ONCOLOGY ONE

WELCOME

“We find, curate and progress novel cancer therapeutics.”
– Oncology One CEO, Dr Joanne Boag

Oncology One has united highly skilled and respected leaders in the biotechnology sector, to raise and deploy meaningful capital to progress small molecule cancer drug development programs towards the clinic. We are working to curate and develop high quality programs that aim to meet unmet clinical needs, inclusive of underserved areas such as paediatric and rare cancers.

OUR PEOPLE

Oncology One has attracted world-leading experts in medical research, clinical practice and commercialisation. We are a lean, hard-working team, supported by our Scientific Advisory Board that live and breathe oncology innovation across the globe. We are curious and tenacious in our efforts to find and progress projects that can positively impact the lives of people with cancer.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Dr Richard Foitzik
PhD

Head of Drug Discovery

Dr Joanne Boag
PhD MIP BSc (Hons)

Chief Executive Officer

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

Professor Ian Street
PhD

 Chair of Scientific Advisory Board

Professor Mike Waring
PhD

Scientific Advisory Board

OUR PARTNERS

Childrens-Cancer-Institute

GET IN TOUCH

+61 3 9117 0254

305 Grattan Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 Australia

info@oncologyone.com.au

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST

Dr Ton Bunt is co-founder, CEO and director of Izumi Biosciences Inc., a specialist biotech company based in Boston that focuses on developing better drugs for serious diseases of the nervous system.

Ton is a senior level executive and business team leader, with P&L responsibility, transaction and R&D leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has acted as a transaction adviser with a deal track record of six licensing and M&A transactions with over $1B in cumulative value. Ton co-led pharmaceutical company (ALBO) in strategic partnering, reverse IPO and $30mm follow-on financing. As CMO and head of R&D at specialty pharmaceutical company Oscient Pharamceuticals Corporation (OSCI), Ton achieved key clinical and regulatory milestones, including negotiating a Special Protocol Assessment with US-FDA, completing multiple pivotal studies and securing sNDA approvals.

Ton is a medically trained physician and has an MBA from The Wharton School and PhD in gastric surgery from the Leiden University.

Dr Richard Foitzik has over 14 years’ industry experience in medicinal chemistry and management, with experience spanning project phases from Hit Identification through to Late Lead Optimisation and Safety and Toxicology profiling. Richard is a key inventor of 2 small molecule inhibitors for different oncology targets, currently undergoing Phase I clinical trials.

Previously, Richard was the Director of Medicinal Chemistry at MycRx where he led a multidisciplinary team dedicated to the design, synthesis, and testing of small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. He was also a Group Leader at the Cancer Therapeutics Cooperative Research Centre (CTx) and is an inventor of cancer programs separately licensed to large pharmaceutical companies.

During her career, Dr Anastassija (Stacey) Konash has developed medical devices, managed the Factory of the Future and oversaw the establishment of the National Industry 4.0 Testlab. In her role at Oncology One, Stacey manages ELN data, oversees collaboration projects and ensures that day-to-day operations of Oncology One run smoothly.

Stacey has ten years of experience managing complex collaborations between industry and academia. She also has eight years of experience working in Australia's FDA- and TGA--approved ISO-certified manufacturing facilities.

Previously, Stacey worked at an ASX-listed medical device company, where she led the development of a whole blood point of care diagnostic device. In addition, Stacey managed collaborations with academic and industry partners and was responsible for formulating and executing the research program for new diagnostics portfolios.

Stacey is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship Coral Sea Industry Scholar 2020 award and holds a PhD in bioelectrochemistry from the University of Limerick, Ireland.

Professor Shelley Dolan is Chief Executive of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia’s only public hospital solely dedicated to cancer treatment, research and education and home to Australia’s largest cancer research program. Shelley joined Peter Mac in September 2019.

Prior to joining Peter Mac, Shelley was Acting CEO and Chief Nurse of the King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. She has a Masters Degree in cancer nursing, a PhD in the early diagnosis of sepsis in cancer patients and has also led the successful design and clinical roll out of new Electronic Patient Records.

Shelley has extensive clinical and research leadership experience and over 18 years as a Board Director both Non Executive and Executive. She has a positive track record of leading major organisational and cultural change in healthcare and has enjoyed engaging relationships with Clinical Leaders and CEOs nationally and internationally for over 20 years.

Shelley is a Professor (Enterprise) of the Melbourne School of Health Science, University of Melbourne. She is the Chair of the Western & Central Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service, a Board member of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and the CRC Participant Director for the Oncology One Board.

Over the past 30 years, Dr Ian Street has dedicated his career to translational research and small molecule drug discovery. 

He completed his BSc (Hons) in chemistry at the University of Sussex, UK and his PhD in chemistry and enzymology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. 

After a postdoctoral appointment in the USA, he joined Merck Research labs in Montreal and spent the next 11 years working in the Pharma/Biotech industry in both North America and Australia. In 2001 he transitioned back to academia and accepted an appointment at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) as Laboratory Head and Deputy Director of the Cellular Growth factors Cooperative Research Centre. 

