Oncology Leadership Team

YUSRI A. ELSAYED, M.D., M.H.Sc., Ph.D.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
GLOBAL ONCOLOGY THERAPEUTIC AREA HEAD

As Global Oncology Therapeutic Area Head for Johnson & Johnson, Yusri Elsayed, M.D., M.H.SC, Ph.D. is responsible for the discovery, development and life cycle advancement of the company’s robust oncology pipeline and portfolio. He leads a global team of scientists that bring together expertise in small molecules, advanced biologics, cell therapies, vaccine platforms, translational research, diagnostics, and immuno-oncology.

Discovery and development of new medicines for cancers is fast-paced and complex and therefore, Yusri and his team built a comprehensive approach that focus on an end-to-end internal capabilities, as well as robust external innovation strategy to advance science and novel therapeutics in core disease areas, including hematologic malignancies, prostate cancer, bladder cancers, immuno-oncology, and lung cancer. The combination of these efforts has led to many successful oncology partnerships in the past across the life sciences ecosystem and continues to distinguish Johnson 7 Johnson as a partner of choice.

Prior to his appointment as Global Oncology Therapeutic Area Head, Yusri led the Hematologic Malignancies Disease Area within Johnson & Johnson Research & Development since 2013. In this role, he had responsibility for creating and executing the scientific strategy to advance internal and externally sourced discovery and development programs. Together with his team, Yusri is recognized for building an industry-leading hematologic malignancies portfolio that has been foundational for scientific innovation and has achieved many noteworthy milestones, including multiple U.S. Food and Drug Administration Breakthrough Therapy Designations and major product approvals for several first-in-class transformational therapies such as IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib), DARZALEX®, CARVYKTI, TECVALI and TALVEY.

Yusri joined Johnson & Johnson in 2005 as Medical Director. Since then, he has held positions of increasing responsibility in the Oncology Therapeutic Area, including Medical Leader for YONDELIS® (trabectedin), VELCADE® (bortezomib) and several early clinical development programs. Yusri played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Hematologic Malignancies DAS.

Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, Yusri led early development studies of oncology drugs, including small molecules and monoclonal antibodies, at Bristol Myers Squibb. 

Prior to transitioning to the pharmaceutical industry, Yusri served as Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.  There he led numerous clinical research programs as a principal investigator and authored several publications. He also had the privilege of caring for many oncology patients during this time.  Yusri completed his clinical fellowship training in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute and in Hematology at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology and Hematology. Yusri also earned a master’s degree in clinical research from Duke University and a doctorate from Kyushu University in Japan.

RICARDO ATTAR, Ph.D.

VICE PRESIDENT
ONCOLOGY TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Ricardo Attar, Ph.D. is Vice President, Oncology Translational Research, for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. In this position, he leads the Translational Research (TR) group, including the Hematologic Malignancies, Lung Cancer, Prostate Cancer and Immuno-Oncology Therapy TR teams. The Oncology TR group is responsible for all clinical biomarker and translational medicine strategies for compounds in developing within the Oncology Therapeutic Area pipeline. The team also works to advance prevention and disease interception strategies across oncology.

Prior to his current appointment, Ricardo led the Hematologic Malignancies Discovery strategy and team. Under his leadership, the team delivered 10 new molecular entities, including T-cell redirecting bi-specific antibodies for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), as well as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies for MM and small molecule inhibitors for DLBCL and AML.

Ricardo joined Janssen in 2008 after spending 15 years in the Oncology Discovery department at Bristol Myers Squibb. During this time, he led several programs to their nomination as clinical candidates.

Ricardo received his doctorate in Molecular Biology from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and his postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

CHRISTOPHER CUTIE, M.D.

Vice President
Disease Area Stronghold Leader
Bladder Cancer

Christopher Cutie, M.D., is Vice President, Disease Area Stronghold (DAS) Leader, Bladder Cancer, in the Oncology Therapeutic Area at Janssen Research & Development, LLC. He is responsible for shaping the scientific strategy required to deliver a broad portfolio of bladder cancer therapies, while building a robust pipeline of next-generation compounds.

