Bernd is a an independent member of T-CURX Board of Directors. He brings profound experience in the field of CAR-T therapy development, the commercialization of CAR-T cells as well as expertise in oncology across research, development, operations, marketing & sales, and commercialization in both pharma and biotech.

Bernd spent 20 years at Novartis, most recently as Head Customer Operations Europe for cell & gene therapies. In the last 6 years, he built up a team of over 35 FTEs responsible for the patient operations and customer service deliveries along the entire cell journey including the onboarding & qualification of treatment centers. As core member of the European cell & gene leadership team, he significantly contributed to the launch and commercialization of Kymriah®, the first FDA-approved CAR-T cell product.

From 2014 to 2016, he was responsible for the cell therapies strategy for Europe, co-led the design of the commercial model in this novel area at Novartis and was a member of the Global Novartis cell & gene therapies leadership team.

In prior positions at Novartis, he held roles of increasing responsibilities at Global, Regional and Local level. As Head Strategy & Operations for Northern & Central Europe, he led the business planning and strategic alignment across 33 NCE countries. He held commercial roles of increasing responsibility including Franchise Head Solid Tumors in a major market, launching a novel therapy in both breast cancer and renal cell carcinoma. As Global Project Team Leader, he was responsible for the development, registration and life-cycle management of a novel Bcr-Abl inhibitor in chronic myeloid leukemia and other hematologic malignancies.

Prior to these positions, he led the research team at the biotech start-up NOXXON Pharma in Berlin.

He holds a PhD in natural sciences from the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and an MSc in chemistry from the University of Freiburg (Germany).