Avelas Biosciences Broadens Management Team with Key Executive Additions

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Avelas Biosciences, Inc., a clinical stage oncology-focused company that is developing products to advance a new standard-of-care for cancer surgery and therapeutic intervention, today announced three new management appointments.  The additions to the Avelas executive team include Kyri Van Hoose as Vice President, Finance, Kenneth Kleinhenz as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance, and Ning Zou, Ph.D., as Principal Scientist, Head of Chemistry.

"We are delighted to announce these key appointments to the Avelas leadership team, which will help us to catalyze our next phase of growth and execute further on our strategic initiatives," said Carmine Stengone, President and Chief Executive Officer of Avelas Biosciences.  "Each individual brings a unique array of talents that I know we can leverage as we advance our platform and expand our pipeline through data readouts, additional studies and partnering activities."

Kyri Van Hoose joins Avelas as Vice President, Finance, bringing with her over 15 years of experience, predominantly in the life science industry.  Prior to joining Avelas, Ms. Van Hoose held a series of accounting, finance and business development positions of increasing responsibility over a period of 10 years at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Before ACADIA, Ms. Van Hoose gained experience in the life science industry with Invitrogen, Inc. and Allergan plc.  Ms. Van Hoose began her career with Deloitte and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of California.  Ms. Van Hoose earned her B.S. in accounting from the University of Southern California and her MBA from the University of California, Irvine.

Kenneth Kleinhenz joins Avelas as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance, and brings with him more than 25 years of experience in FDA-regulated medical device manufacturing, medical device research and development, and clinical settings.  Prior to joining Avelas, Mr. Kleinhenz was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Cytori Therapeutics. Before Cytori, Mr. Kleinhenz served as Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at MacroPore Biosurgery.  Previously Mr. Kleinhenz held positions with IFM Manufacturing, Becton Dikinson and Pacific Pharmaceuticals.  Mr. Kleinhenz received his MBA from the University of Phoenix and a B.S. in microbiology from University of California, San Diego.

Ning Zou, Ph.D., joins Avelas as Principal Scientist, Head of Chemistry, and brings over 15 years of experience in drug discovery to Avelas.  Prior to joining Avelas, Dr. Zou held roles of increasing seniority and responsibility at Endocyte, most recently as Senior Director, Chemistry.  Dr. Zou previously worked at Ambrx and Arena Pharmaceuticals.  Dr. Zou was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The Scripps Research Institute, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Research Assistant at The University of Hong Kong.  Dr. Zou earned his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Lanzhou University, China.

About Avelas Biosciences

Avelas Biosciences is a San Diego-based biotechnology company focused on developing products to advance a new standard-of-care for cancer surgery and therapeutic intervention.  The company's lead candidate, AVB-620, has completed a Phase 1b clinical trial assessing safety, pharmacokinetics and fluorescence properties using tissue image analysis.  A Phase 2 clinical trial for AVB-620 in breast cancer is ongoing.  In addition, the company is advancing a therapeutic program, which utilizes the same technology platform.  Avelas was founded on technology from Roger Y. Tsien, Ph.D., co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in chemistry.  For additional information, please visit www.avelasbio.com.

SOURCE Avelas Biosciences, Inc.