Chris is a surgeon-scientist whose research and clinical activities have focused on understanding the biology of organ-confined bladder cancer. He has worked to translate these findings into cutting-edge clinical trials in the study of patients with both non-muscle invasive and muscle invasive disease. Chris joined Janssen through the TARIS Biomedical acquisition in 2019 as Global Medical Head for the TARIS programs. In this role, he leads the late-stage development of an intravesical drug delivery system, in combination with Janssen internally developed assets.

Prior to joining Janssen, Chris served as Chief Medical Officer at TARIS, where he led early clinical development.  He was formerly an Instructor in Surgery and member of the Urology Faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where he specialized in the surgical treatment and management of patients with complex genitourinary malignancies.

Chris received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania followed by his medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine and MBA from Harvard Business School. He completed his surgical and urology residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School and went on to complete a post-graduate fellowship in urologic oncology at MGH as well. He is board-certified in urology.

CHARLES DRAKE, M.D., PH.D.

Vice President
IMMUNO-ONCOLOGY

Charles (Chuck) Drake, M.D., Ph.D. is Vice President, Immuno-oncology (I-O) at Janssen Research & Development, LLC. In this position, he is responsible for leading the I-O team in their efforts to develop next-generation approaches to immunotherapy - including antibody-based drugs, cell therapies, and novel cancer vaccines.

Chuck is a physician-scientist whose research and clinical activities have focused on understanding the biology of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and translating those findings into cutting-edge clinical trials for patients with prostate, kidney, and bladder cancer.

Prior to joining Janssen Research & Development, he led the genitourinary oncology program and a productive basic science laboratory at the Herbert Irving Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center. He was also named the Milstein Family Professor of Medicine and Urology and served as the Associate Director for Clinical Research at the cancer center.

Further, he founded Columbia’s Human Immune Monitoring Core, which provides state-of-the-art analytic technologies for the study of human cancer. At Columbia University, he and his colleagues built a strong portfolio of more than 30 clinical trials, including a number of first-in-human studies in patients with prostate kidney and bladder cancer, many based on his laboratory research. Prior to Columbia, he served as the Co-director of the Cancer Immunology Program at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

Dr. Drake received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University. He earned his medical degree from the University of Colorado Medical Science Training Program and received his doctorate in Immunology from the National Jewish Research Center. Chuck completed his residency through the Osler Medical Residency Training Program at Johns Hopkins and finished his fellowship in Medical Oncology at Johns Hopkins as well. He is board-certified in medical oncology and has cared for hundreds of cancer patients over the years.

JOHN GERECITANO, M.D., PH.D.

GLOBAL MEDICAL HEAD
LYMPHOMA/LEUKEMIA DISEASE AREA LEADER
ONCOLOGY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
JOHNSON & JOHNSON INNOVATIVE MEDICINE

John Gerecitano, M.D., Ph.D. is the Global Medical Head of the Lymphoma/Leukemia Disease Area at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine.

In this role, John is responsible for leading the lymphoma and leukemia scientific strategies, which span oversight of a robust portfolio of assets in early development and translational sciences.

Prior to this role, John served as Clinical Lead and Global Head of Early Development for lymphoma programs. Since 2018, he has also served as the chair of the Lymphoma Disease Strategy Team – a forerunner of the newly created Lymphoma/Leukemia Disease Area.

John graduated from the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University in 1991 and went on to attend New York University’s Medical Scientist Training Program after a 10-month Research Internship with the R&D group of a global pharmaceutical company.

He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003, and his fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in 2006.

From 2006 to 2018, John was a practicing oncologist on the lymphoma faculty and became the Clinical Director of Lymphoma Care at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

John was also a founding member of the Phase 1 Clinical Trials Program for Solid Tumors and Lymphoma at MSKCC.  During his 11 years on the faculty of MSKCC and Weil Cornell Medical College, John was the principal investigator (PI) of over 20 Phase 1 trials, the global PI of the Phase 3 CHRONOS 3 trial and served as a key opinion leader in the fields of lymphoma and Phase 1 development on the advisory boards of several pharmaceutical companies.

JOEL GRESHOCK

VICE PRESIDENT
DATA SCIENCES, ONCOLOGY

Joel Greshock is Vice President, Data Sciences, Oncology at Janssen Research & Development. In this position, he is responsible for creating unique and actionable medical insights using large and increasingly available datasets.

