James is an immunologist and drug development scientist with extensive experience leading preclinical and clinical R&D for novel therapeutics in autoimmune disease, transplantation, fibrosis and immuno-oncology across both pharma and biotech. He completed a PhD at Sydney University and an HHMI postdoctoral fellowship at Yale.
He subsequently moved to Novartis, where he worked on multiple early therapeutic programs — including leading the early R&D activities of the anti-CD40 antibody iscalimab, which achieved positive clinical results in multiple indications. He later served as CSO of Kling Biotherapeutics before working as a consultant CXO and advisor for venture capital firms and biotechs. Most recently, he was CEO of Spica Therapeutics, focused on targeting human macrophage subsets in oncology and fibrosis.
