Team
Jon Amund Eriksen, MSc
Chief Executive Officer
Founder of Hubro Therapeutics with extensive industrial R&D experience from leadership positions at several biotech and pharmaceutical companies. 30 years of R&D experience within the field of cancer immunotherapy and is inventor and co-inventor of several patents.
Co-founder of Gemvax AS and Targovax ASA. Mr. Eriksen is educated as a chemist (MSc) from the University of Oslo, Norway.
Sarah J. Arbe-Barnes, PhD
Chief Operational Officer
With over 30 years of biotech and consulting experience in a range of leadership roles and therapeutic areas Dr Sarah Arbe-Barnes, with a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Bath, UK, has led multiple global product development programmes.
Robert M. Miller, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr Robert Miller, with 33 years R&D experience particularly in oncology including cancer immunotherapy, is a Physician with a license to practice with degrees from the University of London, the Royal College of Surgeons and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.
Berit Iversen, MSc
Chief Technology Officer
Has over 30 years’ experience from senior positions and leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Extensive experience in product development, CMC , analytical sciences, QC and QA, ranging from early product development to regulatory product approvals. She has a long and successful experience with leadership, people management and cross functional project management roles.
Mrs. Iversen holds a MSc in chemistry from the University of Oslo, Norway.
Tina Madsen, MSc
Chief QA Officer
With 30 years of experience from leadership positions in several pharmaceutical and biotech companies in addition to NOMA. Extensive experience within quality management across GxPs covering both investigational and commercial products.
Mrs. Madsen holds a MSc in pharmacy from DFH Copenhagen.
Geir Hetland, BSc
Chief Financial Officer
Has extensive experience from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in both Europe and the US. Had senior leadership roles in AstraZeneca including Business Director for EMEA and CFO for Norway. Held positions at his last employer Thermo Fisher Scientific which included Head of Finance for Sample Prep Business Unit situated in California (US) and most recently CFO for the global business around Dynabeads product portfolio in diagnostic and immunotherapy situated in Norway.
Mr Hetland holds a bachelor degree in Finance (Civilekonom) from University of Lund, Sweden.
Karianne Risberg Handeland, PhD
Head of Clinical and Non-Clinical Science
Karianne joined Hubro Therapeutics in 2022 as Head of Clinical and Non-Clinical Science. She has well over 10 years’ experience from Clinical Trials Operations from both pharma and biotech companies as well as over 10 years’ experience from academia. Her most recent roles at Nykode Therapeutics and Targovax included clinical trial management of Phase 1 and 2 global trials within the field of DNA-, peptide- and oncolytic virus vaccines. Prior to joining the biotech industry, she did her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Translational Research in Oncology from the University of Oslo studying in vitro and in vivo effects of immunotoxins and small molecular inhibitors in (hypoxic) cancer cells.
Henrik K Eriksen, MSc
Project Leader Exploratory Research
Mr. Kvalheim Eriksen has been with the company since September 2019. With his background from molecular biology and microbiology, he has contributed to the development of the company’s technology platform and is co-inventor of patent applications.
Mr. Kvalheim Eriksen holds a MSc in molecular biology from the University of Oslo, Norway.
Karianne Lunde, MSc
QA Director
Karianne joined Hubro Therapeutics in 2023 as QA Director. She has over 20 years’ experience in the international pharmaceutical industry and in-depth knowledge of pharmaceutical quality requirements.
In her most recent roles at Bayer AS and GE Healthcare, she was a Qualified Person certifying commercial and investigational radiopharmaceuticals and diagnostics. She is erudite in international GxP requirements for sterile medicinal products.
Mrs. Lunde holds a MSc in pharmacy from the University of Oslo
Christina Steppeler, PhD
Clinical Project Manager
Christina joined Hubro Therapeutics in June 2023, and has more than 5 years of experience from clinical operations and has broad experience from clinical trials within the field of immuno-oncology. Christina holds a Ph.D. from the Norwegian University of Life Science in food toxicology focussing on colorectal cancer
Victoria Nicolaysen, MSc
Research Scientist
Has a background in exploratory research on stress-regulating pathways in hormone-regulated cancers from the department of Cell Signaling and Cancer at the University of Oslo.
