An experienced team for a globally-focused life sciences company

Mark Fladrich is an experienced pharmaceutical executive with a passion for bringing innovative medicines to patients. He has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with over 20 years at AstraZeneca.

Mark brings to QBiotics broad global commercial strategy and implementation experience across all phases of the pharmaceutical product lifecycle in a broad range of therapy areas including: oncology, wound healing, respiratory, cardiovascular, diabetes and metabolism, gastrointestinal, psychiatric disorders, antibiotics and pain management.

Mark was most recently Chief Commercial Officer of Grunenthal - a mid-sized privately owned German company specialising in pain management, where he led the commercial organisation - expanding Grunenthal’s footprint beyond Europe and Latin America to establish a commercial presence in the US and relaunch an important pain management treatment in that market.

In his 23 years at AstraZeneca, Mark held several senior roles including Vice President Global Strategic Marketing, Country President roles in Germany, Australia and New Zealand and Regional Head of Southern and Western Europe. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Mark held various roles at Allergan (now part of AbbVie Inc) and Faulding Pharmaceuticals in Australia.

Mark is currently a Board Observer and Strategic Advisor at HealthMatch, a Sydney based digital startup which has developed a platform to enable patients to match themselves to clinical trials. He is also Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board for Atacana, a consulting firm which specialises in competitive intelligence and strategy consulting to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, currently serving 7 of the top 10 global pharma companies.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (University of South Australia), Master of Business Administration (Macquarie university), and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Stephen Doyle is a global pharmaceutical executive with more than 24 years’ experience gained across a range of specialties within the medical and pharmaceutical sectors in both developed and emerging markets. Stephen brings extensive knowledge in leading negotiations for pharmaceutical assets across a range of deal types, licensing deals across multiple geographies and commercialisation strategies.

A pharmacist by training, Stephen has held numerous senior leadership roles at top pharmaceutical companies globally during the past two decades. Starting his career at Janssen Cilag and Novartis in Sydney, he was appointed to lead medical affairs of the Oncology Business Unit at Sanofi Aventis (later Sanofi). Over the next ten years, the expansion of Stephen’s remit within Sanofi saw him relocating to Europe and Asia to oversee scientific communications, then commercial operations of the oncology arm in each market. As Vice President of Oncology, Haematology and Transplantation Business Unit in Shanghai, Stephen launched new indications for Sanofi’s drug assets across China, while controlling a P&L accountability of €140M to build a high-performing team culture that translated into double-digit brand growth.

During his time at Boehringer Ingelheim, Stephen led the Specialty Care Business Unit (Oncology, Biosimilars and Rare Diseases) and later the Diabetes Business Unit in Shanghai, managing multiple aspects of the operation including new drug launches, launch readiness, partnership and deal negotiation, team and brand management and evaluation. In 2018 Stephen joined Aslan Pharmaceuticals as the General Manager in China, moving to Singapore as Chief Business Officer to support the growth of Aslan's immunology and dermatology assets in late-stage development.

He holds a Master of Science in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of Derby and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Pharmacy from the Robert Gordon University.

Dr Victoria Gordon brings to QBiotics Group a sound scientific background combined with broad business management experience and a strong commercial emphasis. Victoria left her position as a research scientist in chemical ecology with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to establish EcoBiotics Pty Ltd (EcoBiotics) in 2000, followed by QBiotics Pty Ltd in 2004. Victoria also governed the merger of EcoBiotics and QBiotics to form the QBiotics Group in 2017. Victoria has been Managing Director and CEO of EcoBiotics/the QBiotics Group since their inception. Victoria’ recent additional board experience includes Non-executive Director of Biopharmaceuticals Australia and Non-executive Director and Non-executive Chairman of the Australian Rainforest Foundation. Victoria’s relevant committee memberships include two consecutive terms of the Queensland Government Biotechnology Advisory Council, Federal Government Expert Forum on Biomedicine, Federal Government Expert Forum on Environmental Biotechnology, and the Queensland Government Science Education Taskforce. In 2004 Dr Gordon was presented an award by the Queensland Premier for her service to the biotechnology industry.

