Management

Ram Mandalam, President & CEO
Elisa Brunette, Director of Technology Transfer
Pattie Chiang, Sr. Financial Controller

Ram Mandalam, Ph.D., our President & CEO, joined the company in 2005. Ram was previously Executive Director of Product Development at Geron Corporation, where he managed the development and manufacturing of cell based therapies for treatment of degenerative diseases and cancer. Prior to Geron, he was Director of Developmental Research at Aastrom Biosciences, where he was responsible for the research and development programs involving ex vivo expansion of human bone marrow stem cells and dendritic cells. Dr. Mandalam received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. Mandalam is the author or co-author of several publications, patent applications, and abstracts.

Elisa Brunette, our Director of Technology Transfer, joined Cellerant in 2006 with over 20 years of experience in Research and Development in cell and gene therapies. Elisa was previously Assistant Director of Product Development at Geron Corporation, where she managed manufacturing of the production of embryonic stem cell-derived therapies for regenerative medicine. She has also held positions at Genitope Corporation, where she managed the Molecular Biology manufacturing group for producing patient-specific immunotherapies for Phase Ii and Phase III clinical trials, and Applied Immune Sciences, where she was involved in research, development and cell processing of immune cells for the treatment of cancers. After receiving her Bachelor of Science from San Francisco State University, she joined the Cancer Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, where she developed liposome-mediated drug, cytokine and gene therapies, including an aerosolized therapy for the treatment of Pneumocystic carinni pneumonia.

Pattie Chiang, our Senior Financial Controller, joined the company in 2004. Pattie began her career with Price Waterhouse LLP in Taiwan. Most recently, she was Corporate Controller and Director of Finance for Spreadtrum Communications. She was Director of Finance and Administration with Altigen Communications, and was Director of Accounting at Alteon Websystems, Inc., where she was involved with Alteon's 1999 IPO and its later merger with Nortel Networks. She received her B.A. in Accounting from National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, and is a Certified Public Accountant.