About us
Diederik Engbersen, MSc
CEO
“CimCure’s immunotherapy is broadly applicable”
Diederik holds an MSc degree in medicine from Leiden University, and has more than 25 years of experience in the life science industry. He has held holding various international and executive positions in strategic marketing, R&D, business development and general management in both established, as well as early stage and start up companies.
Prof. Arjan Griffioen, PhD
CSO
“Stick to your goals and never give up”
Arjan holds a PhD in medicine from Utrecht University. He is a key opinion leader in the field of angiogenesis, was trained as an immunologist and has published >280 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He heads the Angiogenesis Laboratory, is director of the Graduate School of Oncology (OOA) and is founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Angiogenesis.
Else Huijbers, PhD
Senior Scientist
“Life is what you make of it”
Else holds a PhD in medicine from Uppsala University, Sweden. She was trained as a pharmacist and has received several major grants from national and European sources. She presented the first proof-of-concept for using conjugate vaccines against the tumour vasculature.
Gerard Spanbroek,
CFO
“CimCure will make a difference for cancer patients”
Gerard has more than 30 years of (international) working experience in the field of finance and building companies. He was active for ING Group for 20 years before switching to public fund management of startup companies. Building companies in combination with finance is his greatest passion (besides sport). Gerard studied business economics and holds masters’ degrees in real estate development & investment and management & organization.
Raymond Perrenet, COO
“Always try shooting for the moon, if you miss you land between the stars”
Raymond has more than 25 years of international working experience. He has held several management board positions in large corporate organizations such as T-Mobile / Deutsche Telekom ranging from corporate finance to strategy and as director marketing to consumers. After switching to more entrepreneur-led companies, he has utilized his expertise and experience in managing and scaling companies. He holds a degree in computer science.
Joost van Bree, CMO
“‘Nunc aut nunquam’ (‘now or never’)“
Joost obtained an MSc and PharmD from Leiden University, after which did a Ph.D. in Clinical Pharmacology. From 1995 onwards he has worked in senior management and C-suite positions with several public and private life science companies such as Sandoz/Novartis, Teva, Pharming, Noviogendix, Pepscan, HealthWise Investment Group and Immunovo.
Gabriela Wachholz,
Scientist
“Great to be part of the CimCure team!”
Gabriela holds an MSc degree in genetics and molecular biology from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Angiogenesis Laboratory at Amsterdam UMC. The aim of her PhD project is to test the combination of the vaccines produced by CimCure with other cancer therapies.
Parvin Akbari, Scientist
“Excited to contribute to a promising project!”
Parvin holds an MSc degree in Microbiology from the Science and Research University of Tehran, Iran. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Angiogenesis Laboratory at Amsterdam UMC. The aim of her PhD project is to target tumour vasculature in solid tumours through CAR T cell therapy and vaccination.
Quinty Hansen, Research technician
“With hard work and dedication, anything is possible”
Quinty graduated from the Master Oncology program at Amsterdam UMC in 2022. She completed her graduation thesis at the Princess Máxima Center, with a focus on organoid models and the Wnt pathway.
Scientific Advisory Board
Prof. Ada Kruisbeek
Ada has a long-standing career as researcher at the NIH before becoming Head of the Department of Immunology of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and Professor of Immunology at the VU University of Amsterdam.
Later, she joined Crucell as Sr VP Research, founded DC-Prime and served as their CEO for many years. Currently, Ada is an advisor to DC-Prime and various other companies and foundations.
Prof. Roberto Pili
Roberto has a long-time career as physician-scientist with a large experience in the field of drug development in genitourinary malignancies.
Currently, Roberto is the Associate Dean for Cancer Research and Integrative Oncology, the Chief of Hematology and Oncology and Inaugural Director of the Center for Nutritional Sciences and Cancer Therapeutics at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, NY, USA.
Prof. Patrycja Nowak-Sliwinska
Patrycja is an expert in vascular biology and cancer and co-inventor of CimCure’s Technology. Her current expertise is in the design of combination therapies for the treatment of cancer.
Currently, she is Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Partners
