Senior Management Team

Michael T. Andriole

President, CEO, and Director

Mr. Andriole became President, CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Chimerix in August 2023.  During his nearly 25 years in the biotechnology industry, Mr. Andriole has demonstrated exceptional leadership in biopharmaceutical management with a focus on clinical development, corporate development, corporate strategy and corporate finance.

Prior to becoming President and CEO, Mr. Andriole was Chimerix’s Chief Business Officer and CFO from 2019 to 2023 during which time he helped guide a strategic shift from an infectious disease company, including the approval and monetization of TEMBEXA® for smallpox, to a rare disease oncology company. Prior to joining Chimerix, Mr. Andriole served as CFO and head of corporate development at Endocyte, Inc, where he was instrumental in directing the company into targeted radiopharmaceuticals during which the company grew from a $75 million market value to a successful sale to Novartis for $2.1 billion. Prior to Endocyte, Mr. Andriole spent 16 years at Eli Lilly and Company in a range of financial, marketing and global business development roles located in the United States and Europe. Mr. Andriole has worked on nine programs which have garnered NDA or BLA approvals across oncology, psychiatry and infectious disease, including blockbusters Pluvicto®, Cyramza®, Erbitux®, and Cymbalta®, among others.  

His career maintains a consistent theme of leading teams with focused execution and delivering high quality results.  He has executed over $10 billion in global business development transactions and has raised over $600 million of capital throughout his career.  Mr. Andriole earned his BSBA from the Williams School of Business at Xavier University and his MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

Joshua E. Allen, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Joshua Allen, PhD, joined Chimerix in 2021 as Chief Technology Officer and was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer in September of 2024. Dr. Allen discovered the anti-cancer activity of ONC201 and co-invented the imipridone class of compounds. Dr. Allen has continuously advanced the research and development of ONC201 from academic discovery to its registration program, along with the creation and clinical introduction of biologically distinct derivatives. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania. Several research publications, patents, grants, and awards reflect his scientific and entrepreneurial efforts in oncology, including recognition on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Prior to joining Chimerix, Dr. Allen served as Chief Scientific Officer at Oncoceutics. Dr. Allen also serves in advisory roles for disease foundations such as the National Brain Tumor Society and translational medicine programs such as SPARK at Stanford University.

Michael A. Alrutz, JD, PhD

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Dr. Alrutz joined Chimerix in 2012 and was named Vice President, General Counsel in September 2014. From 2002 to 2011, Dr. Alrutz was counsel to Trimeris, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMS), serving in a variety of in-house positions, most recently as General Counsel. While at Trimeris, Dr. Alrutz had primary responsibility and oversight of the company’s legal department during the development and commercialization of FUZEON^®, a first-in-class viral fusion inhibitor for the treatment of HIV. Dr. Alrutz received his JD from Duke University School of Law and his PhD in molecular biology from the Tufts University Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michelle LaSpaluto

Chief Financial Officer

Michelle LaSpaluto joined Chimerix in 2011 and was named Chief Financial Officer in December 2023.

Prior to becoming CFO, Ms. LaSpaluto was Vice President of Corporate Financial Planning and Investor Relations since 2019. Since joining Chimerix in 2011 Ms. LaSpaluto has served in roles of increasing responsibility spanning finance, accounting, project planning, investor relations and strategy. She has over 25 years of experience in a range of financial, accounting and project planning roles. Prior to joining Chimerix, Ms. LaSpaluto was the senior director of accounting at AlphaVax, Inc. and started her career at Coopers & Lybrand in Detroit before transferring to Raleigh with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Ms. LaSpaluto received her MBA from East Carolina University and her B.A. in Accounting from Michigan State University.

Allen Melemed, MD, MBA

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Allen Melemed is the Chief Medical Officer at Chimerix.  Dr. Melemed joined Chimerix from Eli Lily where he has spent more than 20 years dedicated to the clinical development and approval of oncology medicines across a broad range of tumor types including VERZENIO^®, CYRAMZA^®, LARTRUVO^®, ALIMTA^®  and RETEVMO^® among others. Most recently, he served as a Distinguished Medical Fellow and Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs Oncology, North America. In addition to his role at Eli Lilly, Dr. Melemed was an attending physician in pediatric oncology at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine, Riley Children’s Hospital from 1996 to 2012.

