OUR COMPANY
Jeremy M. Levin
Executive Chairman & CEO
Jeremy M. Levin
Executive Chairman & CEO
Dr. Levin held leadership roles in major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and made significant contributions to the industry. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Ovid Therapeutics and Chairman of Opthea. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, was on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Executive Committee, where he led the transformative “String of Pearls” strategy in immuno-oncology, and held the position of Global Head of Strategic Alliances at Novartis. Dr. Levin holds numerous board positions and serves on the Board and Executive Committee of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) as Emeritus Chairman.
He earned a BA in Zoology, an MA, and a DPhil in Chromatin Structure from Oxford University, followed by medical degrees from Cambridge University, where he won the Kermode Prize for his work on Captopril. In 2019, he published Biotechnology in the Time of COVID-19, detailing the industry’s early efforts to create vaccines and treatments for the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. He was named one of the 60 living pioneers of the industry by Endpoints, one of the 25 most influential biotechnology leaders by Fierce Biotech, and one of the top 3 biotech CEOs by The Healthcare Technology Report. Among other honours are the Albert Einstein Award for Leadership in Life Sciences and the B’nai B’rith Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Kathy Connell, GAICD
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Remuneration Committee
Kathy Connell, GAICD
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Remuneration Committee
Kathy Connell is an internationally recognised healthcare and life sciences leader with deep and broad investment and licensing expertise, delivering a solid track record of value creating deals across pharmaceuticals, medtech, vaccines consumer and digital healthcare for some of the world’s largest companies.
For the past 20 years, Kathy has held senior executive leadership positions in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health sectors specialising in business development, licensing, acquisitions and venture investment, as well as having worked in healthcare and Life Sciences executive search and management consulting with Korn Ferry. During her tenure at Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi, Kathy led external innovation investment, licensing and acquisition across ANZ, with more than $US1B of capital being deployed in Australia with industry, academia, VCs and government organisations. A dedicated advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion, Kathy co-founded Medicines Australia’s Pharmaceutical Australia Inclusion Group (PAIG) – a special working group designed to foster diverse and inclusive corporate cultures and was awarded BioMelbourne Network’s Woman of the Year in 2018 for her leadership in supporting Australia’s high priority strategic growth sectors of biotech, medtech and pharmaceuticals.
Kathy serves as a Non-Executive Director for ASX listed biotechnology company Avecho (drug delivery company), Proto Axiom (biotech investment company with an incubation arm) and BioNSW (Life Sciences industry association) as well as an advisory board member for Flinders University Medical Device Research Institute. Kathy is a registered psychologist, holding tertiary degrees and qualifications in Applied Science, Psychology, Mediation and Law as well as being a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Lawrence Gozlan
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Nominations and Governance Committee, Chair of Audit and Risk Committee
Lawrence Gozlan
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Nominations and Governance Committee, Chair of Audit and Risk Committee
Lawrence Gozlan has 20 years of experience as a leading biotechnology investor and corporate advisor with deep roots in the scientific community. He is the Chief Investment Officer and Founder of Scientia Capital, a specialised global investment fund focused exclusively on life sciences. The Company was founded to provide high level expertise and manage investments for high-net-worth individuals, family offices and institutional investors wanting exposure to the biotechnology industry.
Prior to this, Mr. Gozlan managed the largest biotechnology investment fund in Australia at QIC (“the Queensland Investment Corporation”), an investment fund with over AU$60 billion under management. Earlier in his career, he worked as the senior biotechnology analyst in the equities team at Foster Stockbroking, and gained senior corporate finance experience advising life sciences companies at Deloitte.
He currently serves as a director on several private and public company boards in Australia and the US. Mr. Gozlan holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours from the University of Melbourne.
Jeremy M. Levin
Executive Chairman & CEO
Jeremy M. Levin
Executive Chairman & CEO
Dr. Levin held leadership roles in major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and made significant contributions to the industry. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Ovid Therapeutics and Chairman of Opthea. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, was on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Executive Committee, where he led the transformative “String of Pearls” strategy in immuno-oncology, and held the position of Global Head of Strategic Alliances at Novartis. Dr. Levin holds numerous board positions and serves on the Board and Executive Committee of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) as Emeritus Chairman.
He earned a BA in Zoology, an MA, and a DPhil in Chromatin Structure from Oxford University, followed by medical degrees from Cambridge University, where he won the Kermode Prize for his work on Captopril. In 2019, he published Biotechnology in the Time of COVID-19, detailing the industry’s early efforts to create vaccines and treatments for the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. He was named one of the 60 living pioneers of the industry by Endpoints, one of the 25 most influential biotechnology leaders by Fierce Biotech, and one of the top 3 biotech CEOs by The Healthcare Technology Report. Among other honours are the Albert Einstein Award for Leadership in Life Sciences and the B’nai B’rith Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Stuart Mudge
Chief Operating Officer
Stuart Mudge
Chief Operating Officer
Stuart Mudge is a molecular and biological scientist with more than 25 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical sector, spanning consulting and operational leadership across emerging, internationally focused biotechnology companies.
Throughout his career, Stuart has led cross-functional teams responsible for achieving marketing approvals in the USA and Europe, including in rare diseases/orphan drugs, and played instrumental roles in mergers and acquisitions involving product franchises and manufacturing sites.
His other responsibilities have included serving as Chief Operating Officer at Lateral Pharma, a drug developer for neurological disorders; as VP Scientific Affairs at specialty pharma Mayne Pharma; and as a General Manager at regulatory & clinical consultancy Voisin Consulting. He began his career at Australian biopharma giant CSL.
Stuart has a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Melbourne. He is also a co-inventor on several international patents and an author on numerous scientific publications.