Ms. Nicolaysen holds a MSc in molecular biology from the University of Oslo, Norway.
Brage M Johannesen, MSc
Research Scientist
Has a background from exploratory research on the development of neuropharmacological drugs from the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oslo.
Mr. Milch Johannesen holds a MSc in molecular biology from the University of Oslo, Norway
Adam O'Shea, MSc
CMC Manager
Has over 20 years’ experience in R&D and CMC positions in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. Experienced in CMC, product development and project management. Extensive background in Immunology, monoclonal antibody and radiopharmaceutical development and testing.
Mr. O’Shea holds a MSc in Biotechnology from Harvard University, Cambridge, USA.
Liv Merete Rygg, BSc
Office Manager
Liv Merete joined Hubro Therapeutics in 2022 as Office Manager. She has 12 years’ experience from the Oil and Gas industry within Administration, Marketing, Recruitment and Offshore Personnel Coordination.
Liv Merete holds a BSc focused in French/English and international trade from Østfold College
Board
Øyvind Kongstun Arnesen
Chairman of The Board
Øyvind Kongstun Arnesen was appointed chairman of the board in August 2021.
Kongstun Arnesen is a MD with more than ten years of clinical experience and extensive experience from the Pharmaceutical Industry holding positions as Medical Director, holding positions such as Medical Director Norway BMS, Medical Director and Head of Clinical Operations at Boehringer Ingelheim and CEO of Ultimovacs from 2012 to 2020. He is Chairman of the Board in Curida, Felleskatalogen and Oslo Cancer Cluster and works as an independent advisor to Radforsk and other investors in the life science sector.
Aitana Peire
Board Member
Aitana Peire has served as a Board Member since 2021. Aitana Peire is an Investment Manager of Canica’s Future of Health assets and holds a board position in Ultimovacs ASA, EXACT-Tx AS and Cercare Medical A/S. Prior to that, she worked as business analyst and senior consultant in Venture Valuation Switzerland, doing third party valuations of Life Science companies and products, as Pharma equity research analyst for Kepler Cheuvreux and as PMA consultant for Stratas Partners in Basel. Before moving to Switzerland she worked as investment analyst for London-based hedge fund Carval Investors, as part of the NPL team, and as researcher for the London Ambulance Service. Aitana holds a PhD in Evolutionary Genetics from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Kjeld-Håkon L. Nilsen
Board Member
Mr. Nilsen is the CEO and partner of Jandersen Kapital AS, a private investment company focusing on the healthcare sector.
Mr. Nilsen holds an MBA and is a State Authorized Public Accountant from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). He worked as an auditor for two decades, and thereby gained experience from and knowledge about a wide number of industries. In 2007 he established Lani Revisjon AS and ran his own auditor business for a decade before becoming a full time investor in 2017. Mr. Nilsen holds several Chairman and board positions as a result of his investments.
Birgitte Gangmark Villmo
Board member
Birgitte serves as an Observer to the Hubro Board on behalf of Norwegian VC fund Investinor. She has close to ten years of experience from investment management and research. She has been part of the investment team at Investinor since 2017, focusing primarily on the healthcare sector. She previously worked as an Equities Analyst at Norges Bank Investment Management in Oslo/London. Birgitte holds an M.Sc. in Financial Economics from NTNU and a Master of Finance from MIT.
Tom A. Thorsen
Board member
Mr. Thorsen is the CEO at Algot Invest AS. Following two and a half decades of executive management, board level roles and investments, Mr. Thorsen is a seasoned investor with extensive experience in commercialization, M&A processes and acting as a dealmaker, board member and owner in several successful companies.
Mr. Thorsen was previously a board member in Tantan, which was successfully sold to Momo (NASDAQ, China’s leading mobile networking platform) in February 2018. He has also held positions as board member in Targovax and OncoImmunity, the latter which was successfully sold in 2019 to Japanese NEC.