currently these include preclinical studies for Rett Syndrome, Giant Axonal Neuropathy (GAN), Tay-Sachs, Sandhoff, Krabbe, AGU, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, Batten, and Austin diseases, and have expanded into human clinical studies to test a gene therapy approach for GAN.

Erika Augustine, M.D.

Erika F. Augustine, MD is a Senior Instructor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She completed undergraduate studies at Harvard College and received her M.D. degree from the University of Rochester. Dr. Augustine completed Pediatrics and Child Neurology residency training at Children’s Hospital Boston in 2008, followed by fellowship training in Pediatric Movement Disorders and Experimental Therapeutics in 2010 at the University of Rochester. Dr. Augustine’s research interests include methodology of clinical research and experimental therapeutics in rare pediatric neurological disorders. Current work focuses on therapeutics in Juvenile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis and on the epidemiology of Tourette Syndrome in minorities. She currently serves as Assistant Program Director for the NINDS-funded Experimental Therapeutics training program at the University of Rochester. She is also a member of the NIH Taskforce on Childhood Motor Disorders and is a consultant to the FDA Neurological Devices Panel.

Jonathan Mink, M.D., Ph.D.

Jonathan Mink, MD, PhD, is a Pediatric Neurologist who specializes in movement disorders starting in childhood. He was attracted to pediatric neurology when he was a medical student and realized that he had an intellectual interest in the brain but enjoyed the challenges and rewards of caring for children. As a movement disorders specialist, he cares for children with a variety of conditions that impair voluntary movements, cause involuntary movements, or both. Such conditions include dystonia, chorea, tics, myoclonus, tremor, stereotypies, parkinsonism, and combinations of these such as may occur in conditions like cerebral palsy. In addition to movement disorders, neurodegenerative diseases are also a focus of his clinical practice.

His research has been focused on understanding brain mechanisms involved in the control of movement or where disorders cause involuntary movements. The research involves neurophysiology, direct measurement of movement abnormalities, rating scales, and longitudinal assessments over the course of development and disease. More recently, his work is included clinical trials and studies of factors that impact the function of children with movement disorders. In addition to his clinical practice and research, he directs the Child Neurology residency at the University of Rochester. Dr. Mink serves on a number of advisory boards including the Tourette Syndrome Association, the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, the Batten Disease Support and Research Association, the NINDS Board of Scientific Counselors, and the Pediatric Advisory Committee of the FDA. He is also an Associate Editor of Neurology.

John Cooper, Ph.D.

Updating bio coming soon.