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Focused on Life

Providing new therapies to care-givers for diseases that currently have few or no treatment options with the aim to improve the lives of those faced with rare diseases with high unmet medical needs

About Us

Management Team

Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Khalid Islam Gentium’s management team includes leaders with expertise in research, clinical, finance, quality, manufacturing and human resources. Gentium is focused on delivering first-to-market therapies to patients with rare diseases.

Dr. Khalid Islam

Chairman of the BoD and CEO

Dr. Khalid Islam has served as our Chairman of our Board of Directors since December 2009 and our Chief Executive Officer since November 2009. Dr. Islam has over 22 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector. From 1999 to 2008, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the SWX-listed anti-infective company Arpida AG. Prior to joining Arpida, he held various research and development roles at Hoechst Marion Roussel and Marion-Merrell Dow, both global pharmaceutical companies. He is the founder/co-founder of several companies and has previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for Arpida AG in Switzerland, Rheoscience A/S in Denmark and Chairman of Arpida Inc. In addition, Dr. Islam is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of C10 Pharma in Norway, an advisor to the venture capital group Kurma Biofund in Paris, a member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Network of Excellence in Pathogenomics and of the Editorial Board of Current Drug Discovery and Technologies. He received a Bachelor of Science from Chelsea College, University of London, and his Ph.D. from Imperial College, University of London. He has published over 80 articles in scientific journals and holds numerous patents.

Mr. Adrian J. Haigh

Senior VP, Commercial Operations

Adrian Haigh joined Gentium in March 2011 as our Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations. He is responsible for establishing our commercial organization and for business development. Prior to joining Gentium, Mr. Haigh served as Regional Vice President, Commercial Operations at Biogen Idec where he managed several affiliates and also the global distributor business. From 2002 to 2007 he held leadership positions at Amgen, including General Manager of Portugal and Scandinavia and Head of the $1.5b International Oncology Franchise. Mr. Haigh’s career also includes management positions with SmithKline Beecham, Schering-Plough, Organon and Novo-Nordisk. He received a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Economic History from Huddersfield Polytechnic, West Yorkshire, England and a Diploma in Marketing from the Institute of Marketing.

Mr. Salvatore Calabrese

CFO and Senior VP, Finance

Salvatore Calabrese has served as our Chief Financial Officer since December 2010, Senior Vice-President of Finance since February 2010 and our Vice-President of Finance since February 2005. From December 2003 until February 2005, he was an Accounting and Finance Manager for Novuspharma, S.p.A., a development stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of cancer drugs and a subsidiary of Cell Therapeutics, Inc., a public reporting company, which then merged into Cell Therapeautics, Inc. He reported to the Chief Financial Officer of Cell Therapetucs, Inc. and was responsible for cost containment, budgeting, financial reporting and the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. From September 1996 until November 2003, Mr. Calabrese was employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers as an accountant and was a Manager in Assurance Business Advisory Services at the time of departure. From October 2000 to June 2003, Mr. Calabrese worked in the Boston, MA office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. He earned a Bachelors' Degree in Economics at the University of Messina and a Masters' Degree in Accounting, Audit and Financial Control at the University of Pavia. He is also a chartered accountant in the Republic of Italy.

Mr. Terenzio Ignoni

Vice President Quality, Qualified Person

Mr. Terenzio Ignoni has served as our Vice President Quality since January 2011 and as Quality Manager since January 2007. From April 2005 to December 2006, as Quality Control Manager, he was in charge of the development and implementation of the Quality Control Department of Gentium SpA which was audited, approved and officially authorized by the Italian Regulatory Agency in February 2007. From September 2002 to March 2005 he was analytical development manager at Zambon Group, facility of Almisano di Lonigo, Italy. From March 2001 to September 2002 he worked in the Quality Control of Biosearch Manufacturing, company specialized in the research, development and manufacturing of antibiotics and antifungal agents. He obtained a degree in Pharmaceutical chemistry and technologies at the University of Turin, Italy. He is also certified Qualified Person according to EU Directive 2001/83/EC and related amendment.

Dr. Carin Heringa

Senior VP and Scientific Director

Dr. Heringa joined the Company in November 2011 as Head of Global Medical Affairs. Prior to joining Gentium, Dr. Heringa held various managerial positions at several pharmaceutical companies. Most recently, she served as Medical Director of the Integrated Hospital Care Franchise at Novartis Pharma. Dr. Heringa was formerly Drug Development Project Leader at Astellas Pharma, where she was responsible for oversight of clinical programs relating to Hematology, Neuroscience, Cardiovascular Disease, Urology and Gastroenterology, and also previously served as Medical Director of the International Department at Yamanouchi and the Medical Affairs Manager and International Coordinator for Clinical Research at Brocades Pharma.

Dr. Heringa's experience also includes membership roles on the leadership team of the Integrated Hospital Care Franchise at Novartis, and on the Project Review Board at Astellas. Her experience in the pharmaceutical industry spans over two decades, during which time she has effectively managed multinational project teams and successfully led programs through all stages (Phase I - Phase IV) of clinical development. Dr. Heringa has played an important role in facilitating successful interactions between pharmaceutical companies and European and US regulatory authorities, including NDA, MAA, IND and IMPD submissions, registrations or line extensions with respect to Lucentis®, Ilaris®, Exelon® Patch, Omnic®, and Locoid®.

Dr Heringa received her M.D. from the Free University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.