Prior to joining Janssen R&D, Joel served as Vice President of Bioinformatics at Neon Therapeutics, Inc., where he built and managed the Data Sciences organization. At Neon, he was responsible for the design and deployment of personalized immune therapies for the treatment of cancer. Before joining Neon, Joel served as Head of Oncology Translational Informatics for Novartis, where he led computational efforts focused on the correlation of patient outcomes with molecular biomarkers, identification of mechanisms of clinical resistance and associated research for assets approaching or being evaluated in early phases of clinical development.

Before joining Novartis, Joel assumed numerous roles for GlaxoSmithKline Oncology, which included Head of Bioinformatics and as Compound Development Leader for a PI3K inhibitor in early phase clinical studies. Earlier in his career, Joel was a Data Analyst at Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, where he built early generation microarray platforms and developed widely adopted predictive models for cancer predisposition mutations.​

Joel holds a Bachelor of Science in Comprehensive Science and a Master of Science in Biology/Biostatistics, both from Villanova University. He also completed studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University in Statistics and Computer Science.

JEFFREY INFANTE, M.D.

GLOBAL HEAD, ONCOLOGY
EARLY CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Jeffrey Infante, M.D., is Global Head, Oncology, Early Clinical and Translational Research. He joined Janssen Research & Development in 2017 as Vice President, Oncology Early Development.

Prior to Janssen, Jeff was with the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked as a clinical investigator and board-certified medical oncologist. During his tenure there, he served in many roles, including Director of the Drug Development Program. In this role, Jeff provided physician leadership to the Drug Development Unit in Nashville, which is one of the largest early phase clinical trial units for patients with advanced cancer in the country. He also provided physician oversight for other Sarah Cannon Phase 1 Drug Development Units in Florida, Oklahoma and Denver. He has helped design and conduct many clinical trials, ranging from first-in-human dosing through Phase 3 registration trials. He has expertise in the development of multiple novel treatments, including molecularly targeted therapies, antibody drug conjugates and immuno-oncology treatments.

Jeff received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Florida and finished his Internal Medicine residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He completed his fellowship in Medical Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Concurrent with his fellowship, he undertook formal training in patient-oriented research and received a Master of Health Science degree in Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. Additionally, for the past 10 years, he has been a practicing associate with Tennessee Oncology, PLLC.

Biljana Naumovic

Worldwide Vice President
Global Commercial Strategy Oncology

Biljana Naumovic is the Worldwide Vice President, Global Commercial Strategy, Oncology for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Working in collaboration with Janssen Research & Development, she is responsible for the development of breakthrough commercial strategies to deliver a sustainable and differentiated oncology pipeline. In this role, she oversees multiple functions that support the Global Oncology business such as Strategic Marketing, Market Access, Medical Affairs, Portfolio, and Strategic Analytics.

Prior to this appointment, Biljana held the position of Managing Director, Janssen Australia & New Zealand (Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd.) where she oversaw a cultural transformation and reorganization of the business, culminating in double digit growth in 2021. Biljana first joined Janssen in 2019 as Vice President, Oncology for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where she was responsible for creating and delivering the commercial strategy across the solid tumor portfolio and pipeline spanning prostate cancer, bladder cancer, and lung cancer, as well as multiple novel tumor pathways.

Before joining Janssen, Biljana held a number of senior positions at AstraZeneca, most recently Vice President of Commercial for Europe where she was, responsible for strategy across oncology, respiratory and cardio metabolic therapy throughout Europe, including commercial effectiveness and digital platforms.

Biljana is a physician by training and graduated in 2001 from the Belgrade University Medical School. She worked as a practicing physician for several years before transitioning to industry. Biljana also holds an executive education degree from the London Business School.

CRAIG L. TENDLER, M.D.

VICE PRESIDENT
ONCOLOGY CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBAL MEDICAL AFFAIRS

Craig Tendler, M.D. is Vice President, Oncology Clinical Development and Global Medical Affairs at Janssen Research & Development, LLC. In this position, he is responsible for creating robust development plans and data generation activities for all therapies in the oncology portfolio, from late development through registration and lifecycle management. He works closely with teams in the disease areas of focus to implement a seamless end-to-end oncology clinical research strategy that incorporates compelling science and addresses areas of high unmet medical need.

