Thomas Cannell, DVM

President, CEO & Director

Thomas Cannell serves as president and chief executive officer of Sesen Bio. Prior to joining Sesen Bio, Dr. Cannell served as chief operating officer and president of global commercial products at Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., where he led the successful commercialization and profitability of Contrave®. Prior to Orexigen, Dr. Cannell spent 27 years with Merck & Co.,Inc., where he held senior leadership positions in global commercialization, consumer marketing, and sales operations and management for both development-stage programs and approved marketed products. While with Merck, he served as president of Merck Canada and head of marketing and strategy for Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Japan, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., where he was responsible for setting up a long-standing strategic process and plan, managed a multi-billion-dollar product portfolio and oversaw thousands of employees. In addition, he designed and successfully piloted an innovative, customer-centric commercial model for Merck’s U.S. business. Dr. Cannell received his DVM degree from Washington State University.

Glen MacDonald, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer

Glen C. MacDonald, Ph.D., serves as our chief technology officer. Previously, Dr. MacDonald served our predecessor company in several research related capacities from 1997 to 2005. Prior to joining us, Dr. MacDonald held a Manitoba Cancer Treatment Research Foundation Fellowship from 1996 to 1997 while serving as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Manitoba Cancer Treatment Research Foundation from 1995 to 1997. Dr. MacDonald also served as a Canadian Arthritis Society post-doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1993 to 1995. He graduated from the University of Guelph with a bachelor’s degree in genetics in 1980 and earned an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba in 1987 and 1993, respectively. Dr. MacDonald’s scientific background is extensive, having published in the areas of monoclonal antibodies, graft versus-host disease, lupus and apoptosis.

Mark R. Sullivan

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Mark R. Sullivan brings more than 20 years of legal experience to his role as general counsel and corporate secretary.  Before joining Sesen Bio in April 2018, he provided outsourced in-house counsel services to companies in the life sciences and healthcare industries, including Sandoz Inc. and Bayer Healthcare. Prior to that, Mr. Sullivan served as the general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary of MModal Inc., a public healthcare IT company for 9 years, until the company was taken private by One Equity Partners in July 2012.  At MModal, Mr. Sullivan was responsible for all securities, intellectual property, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, contracting and risk management matters, and he implemented and managed a formal compliance program for over 14,000 employees.  Prior to MModal, Mr. Sullivan was an attorney at the law firms of Pepper Hamilton LLP and Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, where his practice focused on corporate and securities matters. Mr. Sullivan holds a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Monica Forbes

Chief Financial Officer

Monica Forbes serves as Sesen Bio’s chief financial officer. Ms. Forbes brings more than 20 years of financial leadership experience to Sesen Bio, including prior experience leading the finance and administrative functions of late and commercial-stage public and private life science companies. Ms. Forbes most recently served as the chief financial officer of Nalpropion Pharmaceuticals where she led the integration of a newly acquired asset and supporting commercial team. Prior to that, Ms. Forbes served as the acting chief financial officer of Orexigen Therapeutics where she oversaw all finance and administrative operations for the publicly traded company and played a key role in the successful sale of the company. Prior to being appointed acting chief financial officer at Orexigen, Ms. Forbes held various leadership roles with expertise in financial planning and analysis, budgeting, forecasting and business development across companies such as AstraZeneca, Invitrogen, Ericsson and Qualcomm. Ms. Forbes holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from San Diego State University.

Erin Clark

Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations

Erin Clark serves as our vice president of corporate strategy and investor relations. Ms. Clark brings to Sesen Bio significant experience in the strategy and commercialization of late-stage life science companies. Prior to joining us, Ms. Clark held various leadership roles at Trevena, Inc. and Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc., where she helped drive commercialization and realization of external value drivers for lead assets in development and approved marketed products. Prior to her roles at Trevena and Orexigen, Ms. Clark worked as a consultant at Deloitte where she led quantitative and qualitative market assessments for small and large life science clients. Ms. Clark began her career at Johnson and Johnson where she played key roles in supporting multi-billion-dollar products across the pharmaceutical portfolio. Ms. Clark received her Bachelor of Science in Finance from Pennsylvania State University.