Dr. Melemed holds a B.S. in Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Minnesota and a M.D. from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. In addition, he completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at IU School of Medicine. He earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Dr. Melemed has authored dozens of scientific and clinical publications.

Tom Riga

Chief Operating and Commercial Officer

Mr. Riga joined Chimerix in November 2023 with over 25 years of leadership experience. Prior to joining Chimerix, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals from January 2022 through its acquisition in July 2023. In addition, he served as Chief Commercial Officer for nine years and Chief Operating Officer for five years. Before joining Spectrum, he led multiple oncology product teams holding commercial sales and marketing leadership positions at Dendreon, Amgen and Eli Lilly and Company. He began his career at Wyeth Ayerst Laboratories in pharmaceutical manufacturing. His diverse experience has integrated leadership and strategy to create meaningful value throughout his career.

Mr. Riga has been directly responsible for the successful commercialization of multiple oncology launches, consistently producing top-tier results. His commercial launch experience includes rare diseases, therapeutic and supportive care oncology.

Additionally, Mr. Riga has significant corporate and business development experience. He has executed deals including in-licensing and out-licensing assets, academic IP, and strategic M&A. He has led over $1 billion dollars of business development transactions across the healthcare space both domestically and internationally.

He holds a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from St. Lawrence University and is an accredited public company director from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business.

Roy W. Ware, PhD, MBA

Chief Manufacturing and Technology Officer

Dr. Ware joined Chimerix in 2007 promoted to Vice President, Chemistry in 2015 and in 2017 was named Chief Manufacturing and Technology Officer. Prior to joining Chimerix, he worked at PharmaCore, Inc. and Scynexis, Inc. (contractor) in the areas of chemical process development and cGMP synthesis for various classes of compounds, including anti-cancer agents. Dr. Ware also contributed to oncology (PI3-kinase inhibitors) and malaria programs during his tenure at Serenex, Inc. where he led a team of medicinal chemists. Dr. Ware worked in the area of drug addiction therapy as a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Triangle Institute International under the direction of Dr. F. Ivy Carroll. He received his PhD from Wake Forest University, MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and BA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Caryn Barnett

Vice President Clinical Operations

Ms. Barnett joined Chimerix in 2020 as Vice President Clinical Operations.  She brings 25 years of clinical development experience with primary focus in Clinical Project Management and Clinical Operations.  Prior to joining Chimerix, Ms. Barnett served as Vice President Clinical Operations for Advanced Accelerator Applications, a Novartis Company where she led the execution of the prostate cancer program and a highly complex Phase 3 program with radioligand therapy.  She was previously with Endocyte, Inc prior to the acquisition by Novartis.  Ms. Barnett also held numerous positions with Eli Lilly and Company where she simultaneously led multiple global Phase 3 oncology trials which led to product approvals.  She has been responsible for global and regional clinical operations, including patient enrollment, protocol development, regulatory inspections, and project management with Novartis and Eli Lilly and Company.  Ms. Barnett has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from West Virginia University and a Master of Science in Nursing from Indiana University.

Tom Brundage

Vice President Biostatistics

Tom Brundage joined Chimerix in 2012 and was named Vice President of Biostatistics in 2021. He has over 25 years of development experience leading the study design, data collection, analysis, reporting, and submission activities for clinical trials across Phases I to IV. Prior to joining Chimerix, Mr. Brundage served in roles of increasing responsibility at Schering-Plough, Stiefel, and GlaxoSmithKline. He has been a key contributor to the development of numerous successful products throughout his career, including Noxafil®, Olux-E®, and Tembexa®. Mr. Brundage earned his BSE in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and his MS in Statistics from Rutgers University.