Prior to this role, Craig was Vice President of Medical Affairs for Tibotec Therapeutics and then Ortho-Biotech, where he led approximately 50 medical affairs professionals in lifecycle management and data generation for the Oncology and Virology franchises. He played a key role in addressing with United States and European Union health authorities the safe and appropriate use of a product for the treatment of anemia caused by chemotherapy, helping to shape public policy by conducting extensive research, education and risk minimization efforts.

Craig has overseen and coordinated more than 30 major drug approvals by national regulatory agencies, including at least 10 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He and his team have worked in collaboration with the FDA and the European Medicines Agency to secure the expeditious worldwide approvals of Janssen’s treatments in prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies and bladder cancer. Further, together with his team, Craig has been instrumental in achieving multiple FDA breakthrough designations for investigational drugs in development for various indications and in collaboration with our co-development partners.

Prior to joining Janssen Research & Development, Craig served as the Vice President of Oncology Clinical Research and Chair of the Oncology Licensing Committee at the Schering-Plough Research Institute. In addition to his pharmaceutical industry experience, he has served as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and was a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Craig earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and graduated from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City, with high honors. He is board-certified in pediatrics with a subspecialty in hematology-oncology.

JOHAN VERBEECK, DVM

VICE PRESIDENT
JANSSEN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
ONCOLOGY

Johan Verbeeck, DVM is Vice President, Janssen Business Development, Oncology where he leads business development planning in support of the Oncology Therapeutic Area. His responsibilities include overseeing transactions and acquisitions, as well as scientific licensing and alliance management with strategic partners.

Johan joined Johnson & Johnson in 1996, through Janssen Pharmaceutica in Belgium, in the Department of Animal Health and subsequently worked in Toxicology, where he served as Study Director for several small molecule development projects. In 2005, Johan joined Tibotec, as Lead Toxicologist for the development of darunavir and etravirine, the company’s first two approved anti-HIV drugs. At the same time, he was Preclinical Development Leader for bedaquiline, the first new drug in development for tuberculosis in over 40 years. In 2007, after the approval of etravirine, Johan became Head of Toxicology Sciences for Janssen Research & Development, LLC. He also served as Alliance Manager in the External Alliances and Business Models group.

Most recently, Johan served as Vice President, Janssen Business Development, Immunology, leading transactions, acquisitions, scientific licensing, and alliance management. His team completed multiple transactions, including the acquisition of Momenta Pharmaceuticals in 2020. Prior to joining the Janssen Business Development team, Johan supported the London Innovation Center and played an active role in helping to establish the center, building its European network, and securing several transactions.

Johan holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Gent, Belgium. He also graduated Cum Laude with a Master of Science in Applied Toxicology from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom.

MARGARET K. YU, M.D.

VICE PRESIDENT
DISEASE AREA STRONGHOLD LEADER, PROSTATE CANCER

Margaret K. Yu, M.D. is Vice President, Prostate Cancer Disease Area Stronghold (DAS) Leader at Janssen Research & Development, LLC. Her role is to oversee all the responsibilities for both matrix and direct line management of the Prostate Cancer DAS.

Margaret joined Janssen as a Medical Director, was quickly promoted to Clinical Leader and, subsequently, to Vice President, Oncology Clinical Development, Global Head Prostate Cancer Portfolio. In these roles, she effectively led the team to build a broad development strategy, which was flawlessly executed, resulting in acceleration of key development milestones and delivery of high-quality data to inform decision making. She successfully built and managed several drug development programs during the past five years and has led the team to the first regulatory submission and U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of a treatment for patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Prior to Janssen, Margaret was Director of Clinical Research at Myriad Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Myrexis, Inc.), where she provided clinical leadership and medical monitoring oversight for all clinical trials in oncology. She led the development of treatments for two solid tumor malignancies. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, she worked as Assistant Professor, Hematology Division, Internal Medicine Department at the University of Utah.

Margaret completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology and has authored numerous publications.