Umoja Biopharma Appoints Renowned Oncologist and Industry Leader Dr. Nushmia Khokhar as Chief Medical Officer

SEATTLE, April 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Umoja Biopharma, a biotechnology company pioneering an integrated, in vivo immunotherapy platform, today announced the appointment of Nushmia Khokhar, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer.

"We are excited to welcome Dr. Khokhar to the Umoja team. Nushmia is an accomplished oncologist who has spent a significant portion of her career overseeing the transition of novel cancer therapeutics from discovery to clinical development," said Andy Scharenberg, M.D., co-founder and CEO of Umoja. "Her expertise across early and late-stage clinical development will be invaluable to the company during a milestone year."

Prior to joining Umoja, Dr. Khokhar was the Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development at Autolus where she played a critical role in advancing the company's autologous T-cell products and clinical programs. She also held numerous roles at Janssen Oncology, leading several successful clinical trials, directing the Phase 3 registration trial of Yondelis in soft tissue sarcomas, and serving as the Global Clinical Leader for the breakthrough therapy daratumumab (Darzalex) for hematologic cancers. Dr. Khokhar received her medical training from the Aga Khan University in Pakistan before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with a focus on pharmacology and molecular therapeutics. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. prior to completing a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

"Umoja's innovative and integrated in vivo approach, along with its TumorTag technology platform has the potential to overcome serious barriers that have held back the CAR-T cell therapeutic space," said Dr. Khokhar, CMO of Umoja Biopharma. "Now is our time to make CAR-T cell treatments better, more efficient, and applicable for maximum patient impact, not only in heme malignancies but also in solid tumors. I'm looking forward to joining the Umoja team in the hopes of making this promise a reality."

About Umoja Biopharma

Umoja Biopharma, Inc. is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company located in Seattle, WA. Founded by and based on pioneering work performed at Seattle Children's Research Institute and Purdue University, Umoja is advancing an entirely new approach to immunotherapy by retooling a patient's immune system in vivo. Umoja's novel approach is powered by an integrated in vivo cellular immunotherapy platform comprising of VivoVec for in vivo delivery, RACR/CAR synthetic receptor for cell expansion in vivo, and TumorTag targeting technologies. Designed from the ground up to work together, these platforms create and harness a powerful immune response in the body to directly, safely, and controllably attack cancer. Umoja believes that its approach can provide broader access to the most advanced immunotherapies and enable more patients to live better, fuller lives. To learn more visit http://umoja-biopharma.com/.

SOURCE Umoja Biopharma