About Us

Mark Gaffney

Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board

Mark is the CEO and member of the Board at Calluna Pharma, bringing over 20 years of leadership experience in corporate strategy, business development, and operations within the biotechnology sector.

Before joining Calluna Pharma, Mark served as the CEO of Oxular Limited, a company developing novel drug delivery and formulation technologies to treat retinal disorders, which was acquired by Regeneron in late 2024.

Prior to his role at Oxular Limited, Mark was the CBO and later COO at Vedere Bio, a company developing next generation ocular gene therapies, which was acquired by Novartis in late 2020. Mark’s experience also includes leadership positions in corporate development and legal  at Cyclerion Therapeutics and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Mark started his career as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force.  Mark’s analytical problem-solving approach stems from his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering and from Boston University in law.

Jonas Hallén MD PhD

Chief Medical Officer

Jonas is the CMO of Calluna Pharma with over 10 years’ experience in drug development and various medical roles in the pharmaceutical industry at Boehringer Ingelheim, Pronova BioPharma and Novartis.

Before Calluna Pharma’s formation, Jonas co-founded Arxx Therapeutics where he served as a Chief Medical & Development Officer. While at Boehringer Ingelheim, he was part of the team that launched Pradaxa – the first novel oral anticoagulant approved for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. At Pronova, he led the development of icosabutate, a lipid lowering agent with powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects, through clinical proof-of-concept. At Novartis, Jonas was the medical lead for a Phase 3b trial of serelaxin in acute heart failure and also worked on real-world evidence studies to inform drug development programs and market strategies in the Nordics.

Jonas holds an MD from the University of Copenhagen and a PhD in cardiovascular disease from the University of Oslo.

Caroline Kurtz

Chief Scientific Officer

Caroline is a scientific and strategic leader in the biopharmaceutical industry with over 30 years of experience developing unique products for patients with immune-mediated, metabolic, and gastrointestinal diseases. Caroline’s direct experience includes leadership in preclinical, clinical development and regulatory affairs for products in the stages of lead identification through marketing authorization. Throughout her career she has been a leader in the establishment of strong cross-functional and cross-company collaborations and teams.

Caroline was formerly Chief Development Officer at Synlogic Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing engineered living cell therapies for the treatment of rare metabolic and immune-mediated diseases. At Synlogic, Caroline oversaw translational research and development activities for four clinical stage programs including advancing into Phase 3, the investigational product SYNB1934 for phenylketonuria. Prior to Synlogic, Caroline served as Vice President and Program Lead at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, bringing the novel peptide gastrointestinal drug linaclotide (LINZESS®) from pre-IND through commercialization. LINZESS is now one of the most highly prescribed products for patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Dr. Kurtz also worked at GelTex/Genzyme, overseeing the discovery and development of polymers for the treatment of infectious diseases, including leading a program for the treatment of C. difficile colitis from discovery through Phase 2 development.

Her early scientific training was in the fields of immunology, virology, and autoimmune demyelinating diseases. Dr. Kurtz holds a Ph.D. in Immunology from Harvard University, and a BSc (summa cum laude) in Biochemistry from the University of New Hampshire.

Margrethe Sørgaard

SVP Clinical Operations and Pharmacovigilance

Margrethe is the Senior VP Clinical Operations and Pharmacovigilance at Calluna Pharma bringing over 25 years’ experience from different leading positions in clinical development & operation, medical affairs, medical information and drug safety/pharmacovigilance across pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Before joining Calluna, Margrethe served as the Senior Director of Safety and PV at BioInvent International AB, supporting product safety and assuring safety standards were compliant with global drug safety regulations. Prior to this, Margrethe was the VP and Head of Clinical Development at Circio Holding ASA and has previously gained experience in regulatory pre-and post-marketing processes and quality assurance, by serving as an EU Qualified Person for Pharmacovigilance (QPPV) while at Photocure ASA, and Head of Unit for Safety Assessment and GCP/PhV inspector at the Norwegian Medicines Agency (NOMA).

Margrethe holds an MSc in Biology (Physiology) from the University of Oslo.

Berte Poulsson

SVP Operations

Berte is the SVP Operations at Calluna Pharma, having previously served as VP Quality Assurance at Arxx Therapeutics. She brings nearly 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical development, with a strong background in Quality, Regulatory, and CMC.

Before joining Arxx Therapeutics, Berte worked for Bayer AS and legacy Algeta ASA , initially as project coordinator within the areas of Quality, Regulatory and CMC, before moving into Quality Assurance, where she served as Head of QA Systems and Operations for Development Products. Berte was also approved as Qualified Person (QP) for both the marketed product Xofigo, and for the radiopharmaceutical development products in Bayer. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical development industry, Berte was an assessor for the Norwegian Medicines Agency (NOMA), focusing on public funding and pricing of medicines.

Berte holds an MSc Pharm from the University of Oslo.

