Chief Executive Officer; Spica Therapeutics
James Rush, Ph.D. is currently Chief Executive Officer of Spica Therapeutics, a seed-stage biotech company based in Belgium that is focused on targeting macrophage subsets in different therapeutic areas. James is an expert translational immunologist and drug developer. His experience spans big pharma, biotech and startups.
James has held multiple senior roles in pharma and biotech. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer at Kling Biotherapeutics and advised two other immunology and inflammation-focused biotech’s. James serves as an an advisor to several other biotech companies and is a member of the 66ten Investment Committee at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. He has cofounded two active, early-stage biotech startups and was a Fractional Venture Partner at Forbion. In pharma, James focused on autoimmune, transplantation and inflammation at Novartis, where he held roles of increasing responsibility including Global New Products Director in the immunology business franchise.
James earned his Ph.D. from the University of Sydney and completed a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University. He recieved an Executive Masters in Health Economics, Policy and Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).