Omar Rifi

Vice President, Business Development and Alliance Management

Omar Rifi serves as vice president of business development and alliance management. Mr. Rifi is a seasoned leader in the pharmaceutical industry with extensive global commercial experience. Most recently, Mr. Rifi served as vice president, global alliances at Nalproprion Pharmaceuticals where he led revenue maximization efforts within launched territories outside of the United States and led the registration process and launch readiness in key countries across Latin America and Asia Pacific. Prior to Nalpropion, Mr. Rifi served as vice president, global alliances at Orexigen Therapeutics where he played a key leadership role in building an integrated network of global partners that resulted in the successful launch of the product portfolio in 60 countries. Mr. Rifi began his career at Merck & Co., Inc. where he spent nearly 14 years in leadership positions of increasing responsibility across commercial functions in key global markets. Mr. Rifi received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and a M.B.A. from the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at St. Joseph’s University.

Louise Stejbach

Commercial Advisor

Louise Park Stejbach brings more than 30 years of biopharma commercialization and brand strategy experience to her role as commercial advisor.  Since 2008, Louise has advised on pre-launch and launch planning, market assessment and prioritization, target product profile development, and go-to-market plans for several pre-commercial and first commercial biotech firms as well as established biopharmaceutical companies, vaccine manufacturers, and other healthcare clients.  Prior to consulting, Ms. Stejbach spent 18 years at Merck where she developed deep experience in commercial (HCP, payer, patient) strategy and execution across many therapeutic categories and stages of the lifecycle and held US leadership roles as both the Vice President of Marketing for Diabetes and the Vice President of Osteoporosis Marketing and Specialty Sales.  Louise has an MBA (University of Chicago) and a BS in Chemical Engineering (University of Virginia).

Jeannick Cizeau

Head of Research

Jeannick Cizeau, PhD, serves in the role of Sesen Bio’s Head of Research. He brings to this position more than two decades of research experience and knowledge of molecular engineering, protein purification and biological characterization of recombinant fusion proteins. Since 2005, Dr. Cizeau has worked in Sesen Bio’s research function, developing and implementing numerous biological assays, including a proprietary semi-high throughput screening procedure. He has led molecular engineering, optimization and biological characterization of several suitable pre-clinical and clinical product candidates. He has published an extensive number of articles and abstracts presented at the American Association of Cancer Research and other major congresses, and he holds several patents. Dr. Cizeau earned a Master of Science from University of Orleans (France), where he also was awarded his doctoral degree. He completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology in Canada.

Rian Dickstein, MD, FACS

Chief of Urology - University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center
Medical Director of GU Oncology - Tate Cancer Center
Clinical Assistant Professor - Department of Surgery at University of Maryland School of Medicine
Director, Bladder Cancer Program - Chesapeake Urology

Rian Dickstein, MD, completed his undergraduate education at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ and received his Doctor or Medicine from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) New Brunswick, NJ. Dr. Dickstein completed a general surgery internship and urology residency at Boston Medical Center and completed a fellowship in urologic oncology at the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Dickstein is a urologic oncologist who focuses on all urologic cancers, specializing in open, laparoscopic and robotic surgeries. His expertise includes the treatment of bladder cancer (non-invasive and locally advanced), kidney cancer (small or locally advanced tumors), and prostate cancer (including primary and salvage surgery for complex cases), as well as the treatment of testicular and penile cancers. He has published and presented on subjects primarily related to bladder and penile cancers. He is a member of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Dickstein received a Merit Award for the 2011 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, was a first place winner of the Max K. Willscher Resident Research Award competition at the New England Section of the American Urological Association, and he received the Editor’s Award of Excellence for an Original Study from the Uro Today International Journal.