Victoria has broad experience in the management of commercial research for Boral Timber Division, then one of Australia’s largest plantation forestry companies, has owned and managed a number of small businesses and has held lecturing positions in industrial mycology and plant tissue culture at the University of Tasmania.

Victoria holds a PhD in Microbiology, Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemistry and Biology (Honours), Diplomas in Human and Animal Health, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Victoria is a Director of QBiotics Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary companies, QBiotics Pty Ltd, EcoBiotics Pty Ltd, QBiotics Netherlands B.V. and QBiotics UK Limited.

Paul brings to the Company expert scientific knowledge combined with extensive practical experience in leadership, resourcing, management and commercialisation of complex multi-institutional research and development projects. Paul is co-founder of EcoBiotics and QBiotics and has been CSO of both companies since their inception.

Prior to co-founding EcoBiotics in 2000, Paul gained an international reputation for his scientific expertise in tropical forest ecology and management. During that time, he held senior leadership positions as a Senior Principal Research Scientist and Program Leader at CSIRO’s Tropical Forest Research Centre and later as Principal Plant Ecologist for an environmental consulting business in the Rio Tinto group of companies.

Paul holds a PhD in Forest Ecology and a Bachelor of Science (1A Honours) from the University of Western Australia. He has been a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors since 2007.

Paul is a Director of QBiotics Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary companies, QBiotics Pty Ltd, EcoBiotics Pty Ltd, QBiotics Netherlands B.V. and QBiotics UK Limited.

David Phillips brings to QBiotics more than four decades of experience in the global healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. David was previously a senior international marketing executive with Glaxo Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKlein (GSK)) and also a Managing Partner with GSK's Corporate Venture Fund, SR One.

David spent over a decade at Board level and Chief Business Officer roles at Argenta Discovery, The Automation Partnership and Galapagos NV.

In the latter part of his career, David was both an Executive Director and Non-Executive Director of Suda Pharmaceuticals (now Arovella, ASX: ALA). He is now Non-Executive Chair of Inosi Therapeutics, a spin-out from Monash University developing novel therapeutics for fibrosis.

David has been responsible for capital raisings globally, as well as the execution of over 50 pharmaceutical and biotechnology deals and 10 mergers and acquisitions.

David holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Pharmacology from Kings College, London.

David is chair of QBioitcs' Remuneration Committee and also of the Audit and Risk Management Committee.

Sergio Duchini is a seasoned executive and board director with over 30 years’ experience across life sciences, biotechnology, healthcare, technology, and professional services. He has held senior leadership roles including Chair, Board Director (Executive and Non-executive), Risk & Audit Committee Chair, and Chief Strategy Officer.

He is currently Non-executive Chair of Neurizon Therapeutics Limited (ASX: NUZ), a clinical-stage biotech company advancing NUZ-001 for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases. He also serves as a Non-executive Director and Audit & Risk Committee Chair at Enlitic Inc (ASX: ENL), an AI-driven medical imaging business.

His prior governance roles include Chair of Lymphoma Australia (2019–2024), Non-executive Director and Risk & Audit Committee Chair of AusBiotech, and he was a former Board Member for Deloitte Australia, where he also chaired the Remuneration Committee and was a member of the National Diversity and Inclusion Council.

A former Deloitte Tax Partner of 23 years, Sergio advised on innovation strategy, R&D investments, M&A, and played an important role in the integration of Deloitte Asia Pacific. He now sits on advisory boards for Medicines Australia, Skillfield (a cybersecurity and data analytics firm), and the R&D Incentives Committee for Industry Innovation and Science Australia.

Sergio is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax Adviser and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Stephen Doyle is a global pharmaceutical executive with more than 24 years’ experience gained across a range of specialties within the medical and pharmaceutical sectors in both developed and emerging markets. Stephen brings extensive knowledge in leading negotiations for pharmaceutical assets across a range of deal types, licensing deals across multiple geographies and commercialisation strategies.

A pharmacist by training, Stephen has held numerous senior leadership roles at top pharmaceutical companies globally during the past two decades. Starting his career at Janssen Cilag and Novartis in Sydney, he was appointed to lead medical affairs of the Oncology Business Unit at Sanofi Aventis (later Sanofi). Over the next ten years, the expansion of Stephen’s remit within Sanofi saw him relocating to Europe and Asia to oversee scientific communications, then commercial operations of the oncology arm in each market. As Vice President of Oncology, Haematology and Transplantation Business Unit in Shanghai, Stephen launched new indications for Sanofi’s drug assets across China, while controlling a P&L accountability of €140M to build a high-performing team culture that translated into double-digit brand growth.

