Team
We are working hard to achieve our long-term goal of providing improved treatment options to seriously ill cancer patients with a high unmet medical need. To that end, we have built an experienced team of entrepreneurs, scientists, and investors with an outstanding track record in the industry.
Management
Dr. Pascal Schweizer
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer/Chief Financial Officer
Pascal Schweizer is a co-founder of Thermosome and has served as the Company´s CEO since 2014. He has a wealth of international business and consulting experience with a focus on the high-tech and medtech sectors. Among others, he was Director Corporate Strategy and Venturing at Carl Zeiss AG and Case Team Leader at strategy consulting firm Bain & Company.
Pascal Schweizer holds a PhD in Business Administration from Technical University Berlin and an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from University of Karlsruhe.
Pascal Schweizer holds a PhD in Business Administration from Technical University Berlin and an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from University of Karlsruhe.
Dr. Wolfgang Schwandner
Managing Director
Wolfgang Schwandner is a business angel and investor in several healthcare and life science companies. He brings more than 30 years of experience in executive positions in the international pharmaceutical industry and is the founder of various pharmaceutical and healthcare companies focusing on generics manufacturing, biotech, wholesaling and services.
Wolfgang Schwandner holds a diploma and a PhD degree in Biology from Technical University Munich and Ludwig Maximilians University Munich.
Wolfgang Schwandner holds a diploma and a PhD degree in Biology from Technical University Munich and Ludwig Maximilians University Munich.
Dr. Frank Hermann
Chief Medical Officer
Frank Hermann is a board-certified pediatrician with a track record in pediatric hematology, oncology and radiology at the University Clinic Gießen/Marburg.
After joining the pharmaceutical industry, he held various leadership positions over the last > 10 years in Pharma/Biotech at Bristol-Myers Squibb, 4SC AG, BioNTech SE and CatalYm GmbH in Medical Affairs and Clinical Development with a special focus in (Immuno-)Oncology, gaining a broad range of experience in early and late-stage clinical development and building up a broad and robust network of internationally recognized key opinion leader in Oncology.
Frank holds a PhD in Medicine from University of Mainz.
After joining the pharmaceutical industry, he held various leadership positions over the last > 10 years in Pharma/Biotech at Bristol-Myers Squibb, 4SC AG, BioNTech SE and CatalYm GmbH in Medical Affairs and Clinical Development with a special focus in (Immuno-)Oncology, gaining a broad range of experience in early and late-stage clinical development and building up a broad and robust network of internationally recognized key opinion leader in Oncology.
Frank holds a PhD in Medicine from University of Mainz.
Dr. Uwe Michaelis
Chief Operating Officer
Uwe Michaelis has more than 30 years of research experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He has a strong track record in the preparation and execution of early-stage development plans leading to first-in-human clinical trial application.
Before joining Thermosome, Uwe Michaelis served as COO of ImevaX and has held several research and management positions of increasing responsibility at Medigene AG from 2004 – 2011. Prior to this, he was a co-founder and CSO of Munich Biotech AG and has held relevant R&D positions at Boehringer Mannheim (now Roche Diagnostics) for seven years.
He holds a PhD in Biology from Ludwig Maximilians University Munich and a diploma in Biology from the University of Regensburg.
Before joining Thermosome, Uwe Michaelis served as COO of ImevaX and has held several research and management positions of increasing responsibility at Medigene AG from 2004 – 2011. Prior to this, he was a co-founder and CSO of Munich Biotech AG and has held relevant R&D positions at Boehringer Mannheim (now Roche Diagnostics) for seven years.
He holds a PhD in Biology from Ludwig Maximilians University Munich and a diploma in Biology from the University of Regensburg.
Dr. Kerstin Pino Tossi
Vice President, Head of Business Development
Kerstin Pino Tossi brings in-depth business development experience with a successful global deal track record in cellular immunotherapy and oncology. She has a comprehensive understanding of the general process and stages of drug development based on extensive experience in internationally operating biotechnology companies in various R&D positions. Before joining Thermosome, Kerstin held positions of increasing responsibility at Medigene, initially in R&D and subsequently in business development, most recently as Director Business Development.
Kerstin Pino Tossi holds a PhD in Biochemistry and a diploma in Biology from Ludwig Maximilians University Munich.
Kerstin Pino Tossi holds a PhD in Biochemistry and a diploma in Biology from Ludwig Maximilians University Munich.
