SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

NIT’s highly distinguished Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) members bring rich scientific insights to help guide our efforts to advance a pipeline of novel immunotherapeutics to treat cancer and infectious diseases.

Rafi Ahmed, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine
Director, Emory Vaccine Center

Dr. Rafi Ahmed is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a world-renowned immunologist whose work during the past decades has been highly influential in shaping the current understanding of memory T cell differentiation and anti-viral T and B cell immunity. His work has uncovered the primary role of the PD-1 inhibitory receptor in the promotion of T cell dysfunction during chronic infection which directly led to the successful use of PD-1 checkpoint blockade therapy in cancer patients. Dr. Ahmed’s secondary work on humoral memory complements his research on T cell memory and contributes to the development of novel vaccines.
Keith Watson, Ph.D.
Owner & Managing Director, KRW BioReg Solutions
Dr. Keith Watson is a quality and regulatory expert with over 25 years of experience who served as a Senior biological quality assessor at the MHRA, UK as well as being a regular participant and contributor to the Biologics Working Party (BWP) and member of various Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) scientific guideline drafting groups at the EMA. Through his long career spanning manufacturing, development, regulatory affairs and policy within CMDO, CRO and the Biotech industry including Lonza, Parexel, Abbvie and Celltrion, Dr. Watson has developed a deep knowledge and expertise of the regulatory approval processes.
Dr. Watson holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Imperial College, London.
Richard Kim, M.D.
Service Chief of Medical Gastrointestinal Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center
Professor of Oncology, University of South Florida College of Medicine

Dr. Richard Kim is an authority on digestive cancer such as pancreatic cancer and colon cancer. He is currently leading NeoImmuneTech’s solid tumor clinical trial (NIT-110) and other multiple clinical trials using immunotherapy and novel targeted agents. Recent NIT-110 clinical trial data have produced encouraging results. Dr. Kim will work closely with NIT on the clinical initiatives needed as we inch closer to the possibility of commercialization in the fight against pancreatic cancer and MSS colon cancer.
Dr. Kim received his medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Yale University Comprehensive Cancer Center in New Haven, CT. Dr. Kim has published in many peer-reviewed journals and has been an ad hoc editorial reviewer for many professional journals.
Hyunseok Kang, M.D., MPH, FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Hyunseok Kang is an expert on head and neck cancer and is conducting several studies that stand out in the field. In progress are studies to increase the effectiveness of immuno-cancer drugs in head and neck cancer and NT-I7 monotherapy clinical trials (NIT-115) for head and neck squamous cell adenocarcinoma patients.
Dr. Kang received his M.D. from Yonsei University College of Medicine. He completed a Fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. He serves on the editorial boards of Korean Journal of Head and Neck Oncology and PLOS One.
Young Kwang Chae, M.D., MPH, MBA
Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Co-Director, Early Phase Clinical Trials Unit, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University

Dr. Young Kwang Chae is a leader in immuno-cancer drug research in blood and solid cancers. He has published 110 related medical papers, including research in the field of non-small cell lung cancer and the study of biomarkers for immuno-cancer drugs.
Dr. Chae received his M.D. from Seoul National University. He completed a Fellowship in Hematology-Oncology at University of Texas/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Benny Jun Chen, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy, Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center
Dr. Benny Jun Chen received M.D. from Sun Yat-Sen university and completed his Fellowship in Bone Marrow Transplantation from Stanford University Medical Center. He is a member of Duke Cancer Institute, Duke Regeneration Center and Duke Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics. Dr. Chen’s work has directly inspired the first pre-clinical studies of NT-I7 in acute radiation syndrome (ARS), which led to the recently announced collaboration between NeoImmuneTech and the Radiation and Nuclear Countermeasures Program (RNCP), a program of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) coordinated by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Su-Hyung Park, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea
Director, Center for Epidermic Preparedness, KAIST Institutes, KAIST

Dr. Su-Hyung Park received his Ph.D. in Cellular Immunology from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). He completed his fellowship in Immunology Section from National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is a member of The Korean Association of Immunologists (KAI), The Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (KSMCB) etc. He serves on the editorial boards of Korean journal of Molecules and Cells published by KSMCB. Recently, Dr. Park published articles in Nature Immunology and Clinical Cancer Research that illustrate the breadth of his expertise and its scientific relevance to NIT’s mission.
2022-08-05