Team

Jim Van heusden has served as member and executive chair of our board of directors since March 2018. Jim has more than 25 years’ experience in research and development and financial, business and operating management in the biotech industry. He is the managing director of bioskills bv. Previously, Jim served as chief executive officer of Karolinska Development, a publicly listed Nordic life science investment fund, where he executed a strategic turnaround and repositioned the company to become a leading Nordic life science investment company. Jim worked as a partner at Gimv, a Belgian based investment company, from 2001 – 2013 focusing on investments in life sciences.

Former investments and BoD representation include: Ablynx (acquired by Sanofi), ActoGeniX (acquired by Intrexon), Ambit Biosciences (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo), ChemoCentryx, CropDesign (acquired by BASF), Fovea Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Sanofi-Aventis), Hypnion (acquired by Eli Lilly), Movetis (acquired by Shire), Memory Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Hoffmann-La Roche), Multiplicom (acquired by Agilent Technologies), Nereus Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Triphase), Plexxikon (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo), Pronota (acquired by MyCartis), Prosensa (acquired by BioMarin), Santhera Pharmaceuticals, and Xanthus Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Antisoma).

Jim holds BSc and MSc degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Antwerp and a PhD in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Maastricht.

Irene Knuesel brings longstanding experience in CNS research, drug discovery and development. She is also the founder of Scienza Consulting GmbH, an independent science consultancy company, and serves as external advisor on the board of the NIH Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Program (ADSP).

Irene worked for six years at F. Hoffmann-La Roche; initially as lab head and drug discovery project leader, later as Head of the Neuroimmunology and Neurodegeneration section. In this role, she was accountable for the definition and implementation of the corresponding discovery strategies and responsible for 11 research laboratories focusing on neuroimmune and neurodegenerative mechanisms underlying disease and disability progression in Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. Prior to her career at F. Hoffman-La Roche, she held several academic positions in the neurobiology field, including an assistant professor position at the University of Zurich, a group leader position at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), and a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (USA).

Irene Knuesel obtained a PhD in Molecular Neuroscience from the University of Zurich and also a PD (Venia Legendi in Neuropharmacology) from the University of Zurich’s Medical faculty.

Christophe Van Vaeck brings almost 20 years of operational and strategic experience from the life sciences financial community. Since the end of 2017, Christophe has been advising promising life sciences companies on getting ready for the next phase of their development. In addition to his role at Rewind Therapeutics, Christophe is also CFO of Handl Therapeutics.

During his career, he managed for 10 years investments and successful exits for both early stage VC and mature PE companies in the biotech, diagnostic, medtech and healthcare service sectors at Gimv. Christophe held board positions at Multiplicom, Spinart, Almaviva Santé and others. During his time at KBC securities, he was actively involved in the successful initial public offerings and subsequent fundraisings of biotech companies such as Galapagos, Devgen, Thrombogenics and Ablynx.
Christophe started his career at Bank Degroof in 2001, after obtaining a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at KU Leuven, Belgium.

Ricardo Hermosilla is a seasoned drug development expert today working as an independent preclinical and clinical consultant for biotech and pharma companies. Before his consultancy, he worked for several departments at F. Hoffmann-La Roche, i.e., Cardiovascular & Metabolism, Neuroscience, Ophthalmology, and Rare Diseases. In his last position at Hoffmann-La Roche as Project Team Leader and Translational Medicine Leader in the Department of Neuroscience, Ophthalmology, and Rare Diseases, he was, among others, responsible for the development of innovative strategies, supporting research teams from non-clinical to clinical development, and leading clinical development plans and trial protocols. Prior to that, he held various roles such as Head of Study Directors, COO, Medical Director, Head of Clinical Development in Biotechs, midsize Pharma and a CRO. Ricardo started his career in academia at the University of Chile and as a Post Doc at the Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP Berlin), before he was appointed as Junior-Professor at the Charité in Berlin. Besides his consultancy activities, he is an advisory board member for startups and NGOs and a guest professor at the University Austral, Chile. Ricardo Hermosilla holds PhD in Molecular Pharmacology from Justus-Liebig-University.

Dr. Burbidge is an experienced drug hunter with an in-depth expertise in both small molecule and biological drug discovery and development. In addition to his role at Rewind Therapeutics, he is currently Director of Discovery and Preclinical Projects at 3D Consultants, Cambridge (UK), an advisory company focusing on drug discovery and development. From 2009 to 2018, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Proximagen Ltd, Cambridge (UK), most recently as Head of Discovery and Preclinical Projects. During this period, he led multiple discovery and preclinical stage programs, successfully driving the selection of multiple clinical candidates. He was Project Leader for the VAP-1 inhibitor program, which as subsequently licensed to Roche following a successful Phase 2a clinical trial. He also led an Alpha-7 nicotinic program successfully in-licensed from GSK. From 1996 to 2008, he held roles of increasing responsibility at GlaxoWellcome and GlaxoSmithKline, leading, among others, external drug discovery programs. Dr. Burbidge started his career at GlaxoWellcome in early-stage drug discovery with a focus on neuroscience. He received his BSc in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Warwick (UK) and completed Post-Doctoral studies at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, London (UK).