Dr. Katrin Schmidthals
Vice President, Head of Finance and Administration
Katrin Schmidthals has more than 15 years of experience in the life science industry. She is a business-oriented leader with the ability to define and execute corporate strategy, corporate finance, M&A and financial planning & reporting.
Before joining Thermosome, Katrin co-founded the biotech company ChromoTek and built it from scratch to successful exit. As VP Finance and Administration, her areas of responsibility covered finance, administration, HR, IT and logistics.
Katrin holds a PhD in Biology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich and a Master of Business Administration from the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Before joining Thermosome, Katrin co-founded the biotech company ChromoTek and built it from scratch to successful exit. As VP Finance and Administration, her areas of responsibility covered finance, administration, HR, IT and logistics.
Katrin holds a PhD in Biology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich and a Master of Business Administration from the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
Dr. Martin Hossann
Co-founder and Principal Scientist
Martin Hossann is co-founder, principal scientist, and QA manager at Thermosome. He brings significant expertise in the implementation of GCP-compliant QMS and consultation of the management & project teams (e.g., CMC, IP, liposomology).
Prior to co-founding Thermosome, he gained extensive experience in the academic sector, e.g., as Laboratory Head of the liposome research group at the University Hospital of Munich or Scientific Project Manager at Max Planck Innovation GmbH.
Martin Hossann holds a PhD and a diploma in Chemistry from the University of Kaiserslautern.
Prior to co-founding Thermosome, he gained extensive experience in the academic sector, e.g., as Laboratory Head of the liposome research group at the University Hospital of Munich or Scientific Project Manager at Max Planck Innovation GmbH.
Martin Hossann holds a PhD and a diploma in Chemistry from the University of Kaiserslautern.
Prof. Dr. Lars Lindner
Co-founder and Clinical Advisor
Lars Lindner is co-founder of Thermosome and an experienced oncologist with a strong professional focus on sarcoma, regional hyperthermia, and liposomes. He is a Senior Consultant in Hematology and Oncology, Head of the Sarcoma Center and the Hyperthermia Unit at the University Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich. Moreover, he leads/co-leads the European Society of Hyperthermic Oncology, the Sarcoma and GIST Working Group of the AIO, the Sarcoma Study Group of the Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF), the Certification Commission of the German Sarcoma Centers, and the Project Group Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Munich Cancer Center. Prof. Lindner has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and has been appointed Full Professor of Sarcoma Treatment in 2019.
Supervisory Board
Dr. Manfred Rüdiger
Chairman; Chief Executive Officer, Ariceum Therapeutics
Manfred Rüdiger is a serial biotech entrepreneur and has been in executive functions in the biotech industry for almost 25 years. Whilst at CatalYm (2018-2021), he built the company from incubator to clinical stage, raising over €55 million. Prior to this, Manfred was Chairman of apceth Biopharma, where he led the negotiations during the acquisition of apceth by Hitachi in 2019. Manfred has been a Venture Partner with LSP (now EQT Life Sciences) since 2009 and was appointed CEO of Kiadis Pharma N.V. in 2012 which he restructured and led to its IPO on Euronext in 2015 (subsequently acquired by Sanofi). Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer of Cardion (asset sale to Roche) and CEO of Igeneon (merger with NASDAQ-listed Aphton) until 2005. Manfred serves as a Supervisory Board member of several biopharmaceutical companies.
He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen.
He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen.
Dr. Franz-Robert Klingan
Partner, Bain & Company
Franz-Robert Klingan is a Partner in Bain & Company’s Munich office. He is responsible for Bain’s services for healthcare investors across EMEA and is a leader in Bain’s Healthcare and Private Equity practices. He has more than 20 years of industry and management consulting experience, working with multinational client teams and investors to develop new strategies.
Franz-Robert holds deep expertise in corporate and business unit strategy development, as well as performance improvement and commercial review and valuation. Franz-Robert has applied his consulting expertise globally, having been part of Bain’s Boston office between 2003 and 2006.
Franz-Robert Klingan started his career at Hoechst AG (now Sanofi). He received a degree in Chemistry from the Technical University of Munich, where he also earned his doctorate.
Franz-Robert holds deep expertise in corporate and business unit strategy development, as well as performance improvement and commercial review and valuation. Franz-Robert has applied his consulting expertise globally, having been part of Bain’s Boston office between 2003 and 2006.
Franz-Robert Klingan started his career at Hoechst AG (now Sanofi). He received a degree in Chemistry from the Technical University of Munich, where he also earned his doctorate.
Cédric Barra
Senior Investment Manager (Life Sciences), Occident Group
Cédric Barra leads the life sciences team at Occident Group, an international venture capital investor with offices in Zug and Munich.
