Tevogen Bio appointed Dr. Neal Flomenberg as chief scientific officer and global head of research and development, the Warren-based biotech company announced July 7.  

A more than 40-year veteran of medical research, Flomenberg will lead the company’s R&D initiatives for its precision T cell product pipeline in oncology, neurology and virology, the hiring announcement stated. 

Most recently, Flomenberg was professor and chairman of the Department of Medical Oncology and deputy director of Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital. During his tenure, the medical oncology department more than tripled, established a nationally recognized senior adult oncology program as well as an embedded Supportive Medicine and Survivorship Program, according to Tevogen. At Jefferson, Flomenberg also served as director of the Hematologic Malignancies, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program.

As chairman of Tevogen’s Scientific Advisory Board, he helped advance the company’s lead investigational product through proof-of-concept clinical trial for treatment of high-risk COVID-19 patients. 

“There is no better person than Neal to lead the advancement of Tevogen’s highly promising genetically unmodified T cell technology platforms, which we believe will pave the way for the next era of personalized T cell therapeutics for large patient populations through convenience and affordability for the very first time,” Tevogen CEO Dr. Ryan Saadi said in a statement, adding that Flomenberg is “a lifelong student of science.” 

Flomenberg’s more recent awards include the inaugural Philadelphia Chapter of the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), Thomas Jefferson University’s Alumnus of the Year Award (2019) and Jefferson’s Dean’s Lifetime Distinguished Service Award (2022). He earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State and his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College. 

Flomenberg said he was “thrilled” to take on this new role at “a truly patient-centric company.” 

“I have dedicated my career to increasing our understanding of blood cancers and the infections which plague these and other patient groups as well as the cellular immunologic approaches which might be used to address these problems,” Flomenberg added. “Tevogen’s proprietary approach allows cellular immunotherapeutics to be developed with unprecedented specificity and precision while remaining affordable and broadly applicable.” 

Flomenberg and his team will work out of Tevogen’s new R&D Center in Philadelphia’s Wanamaker building, which the company announced July 5.