David Jakeman

VP Accounting and Finance

David Jakeman, CPA, joined Chimerix in 2009 and was named Vice President of Finance and Accounting in 2023.  He currently serves as Chimerix’s Principal Accounting Officer and oversees all finance and accounting functions including accounting operations, external SEC reporting, financial and internal control audit oversight, equity administration, treasury and risk management.  Prior to joining Chimerix he started his career at Ernst & Young in Atlanta before transferring to the Raleigh office where he promoted to Senior Manager giving him over 20 years of combined experience in public accounting and corporate finance and accounting.  He received both his Masters of Accounting and B.S. of Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Christopher Jordan

Vice President Regulatory Affairs

Christopher Jordan joined Chimerix in 2022 as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.  He has more than 30 years of global drug development experience spanning the development process from compound discovery to Phase 3, submission and approval.  Prior to joining Chimerix, Mr. Jordan served as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Endocyte, and then as a Senior Global Program Regulatory Director following the acquisition by Novartis.  In these roles he led the development and execution of the global regulatory strategy for PLUVICTO®, the first radioligand therapy approved for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer, and LOCAMETZ®, the first PET imaging agent approved to select patients for PLUVICTO therapy.  Prior to his roles at Endocyte/Novartis, Mr. Jordan worked at Eli Lilly in roles of increasing responsibility across discovery, project management, clinical research and regulatory affairs.  He also served as an adjunct professor of regulatory affairs at George Washington University from 2017 to 2019. Mr. Jordan earned his Master of Science in Health Science in Regulatory Affairs from George Washington University, and Bachelor Science in Chemistry from Purdue University.

Pablo Lee, MD, MBA

Vice President Medical Affairs

Dr. Pablo Lee is the Vice President of Medical Affairs at Chimerix.  Dr. Lee joined Chimerix in November 2023, bringing over 20 years of academic, clinical and industry experience. Prior to joining Chimerix, Dr. Lee was the VP of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Verastem Inc. Prior to this role, Dr. Lee held different leadership positions in clinical development and medical affairs at Eli Lilly and Company, Imclone Systems Inc., Loxo Oncology and Hutchmed International with extensive medical launch experience in Targeted Therapies and Precision Medicine focused on both solid and liquid tumors. Dr. Lee obtained his medical degree, magna cum laude, from the School of Medicine at University of Buenos Aires. He is a board-certified internist by training. He also graduated from the MBA program at the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania with a Joseph Wharton Fellowship.

Odin Naderer, PharmD

Vice President Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Medicine

Dr. Naderer is currently the Vice President of Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Medicine, a position he has held since 2014. Prior to joining Chimerix, he served as Medicine Development Leader and Senior Scientific Director, within the Infectious Disease Development Unit at GlaxoSmithKline for 15 years. During his tenure at GSK, Dr. Naderer was involved with the approval of two antiretroviral medications and served as the European Federation of Pharmacutical Industries and Associates (EFPIA) Coordinator for the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded New Drugs for Bad Bugs Clinical Trial Consortium (COMBACTE) in Europe. Most recently at Chimerix, he was the Principal Investigator on Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) contract HHSO100201100013C that was used to support the development and FDA approval of TEMBEXA. TEMBEXA is now included in the strategic national stockpile as a medical countermeasure in the event of a Smallpox outbreak. Dr. Naderer earned a B.S. in Nutrition and Medical Dietetics and his PharmD at the University of Illinois at Chicago, after which he completed a General Practice Residency, an Infectious Disease Specialty Residency and a joint academic/industry Drug Development Fellowship at UNC and GlaxoWellcome

Eric Turowski, MBA

Vice President Market Access, Distribution and Patient Services

Eric Turowski joined Chimerix in December 2024 with 20 years of progressive experience and a deep expertise in Market Access, Pricing, Distribution, Reimbursement and Patient Services in Oncology and Rare Disease.  With his analytical focus and collaborative style, Eric has built and led several commercial functions across a range of large pharma and small biotech companies.

Prior to joining Chimerix, Eric served as Vice President of Market Access for Aurinia Pharmaceuticals from 2021 through 2024, helping build and implement the commercial infrastructure, market access strategy and operations for the launch of their first product. From 2019 to 2021, Eric led Market Access, Pricing, Patient Services and Government Affairs at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, culminating in its acquisition.

Eric began his career at Eli Lilly and Company where he held positions in Sales, Operations, Sales Leadership, and HCP Marketing for their Diabetes division before transitioning to Oncology where he developed a passion for Market Access. During that time, he led the Market Access efforts across Lilly’s oncology portfolio, including the launch of their first oral oncolytic, and played a key role in the acquisition of Loxo Oncology. 

Eric earned his MBA from Duke University where he graduated as a Fuqua Scholar.