Leadership

Matthew Silva, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Silva is CEO of Invicro and leads the strategic vision and mission to support the the drug discovery and development community.

Dr. Silva holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and brings 17 years of diverse imaging experience from pharmaceutical and contract research organizations. Prior to Invicro, he was Senior Director of Translational Biology at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he ran the imaging and histopathology groups. Previously, he led imaging groups at Amgen, Millennium and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, focusing on the broad use of imaging biomarkers to support drug discovery and development

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George Abe

Chief Business and Strategy Officer

Mr. George Abe is responsible for establishing and growing Invicro’s emerging Advanced Pathology Services business and leading the company’s global corporate development efforts. Furthermore, he plays a significant role in the coordination of strategic activities with the parent company, Konica Minolta Precision Medicine, Inc.

Mr. Abe has over 30 years of experience in creating value in the life science and high technology industries. He has been involved in numerous transactions including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic licensing. He has also been the CEO of three life science companies, two of which focused on developing novel imaging solutions for oncology and neuroscience research and diagnostics. Mr. Abe has also served on a variety of private, public, and not-for-profit boards.

Mr. Abe holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Trinity College, a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Connecticut and is a graduate of the Greater Boston Executive Program at MIT, Sloan School of business.

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Ken Bloom, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer, Advanced Pathology & Genomic Services

Dr. Bloom brings more than 30 years of clinical and business experience in pathology, oncology, telemedicine, and bioinformatics. His role will be to help expand, strengthen and commercialize the full-suite of precision medicine capabilities offered within the pathology and genomics markets for Invicro and Ambry Genetics.
Previously, Dr. Bloom was President and Head of Oncology & Immunotherapy for Human Longevity Inc., where his team developed and commercialized an industry leading cancer exome product and commercialized a technique for validating neoantigens predicted from sequencing. Dr. Bloom was also instrumental to the business strategy that evolved Clarient from a start-up to the acquisition by GE Healthcare.

Prior to his industry experience, Dr. Bloom spent 15 years within the academic field holding various appointed positions including Director of Laboratory Operations and Chief Information Officer of the Rush Cancer Institute, Clinical Professor of Pathology at University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine; and Associate Professor of Pathology at Rush Medical College. Dr. Bloom received his MD from Rush Medical College and his BA from Grinnell College.

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Denise Ferraiolo, B.A.

SVP, Clinical Operations

Ms. Ferraiolo has 20 years of experience in clinical research, managing and executing early Phase I through Phase 3 trials in neurodegenerative disease. More specifically, Ms. Ferraiolo has more than ten years of leadership experience in oversight of imaging trials, including expertise in areas such as project management, data management and core lab operations. Ms. Ferraiolo has a strong background in imaging operations and the conductance of imaging trials, with a focus on standardized analysis and outcome methods.

At Invicro, Ms. Ferraiolo oversees the Imaging Services group responsible for site qualification, supply management, and image receipt, processing and transfer.

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Ciara Finucane, M.Sc.

VP, Discovery and Preclinical Services

MS. Finucane joined Invicro in January 2013 and specializes in nuclear techniques, including the evaluation of molecular targets for radionuclide-mediated diagnosis and therapy of cancer. With over 15 years of experience, her area of expertise is in preclinical SPECT and PET imaging and includes work with academia and pharmaceutical industry in the design, execution, and project management of nuclear imaging studies.

Ms. Finucane received her honors degree in Natural Sciences, in Physiology from Trinity College, Dublin and her Master of Science in Forensic Sciences from Kings College London. Prior to Invicro, Ms. Finucane was at the Bart’s Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London in the Center for Molecular Imaging to develop cancer therapeutic and imaging agents.

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Roger Gunn, Ph.D.

Chief Science Officer, Neuroscience

Dr. Gunn is an international expert on imaging for disease understanding and drug development. He has a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Warwick University and has worked across Academia (Imperial College London, Oxford University & McGill University), Industry (GSK & Imanova) and Government Labs (MRC Cyclotron Unit).

