About Hemanext

Hemanext is a global biomedical technology pioneer in transfusion medicine. We recognize the vital role of blood for patients and are committed to optimizing its therapeutic impact and value to the healthcare system. 

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Our Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission

Deliver innovations that improve the standard of care for patients who rely on transfusions.

Our Vision

To transform transfusion medicine worldwide through advances in biomedical technology.

Our Values

At Hemanext, we value excellence, collaboration, integrity, and compassion.

Executive Team

Our executive team brings decades of experience in medical devices, pharma, and biomedical innovation to lead Hemanext’s mission.

Andrew Dunham

Andrew Dunham

CEO & CTO, Hemanext since 2015 25 + years in medical devices & pharma

Previous Company: Baxter
Eric Newman

Eric Newman

Chief Financial Officer, Hemanext since 2018 20+ years Finance in medical devices

Previous Company: TEI Biosciences Inc.
Laurel Omert

Laurel Omert

Chief Medical Officer, Hemanext since 2019 15+ years Medical Affairs in blood products

Previous Company: CSL
Robert Haime

Robert Haime

VP Commercial, Hemanext since 2018 25+ years Marketing & Operations in transfusion medicine

Previous Company: Pall Corporation

Daan Kok

Daan Kok

EVP and GM EMEA, Hemanext since 2022 15+ years Commercialization in Pharma

Previous Company: Bluebird Bio
Laura Daniels

Laura Daniels

Vice President of Product Development, Hemanext since 2018 25+ years Product Development in transfusion medicine

Previous Company: Haemonetics
Jill Buckley

Jill Buckley

Vice President of Human Resources Hemanext since 2019 20+ years Human Resources in medical device & high-tech industries

Previous Company: Phillips Healthcare
Tom MacDonald

Tom MacDonald

VP Manufacturing & Operations, Hemanext since 2019 30+ years global medical device operations management

Previous Company: AgaMatrix

Board of Directors

Our visionary leaders are steering Hemanext’s path to improving the standard of care for patients who rely on transfusions.

Andrew Dunham, PhD

Board Member
Chief Executive Officer- Hemanext
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Andrew Dunham, who has been an integral part of the company’s success story, serves as the Chief Executive Officer.  Dr. Dunham joined Hemanext in 2015 as VP of Clinical & Scientific Affairs and, over the past eight years, played a key role in developing a scientific platform to characterize the biological and biochemical differences between hypoxic and conventional RBCs. His contributions not only led to securing an NIH grant for a pivotal clinical study but also, in collaboration with co-authors, earned the prestigious Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB) RISE Award for impeccable study design, innovation, significance, and effective communication. As a scientist, he has authored or co-authored thirty-two publications with hundreds of citations, and on the business front, his distinguished fourteen-year tenure at Baxter Healthcare culminated in five years as the global Vice President of Research and Development, where he led a multinational team of several hundred professionals.

Steve Eckert

Chairman of the Board
Classic Communities Organization CEO
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Stephen Eckert is President and CEO of Classic Communities Corporation (CCC). CCC is a privately held homebuilder and developer with projects across Maryland. Steve began his career in property development in 1978 as the Director of Government Relations for the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association. He joined Herman Porten in 1980 to help assemble the property that served as the foundation for a new company, Porten Sullivan Corporation where he eventually became President. Steve left Porten Sullivan in 1989 to found CCC. Steve is the recipient of the Milton Kettler Award for lifetime contributions to the community at large and the homebuilding industry, having served on multiple special committees for the Montgomery County Council as well as serving as a frequent panelist at the annual Montgomery County Symposium on Affordable Housing. Steve has also served as President as well as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association. Steve received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in History from the University of Illinois.

Eduardo Avayú

Board Member
Director and Owner of Empresas Indumotora SA
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Mr. Eduardo Avayu is vice chairman of family owned Empresas Indumotora SA, which represents, wholesales, and distributes automobiles, trucks, and buses in Chile. Mr. Avayu was also on the board of Forum Financial Services, owned by the Avayu and Yarur families, that finances automobile sales to retail customers. Forum Financial Services was later acquired in 2015 by Banco BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank. Mr. Avayu is active in education through Grupo Cpech, of which he is chairman of the board, manages nonprofit K-12 schools and a technical institute, and offers preparation class for SAT exams to enter higher education. In addition, Mr. Avayu serves on the board of directors of Fobeju Foundation, that provides scholarships to the Hebrew Academy in Chile. He also held the office of president of the Chilean branch of Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal for 11 years and continues his affiliation a board member of the fundraising organization.

David Testa

Board Member
Former Vice Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, T. Rowe Price
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Until his retirement in 2004, Mr. Testa was Vice Chairman and Chief Investment of T. Rowe Price where he built a very successful 30+ year career. Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, Mr. Testa worked for IBM in their Data Processing Division. He earned his undergraduate degree from Williams College and his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was named a Baker Scholar.

