About

ABOUT

Instil Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing an innovative pipeline of therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer. We seek to identify, acquire, and develop novel therapeutic candidates which have generated compelling data in cancers with significant unmet medical need.

Our Executives

Bronson Crouch
Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Crouch is an entrepreneur and investor with over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Crouch is currently the Managing Partner of Curative Ventures, a private equity investment firm focused on biopharma opportunities. Key investments in the recent past include CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an immuno-oncology-focused biotech company (acquired by Novartis in 2014), TCR2 Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TCRR), a cell therapy company, Peloton Therapeutics, Inc., an oncology biotech company focused on renal cell cancer (acquired by Merck in 2019 for $1.1 Billion cash upfront) and iTeos Therapeutics, Inc., (Nasdaq: ITOS) an immuno-oncology biotechnology company.

Mark Dudley, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer

Mark Dudley, PhD, is the Chief Scientific Officer of Instil Bio. Prior to Instil, Dr. Dudley led early development of T cell therapies at Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, and before that was on the technical R&D leadership team at Novartis. Before Novartis, Dr. Dudley spent nearly two decades at the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, where he contributed to a diverse portfolio of experimental T cell therapies, including TIL, TCR-T, and CAR-T products. Dr. Dudley is a recognized pioneer in adoptive cell therapy, having published seminal studies in TIL therapy for refractory melanoma patients, and the first studies of CD19 CAR-T in humans, IL-2 and IL-12 genetically engineered T cells in clinical trials, and TCR-T cells in clinical trials. Dr. Dudley received his PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.

Robert “Bob” Hawkins, M.B.B.S., Ph.D.
Head of Research & Development

Robert “Bob” Hawkins, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. is a world-renowned medical oncologist and biotechnology innovator with a focus on the development of novel cell and gene therapies.  Dr. Hawkins has been principal investigator on more than 20 clinical trials including several practice-changing studies in renal cancer. Dr. Hawkins was founder and CEO of Immetacyte Ltd., a cell therapy company spun out of the University of Manchester (U.K.), which developed the key technologies in Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) now being advanced by Instil. He served as CEO of Immetacyte until the acquisition by Instil Bio in 2020 and became Chief Strategy Advisor. Dr. Hawkins joined the University of Manchester in 1998 and subsequently became Cancer Research UK Professor of Medical Oncology. At the University of Manchester, he led the first gene therapy trial for cancer and also conducted the first CAR-T trials in the UK. Dr. Hawkins has also led the largest European scientific consortium in engineered T cell therapy (ATTACK) and was a founding scientific advisory to Oxford Biomedica plc and Cambridge Antibody Technology plc (acquired by AstraZeneca plc).

Dr. Hawkins obtained his Ph.D. under Sir Gregory Winter (Nobel Laureate: 2018 in Chemistry for antibody engineering) at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge University (U.K.), where he developed the methods to select high-affinity antibodies used for the development of Humira® and led the team that developed the first phage-derived single-chain antibody to be used in a clinical trial in the world. Dr. Hawkins is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), holds an M.B.B.S. from University College London, and holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

Sandeep “Steve” Laumas, MD
Chief Financial Officer & Chief Business Officer

Dr. Laumas has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Instil Bio since February, 2021 and June 2020, respectively. He began his career at Goldman Sachs & Co. in 1996 in the healthcare investment banking division before transitioning to the healthcare equity research division. He was an analyst at Balyasny Asset Management from 2001-03 and then a Managing Director of North Sound Capital from 2003-07, where he was responsible for the global healthcare investment portfolio. He founded and managed Bearing Circle Capital, an investment partnership, since 2008. Dr. Laumas has served as a member of the board of directors of Bioxcel Therapeutics Inc. since 2017 and a board member of Unicycive Therapeutics Inc. since 2018. He previously served as a board member of 9 Meters Biopharma, Inc. from 2020-21, its Executive Chairman from 2014-20, including its Chief Executive Officer from 2019-20. Dr. Laumas received his A.B. (Chemistry) from Cornell University in 1990, his M.D. from Albany Medical College in 1995, with a research year at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and completed his medical internship at the Yale University School of Medicine in 1996.

Our Board of Directors

Bronson Crouch
Chairman of the Board

Mr. Crouch is an entrepreneur and investor with over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Crouch is currently the Managing Partner of Curative Ventures, a private equity investment firm focused on biopharma opportunities. Key investments in the recent past include CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an immuno-oncology-focused biotech company (acquired by Novartis in 2014), TCR2 Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TCRR), a cell therapy company, Peloton Therapeutics, Inc., an oncology biotech company focused on renal cell cancer (acquired by Merck in 2019 for $1.1 Billion cash upfront) and iTeos Therapeutics, Inc., (Nasdaq: ITOS) an immuno-oncology biotechnology company.