Dr. Gunn has made significant contributions to the development of novel imaging biomarkers, quantitative algorithms and software for a wide range of imaging applications with a focus on the neurosciences. He currently holds professorships at Imperial College London and Oxford University and has 200 publications in the field of imaging.

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Amanda Harrell

VP, Global Marketing

Ms. Amanda Harrell joined Invicro in January 2018 as Vice President of Global Marketing.  Ms. Harrell brings over 25 years of strategic and analytical marketing experience within the life sciences, healthcare and financial services markets. Ms. Harrell overseas all traditional and digital marketing efforts, public relations, and go-to-market strategies.

Ms. Harrell has served in numerous marketing and business leadership roles at GENEWIZ, Cigna Healthcare, De Lage Landen Financial Services, Fifth Third Bank and Ford Motor Company.

Leading award-winning global marketing teams, Ms. Harrell’s strategic business experience has help corporations realize improved commercial performance, deliver a unique customer centric experience, and launch product innovation via market analytics and competitive intelligence.

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Jacob Hesterman, Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer & Founding Partner

Dr. Hesterman is Invicro’s Chief Technology Officer and a founding member of Invicro. He has over 10 years of experience in instrumentation development, image processing, and quantification. As CTO, Dr. Hesterman manages a large technical team of engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, comprising Invicro’s software and analytics teams. He has overseen the development of Invicro’s image processing platform supporting translational and clinical analysis in PET, PET, MR, CT, and histology across multiple disease areas. Dr. Hesterman also oversees Invicro’s software platform, including the iPACS data management and VivoQuant image processing applications.

Dr. Hesterman holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences, having completed a research project in small-animal SPECT at the Center for Gamma Ray Imaging. Prior to joining Invicro, Dr. Hesterman managed Bioscan’s NanoSPECT/CT project for several years while living in Budapest, Hungary, and served as a visiting scientist in the Frangioni Lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital.

Edward J. Hogan Jr.

EVP, Clinical Operations

Mr. Hogan oversees the Clinical Services team including Project Management, Imaging Services, Data Management and Reader Management for early and late phase clinical trials at Invicro.

Mr. Hogan has over twenty-six years of experience in clinical research, managing and executing Phase I through Phase IV imaging trials in both the Pharmaceutical and CRO space. Mr. Hogan brings more than sixteen years of experience in managing clinical operations, including extensive experience leading cross-functional teams, including Operations (Project, Image and Data Management), Engineering (Development and Validation) and Medical and Scientific Services. Mr. Hogan has progressive business experience in building and managing global cross-functional teams supporting clinical trials focusing teams on delivery, accountability, and customer satisfaction while driving quality and process improvements.

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Jan Passchier, Ph.D.

EVP, Global Head of Chemistry

Jan is an expert in radiochemistry applied to imaging and drug development. He completed a PhD in PET radiochemistry from Groningen University prior to moving to GlaxoSmithKline where he worked closely with project teams to identify and develop novel tool compounds for a large variety of CNS, metabolic and respiratory indications.

Jan played a significant role in the design and realization of the GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Imaging Centre where he headed the chemistry group. Following the spin-out of the centre to Imanova Ltd, now part of Invicro, he took on the overall operational responsibility for the business.

Jan has a keen interest and deep understanding of the application of molecular imaging to disease understanding and drug development.

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Eugenii (Ilan) Rabiner, M.D.

EVP, Head of Translational Applications

Ilan is a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist who was part of the team that set up the GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Imaging Centre, which transitioned to become Imanova in Sep 2011. Ilan spent 10 years at GlaxoSmithKline, and was head of Clinical Imaging Applications at the Translational Medicine and Technologies group.

Ilan received a BSc in Physiology and Medical Biochemistry and a MBBCh, from the University of the Witwatersrand, and specialist training in psychiatry at the University of Cape Town. He was trained in molecular imaging at the MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London.

Ilan’s research interests focus on the application of molecular imaging to human pathophysiology, psychopharmacology and central nervous system drug development. He is an author of >140 peer reviewed publications.