Mark Altmeyer

Chair person

Mark serves as Chairperson of the Board at Calluna Pharma, bringing over 30 years of invaluable experience as a pharmaceutical executive, spearheading successful drug commercialization endeavors. While having broad experience across many therapeutic categories, he has specific expertise in central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

Mark is also currently on the boards of AM-Pharma, Novaremed, Merz Therapeutics, Aculys, and Alector.  Mark was formerly the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer at Arvelle Therapeutics where he guided the company through its development and eventual acquisition by Angelini. He also held the role of Executive Director on Arvelle’s Board of Directors.

Prior to this, Mark served as President and Chief Commercial Officer at Axovant Sciences, where he where he built global commercial capabilities and prepared for the launch of pipeline products.

Mark was previously President and CEO of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies, where he went on to Chair its Board, and Senior Vice President of Global Commercialization: Oncology and Neuroscience of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Mark holds an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business and a BA in economics from Middlebury College.

Marco Boorsma PhD

Board member

Marco is a General Partner at Forbion and joined the team in 2007. He has a special interest in bringing his biotechnology, operations, business development, and investment experience from both small and large businesses to the portfolio, and to establish and manage new companies as part of Forbion’s build strategy. He was the founding CEO of VectorY Therapeutics and instrumental in the launch and financing of multiple “Forbion build” companies. He has served on the boards of several pre- and clinical-stage companies in Europe and North America, a number of which have been either acquired for over a billion bio-dollars or listed on Nasdaq.

Before joining Forbion, Marco was Business Development Director at DSM Pharmaceutical Products, managing biomanufacturing technologies and contract manufacturing projects, and he developed manufacturing processes for biosimilars at Cytos Biotechnology.

Marco has an MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Groningen and holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the ETH Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland.

Susanne Stuffers MD PhD

Board member

Susanne is the Founding Partner and CEO of p53, and has supported life science companies in different phases of development, from start-ups to late clinical stages, and has experience from financial markets including private placements and IPOs.

Susanne was previously on the Board of Arxx Therapeutics and served as a management consultant in healthcare (public and private) and life sciences at EY, followed by medical and commercial roles at Novartis. She also previously worked as an equity analyst covering the healthcare sector at Artic Securities, before co-founding and leading p53 with T.D. Veen.

Susanne holds an MD degree from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, and a PhD in Cancer Biomedicine from the Norwegian Radiumhospital.

Farzad Abdi-Dezfuli PhD

Board member

Farzad is a founding partner at Sarsia and brings 30 years of drug development expertise and management from large global pharma and early-stage companies.

Farzad’s experience spans national and global preclinical and clinical drug development initiatives including being a Board member of Arxx Therapeutics AS, which later evolved into Calluna Pharma.

In addition to receiving training in entrepreneurial business financing from London Business School, Farzad obtained his doctoral training in pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, UK and postdoctoral training from Haukeland University Hospital Bergen, Norway.

Gijs van den Brink MD PhD

Board member

Gijs joined Forbion as an Operating Partner in 2025. He came to Forbion from Roche, where he has served as a member of the Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED) leadership team since 2019.

In his role as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Immunology, CVM, Infectious Diseases, and Ophthalmology Discovery and Early Development, he drove transformative initiatives that enhanced R&D productivity, strengthened cross-functional collaborations, and supported strategic acquisitions, including the integration of metabolic disease specialist biotech, Carmot Therapeutics.

Gijs earned his MD and PhD from the University of Amsterdam Medical Center and completed specialized training in internal medicine and gastroenterology at leading institutions in Amsterdam, Geneva, and Leiden. He served as a board-certified gastroenterologist and Professor of Experimental Gastroenterology at the University of Amsterdam, where he led groundbreaking discovery and translational research in inflammatory bowel disease. Throughout his career, Gijs has co-authored over 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Mark Gaffney

Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board

Mark is the CEO and member of the Board at Calluna Pharma, bringing over 20 years of leadership experience in corporate strategy, business development, and operations within the biotechnology sector.

Before joining Calluna Pharma, Mark served as the CEO of Oxular Limited, a company developing novel drug delivery and formulation technologies to treat retinal disorders, where he remains a strategic advisor and Board member

Prior to his role at Oxular Limited, Mark was the CBO and later COO at Vedere Bio, a company developing next generation ocular gene therapies, which was acquired by Novartis in late 2020. Mark’s experience also includes leadership positions in corporate development and legal  at Cyclerion Therapeutics and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Mark started his career as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force.  Mark’s analytical problem-solving approach stems from his degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering and from Boston University in law.

Birgitte Gangmark Villmo

Observer to the Board

Birgitte holds an M.Sc. in Financial Economics from NTNU and an MFin from MIT. She has a background in international asset management and equity analysis from NBIM where she also did a 1-year secondment at UBS. After several years of working outside of Norway, she moved back to Trondheim in 2017 and subsequently joined Investinor.

Vincent Loon

Observer to the Board

Vincent joined Forbion at the Naarden office in 2024 and is a Business Analyst. Prior to Forbion, Vincent was part of the investment team at FMO.

Vincent has gained several intern experiences, namely strategy consulting at Monitor Deloitte, venture capital at Shift Invest and energy policymaking at The Dutch Embassy in India & TERI.

Vincent holds a MSc in Systems Engineering from Delft University of Technology.