A Focused Approach to Therapeutics

At Pieris, we combine leading protein engineering capabilities and deep insights into molecular drivers of disease to develop medicines that drive local biology to produce superior clinical outcomes for patients. Our proprietary Anticalin® technology based on human lipocalins – proteins that naturally bind and transport molecules throughout the body – forms the basis of our development focus to effect a local mechanism of action to address cancer and respiratory diseases. Our biologics have been validated in the clinic and by partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies.

Our Mission

To develop life-changing therapeutic proteins for patients suffering from cancer, respiratory, and other diseases through the innovative application of novel science and cutting-edge technologies.

Strong Partnerships are Part of Our Strategy

We seek partnerships that unite our next-generation Anticalin technology with new expertise, assets, and development capability across the biotechnology sphere. Our current partners include Genentech, Seattle Genetics, Servier, and Boston Pharmaceuticals.

About Our Partnerships

Management Team

Stephen S. Yoder, J.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Stephen S. Yoder, J.D.

Stephen S. Yoder, J.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Stephen S. Yoder joined Pieris as Chief Executive Officer in January 2010. Prior to joining Pieris, from July 2003 to December 2009 he led the intellectual property and legal departments at MorphoSys AG, a biotechnology company involved in the development and research of antibodies, as General Counsel. Prior to MorphoSys AG, from September 1999 to June 2003 he worked in several Washington, D.C. law firms, specializing in a life sciences intellectual property practice. Mr. Yoder holds degrees in molecular biology and Spanish from Grove City College and a Juris Doctorate, with honors, from The George Washington University Law School. 

Tom Bures

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Tom Bures

Tom Bures

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Thomas Bures joined Pieris Pharmaceuticals as the Vice President of Finance in December 2017. He has more than 20 years of finance experience and has spent the last several years managing finance organizations within the healthcare and life sciences industry. Mr. Bures joins the Company from Genocea Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GNCA) where he served as the VP Corporate Controller since 2015 and was responsible for the financial reporting, accounting, tax, treasury and insurance functions. Before joining Genocea, Mr. Bures worked for five years at PAREXEL International Corporation (formerly listed on NASDAQ: PRXL), most recently as the VP Assistant Controller. He was responsible for financial reporting, internal controls, and GAAP and statutory accounting for all legal entities. He started his career in Ernst and Young’s audit practice in 1996 and served multinational clients in the retail, manufacturing and banking industries. Mr. Bures received his B.S. in Accountancy from the College of the Holy Cross.

Mary Fitzgerald, Ph.D.

Vice President, Project Leader Elarekibep

Mary Fitzgerald, Ph.D.

Mary Fitzgerald, Ph.D.

Vice President, Project Leader Elarekibep

Dr. Mary Fitzgerald has over thirty years of respiratory drug development experience. At Pieris, she has been responsible for spearheading the advancement of PRS-060/AZD1402 through IND-enabling activities and phase 1 studies. She continues to work closely with Pieris collaboration partner, AstraZeneca, as PRS-060/AZD1402 progresses through clinical development. Prior to joining Pieris, Dr. Fitzgerald served as Executive Vice President of Respiratory at Pulmagen Therapeutics where she was responsible for clinical development of inhaled and oral drug candidates for both COPD and asthma. Dr. Fitzgerald’s previous experience also includes various positions at Etiologics, Ltd., Argenta Discovery, most recently as Executive Vice President of Respiratory, and at Bayer Healthcare. Dr. Fitzgerald received her PhD from Sunderland University / Wellcome Laboratories and received her BSc Pharmacology from Bath University.

Shane Olwill, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer

Shane Olwill, Ph.D.

Shane Olwill, Ph.D.

Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer

Dr. Shane Olwill has spent over a decade in oncology focused drug discovery with a specific interest in the development of novel biologics. Prior to joining Pieris, Dr. Olwill was Director of Research at Fusion Antibodies plc where he was responsible for the discovery and development of multiple drug candidates. He is a named inventor on 16 patents and has published his research in many international peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Olwill received his PhD in Molecular Hematology/Oncology from the University of Ulster, following which he worked as an industrial postdoc in conjunction with University College Cork. Dr. Olwill has a PgDip in Management Practice from DIT Business School and is a state qualified Medical Scientist.

Frank Vollmering

Vice President, Human Resources

Frank Vollmering

Frank Vollmering

Vice President, Human Resources

Mr. Frank Vollmering is Pieris Pharmaceuticals’ Vice President of Human Resources. Mr. Vollmering has more than 25 years of experience in international Human Resources across a diverse set of industries, such as biotech, semiconductors, software and consulting. He has held leadership positions at Intel Corporation, Veritas Software, and Analog Devices. Frank holds an MSc in Business Administration from the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Florian Witte, Ph.D.

Vice President, Head of Alliance Management and Early-Stage Project Leadership

Florian Witte, Ph.D.

Florian Witte, Ph.D.

