We are experienced in bringing multiple new respiratory treatments to the US and other markets.
Christophe Demaison, PhD
CEO
Christophe Demaison, PhD
CEO
Christophe has served as CEO of ENA Respiratory since the company was formed in 2020 as a spin-off from ENA Therapeutics Pty Ltd, now renamed Axelia Oncology Pty Ltd.
Passionate about building ventures and leading teams committed to translating life sciences innovations into treatments that have a meaningful impact on patients, Christophe has more than 20 years of experience spanning start-up creation, capital raising, company management, pharmaceutical product development, business development and licensing of early-stage innovations.
Christophe has a strong research and technical background. He completed his Ph.D. in immunology at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France before moving to Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK where his research led in 2002 to Britain’s first successful gene therapy clinical trial for the treatment of immune deficiencies in children.
Ruth Tal-Singer, PhD
Medicine Development Leader
Ruth Tal-Singer, PhD
Medicine Development Leader
Ruth joined ENA as a strategy consultant in 2020, and since April 2023 has served as Medicine Development Leader. Previously she was President and CEO of the US COPD Foundation, where she championed a strategic partnership and served as a member of ENA’s Board of Directors until March 2023.
Ruth is an internationally recognised innovative, patient-focused and highly analytical healthcare leader and clinical scientist with extensive pharmaceutical Research and Development experience. She was previously VP, Medical Innovation at GSK, focusing on enhancing the value of GSK’s Respiratory portfolio. She was also a Member of the Respiratory Therapy Area Unit Executive Team at GSK.
She has a proven history of successfully leading international public and private partnerships and non-profit organizations through critical advancements and progress in clinical trials and large observational cohorts. Since retiring from GSK in 2019, she has worked as an independent consultant and volunteers as chief scientific officer of the not-for-profit Global Allergy and Airways Patient Platform (GAAPP).
Ruth received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Microbiology from the University of Pennsylvania. She has authored 200+ peer-reviewed manuscripts including highly cited scientific publications.
Courtney Crim, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Courtney Crim, MD
Chief Medical Officer
Courtney joined ENA Respiratory in 2023 as its consultant Chief Medical Officer. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of North Carolina.
Courtney previously served as Group Director in Respiratory Clinical Development at GSK. He has approximately 22 years of experience designing Phase II-IV clinical trials, and has presented submissions for drug approval at US, European and other country regulatory agencies.
Courtney is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine. He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed published manuscripts.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Thoracic Society and, as to the latter, is the immediate past-chair of the Drug/Device Discovery and Development Committee of the American Thoracic Society.
Courtney received a Doctor of Medicine, MD from the University of Michigan Medical School.
Rohina Batra
Chief Financial Officer
Rohina Batra
Chief Financial Officer
Rohina is an experienced finance professional, with a keen interest in supporting deep tech and life sciences companies in the startup ecosystem.
With over two decades of international expertise in finance and investment management, she began her career in venture capital, followed by leadership roles at GSK, Seven Network, and News Corp. In 2013, she founded CFO Plus – an accounting firm that has consistently been recognized as a provider of choice to a number of tech accelerators and VC funds in Australia.
Rohina has extensive expertise in M&A, capital raising, financial modelling, statutory reporting, taxation, and corporate governance. Passionate about disruptive technologies, she currently serves as CFO of several innovation companies, helping founders through their journey of establishing and scaling their startups.
Rohina is both a Chartered Accountant and a CPA. In addition, she holds an MBA, a BA (Hons) in Economics, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
Grant Mclachlan, PhD
Director, CMC Program Management
Grant Mclachlan, PhD
Director, CMC Program Management
Grant joined ENA Respiratory in 2020, overseeing the company’s CMC activities.
He brings over 25 years of experience in drug development, including managing CMC activities.
Previously, Grant was CEO at Armaron Bio and led the company through fund raising, and pre-clinical development to the completion of a Phase II clinical trial.
Earlier roles in his career, included a Project Manager at Melbourne Ventures, where he was responsible for a number of the University of Melbourne’s research translation and commercialisation opportunities, and working at IDT Australia, where he focused on API process development and scale-up for clinical trial and commercial supply.
Grant completed his post-doctoral research in the USA.
He has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Monash University, Australia.
Francesca Mercuri, PhD
Director of Biology
Francesca Mercuri, PhD
Director of Biology
Francesca joined ENA Respiratory in 2020, overseeing the translational research and clinical operation programs. She has over 20 years of experience in the successful management of pre-clinical research programs and multi-institutional partnerships between academic institutions and industry.
Earlier, during her postdoctoral research, Francesca was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship from the University of East Anglia, UK and a NH&MRC Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Francesca received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Melbourne and her B.S, Honours in Immunology from Monash University, Australia.
Narani Smyth
Senior Quality Assurance & Project Manager
Narani Smyth
Senior Quality Assurance & Project Manager
Narani joined ENA Respiratory in 2024, in a senior project management role. She has over 20 years of experience in pharmaceuticals, including Quality Assurance and Manufacturing.
Narani has worked in various roles at Pfizer, IDT, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Cell Therapies.
She played a key role in the Novartis technology transfer of Kymriah, a CAR T cell therapy, and was the overall Quality Assurance with responsibility for the commercial delivery of batches for Australia.
Narani has a BSc in Pharmacology from The University of Melbourne, Australia.
George H Klinger
Clinical Operations, US
George H Klinger
Clinical Operations, US after Grant McLachlan
George is a pharmacist with more than 30 years of experience in drug development, including early and late-stage programs, primarily in large multi-national biopharmaceutical companies. He has extensive experience in directing and leading cross-functional teams in the execution of multi-national clinical trial programs in multiple therapeutic areas.
George presently serves as a Clinical Operations Consultant. His experience includes all aspects of clinical trial implementation and execution from protocol development through CSR, including vendor selection, design of data collection tools, establishing oversight committees, and regulatory documentation. He also has experience in process development and quality oversight activities. His therapeutic area experience includes non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), chronic heart failure, long-term cardiovascular outcomes studies (Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes [T2DM]), Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD including ulcerative colitis [UC] and Crohn’s Disease [CD]), Radiation-induced Xerostomia (RIX).
George has a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now St Joseph’s University) and an M.A. in Theology from St Charles Seminary.