Michael A.S. Jewett, MD, FRCSC, FACS

Professor, Departments of Surgical Oncology and Surgery (Urology), Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network and the University of Toronto

Michael Jewett, MD, graduated from Queen’s University, Faculty of Medicine, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and completed his urology training at The University of Toronto, Canada. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1974 and subsequently spent 2 years as a Fellow at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center in New York City before returning to the Faculty in Toronto.  Dr. Jewett has played a prominent role in national and international consensus statements, including as a committee chair for the International Consultation on Bladder Tumours in 2004 Consensus. He serves on IDMC’s and 2 Medical Advisory Boards of companies developing bladder cancer therapies. He has appeared before the FDA as an expert including the presentation that led to the historic approval of BCG for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). He served on the inaugural Medical Advisory Board of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) and has made original practice changing contributions in kidney and testis cancer. He was the inaugural Farquaharson Clinical Research Chair in Oncology and held the CIHR Wyeth Chair in Kidney Cancer Research. He is co-Chair of the Renal Task Force at the NCI and the founding and immediate past Chair of the multidisciplinary Kidney Cancer Research Network of Canada. He is on the Board of the International Kidney Cancer Coalition. He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed papers, mostly in UroOncology and in technology assessment and medical informatics. His multiple awards include the Canadian Urology Association (CUA) Award, the American Urological Association (AUA) Distinguished Service Award, the Society of Urologic Oncology Medal and the Societé Internationale d’Urologie (SIU)-Distinguished Career Award. He is an Honorary Member of the AUA and the European Association of Urology (EAU). He has been a visiting professor in more than 40 institutions and associations.

Wassim Kassouf, MD, CM, FRCSC

Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Urology
Professor and Associate Chair Dept. of Surgery - McGill University
Head, Urologic Oncology
 - McGill University Health Center

Wassim Kassouf, MD earned his undergraduate degree from McGill University, B.Sc, major in molecular biology.  Dr. Kassouf completed a clinical and research fellowship in urologic oncology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center following medical school and urology residency at McGill University. Dr. Kassouf’s clinical practice focuses on all aspects of urologic oncology (including bladder, prostate, renal, and testes cancer) whereas his research focuses on bladder cancer. He has served as program director for 6 years and currently is a member of the Royal College Examination board committee. He has led several national guidelines for optimizing quality of care in urologic cancer management and has published over 300 peer-review manuscripts and book chapters. He is the founder of the national Canadian Bladder Cancer Network, a cofounder of Bladder Cancer Canada, co-chair of the National Cancer Institute of Canada’s disease-oriented group in bladder cancer, and an executive member of the NIH Genitourinary steering committee Bladder Cancer Task Force. Dr Kassouf has received several awards including the AUA Young Urologist of the Year, AUA Research Scholar Award, Canadian Urological Association Scholarship Award, FRSQ Senior Clinician Scientist Research Scholar Award, and the Everett C. Reid Teaching Excellence Award.

Thomas Keane, MD

Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston) – Professor and Chair Department of Urology

Thomas Keane, MD, received his medical degree from the National University of Ireland, and completed his fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland.  Dr. Keane is a nationally and internationally known expert on the treatment of prostate cancer and other GU malignancies.  An active researcher, Dr. Keane has conducted numerous clinical and pre-clinical trial studies. He is well known for his work on testing new therapies in GU malignancies and holds a U.S. patent on boron neutron capture therapy used for prostate cancer. His other focus has been on sphingolipids derivatives and their use as anti-cancer treatments. Dr. Keane is also interested in resistance mediators and has active projects on prostate cancer imaging using radio-labeled monoclonal antibodies and vitamin deficiencies in prostate cancer. With prostate cancer ranking as one of the state’s most common malignancies in men, he hopes to incorporate prevention with the latest initiatives in hormonal management and other therapies.  Dr. Keane’s research has led to publication of more than 120 articles peer-reviewed in such journals as Cancer Research, The Journal of Urology, Urologic Oncology, and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Donald Lamm, MD