During his time at Boehringer Ingelheim, Stephen led the Specialty Care Business Unit (Oncology, Biosimilars and Rare Diseases) and later the Diabetes Business Unit in Shanghai, managing multiple aspects of the operation including new drug launches, launch readiness, partnership and deal negotiation, team and brand management and evaluation. In 2018 Stephen joined Aslan Pharmaceuticals as the General Manager in China, moving to Singapore as Chief Business Officer to support the growth of Aslan's immunology and dermatology assets in late-stage development.

He holds a Master of Science in Clinical Pharmacy from the University of Derby and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Pharmacy from the Robert Gordon University.

Paul brings to the Company expert scientific knowledge combined with extensive practical experience in leadership, resourcing, management and commercialisation of complex multi-institutional research and development projects. Paul is co-founder of EcoBiotics and QBiotics and has been CSO of both companies since their inception.

Prior to co-founding EcoBiotics in 2000, Paul gained an international reputation for his scientific expertise in tropical forest ecology and management. During that time, he held senior leadership positions as a Senior Principal Research Scientist and Program Leader at CSIRO’s Tropical Forest Research Centre and later as Principal Plant Ecologist for an environmental consulting business in the Rio Tinto group of companies.

Paul holds a PhD in Forest Ecology and a Bachelor of Science (1A Honours) from the University of Western Australia. He has been a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors since 2007.

Paul is a Director of QBiotics Group and its wholly-owned subsidiary companies, QBiotics Pty Ltd, EcoBiotics Pty Ltd, QBiotics Netherlands B.V. and QBiotics UK Limited.

Professor Victoria Elegant is a physician and Chief Medical Officer for the QBiotics Group, Brisbane, where she is responsible for overseeing the general medical and clinical aspects of QBiotics’ development programmes. She has held prominent advisory, academic, and leadership roles across a range of global medical, academic, and non-profit organisations in Japan, Australia, Europe and Asia, which has armed her with extensive experience in pharmaceuticals, biologics, and devices.

After completing her postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynaecology in the United Kingdom (UK), Prof Elegant joined the pharmaceutical industry.

Most recently, she served as Amgen Vice-President, JAPAC (Asia Pacific) Regional Medical Head, and Site Head, China Research Site, Shanghai, in Hong Kong, between 2016 – 2024. Prior to this role, she spent 10 years as Baxter Vice-President, Regulatory and Medical Affairs, APAC, based in Shanghai, and Vice President, Medical Affairs, Asia for Shire.

Prof Elegant is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FFPM) and a member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine (FPM) International Committee. She is Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney (USYD); Professor, University of Science and Technology (USTC), Hong Kong; and a member of the external advisory board for the Master in External Industry Practice, University of Queensland (UQ).

She is a founding member of the China Medical Affairs Network, and President of the Asia Pacific chapter of the Medical Affairs Professional Society (MAPS). She is also on the Biotech Advisory Panel – HKEX (Hong Kong Stock Exchange).

Prof Elegant has published extensively on regulatory affairs, medical affairs and clinical development in the Asia Pacific region, and has been an invited speaker, panellist and chair at numerous forums.

Born in Hong Kong, she holds a medical degree from the University of London (UoL). Prof Elegant’s passion is improving standards of care and outcomes for patients in the Asia Pacific.

Mr Wenzel has worked for EcoBiotics and QBiotics since 2011. Prior to this, Michael worked for over 13 years in the audit and advisory divisions of KPMG. During this time, Michael gained a wealth of experience across a range of industries, including biotechnology, as a senior engagement manager, key client contact, and quality control reviewer on a variety of external and internal audits of publicly listed companies, unlisted companies, foreign owned subsidiaries, government entities and not-for-profit entities.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce, is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, a Certified Internal Auditor and an Associate Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors – Australia. Michael is a Certificated Member of the Governance Institute of Australia and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Michael is also a Registered Company Auditor.