Vice President, Head of Alliance Management and Early-Stage Project Leadership

Dr. Florian Witte is a strategic alliance professional with broad scientific background and track record in managing R&D alliances and multi-program collaborations. With more than a decade experience in alliance and project management, he is a strong advocate of collaborative thinking and joint value generation in drug development alliances. Dr. Witte joined Pieris in 2017 to build and further professionalize the alliance management capabilities, and in his current role is also driving Pieris’ early-stage project leadership as well as project management office capabilities. Prior to joining Pieris, Dr. Witte spent almost 8 years at MorphoSys in Alliance Management and R&D, driving therapeutic antibody projects with partners from early-stage discovery to clinical development phases. Dr. Witte received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Free University of Berlin and worked at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics as well as the Institute for Medical Genetics and Human Genetics at the Charité, University Medicine Berlin. He also holds a diploma in biology from the University of Würzburg.

Board of Directors

Mr. Geraghty joined the Board of Directors of Pieris in May 2017 and was appointed as Pieris’ Chairman of the Board of Directors in December 2017. Mr. Geraghty is an industry leader with 30 years of strategic and leadership experience, including more than 20 years as a senior member of executive teams at biotechnology companies developing and commercializing innovative therapies. He was most recently, from May 2013 to October 2016, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Third Rock Ventures, a leading biotech venture and company-formation fund, and previously served as Senior Vice President, North America Strategy and Business Development at Sanofi, which he joined upon its acquisition of Genzyme. Mr. Geraghty spent 20 years at Genzyme, where his roles included Senior Vice President International Development, President of Genzyme Europe and General Manager of Genzyme's cardiovascular business. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Orchard Therapeutics, and serves as a Board member of Voyager Therapeutics and Fulcrum Therapeutics. Mr. Geraghty also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of BIO Ventures for Global Health, a private, non-profit global health organization. Mr. Geraghty previously served as Chairman of the Board of Juniper Pharmaceuticals and as a Board member of Aceragen (formerly Idera Pharmaceuticals). He started his career in healthcare strategy consulting at Bain and Company. A graduate of the Yale Law School, Mr. Geraghty holds an M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Georgetown University. We believe that Mr. Geraghty is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors due to his strong life sciences pedigree and extensive background in company building.

Mr. Stephen S. Yoder joined Pieris as Chief Executive Officer in January 2010. Prior to joining Pieris, from July 2003 to December 2009 he led the intellectual property and legal departments at MorphoSys AG, a biotechnology company involved in the development and research of antibodies, as General Counsel. Prior to MorphoSys AG, from September 1999 to June 2003 he worked in several Washington, D.C. law firms, specializing in a life sciences intellectual property practice. Mr. Yoder holds degrees in molecular biology and Spanish from Grove City College and a Juris Doctorate, with honors, from The George Washington University Law School. 

Mr. Michael Richman joined the Board of Directors of Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in December 2014. He is co-founder of NextCure, Inc. and has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of NextCuresince 2015. Mr. Richman was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of Amplimmune, Inc., a biologics company focused on cancer and autoimmune diseases that was acquired by AstraZeneca plc. Prior to such time, Mr. Richman has gained years of experience working in research, intellectual property and business development capacities in companies such as Chiron Corporation (now Novartis), MedImmune, Inc. (now Astra Zeneca) and MacroGenics. He is a Board member of Madison Vaccines, Inc., a private company. Mr. Richman previously served as a Board member of GenVec, Inc., Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. until its merger with Acer Therapeutics Inc., and Cougar Biotechnology until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Richman obtained his B.S. in genetics/molecular biology at the University of California at Davis and his M.S.B.A. in international business at San Francisco State University.

Mr. Kiritsy is founder and managing member of Precision Kapital, LLC, a private investment and advisory firm. Prior to forming Precision Kapital, Mr. Kiritsy co-founded Arisaph Pharmaceuticals and served as Arisaph’s President and Chief Executive Officer from 2005 through 2018. Prior to Arisaph, Mr. Kiritsy served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer of Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he played a key operating role in building the company from start-up to highly profitable, publicly traded, commercial company. During his 10-year tenure at Kos, Mr. Kiritsy spearheaded more than 10 major corporate development transactions and raised approximately $500 million in public equity, including Kos' initial public offering. Kos was acquired by Abbott Laboratories for $3.7 billion in 2016. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc. Mr. Kiritsy is a seasoned entrepreneur, who possesses more than 20 years of business and technical experience, previously holding senior management positions in R&D, business development and finance.

