Michael is an internationally recognized expert in T cell therapy and immunotherapy. Over his 28-year career, he has co-authored over 85 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, and holds 26 issued patents in the fields of cell therapy, immunotherapy, and vaccines.

Michael is a member of several Corporate and Scientific Advisory Boards for both public and private biopharmaceutical companies and is currently Founder and Managing Director at Next Pillar Consulting. Michael also serves as Senior Venture Partner and Head of Cell Therapy for Orange Grove Bio. In addition to his board and SAB responsibilities, Michael actively serves as an advisory member for international immunotherapy consortia and societies.

Previous C-suite and executive roles include positions at cTRL-Therapeutics, ArsenalBio, Janssen, and Eli Lilly and Company. During Michael’s tenure in biopharma he established and led internal programs on cancer vaccines targeting “dark matter”.

During his academic career, Michael founded and directed translational research laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania and City of Hope. At UPenn his lab developed many of the operational principles that have supported the translational understanding of cell and immune- based therapies, and he is a co-inventor of the key technologies that led to the approval of Kymriah by Novartis. He holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota and completed post-doctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.