Scientific Advisory Board

Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Ger Brophy is Avantor’s Chair, Scientific Advisory Board. For more than five years, he served as Executive Vice President, Biopharma Production where he expanded Avantor's bioproduction capabilities and geographic footprint, led the development of products and solutions to support new biologic platforms and established innovation centers to facilitate customer collaboration around the world. Prior to joining Avantor, Dr. Brophy held a variety of research and development, strategy, advanced systems, and business development positions with GE Healthcare Life Sciences, GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and Amersham for nearly 30 years. Dr. Brophy earned a Bachelor of Science in biotechnology, as well as a doctorate in molecular biology from Dublin City University in Ireland.

Board Member

Brendan Hughes, Ph.D. has more than 30 years of leadership roles in the biotech and pharma industry, including Process Development, Quality and Manufacturing Operations. Most recently, he was SVP of Global Manufacturing at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Previously, Dr. Hughes held leadership roles at GSK and Pfizer in the U.S. and Europe in Manufacturing Sciences and Technology, Process Development and Quality Assurance for a range of innovative medicines including biologics and vaccines. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Biotech Expert group in the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use process, which developed several foundational Chemistry Manufacturing & Controls regulatory guidelines for biotech medicines.

Dr. Hughes received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the National University of Ireland in Galway, Ireland.

Board Member

Erik Sorensen, Ph.D. is the Arthur Allen Patchett Professor in Organic Chemistry at Princeton University.

The Sorensen laboratory is focused on the field of complex chemical synthesis, questions about the structural origins of architecturally unique natural products and evaluating hypotheses about the chemical basis of the biological activities of natural products and non-natural molecules. In recognition of his achievements, Dr. Sorensen has received a Beckman Young Investigator Award, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the AstraZeneca Award for Excellence in Chemistry, the Lilly Grantee Award, the Pfizer Global Research Award for Excellence in Organic Chemistry, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Synthetic Organic Chemistry.

In addition, he has served as a Woodward Scholar at Harvard University (2001) and the Givaudan/Karrer Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Zürich (2009). In 2009, he received the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society. Dr. Sorensen obtained his Ph.D. in chemical synthesis from the University of California, San Diego.

Board Member

Johannes van der Loo, Ph.D. is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Director of the Clinical Vector Core at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). His expertise includes process development and manufacturing of pre-clinical and GMP-grade adeno-associated virus (AAV) and lentiviral vectors applicable to early phase clinical trials since 2002.

He was involved in the development, design, commissioning, and qualification of several cGMP facilities. In 2021, the manufacturing facility at CHOP received the 2021 Facility of the Year Honorable Mention Award by the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering. Previously, Dr. van der Loo was a founder and served as the Director of the Vector Production Facility at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

He served on the Translational Science and Product Development Committee of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (2016-2022) and Editorial Board of Molecular Therapy – Methods & Clinical Development, Translational Science (2013-2022). He continues to serve as a thought leader, scientific advisor, and consultant in several capacities. Dr. van der Loo obtained his Ph.D. in cell biology from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.