Richard Perle

Board Member
American Enterprise Institute Resident Fellow
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Richard Perle is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Previously he served as member of the Defense Policy Board from 1987 to 2004 and as its chairman from 2001 to 2003; assistant secretary of defense for international security policy (1981-1987), and a staff member to Senator Henry Jackson (D-Wash.) (1969-1980). Mr. Perle is coauthor of “An End to Evil” (Random House, 2003) and author of “Hard Line”, a political novel. He co-directed AEI’s Commission on Future Defenses. He earned a M.A. in political science from Princeton University and a B.A. from the University of Southern California.

Paul M. Ness, M.D.

Board Member
Prior Director of the Transfusion Medicine Division and Professor of Pathology, Medicine, and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

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Dr. Ness served as Division Director from 1979-2018. From 1983-2000 he directed the Baltimore division of American Red Cross Blood Services leading the Baltimore community through the transfusion issues with the AIDS epidemic. At Johns Hopkins he helped to develop programs in patient blood management, bloodless medicine, therapeutic apheresis, and advanced immunohematology. Prior to coming to Hopkins, he was an undergraduate at MIT, a medical student at SUNY Buffalo, a medical resident at Hopkins, a staff associate in the blood program at NIH, and a hematology –transfusion medicine fellow at UC San Francisco

Dr. Ness was a member of the AABB Board of Directors for many years and became President in 1999. He served as editor of Transfusion from 2003-2018. Dr. Ness has written over 250 articles for medical journals and three texts. Dr. Ness also has extensive experience in transfusion related research with emphasis upon transfusion complications including transfusion transmitted infections and immune destruction of transfused cells. He was a member of the FDA Blood Products Advisory Committee and is currently a member of the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee of Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability.

He served as PI for the Johns Hopkins site of the Transfusion Medicine Hemostasis Clinical Trial Network, funded by NHLBI. Dr. Ness was co-PI for a project funded by the NHLBI REDS III program to study donor virus epidemiology and blood utilization issues in China. He has served as a consultant to the coordinating centers of REDS II, REDS III, and REDS IV. He continues to serve as a consultant to many companies involved in transfusion medicine supplies and practices.

William O'Neill

Board Member
Former partner in the corporate finance and M&A practice of Latham & Watkins LLP
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Recently retired as a partner in the corporate finance and M&A practice of Latham & Watkins LLP in Washington, D.C. Mr. O’Neill has more than 42 years of experience representing public companies and their boards of directors in strategic and transformative transactions. Mr. O’Neill has counseled Hemanext Board since 2005.

Ismail Kola, PhD

Board Member
General Partner at Forepont, Visiting Professor of Medicine at Oxford University and Adjunct Professor at several universities and medical schools in the US, Australia and the UK
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Prior to Forepont, Ismail held several senior executive positions in the pharmaceutical industry.  He has published 159 papers in top scientific journals which have been cited over 16,000 times and has led teams that have brought numerous major medicines to the market during his 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry.

Ismail Kola was until 2018 the CSO of UCB, His previous positions were: Senior Vice President, Discovery Research and Early Clinical Research & Experimental Medicine, Schering-Plough Research Institute, and Chief Scientific Officer, Schering Plough Corporation; Senior Vice President Basic Research and Site Head, Rahway, Montreal and Madrid, Merck and Chairman of Merck’s Antibacterial and Antifungal Worldwide Business Strategy Team; and Vice President Research, and Global Head, Genomics and Biotechnology at Pharmacia Corporation.

Prior to his move to Industry, Ismail was Professor of Human Molecular Genetics, Monash University Medical School, and Director of the Research Center for Functional Genomics and Human Disease for 15 years.

He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Athersys Inc. (ATHX, Nasdaq) and a Director of GPN vaccines (Australia).

Clinical Advisors

Hemanext collaborates with preeminent scientific advisors to ensure preclinical and clinical work meets global state-of-the-art standards.

Biree Andemariam

MD, Director, New England Sickle Cell Institute & Connecticut Bleeding Disorders Center, Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Connecticut, Chief Medical Officer of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Inc.

Jose Cancelas

MD,PhD, Director of Research, Hoxworth Blood Center at University of Cincinnati. Professor of Pediatrics at University of Cincinnati.

Angelo D'Alessandro

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Director of the Metabolomics Core, Director of Mass Spectrometry – Colorado Cancer Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Larry Dumont

MBA, PhD, Senior Investigator and Associate Director, Blood Systems Research Institute. Former Director of the Center for Transfusion Medicine at Dartmouth University and a National Blood Foundation Hall of Fame Inductee.

Paul M. Ness

MD, Prior Director, Division of Transfusion Medicine and Professor of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Editor of Transfusion-the journal of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) and past president of AABB.

Philip C. Spinella

MD, Associate Professor, Pediatrics Division of Critical Care Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine.

Steven Spitalnik

MD, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, Vice Chairman, Laboratory Medicine, Columbia University. National Blood Foundation Hall of Fame Inductee.

Ralph Vassallo

MD, FACP, Executive Vice President & Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at Blood Systems, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ.

Travis Nemkov PhD

Assistant Professor University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus.

Mark Yazer MD

Professor of Pathology at University of Pittsburgh and an Associate Director of UPMC’s Centralized Transfusion Service.

Mike Murphy

Professor of Transfusion Medicine at the University of Oxford and a Consultant Haematologist for NHS Blood & Transplant (NHSBT) and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.