In 2003 he established the WEHI/Bio21 High Throughput Screening (HTS) Laboratory, the first academic group of its kind in Australia. 

In 2007 Dr Street co-founded the successful Cancer Therapeutics Cooperative Research Centre (CTx), to provide an innovative collaborative framework that effectively integrates academic research with an industry-style small molecule drug discovery and commercialisation platform to deliver novel, highly differentiated cancer therapies. 

Dr Street was the Chief Scientist of CTx for over 11 years, which included licensing six lucrative projects to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. 

Dr Street’s work has contributed to five new investigational agents entering clinical trials, two FDA approved drugs, over $130 million in grants and commercial funding, and over $365 million in milestone and royalty payments flowing to Australian organisations, granted and licensed patents, and high impact publications.

Professor Clare Scott holds the Chair in Gynaecological Cancer at the University of Melbourne; is Joint Division Head of Clinical Translation and a Laboratory Head at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research; and is a Medical Oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Royal Women’s and Royal Melbourne Hospitals. 

Professor Scott chairs the COSA Rare Cancer group and the Board of the International Rare Cancer Initiative (IRCI). She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. She has been awarded Clinical Fellowships from the Victorian Cancer Agency (2011, 2017); the Sir Edward Dunlop Cancer Research Fellowship from the Cancer Council Victoria (2012); and in 2018, the Jeannie Ferris Recognition Award in Gynaecological Cancer from Cancer Australia. 

She has 25 years’ experience in clinical cancer genetics, including working in familial cancer clinics. Her clinical expertise is in gynaecological cancers and coordinating care for patients with rare cancers. In particular, she has been a leader in developing PARP inhibitor therapy for ovarian cancer, which has resulted in unprecedented efficacy. She has 119 career publications with an H-Index of 54.

Mike Waring is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Newcastle University and Head of Chemistry for the Cancer Research UK Newcastle Drug Discovery Unit. Prior to this appointment, he was Principal Scientist in Medicinal Chemistry at AstraZeneca, UK.  

He is a highly experienced medicinal chemist with a track record of drug-discovery projects in oncology and cardiovascular indications. This has included 14 candidate drugs for the treatment of cancer and diabetes, seven of which have progressed to human trials and one approved by the FDA (osimertinib, Tagrisso™) for the treatment of EGFR driven lung cancer.  

Mike has a keen interest in small-molecule drug discovery and the development of novel hit generation and optimisation approaches.  His work has been recognised by numerous international awards, including the inaugural Royal Society of Chemistry Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship (2014), the Malcolm Campbell medal (2017) and the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry Prize (2018).

Dr Joanne Boag has more than 15 years experience working in the life sciences sector developing health and medical research products and services. Most recently, as Director of Business Development at a commercial stage digital health company, Joanne was responsible for driving execution of the company’s business partnering strategy and supporting all aspects of upstream business development and downstream service delivery.

Previously, Joanne has worked at an ASX-listed diagnostic company and medical research institutions, where she led successful outcomes in research innovation and commercialisation. She raised significant funding through equity financing and grants, facilitated collaborations with industry partners, and was responsible for the strategic management of intellectual property portfolios.

Joanne is a Registered Australian Patent and Trade Mark Attorney and has a Bachelor of Science with Honours from Murdoch University and a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Western Australia.

Michael Vovos has been working in intellectual property management and commercialisation for over 23 years His career has included working with universities, institutes, joint ventures and biotechnology companies. 

Michael has been involved with the creation of technology spin-out companies, numerous licensing opportunities and technology transfer transactions.

Notable career achievements include involvement in several R&D syndicates that bought in millions of dollars of research funding, the creation of a start-up company that manufactured bio-degradable plastics, and numerous license transactions – one that brought in $20 million dollar up-front payments. 

In addition Michael has worked with the Food and Packaging CRC, worked to establish the Innovative Dairy Products CRC and was involved in the establishment of the CRC for Mental Health.

Tim Murphy has held a number of non-executive director positions including Chair, Deputy Chair and numerous subcommittee role in sectors from youth support to indigenous affairs, insurance, clinical trial management, medical research and healthcare delivery.

He is a politically astute executive, with extensive experience working with C-suite executives to manage corporate issues in regulated environments. He has extensive experience in high-growth, merger, consolidation, and downsizing global and national business environments.

Tim is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and in 2011 was awarded Lifetime membership of BioMelbourne Network for his contribution to its inception and development.

Mary Harney is a cross sectoral specialist with three decades of board, company secretarial and C-Suite executive experience in the health, agricultural, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. She is a Non-executive Director of ASX listed Race Oncology (ASX:RAC).

Mary is the director of specialist consulting firm - Mary Harney Advisory - providing leadership, governance and strategic advice across industries such as health and biotech. She is a business builder and convergence specialist with a proven ability to connect innovative ideas and people.

Mary is the Monash University 2016 ‘Science Alumni of the Year’ and the 2015 B-HERT Awardee for Excellence in Collaboration - industry and academia - with Monash University. She is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Managers and Leaders.