He brings many years of experience in private equity and venture capital and is always looking for the most promising and most innovative technologies and start-ups in the life sciences sector; he is responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence and active portfolio management.
Cédric studied Pharmaceuticals and Economics in Zurich.
He brings many years of experience in private equity and venture capital and is always looking for the most promising and most innovative technologies and start-ups in the life sciences sector; he is responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence and active portfolio management.
Cédric studied Pharmaceuticals and Economics in Zurich.
Clinical Advisory Board
Prof. Lars Lindner
Chairman
Prof. Lars Lindner is co-founder of Thermosome and an experienced oncologist with a strong professional focus on sarcoma, regional hyperthermia, and liposomes. He is a Senior Consultant in Hematology and Oncology, Head of the Sarcoma Center and the Hyperthermia Unit at the University Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich. Moreover, he leads/co-leads the European Society of Hyperthermic Oncology, the Sarcoma and GIST Working Group of the AIO, the Sarcoma Study Group of the Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF), the Certification Commission of the German Sarcoma Centers, and the Project Group Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Munich Cancer Center. Prof. Lindner has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and has been appointed Full Professor of Sarcoma Treatment in 2019.
Prof. Lars Lindner is co-founder of Thermosome and an experienced oncologist with a strong professional focus on sarcoma, regional hyperthermia, and liposomes.
Prof. Alexander Eggermont
Prof. Alexander Eggermont specializes in preclinical and clinical / translational oncology and is a specialist in immunotherapy research and the treatment of melanoma and sarcoma. He is Professor of Clinical and Translational Immunotherapy, University Medical Center, and Chief Scientific Officer at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht (The Netherlands). He is also a Fellow of the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI), a strategic advisor to the Comprehensive Cancer Center Munich CCCM (Germany) and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Cancer. He previously served as the General Director of the Gustave Roussy Cancer Center Campus Grand Paris, is a Professor Emeritus of Oncology at the Paris-Sud University, and a Professor Emeritus of Oncological Surgery at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Dr. Eggermont has served as President of ECCO, EORTC, the European Academy of Cancer Sciences and of Cancer Core Europe and was a member of the Board of Directors of ASCO. He also served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He has published more than 900 peer-reviewed papers and received numerous professional awards throughout his career.
Prof. Alexander Eggermont specializes in preclinical and clinical / translational oncology and is a specialist in immunotherapy research and the treatment of melanoma and sarcoma.
Prof. Alessandro Gronchi
Prof. Alessandro Gronchi MD received his MD degree from Milan University in 1992, completed his residency training in General Surgery in 1997 and a fellowship in Surgical Oncology in 1998. He holds the National Scientific qualification for full professor of General Surgery. He is chief of the Sarcoma Service since 2001 and chair of the department of Surgery since 2022 at the National Cancer Institute – Milan – Italy.
He is involved in all institutional research activities on sarcoma, which include neoadjuvant therapies in extremity and retroperitoneal sarcomas, new targets for specific STS types, genomic characterization of DF and its impact in tumor progression, mechanisms of resistance to therapy in GIST. He is the Principal Investigator of several Italian and International trials on STS, DF and GIST.
He serves as member of the board of directors of the Italian Sarcoma Group, member of the board of directors of the European Society of Surgical Oncology 2020-2024; international representative on the executive council of the SSO 2021-2024; member of the Sarcoma Task Force of the European Society for Medical Oncology. He was chair of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (2015-2017), president of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (2016); president of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology (2019-2021). He is member of the European Surgical Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and honorary member of the Polish Society of Surgical Oncology. He is one of the initiators of a global collaborative effort on retroperitoneal sarcoma (Trans-atlantic Australasian RetroPeritoneal Sarcoma Working Group, TARPSWG), which involves over 180 institutions worldwide. Dr. Gronchi has authored more than 500 scientific publications (Scopus HIndex 96), serves as Associate Editor of Annals of Surgical Oncology, Journal of Surgical Oncology, Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, Therapeutics Advances in Medical Oncology; Updates in Surgery.
He is involved in all institutional research activities on sarcoma, which include neoadjuvant therapies in extremity and retroperitoneal sarcomas, new targets for specific STS types, genomic characterization of DF and its impact in tumor progression, mechanisms of resistance to therapy in GIST. He is the Principal Investigator of several Italian and International trials on STS, DF and GIST.
