Focused on transforming innovation into therapies in the heart of the Kendall Square biotech ecosystem
Cambridge Team
Irena Ivanovska, PhD
Eric Achtmann
Lita Nelsen
Viktor Martyanov, PhD
Director and Boston Site Head
Irena Ivanovska, PhD
Irena Ivanovska, Ph.D. is a Director and Boston Site Head at Celdara Medical. Irena is responsible for establishing and maintaining Celdara’s extensive network among the Boston/Cambridge academic and entrepreneurial institutions. She is also the Program Lead for several therapeutic development programs in infectious and rare diseases. Prior to Celdara, Irena was a Principal Investigator at Merck and Co., in Respiratory and Immunology and in Oncology at Rosetta Inpharmatics, LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck and Co.). Irena received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute of MIT. Irena enjoys urban and nature adventures with her daughter.
Director
Eric Achtmann
Eric is a Managing Director at Global Capital Group, Director at Javelin Oncology, Founding Member of Meggitt plc’s Technology Advisory Board, as well as a Senior Advisor to McKinsey and the European Commission. Eric was previously Managing Partner at PolyTechnos Venture-Partners, a pan-European Life Science and Tech venture fund; Co-founder & Executive Chairman of V-Nova, a world leader in video compression; and Architect of Costa Coffee’s “Project Marlow”, which led to the $5.1b acquisition by Coca-Cola. He holds multiple degrees in engineering and finance, including from MIT and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a Professor of Practice at the MIT-founded Skoltech and former Senior Lecturer at the TU Munich and ETH Zurich. Eric enjoys flying and making great food, from German breads to kimchi.
Director
Lita Nelsen
Lita is the retired Director of MIT’s Technology Licensing Officer, where she was for 30 years. She is widely published in the field, and has advised a number of international governments on technology transfer policies. She is a founder of PraxisAuril in the UK, and was awarded a Member of the British Empire for her aid to UK universities in technology transfer. Lita is currently a consultant in technology transfer policies and licensing agreements, primarily in the biotechnology sphere, and serves on a number of non-profit boards. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT, and an MBA as a Sloan Fellow from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Scientist
Viktor Martyanov, PhD
Viktor is a Bioinformaticist at Celdara Medical where he is working with academia and industry partners to analyze clinical trials using genomic data and bring Celdara’s pipeline to its full potential. Prior to Celdara, Viktor worked at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth to identify molecular biomarkers of clinical response in systemic sclerosis, a rare and deadly autoimmune disease. Viktor received his BS in Genetic Biology from Purdue University and his PhD in Biological Sciences from Dartmouth College. Viktor enjoys reading Wall Street Journal, exploring community gardens, ordering DoorDash and watching survival shows on Hulu.
Headquarters
Celdara, Cambridge is headquartered at the CIC at 1 Broadway, in Cambridge, MA, in the heart of the Kendall Sq. biotech ecosystem. Since 2017, the Celdara, Cambridge team has been closely integrated with our academic and industry neighbors.
Join Our Team
Celdara Medical is advancing Programs with the potential to transform human health in a creative, fast-paced, and entrepreneurial environment.
For more information of our Entrepreneurship Fellowship/Internship program for senior graduate students and postdocs, visit our careers page or email info@celdaramedical.com.
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