Team

Board of Directors

Bio

Ali Salanti

Chief Executive Officer

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Ali has a PhD in Medicine and is a Professor and Head of the Centre for Translational Medicine & Parasitology at the University of Copenhagen. Ali has authored over 150 scientific publications and 10 patent families, raised over €50M and launched 5 spinouts.

Bio

Mads Daugaard

Executive Chairman of the Board

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Mads has a PhD in Molecular Cancer Biology and is currently Head of the Molecular Pathology Unit at the Vancouver Prostate Centre and an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia (Canada). Mads has authored over 60 scientific publications and 10 patent families, raised over €50M and launched 4 spinouts.

Bio

Thor G. Theander

Chief Medical Officer

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Thor is an MD DSc. He is the Founder and former Head of the Center for Medical Parasitology at Univ. Copenhagen. Thor has authored over 300 scientific publications, co-founded 7 companies and raised over €100M. Thor has participated in the design and execution of over 10 phase I-III clinical trials, including the first licensed malaria vaccine.

Bio

Poul Sorensen

Board Member

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharma. Poul is an MD PhD, board-certified anatomic pathologist and Professor at the University of British Columbia (Canada). Poul specializes in genetics and biology of pediatric cancers, has authored over 100 scientific publications, and raised over €50M.

Bio

Peter Schröcksnadel

Board Member

Peter is a seasoned Austrian entrepreneur that founded and managed several companies. He joined the Board of VAR2 Pharma in 2016 and co-founded VarCT Diagnostics in 2017. He brings extensive business experience and vast networks from decades in the broadcasting/marketing industry and international alpine skiing organizations.

Team

Bio

Ali Salanti

Chief Executive Officer

Bio

Amalie Mundt Jørgensen

PhD Fellow

Amalie has a MSc in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Copenhagen, and has been employed at VarCT since 2019. She is currently finishing her PhD focusing on non-invasive cancer diagnostics by detection of circulating ofCS-modified proteoglycans.

Bio

Dorte Holler Johansen

Chief Financial Officer

Dorte has a MSc in Business Administration and over 20 years of business, financial and admin experience intersecting public-private sector in multiple companies. She has managed over 100 projects, incl. large, publicly funded multi-stakeholder consortia (incl. EU actions).

Bio

Envy Laura Masola

Biomedical Laboratory Scientist

Envy is a Biomedical Laboratory Scientist who joined the team in July 2022 as a lab assistant. Envy’s primary tasks include collecting, processing and analysing clinical samples as well as the practical day-to-day running of laboratory operations.

Bio

Frederico M. Pimenta

Chief Operating Officer

Fred has a PhD in Chemistry and joined VAR2 Pharma in 2024. Before joining VAR2 Pharma, Fred worked as a consultant to deep-tech startups, advising on soft funding strategy and helping secure over €20M in non-dilutive funding by supporting grant applications with market research, competition analysis, drafting business plans and coordinating consortia.

Bio

Maj Ørum-Madsen

Research Scientist

Maj holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine from The University of British Columbia and joined VARCT diagnostics in 2024. Maj has nearly a decade of experience in translational cancer research, project management, and supporting grant applications.

Bio

Mette Ørskov Agerbæk

Chief Scientific Officer

Co-founder of VAR2 Pharmaceuticals and VarCT Diagnostics. Mette has a PhD in Clinical Cancer Research and has >10 years expertise in oncofetal chondroitin sulfate. Mette is the Chief Scientific Officer at VarCT Diagnostics as well as Assistant Professor at University of Copenhagen.

Bio

Rui Zhang

Lab Technician

Rui holds a MSc in Botany and got laboratory technician education. She joined VarCT diagnostics in 2022 and her main tasks are completion of project experiments and laboratory maintenance.

Bio

Thomas Clausen

Chief Technical Officer

Bio

Tobias Gustavsson

Director CMC Development

Tobias has a PhD in Biochemistry and is heading the protein production and characterization team. He has more than 16 years experience from biotech as well as academia with developing and producing proteins for three human clinical trials. Tobias has been on the project for 10 years.