Mike Gerometta
Chief Technology Officer
Mike Gerometta
Chief Technology Officer
Mike has over 35 years’ experience in the Australian biotechnology industry, working with industry and academic institutes providing expertise in translating proteins from the bench to the clinic. He has worked across all facets of drug development from pre-clinical to Phase 3 studies, with a speciality in Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC).
Mike has successfully guided the translation of numerous biologics through to Phase 1/2/3 clinical trials, providing oversight to CMC and nonclinical programmes and associated regulatory interactions in North America, Europe and Australia. He has worked in senior positions at Opthea (now Ceryvyn) over 17 years and as COO of Q-Gen and other start-ups. He also directed the development of numerous in vitro diagnostic products to market over 19 years at diagnostics specialist Agen Biomedical.
Mike has a PhD in biotechnology from the Queensland University of Technology and a degree in chemistry from the University of Technology in Sydney.
Hamish George
Chief Finance Officer & Company Secretary
Hamish George
Chief Finance Officer & Company Secretary
Hamish is an experienced ASX-listed company secretary and CFO and is a director at Bio101 Financial Advisory, a financial services firm providing outsourced company secretarial, CFO and transactional advisory solutions to the Healthcare sector. Through Bio101 Hamish provides senior financial guidance to a range of life sciences-based organisations.
Hamish is a chartered accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, a Diploma in Financial Planning from Kaplan Professional, a Master’s Degree in Professional Accounting from RMIT and a Certificate in Governance Practice from the Governance Institute of Australia.
Rebecca Wilcox
Director of Nonclinical Development
Rebecca Wilcox
Director of Nonclinical Development
Dr Wilcox is a practicing veterinarian, certified laboratory animal veterinarian, academic and nonclinical drug development consultant with over 15 years of experience advising biotech and pharmaceutical companies across the full development spectrum — from discovery through to cross-jurisdictional filing. Her graduate research focuses on antimicrobial resistance, and she brings benchtop expertise in virology, immunology, oncology, novel drug delivery, and drug repurposing, across institutions in both Australia and the United States. She advises biotech on pharmacology, toxicology and nonclinical regulatory strategy, covering all laboratory animal species, and specialises in bespoke animal modelling.
Rebecca serves as an independent GLP auditor for global nonclinical CROs and is the director of an Australian veterinary clinical CRO. She has served on several animal ethics committees (AECs) and government animal welfare advisory boards and currently holds a role as a nonclinical toxicology reviewer for the human research ethics committee (HREC) at Bellberry Ltd, supporting the TGA CTN pathway. She also acts as an External Scientific Reviewer, assessing veterinary drug safety and efficacy at the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).
Megan Brennan
General Manager
Megan Brennan
General Manager
Megan Brennan is a senior leader with 25 years of finance, corporate, and commercial experience across the industry sectors of consulting, banking & insurance, non-bank lending, and not-for-profit. Megan’s background includes corporate & asset finance, asset management, M&A, corporate structuring, and tax advisory. She has delivered on large transformation and change programs, including technology implementations, with a focus on improving customer and shareholder value.
Megan holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Tax Law, is a Chartered Accountant, and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Megan has also served as a Company Secretary, Non-Executive Director, and Advisory Board Member.
We have brought together global thought leaders in LAM with decades of clinical experience and patient collaboration to inform our development efforts.
Frank McCormack
Professor of Pulmonary Medicine
SAB Co-Chair
Frank McCormack
Professor of Pulmonary Medicine
Frank McCormack is Professor and Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Cincinnati. His research program focuses on pathogenesis driven molecular diagnostics and therapeutics for rare lung diseases, and spans basic research studies to investigator initiated trials. He served as the founding Scientific Director of the LAM Foundation for 25 years, created the LAM Clinic Network with over 60 international sites, established the peer reviewed research program that to date has distributed over $20M and created the basis for clinical trials, and served as the Principal Investigator of the MILES trial that identified sirolimus as a safety and effective therapy for LAM.
Deborah Yates
Respiratory Physician
SAB Co-Chair
Deborah Yates
Respiratory Physician
Deborah Yates is a Respiratory Physician in the Department of Thoracic Medicine at the St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney and a Conjoint Professor at the University of NSW. She has a longstanding clinical and research interest in obstructive lung disease, including asthma, COPD and lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), and also in occupational lung disorders. She has published widely in the field of asthma and occupational lung disease including asbestos-related disorders and occupational asthma.
Deborah’s current research interests also include the development of non-invasive methods for assessing lung disease, including the use of exhaled nitric oxide as a clinical tool for assessing asthma.
Beth Daugherity
Patient-Scientist
Beth Daugherity
Patient-Scientist
Beth Daugherity is a dedicated patient-scientist passionate about patient education and advancing medical discoveries through a patient-centred approach. She specialises in translating complex medical findings into clear, accessible insights for patients, families, and clinicians. With eight years of experience as an intellectual property law technical editor and analyst, she brings a broad perspective to healthcare and drug development policy, and is committed to fostering collaborations that bridge research and patient care.
Her research includes work on rare interstitial lung diseases such as LAM, as well as solid tumour cancers including kidney, colorectal, and breast. With expertise in molecular biology, gene manipulation, and biomarker discovery, she contributes to efforts aimed at improving immune function, personalizing treatments, and enhancing patient outcomes.
Following the completion of her PhD, she plans to continue supporting medical education and research while advocating for rare disease communities and underserved populations. Outside the lab, she enjoys travelling with her family and performing with her cover band, Bad Karaoke.
Contact Us
For enquiries to the Opthea team, please choose one of the email addresses below that aligns best with your request.