Dr Schmidt has considerable expertise in the development of drug candidates for submission to both the TGA in Australia and the FDA in the USA up to Clinical Phase III including preparation of CMC and Preclinical data packages required for IND submissions, and the clinical practices required during Clinical Phase I and II trials.

Peter’s human drug development expertise complements and strengthens QBiotics veterinary drug development team. Peter came to QBiotics from the drug discovery and development company Xenome Limited where he was Director of CMC and Preclinical Drug Development for 6 years. Prior to Xenome, Peter was Senior Scientist at Agen Biomedical for 7 years and Professional Officer at Radiopharmaceuticals Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation for 8 years.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and a PhD in Experimental Medicine.

As a Partner at Thomson Geer Lawyers, Roberta specialised in intellectual property, corporate and commercial law. Most recently Roberta provided advice to pharma, government, universities, research institutes and life sciences entities in relation to research and development arrangements, commercialisation, licensing, exploitation of intellectual property clinical trials, distribution and manufacturing agreements, mergers and acquisitions. Roberta has acted on behalf of QBiotics for over 20 years, providing legal advice to achieve our key corporate, research and commercial milestones. 

Roberta has been recognised by her peers as ‘Lawyer of the Year’ by Best Lawyers in Australia in the areas of Biotechnology Law (2019 and 2022) and Intellectual Property Law (2020) in Brisbane.  She has also been recognised generally by Best Lawyers in Australia in the areas of Biotechnology Law, Intellectual Property Law, Life Sciences Practice and Information Technology Law.  Roberta has also been recognized in Doyle’s Guide as a recommended lawyer in Queensland in Intellectual Property.

Roberta holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Master of Laws (Intellectual Property) and a Bachelor of Commerce.

Ebru is a former partner at Thomson Geer Lawyers and brings over 14 years experience in equity capital markets, private and public mergers and acquisitions, corporate transactions and corporate governance. She also has extensive experience in advising listed and unlisted entities on compliance and regulatory matters working closely with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and Australian Securities Exchange.

Ebru holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Melbourne, a Juris Doctor (Honours) from Bond University. Ebru is an Associate Member of the Governance Institute of Australia having completed a Graduate Diploma of Applied Corporate Governance and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Ogbourne holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Plant Science. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC) and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Steven brings to QBiotics expert scientific knowledge in the fields of biodiscovery and plant genetics, and significant experience in drug development having held leadership roles in both academic and pharmaceutical sectors.

Steven is an internationally recognised research scientist, having published over 60 peer-reviewed scientific articles, and has considerable expertise in small molecule drug development because of his senior role in the discovery, development and commercialisation of Picato® with Peplin Inc and LEO Pharma, and more recently in the development and commercialisation of STELFONTA®.

As recently as June 2022, Steven was Associate Professor, Plant Biotechnology at UniSC, where his research focussed on biodiscovery in therapeutic areas including cancer, wound-healing and anti-microbials and on the domestication of Fontainea picrosperma. Steven also has a passion for conservation and a significant component of his research focussed on the conservation of threatened species of plants and animals. Steven held the leadership role of Deputy Director of the Centre for BioInnovation at UniSC and continues to offer leadership through the Centre’s Advisory Board.

Steven joined the QBiotics executive team as Chief Translational Research Officer on 4 July 2022 and maintains an adjunct appointment at UniSC. Steven was previously a director of EcoBiotics and QBiotics Group.

Dr Mynott has worked for QBiotics since 2019 and has 30 years’ experience in drug development and technology transfer in academia and the biotechnology industry. During Tracey’s career she has gained broad knowledge and experience in initiating and conducting fundamental biological research, drug discovery and project management, as well as devising and implementing drug development and clinical programs, licensing and intellectual property protection and business strategies. 

Having co‐founded four biotechnology companies, Tracey has experience in strategic and operational matters, risk management, legal, due diligence, and compliance issues, capital raising and investor relations. In Tracey’s previous role at Anatara, she devised, secured strategic partnerships and executed the development plan for its lead product Detach^® through to its marketing approval and a global licensing deal with Zoetis, Inc.

Tracey holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours) and a PhD in Pathogenesis of Enteric Infections.