In March 2022, Dr. Barbier became the Chief Medical Officer of CAMP4 Therapeutics. Prior to this, Dr. Barbier served as the Chief Medical Officer of Translate Bio until the company's acquisition by Sanofi in September 2021. Prior to joining Translate Bio, Dr. Barbier was Vice President of Clinical Development, Rare Genetic Diseases, at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where she led the development program of a small molecule in rare benign hematological diseases. Previously, Dr. Barbier spent seven years at Shire, most recently as Global Clinical Development Lead and Senior Medical Director, where she worked on a variety of rare genetic diseases including lysosomal storage diseases and hereditary angioedema. Her prior experience includes positions at Envivo, Johnson & Johnson and Aventis. During her career, Dr. Barbier has made significant contributions to several approved products such as Elaprase® (Hunter syndrome), Aubagio® (multiple sclerosis) and Firazyr® (hereditary angioedema) and has led several investigational new drug applications for new chemical entities. Additionally, she has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters and invited reviews. Dr. Barbier received her M.D. and Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Gent, Belgium, and a Master of Science from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

Dr. Kiener is an industry veteran with extensive experience across the entire value chain of biopharmaceutical research and development. Most recently, Dr. Kiener served as Chief Scientific Officer at Sucampo until the company's acquisition by Mallinckrodt in February 2018. Prior to Sucampo, he served as Chief Scientific Officer of Ambrx Inc., a company focused on developing antibody-drug conjugates. Previously, Dr. Kiener was President and Co-founder of Zyngenia Inc, a monoclonal antibody company developing drugs for oncology and inflammatory diseases. His prior experience also includes positions at MedImmune LLC, where he was Head of Global R&D, and at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Kiener has led or contributed to the development of over 30 different clinical-stage therapeutics and seven approved drugs, including two immunoglobulin-based fusion proteins, one monoclonal antibody, two vaccines, and one bispecific T-cell engager. Additionally, he has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is listed as an inventor on over 60 patents and patent applications. Dr. Kiener received a B.A. in Chemistry from Lancaster University and a D.Phil. in Biochemistry from Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford University, where he also pursued a postdoctoral fellowship.

Dr. Said is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Outcomes4Me Inc., a health technology company focused on providing patients diagnosed with cancer and other chronic life-altering diseases with personalized treatment options as well as outcomes information. She served as the Chief Operating Officer of Celsius Therapeutics, where she established and managed the company’s operations from inception through the company’s first year post-launch. Before founding Outcomes4Me, Dr. Said was Senior Vice President, Global Head of Oncology Policy & Market Access at Novartis, where she defined Novartis’ oncology franchise value and pricing strategy to address pricing pressures and established global pricing guidance for numerous oncology products. Her previous experience also includes a senior position at Sanofi, where she served as Vice President, Head of Strategy, Science Policy & External Innovation, Global R&D, and at Boston Consulting Group, where she most recently served as a Principal. She currently serves on the Board of Transgene. Dr. Said received her Sc.D. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science & Systems Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also obtained a Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a Master of Science in Toxicology, a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She has authored over 20 publications in high-impact journals.

Dr. Sherman is a physician-scientist with clinical development expertise in oncology, hematology and pulmonary diseases across large pharma, biopharma and venture-funded biotechnology startup companies. Dr Sherman currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Deciphera Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, Dr. Sherman was Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Acceleron Pharma. At Acceleron, Dr. Sherman provided executive leadership for medical research, and clinical operations, including biostatistics and data and program management, clinical pharmacology, and pharmacovigilance. Before joining Acceleron in 2006, Dr. Sherman was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Synta Pharmaceuticals, where he oversaw all therapeutic areas, including oncology, inflammatory diseases, and immunology. Previously, Dr. Sherman spent over a decade at Wyeth-Ayerst Research/Genetics Institute in numerous clinical research and development roles. Prior to his career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, Dr. Sherman spent nine years at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, ultimately as an Assistant Professor of Medicine. He has authored more than 260 original articles, review chapters, and abstracts, and is listed as an inventor on 11 issued patents. Dr. Sherman received a S.B. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Advisory Board

Pieris’ respiratory disease and immuno-oncology strategy is developed in close interaction with our clinical and scientific advisory boards, which include world-leading experts in their fields.

Immuno-Oncology

  • Michael Curran, Ph.D.

    MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • Vijay Kuchroo DVM, Ph.D.

    Harvard Medical School
  • Dario Vignali, Ph.D.

    University of Pittsburgh
  • E. John Werry, Ph.D.

    University of Pennsylvania
  • Padmanee Sharma, Ph.D.

    MD Anderson Cancer Center

Respiratory

  • Ian Adcock, Ph.D.

    Imperial College
  • Gary Anderson, Ph.D.

    University of Melbourne
  • Peter Barnes

    FRS Imperial College
  • Fan Chung, M.D., D.Sc.

    Imperial College
  • Oliver Eickelberg, M.D.

    University of Pittsburgh
  • Bruce Levy, M.D.

    Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • David Schwartz, M.D.

    University of Colorado Denver
  • Sally Wenzel, M.D.

    University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Focused Solutions for Serious Illnesses

Pieris Pharmaceuticals is proud to partner with industry leaders in immuno-oncology and respiratory medicines. Read how these key partnerships are helping us produce superior outcomes for patients.

Imagine What We Could Do Together

We are always looking for opportunities to accelerate the discovery and development of new treatments.

Please contact our business development team, with any business development or partnership inquiries: bd@pieris.com