Executive Team

Karine Rossignol, PharmD

Karine has a strong track record of 30 years in industry and biomedical research institutes. As a Doctor of Pharmacy and a HEC Business School graduate, she brings extensive managing experience in the public and private sectors. Before co-founding Smart Immune, she was the CEO of the French Foundation for Hearing for 3 years and the co-secretary general of the Imagine Institute of Genetic Diseases for 10 years, where she structured, developed, and ensured fundraising for the institute. She also has 15 years of experience at LVMH, L’Oréal, and Chanel where she deepened her international marketing expertise before earning a master’s degree in genetics.

Marina Cavazzana, MD, PhD

Co-Founder and Strategic Clinical Development Advisor

Marina is an internationally recognized pioneer in cell and gene therapy (+300 articles), a Member of the American Medical Academy, and recipient of the Beutler ASH award, the Prix Irene Joliot Curie, and Grand prix de l’Académie de Médicine. She heads the Biotherapy Clinical Investigation Center and the Biotherapy Department and she is Head of the Gene Therapy clinical department at Necker Children’s Hospital, Paris, France.

Isabelle André, PhD

Co-Founder and former scientific strategy advisor (until May 2023)

Isabelle is internationally recognized for her work on immunodeficiency and T-cell differentiation. She heads the INSERM research laboratory working on human lympho-hematopoiesis at the Imagine Institute of genetic diseases, Necker Enfants Malades hospital Campus, Paris. Dr André has extensive experience with T-cell biology and differentiation and is the inventor of the ex vivo lymphoid niche proprietary technology developed by Smart Immune, conducting all pre-clinical studies and associated technological innovations. In June 2023, she joined the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation as Scientific Director for the Health-Biology sector.

Olivier Negre, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Olivier earned an engineering degree in biotechnology from ENSTBB and a PhD in cell and molecular biology from Paris Diderot University. He has been working for more than 20 years in the field of biotherapies including the production of recombinant proteins with BioProtein Technologies and gene therapy programs at bluebird bio both in France and in the USA. Olivier is a board member of the French Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, co-president of the think tank Gene & Cell Therapy Institute, co-founder of Biotherapy Partners and currently VP, head of R&D at Smart Immune.

Pierre Heimendinger, PharmD

Chief Technical Officer

Pierre brings over 30 years of experience in process automation of allogeneic and autologous CAR-Treg, Treg, viral vectors and vaccines. Prior to joining Smart Immune, he held key managerial roles overseeing production, pharmaceutical development and quality control departments at multiple pharma and biotech companies such as Aventis-Pasteur (Sanofi), Octapharma, Transgene, TxCell, and most recently, Sangamo Therapeutics. Pierre holds a PharmD from the Mérieux Institute in France.

Rahim Fandi, MD, PhD

Chief Medical Officer

Rahim Fandi, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist, brings deep experience in clinical development in both large pharma and biotech companies. Dr. Fandi has worked on small molecules, epigenetics, and biologics. He joins from Oxford Biotherapeutics, where he served as Chief Medical Officer and was a member of the Executive Committee, playing a pivotal role in leading all clinical and regulatory aspects of the oncology pipeline and multi-disciplinary teams across two sites. Prior to this, Rahim held senior clinical research and development positions at Celgene, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca. Dr Fandi started his career at Sanofi Winthrop.

Jeremy Gaillard

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer

Jeremy Gaillard has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spending 15 years in Sanofi where he held various roles, spanning corporate finance and business development. His most recent role was General Manager Pharma at Sanofi’s office in Peru.