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Fiona Roberts

VP, Site Operations UK

Ms. Roberts has over 24 years of experience in the molecular imaging field, and provides site leadership and oversight of all operational activities at the Invicro facility in London.

Ms. Roberts joined Invicro London (formerly Imanova) in 2015 as Clinical Operations Manager overseeing the delivery of imaging studies in support of clinical research.
Prior to Invicro, Ms. Roberts held key commercial clinical operations roles at Alliance Medical and HCA International in London.  Previously, Ms. Roberts held instrumental roles at Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia and Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Trust London, where she gained her clinical SPECT and PET imaging experience.

Ms. Roberts holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Medical Radiations from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. 

Roughan Sheedy

Chief Operating Officer

Roughan has nearly 20 years of experience in the life sciences sector, and joined Imanova (now Invicro London) as CFO in 2013. Roughan’s career has encompassed senior Finance and Commercial roles, working in a range of environments – from private equity backed business to listed companies. Prior to Invicro, Roughan’s career encompassed time with LGC and IVAX in the UK.

Roughan completed his Batchelor’s degree in Trinity College, Dublin, and also holds an MA in Accounting and Finance from Lancaster University. In addition to being a Chartered Management Accountant, Roughan is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

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Joy Stickel

VP, Human Resources

Joy Stickel brings more than twenty-five years of Human Resources and Talent Management experience to Invicro. In her role at Invicro she is responsible for leading the HR organization, advancing the people, programs and processes to support Invico’s mission. Most recently she was the VP of Global Talent Management with FLIR Systems where she led teams responsible for Learning an Development, Organizational Effectiveness and Talent Acquisition. Other experience includes HR leadership roles with Fidelity Investments and Seaport Companies.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Emerson College.

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Jack Hoppin, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & Distinguished Scientist

Dr. Hoppin is the Co-Founder, Distinguished Scientist and member of the board of directors of Invicro. Dr. Hoppin holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona and worked as an Alexander von Humboldt post-doctoral fellow at the Research Center Jülich, Germany. Prior to co-founding Invicro in 2008, Dr. Hoppin served as the VP of Imaging Systems at Bioscan, Inc. He has been working in imaging research for more than 15 years. As an active member of the imaging community, Dr. Hoppin is a member of the World Molecular Imaging Society Board of Trustees.

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Christian Lackas, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & Distinguished Scientist

Dr. Lackas is the Co-Founder of Invicro. He is the architect of Invicro’s software platforms and manages the continued development of Invicro’s growing array of software solutions for imaging laboratories. Dr. Lackas holds a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in High Energy Physics and a Master (Dipl.-Phys.) in Physics and Computer Science from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He gathered extensive experience with large scale scientific data acquisition systems during his appointment at DESY, and during his position as Director, Image Application and Software Development at Bioscan, Inc. where he was instrumental for the NanoSPECT/CT project. Dr. Lackas’ offers Invicro advisory and guidance on software solutions (iPACS, iCRO, VivoQuant, etc.) to ensure the highest scientific standards and support researchers in their day-to-day operations.

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Kenneth Marek, M.D.

Distinguished Scientist

Dr. Marek is a neurologist with widespread expertise in neurodegenerative disorders. He is internationally recognized as an expert in imaging of neurodegenerative disorders and has made significant contributions to early detection and diagnostic use of radiotracers for these disorders for PD, AD, HD and other disorders. He has developed novel clinical design for brain imaging studies and has been the Principal Investigator in several multicenter trials including PPMI and PARS.

John Seibyl, M.D.

Distinguished Scientist

Dr. Seibyl is an international expert on PET and SPECT imaging for neurodegenerative disorders. He is past President of the Brain Imaging Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Seibyl is dually-boarded in Nuclear Medicine and Psychiatry and has twenty years of experience in clinical studies. He has made significant contributions to development of visual and quantitative analysis for PET imaging in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Along with Dr. Marek he has directed and continues to direct several international multicenter imaging studies. Dr. Seibyl is an author on over hundred publications on CNS imaging.

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