James Bianco, M.D.

President & Chief Executive Officer

James Bianco, M.D. is a 30-year veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry. In 1991, Dr. Bianco founded CTI Biopharma, Inc. and from 1992 to 2016 was the Chief Executive Officer of CTI Biopharma. During his tenure at CTI Biopharma, Dr. Bianco was responsible for strategic portfolio development and identifying, acquiring, licensing, purchasing, or acquiring through international merger and acquisition, five drug candidates, four of which have since been approved by the FDA and with three receiving accelerated or conditional regulatory approval in the U.S. and/or E.U. Dr. Bianco was responsible for the purchase of pacritinib, a novel Jak2 inhibitor which was partnered with Baxalta for $60 million upfront and $120 million committed Phase 3 clinical trial related expenses. Dr. Bianco designed and implemented the pacritinib PERSIST-2 phase 3 trial which was the basis for its accelerated approval and the subsequent acquisition of CTI Biopharma by SOBI for $1.75 billion.

Dr. Bianco earned his M.D. from the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine and completed his residency and chief residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He completed his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) where he was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine, Assistant Member FHCRC and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at a “Hutch” affiliate (SVAMC). He is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Organization of Rare Disease award for the development of Trisenox.

Dennis Yamashita, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Discovery Research and Early Development

Dr. Yamashita is an exceptional and well-established drug hunter and medicinal chemist with over 30 years of experience in R&D drug discovery in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He joins TuHURA having most recently served as the EVP Chemistry at Cambrian Bio and the President and Chairman of the Board of three stealth newcos focused on treating and preventing diseases driven by aging. Prior to that, he was VP Med Chem at Axial Therapeutics and led an immuno-oncology project to improve immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy. Earlier, he was VP Drug Discovery at ORIC Pharmaceuticals and led projects aimed at overcoming drug resistance of oncology medicines. He started his biotech career as VP Chemistry at Trevena, which was founded by Nobel laureate Robert Lefkowitz. He was co-inventor of Olinvyk (oliceridine), an FDA-approved Mu opioid G-protein biased ligand for treating post-surgical pain. He began his career at GSK where he expanded his expertise in medicinal chemistry over a 20-year period with his last role leading drug discovery projects and research collaborations with premier academic institutions and identified four clinical drug candidates to treat cancer and osteoporosis. 

Dr. Yamashita holds a B.S. from MIT in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale. His Ph.D. thesis was on the synthesis of calicheamicin, a potent natural product cytotoxic agent that was later incorporated into an antibody drug conjugate called Mylotarg used to treat acute myeloid leukemia. Additionally, he is an active volunteer as a mentor at the MIT Sandbox, an entrepreneurship program for MIT students that aims to move business ideas from concept to societal impacts.

Adeana Dorsey

Vice President, Regulatory Affairs – CMC

Adeana Dorsey, RAC, CSSGB, is an industry veteran with over 23 years of Regulatory Affairs (CMC), quality assurance, and project management experience with biologics/biosimilar, pharmaceuticals, combination products (PMOA drug, biologic, and medical device), gene/cellular therapies, and medical devices. Adeana has a breadth of experience with the development of global CMC regulatory strategy and leading and executing regulatory submissions in various phases of development. Prior to joining TuHURA, Adeana served as VP, Regulatory Affairs, CMC at Akouos from 2022-2023. Earlier, while at Clinipace, Adeana served as Director, Regulatory and Strategy Development CMC before shifting to Executive Director, Regulatory and Strategic Development, CMC throughout 2019-2022. Prior to that, Adeana served as Manager of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls before transitioning to Director of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls with Cardinal Health Regulatory Services from 2015-2018.

Adeana holds a BS in Biology from Marshall University.

James Bianco, M.D.

President & Chief Executive Officer

James Bianco, M.D. is a 30-year veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry. In 1991, Dr. Bianco founded CTI Biopharma, Inc. and from 1992 to 2016 was the Chief Executive Officer of CTI Biopharma. During his tenure at CTI Biopharma, Dr. Bianco was responsible for strategic portfolio development and identifying, acquiring, licensing, purchasing, or acquiring through international merger and acquisition, five drug candidates, four of which have since been approved by the FDA and with three receiving accelerated or conditional regulatory approval in the U.S. and/or E.U. Dr. Bianco was responsible for the purchase of pacritinib, a novel Jak2 inhibitor which was partnered with Baxalta for $60 million upfront and $120 million committed Phase 3 clinical trial related expenses. Dr. Bianco designed and implemented the pacritinib PERSIST-2 phase 3 trial which was the basis for its accelerated approval and the subsequent acquisition of CTI Biopharma by SOBI for $1.75 billion.

Dr. Bianco earned his M.D. from the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine and completed his residency and chief residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He completed his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) where he was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine, Assistant Member FHCRC and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at a “Hutch” affiliate (SVAMC). He is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Organization of Rare Disease award for the development of Trisenox.

Dennis Yamashita, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Discovery Research and Early Development

Dr. Yamashita is an exceptional and well-established drug hunter and medicinal chemist with over 30 years of experience in R&D drug discovery in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He joins TuHURA having most recently served as the EVP Chemistry at Cambrian Bio and the President and Chairman of the Board of three stealth newcos focused on treating and preventing diseases driven by aging. Prior to that, he was VP Med Chem at Axial Therapeutics and led an immuno-oncology project to improve immune checkpoint inhibitor efficacy. Earlier, he was VP Drug Discovery at ORIC Pharmaceuticals and led projects aimed at overcoming drug resistance of oncology medicines. He started his biotech career as VP Chemistry at Trevena, which was founded by Nobel laureate Robert Lefkowitz. He was co-inventor of Olinvyk (oliceridine), an FDA-approved Mu opioid G-protein biased ligand for treating post-surgical pain. He began his career at GSK where he expanded his expertise in medicinal chemistry over a 20-year period with his last role leading drug discovery projects and research collaborations with premier academic institutions and identified four clinical drug candidates to treat cancer and osteoporosis. 

Dr. Yamashita holds a B.S. from MIT in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale. His Ph.D. thesis was on the synthesis of calicheamicin, a potent natural product cytotoxic agent that was later incorporated into an antibody drug conjugate called Mylotarg used to treat acute myeloid leukemia. Additionally, he is an active volunteer as a mentor at the MIT Sandbox, an entrepreneurship program for MIT students that aims to move business ideas from concept to societal impacts.

Suzanne Parker, Ph.D.

Vice President, Clinical Operations and Study Management

Suzanne Parker is a pharmaceutical industry professional with over 25 years of experience leading teams through the various stages of the clinical development process from study concept, enrollment, reporting and health authority submissions in major global and emerging markets. Suzanne has deep experience in conducting clinical trials with biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and cell therapies in the local US and global markets. Prior to joining TuHURA, Suzanne served as Sr. Director of Clinical Operations at MacroGenics in 2022. Earlier, Suzanne was Sr. Global Clinical Operations Program Direction at Shanghai Pharma Biopharmaceuticals from 2021-2022. Over the course of her career, Suzanne held various leadership positions and throughout her tenure at Astra Zeneca Suzanne served as Global Clinical Operations Director from 2017-2020 before pivoting to Sr. Global Clinical Operations Program Director from 2020-2021. While at Novartis, from 2005-2008 Suzanne served as Senior Clinical Research Associate before transitioning to Regional Associate Director and Director of Field Monitoring Operations from 2008-2017.

Suzanne holds a BS in Biology with a minor in Psychology from Nebraska Wesleyan University and is currently working on her master’s in health care at George Washington University.