Meet our board & team

Experienced executives with proven track records

 

Phil has over 30 years of experience developing innovative investment strategies in Australia, the UK and Asia.

Over the last 10 years he has driven innovation within international equity investment services, and implemented a Managed Discretionary Account regime to deliver more efficient service to investor clients.

Tessara_Team_Headshot_PhilSmith.png

Phil Smith


Director

Christopher brings 20 years of experience in the discovery, development and commercialisation of biotechnology, and combines his technical and commercial insights to build the value of emerging biotech companies. His R&D roles have included small molecule drug discovery and molecular neuroscience, attained at Novartis and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, respectively, and his progressive roles in business development have included NewBiotics and Halozyme Therapeutics in San Diego; and Cryptome Pharmaceuticals in Melbourne.

Paul earned his PhD studying neuronal response to physical injury and the development of Alzheimer’s disease. He then spent five years at the Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia at UC Irvine. Upon return to Australia Paul continued to study aging, Alzheimer’s disease and head trauma during 15 years at The Florey.

Prof Paul Adlard


Chief Scientific Officer

Greg has more than 20 years of experience spanning operational, clinical and scientific aspects of pharmaceutical research, development and commercialisation. He has executed multiple commercial transactions in the pharmaceutical industry and has successfully taken a drug from discovery through to regulatory approval.

Dr Greg Collier


Chairman

Over the last 10 years, he has been working in the field of regenerative medicine at world-class institutes, including Johns Hopkins Medical School, ETH Zurich, EMBL Heidelberg, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, to develop regenerative medicine applications with a commercial focus.

Dr Christos Papadimitriou


CEO & Managing Director

Tessara_Headshot_ChristopherBoyer.png

Christopher Boyer


Chief Business Officer, Director

Tracy has over 20 years of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry in both the large and small-cap sectors as well as over 10 years of board level experience as a company secretary and a non-executive director.

Tessara__Headshot_TracyWeimar.png

Tracy Weimar


Company Secretary, CFO

Peter began his career researching the mechanisms of disease in a variety of organ systems at universities in Australia, California, and Switzerland. He then studied business and entrepreneurship at Babson College (Massachusetts) and the EPFL and USI (Switzerland) prior to co-founding and becoming CEO of CELLnTEC Advanced Cell Systems, a life science company focusing on advanced in vitro models for research and regenerative medicine.

Peter Girling


Chief Operating Officer

Dr Lichtenberg is Chief Executive Officer and Board Delegate with a 20 year track record in the biotechnology and medical-device industry. CEO of Swiss- and US-based InSphero Inc., the largest biotech specialised in 3D cell-culture technologies for discovery and safety. Prior to InSphero, Jan had VP, R&D and Product Management positions at Hocoma AG (medical robotics) and Uwatec (microelectronics). He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Neuchâtel and managed a research group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich. Since 2021 he is a Board Member of the Society of Laboratory Science and Screening (SLAS)

Dr Jan Lichtenberg

Director

Mark has over 25 years of research experience as a cell biologist in the fields of neuroscience and genetics. His initial focus was on unravelling the complex biology of the rare childhood genetic disorder Menkes disease. Since completing his PhD at the University of Melbourne and Mental Health Research Institute in 2012 he has been a senior research officer the Florey Institute of Neuroscience, where he has pursued his interest in the neurochemistry of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Mark Greenough

Krista has over 10 years of research experience in the neuroscience field. Her specialties include 3D culture methods, stem cell culture and re-programming, micro-fluidics, assay development, RNAseq and advanced imaging techniques. Her research interests have covered a variety of fields, including neural stem cell activation, apoptosis, Alzheimer’s Disease, and traumatic brain injury. She has a degree from Monash University, and prior to joining Tessara Therapeutics works at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience.

Krista Dent