Executive Team

Philippa Lewis is a Professional Company Director, Chairperson and Chief Executive with expertise in the medtech, biotech, digital and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.

Philippa has extensive global, commercial and corporate engagement with demonstrated success. Founding over ten start-ups she has led local and North American IPOs, reverse mergers, complex M&A transactions, strategic capital management and multilateral joint ventures within North America, Europe, China and Australia. She was nominated as Zurich Business Leader of the Year and Telstra Business Woman of the Year, and is currently an official company mentor for the Australian Technology Competition as well as an appointed grants assessor for the NSW Government Medtech and Pharma Growth Centre.

Philippa is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, The Institute of Public Companies Canada via Simon Fraser University, and The Adelaide University in respect of Legal Arbitration and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, The MTAA, The Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators and The Resolution Institute.

Dr George Kopsidas is a founding member of Imunexus and the original developer of Imunexus’ technology platform and product pipeline. He is a practiced molecular biologist and biotechnologist with over 23 years’ experience in protein and antibody engineering (he has engineered 26 potential antibody products). He also has more than five years’ experience in the fields of molecular ageing and mitochondrial diseases, where he held a position on the editorial board for the Bio-Gerontology Journal, and well over 10 years’ experience elucidating the mechanisms of DNA repair. He held senior lecturer positions with RMIT and La Trobe Universities, and held a Research Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health USA (NIH).

In the commercial sector, Dr Kopsidas held senior roles as the Senior Scientist with the Centre for Molecular Biology and Medicine, the Director of Protein Technologies at EvoGenix Ltd, and the Vice-President positions at both Arana Therapeutics and Cephalon Australia. He was the driving force behind the development of the technology platforms of these companies and has a proven track record for developing commercially validated technologies. He was a foundation scientist at EvoGenix and the main contributor to the development of their technology platform and product engineering approaches that were later adopted by Arana and Cephalon.

Dr Kopsidas has multiple international publications and patents around antibody therapeutics, including joint patents with GSK, Teva and Vegenics (now Opthea). He has a strong track record delivering back to investors in previous enterprises, including the technical and product development leading to the EvoGenix IPO, and the takeover of EvoGenix by Peptech to form Arana Therapeutics. He founded and managed a successful biotechnology consulting company, Melicept Pty Ltd, which consulted around therapeutic targets, protein scaffolds, antibody-based therapeutics, biotechnology, protein engineering and molecular biology. He also developed strategic business plans, budgets and resource development and performed due diligence on accessible IP around platforms for novel immunotherapy approaches.

Chris Elliot has 20 years’ experience as a finance and management executive within both chartered accounting and commercial firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, APN Outdoor Group Limited (ASX:APO) and Mandoe Media Pty Ltd.

Chris is a Director of Accension Pty Ltd, which is engaged to provide CFO and Company Secretary services to Imunexus. He has extensive experience across the finance, media and digital technology industries, including executive, finance, commercial, business development and operational roles across these industry sectors.

Chris is a graduate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia, where he is currently a member.