About us
Meet the team
Decades of cancer biology, translational research, and biotech leadership — assembled around a single program with a clear path to the clinic.
Jim Lambert, PhD
Founder and President
Research Professor, Department of Pathology, Anschutz Medical Campus
Dr. Lambert has over 30 years of experience in cancer research and is the founder and president of Vona Oncology. His research team has spearheaded the efforts to develop VDX-431 as a viable clinical candidate for aggressive cancers. He formed Vona Oncology to commercialize the use of VDX-431, and analogs thereof, for aggressive cancers. Vona Oncology has been awarded an NIH NCI SBIR Fast Track award for moving VDX-431 toward clinical trials for TNBC, and is also the recipient of a State of Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade Advanced Industry Accelerator Early-Stage Capital Retention grant to further business development of Vona Oncology.
Richard Duke, PhD
Management Advisor
Chairman of the Board of Aurora Oncology, with a track record bringing basic science discoveries from lab to clinic. Founder of several biotech startups including Globeimmune, ApopLogic, and MenoGeniX. Established and served as CSO for the Colorado Institute for Drug, Device, and Diagnostic Development (CID4). Principal Investigator of an NIH grant establishing the Colorado AMC REACH Hub, one of five such commercialization hubs in the U.S.
Hamid Gari, PhD, MBA
Chief Business Officer
Held executive leadership positions in Strategic Planning, Business Development, and Commercial Operations at Roche Pharmaceuticals and Roche Diagnostics, and served as an investor within Danaher Corporation's early-stage venture fund. Serves on several biotech and diagnostic startup boards. Previously Managing Partner at Avicenna LLC, a Denver-based life sciences and private equity strategy consulting firm. PhD in Cancer Biology from the University of Colorado; Master's in BioScience Enterprise from Cambridge University.
M. Scott Lucia, MD
Pathology Advisor
A genitourinary pathologist with over 25 years of research and clinical experience, and a 30-year collaborator of Dr. Lambert's. Professor in the Department of Pathology and director of the Research Histology Shared Resource at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus — a full-service histopathology core lab certified by the College of American Pathologists, supporting clinical trials nationwide. Will provide pathological analysis of tissue specimens generated in Vona's studies.
Cherie Lambert, PhD
Vice President of Finance
Dr. Lambert is the Principal Investigator on Vona Oncology's SBIR grants. She brings a combination of bench research training in molecular biology, immunology, and protein biochemistry together with more than a decade of experience managing the financial, regulatory, and operational infrastructure of Vona Oncology. Together, this combination of scientific background, financial stewardship, and regulatory experience affords her a distinct position to ensure successful execution of an IND package for moving VDX-431 into clinical trials for TNBC patients.
Jennifer Diamond, MD
Clinical Advisor
Dr. Diamond is a physician scientist, translational researcher, and clinical trialist specializing in breast cancer. She cares for patients with all stages and subtypes of breast cancer at UC Health and the CU Cancer Center where she serves as a bridge between the Breast Cancer and Developmental Therapeutics programs. She currently serves as the Clinical Research Director of the Phase I and Molecular Studies program at CU, the founding Co-Director of the Women's Cancer Developmental Therapeutics Program, and Medical Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office. She has a translational research laboratory and has successfully completed multiple single and multi-site investigator-initiated clinical trials resulting directly from preclinical work performed in her laboratory. She will serve as an advisor to Vona Oncology to direct their clinical trial protocols for VDX-431 in TNBC.
Peter Kabos, MD
Clinical Advisor
Dr. Kabos is a medical oncologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CU AMC). His clinical and laboratory interests focus on helping patients with cancer and hormone related malignancies. He has generated novel models of primary breast cancers and the CU AMC patient-derived breast tumor xenograft (PDX) bank, from both primary and metastatic patient samples. To bridge his discoveries from laboratory to clinic, he and 15 other academic US medical oncologists have formed an Academic Breast Cancer Consortium (ABRCC), of which he currently serves as Director. He also leads several ongoing clinical trials focused on hormone receptor positive breast cancers and chairs the Data and Safety Monitoring Committee for the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
William Bracken, PhD, DABT
Toxicology Advisor
Dr. Bracken is a board-certified toxicologist (Diplomate, American Board of Toxicology) with more than four decades of pharmaceutical toxicology and nonclinical drug development experience. Dr. Bracken served as Director of Preclinical Safety at AbbVie and spent over two decades at Abbott Laboratories as Toxicology Program Manager, directing nonclinical development strategy for small molecules, biologics, and combination drug-device products across oncology, neuroscience, and immune-mediated disease. He has designed and overseen GLP toxicology studies across all major routes of administration, authored nonclinical safety sections for INDs, NDAs, MAAs, and BLAs, and represented nonclinical safety in face-to-face meetings with the FDA, EMA, and PMDA. He will serve as Toxicology/Nonclinical Safety Consultant on Vona Oncology's IND-enabling studies for VDX-431.
Beatrice Babbs, BS
Senior Scientist
Professional Research Associate (PRA) in Dr. Lambert's laboratory, with over 15 years of experience across a variety of laboratory settings. Deep understanding of molecular, biochemical, and animal protocols, with extensive experience handling rodents and dogs.