Leadership
Our Executive Team
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Dr. Ruby Yanru Chen-Tsai
Ph.D., CEO, Founder, and President
Dr. Chen-Tsai received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and subsequently worked at Stanford University for 16 years as the Director of the Transgenic Research Center and the Associate Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute. Her research focused on Parkinson patient-specific iPS cell lines and their differentiation to dopaminergic neurons as a disease model-in-a-dish. Prior to becoming the CEO of Applied StemCell, Dr. Chen-Tsai led the ASC Therapeutics' gene/cell therapeutic pipeline. She is a co-inventor of the TARGATT™ integrase technology for site-specific gene insertion.
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Tammy Cameron
Chief Financial Officer
Tammy Cameron has over 20 years of experience developing and directing accounting and finance organizations in commercial, high-growth life science companies. Before joining ASC, Tammy worked as CFO and VP Finance for companies such as Ceek Women’s Health, Intuity Medical Inc, and Labcyte Inc. During her tenure at these organizations, she supported both private equity and debt financings and played a key role in building the internal infrastructure for commercial organization. Tammy holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from California State University, East Bay.
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Dr. Simon Wu
Ph.D, Director, Project
Management and Technical Operation
Dr. Wu received his Ph.D. from Duke University in biology and has over 20 years of graduate level scientific research experience. He worked as a research scientist at Stanford University’s School of Medicine and has experience with genome editing technologies such as TALEN and CRISPR. Before joining ASC, Dr. Wu was a Senior Research Scientist at the pharmaceutical research firm Abbvie. At ASC he has embarked on a new journey to support management and lead projects to completion, and lead the technical operation team.
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Dr. George Hong
Ph.D., Chief Commercial Officer
Dr. Hong earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at Duke University School of Medicine, and his MBA in Corporate Entrepreneurship from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. He has nearly 25 years of leadership experience spanning his work in the life-science, biotech, biopharmaceutical, and healthcare industries. He has held leadership roles for small businesses and large S&P 500 companies alike. Dr. Hong is dedicated to ensuring that ASC remains on the cutting edge of innovation.
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Dr. Alfonso Farruggio
Ph.D, Head of Research and Development
Dr. Farruggio received his Ph.D. in genetics from Stanford University. He is the co-inventor of TARGATT™ and has over 15 years of TARGATT™ gene editing experience. Dr. Farruggio not only led the creation and refinement of several TARGATT™ products, he also greatly contributed to the establishment of ASC’s first GMP room. He now spearheads ASC’s research pipeline by leading several innovative projects, including the construction of a unique TARGATT™-iPSC line that could potentially be used to engineer CAR-iNK and CAR-iT products for cancer immunotherapy.
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Timothy J. Largen
Chief Operating Officer
Timothy J. Largen steps in as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at ASC. With a 25-year career marked by significant contributions to Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), Tim’s experience spans GMP manufacturing, quality management, process engineering, business operations, and CMC regulatory affairs. Prior to joining Applied StemCell, Tim held key positions, including VP of Commercial Manufacturing at Aurion Biotech, VP of Manufacturing Science and Technology (MSAT) at RoslinCT (formerly Lykan), VP of Corporate Quality at Caladrius Biosciences (now Lisata), and over 8 years in commercial manufacturing and quality positions at Dendreon. Tim has held key management positions through many successful FDA pre-approval and routine inspections. Tim holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and an MBA in Operations Management Sciences.
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Dr. Cassandra Myers
Ph.D, Director, Sales
and Business Development
Dr. Myers received her PhD from the University of Georgia in genetics and has over 5 years of experience in the realm of scientific sales relating to gene editing services. She specializes in ASC’s iPSC technologies, CRISPR gene editing, and our new TARGATT™ integrase technology for site-specific gene insertion, as well as custom genetically modified animal models. She currently leads Applied StemCell’s global sales team. Her skilled and knowledgeable sales team shares her focus on building strong international client relationships and providing optimal custom solutions.
Board Members
![Profile Image](https://appliedstemcell.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ruby_tsai_cfo.jpg)
Dr. Ruby Yanru Chen-Tsai
Ph.D., CEO, Founder, and President
Dr. Chen-Tsai received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and subsequently worked at Stanford University for 16 years as the Director of the Transgenic Research Center and the Associate Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute. Her research focused on Parkinson patient-specific iPS cell lines and their differentiation to dopaminergic neurons as a disease model-in-a-dish. Prior to becoming the CEO of Applied StemCell, Dr. Chen-Tsai led the ASC Therapeutics' gene/cell therapeutic pipeline. She is a co-inventor of the TARGATT™ integrase technology for site-specific gene insertion.
![Profile Image](https://appliedstemcell.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/matt-jenkins.jpg)
Matt Jenkins
Board Member
Matt Jenkins is a Partner at QHP Capital. Prior to joining QHP Capital, Mr. Jenkins established and led the private equity investment portfolio at RTI International where he focused on precision medicine, clinical research, real world evidence, genomics, population healthcare, and consumer-oriented diagnostics. Prior to that, he held various Corporate Development leadership roles in companies such as M*Modal and AllScripts. He also was a co-founder of Cellective Therapeutics, a venture investor, and a consultant at Ernst & Young.
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Jeff Edwards
Board Member
Jeff Edwards is a Partner at QHP Capital. Prior to joining QHP Capital, Mr. Edwards co-managed the Principal Investment Private Equity program at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. Mr. Edwards' previous experience also includes M&A advisory work for Raymond James Capital Markets focusing on middle-market companies. Mr. Edwards also worked as a consultant for State Street Global Advisors. Before moving back to the Capital Markets sector, Mr. Edwards worked in finance and administrative roles in the healthcare industry with Carolinas HealthCare Systems and HCA, Inc. He started his career with the middle market investment bank RW Baird.
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Frank Leo
Board Member
Frank Leo is a 40-year veteran of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries having experience with publicly traded, private equity-backed, and start-up companies in the capacity of executive, investor, and advisor. Mr. Leo served as President and Group President of Sterile Technologies and Life Sciences at Cardinal Health. At Cardinal Health he oversaw the growth of the biotechnology and life sciences group, which was later spun out to form Catalent Inc. Mr. Leo is a serial entrepreneur, having been involved in business value creation and start-ups in the medical device, sterile drug, biotechnology, and healthcare technology spaces.
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Vern Davenport
Board Member
Vern Davenport is a Partner at QHP Capital. Before joining QHP Capital, Mr. Davenport was multi-time CEO, with executive and Board positions at Medfusion, CEO of Medquist (rebranded to M*Modal), Allscripts, Misys Healthcare, Kodak Health Group (now Carestream Health), Siemens, and Shared Medical Systems. Mr. Davenport started his career at IBM where he spent 11 years in sales, sales leadership, and executive management positions.
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Heidi Hagen
Chairman of the Board
Ms. Heidi Hagen has extensive experience in operations management and commercializing innovative technologies for the last 30 years. Ms. Hagen's roles have included the Chief Technology Officer of Sonoma Biotherapeutics, Interim CEO of Ziopharm Oncology, Co-Founder & CSO of Vineti, CCO of ZappRx, and numerous Board positions at therapeutics and service companies. Ms. Hagen spent ten years at both Dendreon and Immunex, holding senior operations roles at both companies.