Management Team

From the left: Tom Gibbs, David Deperthes, Carlo Chiavaroli, Christoph Kündig

David Deperthes, Ph.D. – CEO and President
Founder and CEO of Med Discovery, Dr. Deperthes obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Laval University in Canada. Discoverer of a new prostate cancer marker, the kallikrein hK2, with Prof. Rolland R. Tremblay, he specialized in the development of new molecules for tumor targeting with J.P. Mach at the ISREC in Lausanne. Dr. Deperthes was Director of the Urology Research Unit at the University Hospital of Lausanne for 5 years. He won the NETS’ Prize in 2003 which consists of an intensive business and management training given at Babson College in Boston to a young entrepreneur selected by the NETS’ prize committee. Dr. Deperthes is also involved in different committees and associations such as Venturekick, Bioalps, or the Swiss Biotech Association.

Christoph Kündig, Ph.D. – Director Research & Development
Dr. Kündig obtained his Ph.D. in life sciences at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. He joined Professor Marc Ouellette's laboratory at Laval University (Québec, Canada) in 1994 as post-doctoral fellow. He worked on the molecular biology of Leishmaniosis. He then joined Essential Therapeutics Company in Mountain View, California as Senior Research Scientist. Med Discovery hired Dr. Kündig as R&D Director at the beginning of its R&D activity.

Tom Gibbs, Ph.D. - Director of Operations and Preclinical Safety
Tom Gibbs has spent the last 12 years in the life-science technology supplies industry in the US and in Switzerland. He has held positions of increasing responsibility first at Molecular Devices Corporation (California, USA), then at Cytion SA (Lausanne), and most recently as Head of Marketing and Customer Support at Covalys Biosciences AG (Basel). In these companies he was involved in development, applications, support, and strategic and tactical marketing of complex instrumentation- and consumable-based technologies for the life science research and pharmaceutical industries. Prior to this, Dr. Gibbs worked for six years in a biopharmaceutical company, Delta Biotechnology in the UK where he was in charge of developing molecular biology quality assurance strategies and methods. He holds a Ph.D. in microbial genetics.

Carlo Chiavaroli, Ph.D. - Director of Clinical Affairs
After completion of a Ph.D in Biochemistry at the University of Geneva in 1992, Carlo Chiavaroli did postdoctoral research in cell signaling at the NIEHS, in Research Triangle Park, NC, USA. He then joined the pharmaceutical industry, where he gained experience from both sides of the CRO/Client relationship: first in Geneva, as Research Scientist for the American CRO Battelle, then as pharmacologist at OM PHARMA, a Swiss pharmaceutical company. He was promoted several times at OM Pharma, culminating in the post of Head of Preclinical and Early Clinical Development where he was responsible for designing and outsourcing toxicology, pharmacology, proof-of-concept, pharmacokinetic, and early clinical studies, for both synthetic and complex biological drugs.