Gwendolyn Binder, PhD
Board Member

Dr. Gwendolyn Binder joined the Instil Board in 2020. Dr. Binder is an R&D executive with specialized expertise in the discovery and early clinical development and optimization of engineered T cell therapies. Currently, Dr. Binder is the E.V.P. of Science and Technology at Cabaletta Bio, which is developing engineered T cells for B cell mediated autoimmune diseases.  From 2011-2018, Dr. Binder established the U.S. arm of and served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Adaptimmune, developing TCR-engineered T-cells for oncology. From 2006-2011, Dr. Binder served as the Director of Translational Research Operations for Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania, where she progressed multiple IND submissions for novel engineered T-cell therapies in HIV and oncology, including the CD19 CAR IND acquired by Novartis (now Kymriah), the first human gene editing IND, and three TCR engineered T cell therapy studies in oncology and HIV. From 2002-2005, Dr. Binder served as the Director of Scientific Affairs at VIRxSYS Corporation in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where she supported the development of the first clinical lentiviral vector used in humans, for the application of engineered T cell therapy for HIV. Dr. Binder studied viral immunology and translational research at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA where she earned in Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Medicine in 2002.

Neil Gibson, PhD
Board Member

Dr. Gibson, PhD, is an experienced drug developer, having contributed to the successful approval of multiple blockbuster oncology therapeutics, including temozolomide, erlotinib, crizotinib, and sorafenib. Dr. Gibson is currently the CEO of Adanate, an immunotherapy company. Previously, Dr. Gibson has held Chief Scientific Officer roles in multiple pharma and biotech companies, including Regulus Therapeutics, Pfizer Oncology, and OSI Pharmaceuticals. At Pfizer he was a member of the global R&D leadership team as well as a member of the Oncology Business unit leadership team.  He has also held numerous academic appointments, including Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy and Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, and Fogarty Fellow at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Gibson earned his PhD from the University of Aston, Birmingham, England.

George Matcham, PhD
Board Member

Dr. Matcham had 30 successful years at Celgene Corporation, joining in 1988 soon after the IPO when the company had 30 employees, and retiring in 2018 with the company soon to be valued at $74Billion in the acquisition by BMS. During his time at Celgene, he focused mainly on Biotech Research, Development and Manufacturing and held positions such as COO of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, SVP of Biologics Development and Manufacturing, and SVP CAR T CMC & Technology Development. In these roles, he led internal technical development and clinical manufacturing and was extensively involved in external programs in Biologics and Cell Therapy development, including co-leading CAR T cell manufacturing in the collaboration with Juno, and representing Celgene on the Sutro Biopharma Board of Directors. Before coming to the USA, Dr. Matcham held academic positions in teaching and research at the University of Cambridge and obtained a PhD in Biochemistry at Cardiff University.

R. Kent McGaughy, Jr.
Board Member

R. Kent McGaughy, Jr. is a founding shareholder of CPMG, Inc.  Prior to joining CPMG’s predecessor, Cardinal Investment Company, in 1997, Mr. McGaughy worked in investment banking at Simmons & Company International.  Mr. McGaughy serves as a Director of Reata Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:  RETA), Apollo Endosurgery (NASDAQ:  APEN), Cuda Pharmaceuticals LLC, Waterfall Security Solutions, Ltd. and Instil Bio, Inc. Mr. McGaughy holds a B.A. from The University of Texas (Plan II Honors, Summa Cum Laude, and member of Phi Beta Kappa) and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Jack B. Nielsen
Board Member

Mr. Nielsen has served as a member of our board of directors since August 2020. Mr. Nielsen has served as a Managing Director at Vivo Capital LLC, a healthcare focused investment firm, since August 2017, and previously served as a consultant from March 2017 to July 2017. From 2001 to February 2017, Mr. Nielsen was with the Novo A/S (Novozymes) organization and its venture activities in several roles, most recently as a Senior Partner based in Copenhagen, Denmark. From May 2006 to August 2012, Mr. Nielsen was a Partner at Novo Ventures (US) in San Francisco, where he established the office that provides certain consultancy services to Novo A/S. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the public biotech companies Aligos Therapeutics, ALX Oncology, Harmony Biosciences and Reata Pharmaceuticals, and previously served as a director of Akebia Therapeutics, Apollo Endosurgery, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals and Merus, N.V., as well as several private biotech companies. Mr. Nielsen holds an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and a Masters in Management of Technology from Center for Technology, Economics and Management, Technical University of Denmark.