President, BCG Oncology, PC
Clinical Professor, University of Arizona

Donald Lamm, MD completed his undergraduate education at the University of California, Los Angeles.  Dr. Lamm received his medical degree from David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and completed his residencies at University of California at Los Angeles Wadsworth Veterans Administration Medical Center in general surgery and the University of California at San Diego in urology.  Dr. Lamm has had a lifelong interest in Urologic Oncology and clinical trials with a particular interest in immunotherapy and chemoprevention. Dr. Lamm was awarded the initial NIH-funded contract to evaluate BCG immunotherapy of superficial bladder cancer in a randomized clinical trial (1978).  This work, accruing 231 patients, resulted in the first controlled trial demonstrating the efficacy of intravesical BCG immunotherapy.   His subsequent NIH-funded research demonstrated the superiority of intravesical BCG over oral administration and the efficacy of intravesical without percutaneous BCG immunotherapy.  Subsequent SWOG studies under his direction showed BCG immunotherapy to be superior to doxorubicin and mitomycin chemotherapy.

Michael O’Donnell, MD

Richard D Williams Professor and Director of Urologic Oncology University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Michael O’Donnell, MD, is Professor of Urology and Director of Urologic Oncology at the University of Iowa.  Dr. O’Donnell earned his BA from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and he is a graduate of the Duke University School of Medicine and the Harvard Urology Residency Program.  He completed a fellowship at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, and the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research at MIT. Dr. O’Donnell is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the American Urological Association, American Association of Immunologists, Society for Urologic Oncology, Society for Basic Urologic Research, and the American Association for Cancer Research, among others.

Neal D. Shore, MD, FACS

Director, CPI, Carolina Urologic Research Center Atlantic Urology Clinics Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Neal D. Shore, MD, FACS is the Medical Director for the Carolina Urologic Research Center. He practices with Atlantic Urology Clinics in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Dr. Shore has conducted more than 350 clinical trials, focusing mainly on GU Oncology, and serves on the Executive Boards of: Society of Urologic Oncology Board, Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, and is Immediate Past President, Large Urology Group Practice Association. He is a founder for both: CUSP Clinical Trials Consortium, as well as for DASHKO, large urology practices data registries. He serves as the National Urology Research Director for 21^st Century Oncology. He has served on the AUA Male Health Committee and the AUA Data Committee, the SITC Task Force for Prostate Cancer, the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Think Tank and the editorial boards of Reviews in Urology, Urology Times, Chemotherapy Advisor, OncLive, PLOS ONE(Academic Editor),  Urology Practice, World Journal of Urology, and serves as Editor, Everyday Urology-Oncology. He has more than 200 peer reviewed publications and numerous book chapters; he performs peer review for Lancet Oncology, New England Journal of Medicine, European Urology, Journal Urology, Urology, BJUI, PCPD, and numerous other high impact scientific journals.  A graduate of Duke University and Duke University Medical School, Dr. Shore completed a 6-month clinical research fellowship in Pretoria, South Africa, and then completed his General Surgery/Urology training at New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Alon Weizer, MD

Professor of Urology – University of Michigan
Associate Chair for Perioperative Services, Urology - University of Michigan

Alon Weizer, MD, completed his undergraduate education at Duke University. He completed medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX and returned to Duke University where he completed a 6-year training program in general surgery and urology. He then completed a 2-year fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI in Urologic Oncology and Minimally Invasive Surgery. His clinical and research interest is focused on prevention and early detection of bladder cancer, novel treatments for early bladder cancer, and the use of minimally invasive approaches to treat bladder, prostate, kidney, testicular, and genitourinary malignancies.

Fred N. Wolk, MD, FACS

Director of Clinical Trials, Skyline Urology Torrance, CA

Fred Wolk, MD, completed his undergraduate education at University of Texas, Austin, and received his Doctor of Medicine from Louisiana State University School of Medicine, New Orleans.  He completed his Internal Medicine Internship at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles County Hospital, followed by a General Surgery Residency at Harbor/UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California.  His Urology Residency was completed at the University of California at Irvine, College of Medicine, Long Beach, California and he also completed a 2-year Urology Research Fellowship at Cambridge University, Department of Immunology and Department of Urology, Addenbrooks Hospital, Cambridge, England.