He serves as member of the board of directors of the Italian Sarcoma Group, member of the board of directors of the European Society of Surgical Oncology 2020-2024; international representative on the executive council of the SSO 2021-2024; member of the Sarcoma Task Force of the European Society for Medical Oncology. He was chair of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (2015-2017), president of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (2016); president of the Italian Society of Surgical Oncology (2019-2021). He is member of the European Surgical Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and honorary member of the Polish Society of Surgical Oncology. He is one of the initiators of a global collaborative effort on retroperitoneal sarcoma (Trans-atlantic Australasian RetroPeritoneal Sarcoma Working Group, TARPSWG), which involves over 180 institutions worldwide. Dr. Gronchi has authored more than 500 scientific publications (Scopus HIndex 96), serves as Associate Editor of Annals of Surgical Oncology, Journal of Surgical Oncology, Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, Therapeutics Advances in Medical Oncology; Updates in Surgery.
Prof. Alessandro Gronchi MD received his MD degree from Milan University in 1992, completed his residency training in General Surgery in 1997 and a fellowship in Surgical Oncology in 1998. He holds the National Scientific qualification for full professor of General Surgery. He is chief of the Sarcoma Service since 2001 and chair of the department of Surgery since 2022 at the National Cancer Institute – Milan – Italy.
Prof. Antoine Italiano
Prof. Antoine Italiano is an experienced expert in sarcoma and immuno-oncology with a keen interest in translational research aspects related to sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies, notably in soft-tissue sarcoma models. He is Head of Early Phase Trials and Sarcoma Units, Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux, and Head of Precision Medicine, Gustave Roussy, Paris (France). Antoine Italiano has been a Principal Investigator of more than 120 Phase I trials in solid tumors during the past 5 years as well as more than 50 Phase II and Phase III trials. He is a member of ASCO, AACR, and ESMO, a peer reviewer for several oncology journals and has contributed to more than 450 peer-reviewed publications.
Prof. Antoine Italiano is an experienced expert in sarcoma and immuno-oncology with a keen interest in translational research aspects related to sarcoma.
Prof. Shreyaskumar Patel
Prof. Shreyaskumar Patel is a medical oncologist focusing on soft tissue sarcomas (STS), with clinical research interests including systemic therapy for sarcomas, GISTs, and other tumors originating in bone and soft tissues. He is the Robert R. Herring Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the Sarcoma Center at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston TX (USA). Prof. Patel is a member of the SARC Scientific Steering Committee, Chair of the Medical Advisory Board and a member of the Board of Directors of the Chordoma Foundation. He has served as President of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS), has authored or co-authored more than 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has been Section Editor for the Sarcoma Section of Current Oncology Reports since 2000.
Prof. Shreyaskumar Patel is a medical oncologist focusing on soft tissue sarcomas (STS), with clinical research interests including systemic therapy for sarcomas.
Prof. Peter Reichardt
Prof. Peter Reichardt focuses on neoadjuvant therapy and hyperthermia and is the Principal Investigator of Thermosome’s ongoing Phase 1 study. He is Medical Director and Chief Physician Oncology and Palliative Medicine at the Clinic for Interdisciplinary Oncology, Helios Clinic, Berlin-Buch (Germany), and Head of the clinic’s Sarcoma Center Berlin-Brandenburg. Previously, Prof. Reichardt held several positions of increasing responsibility with a focus on hematology, oncology, and tumor immunology at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, including senior physician at Robert-Rössle-Klinik, Charité Campus Buch. He also held medical positions at Heidelberg University Hospital and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA. Prof. Reichardt is a member of several international societies, including the guideline commissions for STS, Bone Sarcoma and GIST of the German Society for Hematology and Oncology (DGHO). Prof. Reichardt has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed papers.
Prof. Peter Reichardt focuses on neoadjuvant therapy and hyperthermia and is the Principal Investigator of Thermosome’s ongoing first in human Phase 1 study.
Prof. Fred Witjes
Prof. Fred Witjes is an experienced urologist and a specialist in bladder cancer, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer, including hyperthermia therapy for bladder cancer. He is Professor of Oncological Urology at Radboud UMC, Nijmegen (The Netherlands). Prof. Witjes is a member of several international societies, and chairs, among others, the EAU Guidelines Committee on Metastatic and Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer. He is an editor of several urological and oncological journals. Prof. Witjes has given numerous lectures and published nearly 700 peer-reviewed publications, reviews, and book chapters.
Prof. Fred Witjes is an experienced urologist and a specialist in bladder cancer, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer, including hyperthermia therapy for bladder cancer.
Investors
