10 cell and gene therapy manufacturing experts
CAR-T production is the current job of three of these cell and gene therapy manufacturing experts, two at Bristol Myers Squibb and one in the NHS, and three more hold cell therapy manufacturing or MSAT titles at AstraZeneca. The other four hold manufacturing titles at Vor Bio, Genentech and AbelZeta, or held Novartis's cell and gene therapy manufacturing science role. They fit a developer moving from clinical to commercial supply or building a first in-house facility.
Professionals to explore
Bernhard Hillenbrand
LinkedInExperience: Former Head Manufacturing, Science and Technology, Cell and Gene Therapies · Novartis
Bernhard Hillenbrand was Head Manufacturing, Science and Technology, Cell and Gene Therapies at Novartis from September 2022 to March 2025 and has been Director - TRD Project and Portfolio Management (TPPM) there since April 2025. Bernhard was also Global Product Lead (Cell&Gene) (2019-2022) at Novartis and names manufacturing process improvement, process development and life cycle management as core competencies.
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Chad Headlee
LinkedInExperience: Sr Director Cell Therapy Manufacturing · Genentech
Chad Headlee has been Sr Director Cell Therapy Manufacturing at Genentech since July 2025. At Poseida Therapeutics, Inc., Chad was Executive Director Cell Therapy Manufacturing (2022-2025) and Sr Director Manufacturing (2019-2022), and at Atara Biotherapeutics was Associate Director (2017-2019) and CMC Technical Manager (2015-2017). Chad can compare cell therapy manufacturing at Atara, Poseida and Genentech.
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David O'Donnell
LinkedInExperience: Vice President, Head of Manufacturing · Vor Bio
Autologous cell therapies and virus manufacturing are the specialties of David O'Donnell, Vice President, Head of Manufacturing at Vor Bio since April 2024, with CMC program leadership and CRO/CMO/CTO oversight. David was Head Of Manufacturing at ONK Therapeutics (2022-2023), Head of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at Minovia Therapeutics (2020-2022) and Director of Technology Operations at Cogent Biosciences (2018-2020).
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Donald Ane, MBA
LinkedInExperience: Director, Cell Therapy Manufacturing · AstraZeneca
Autologous and allogeneic therapies and cGMP manufacturing scale-up are the working areas of Donald Ane, MBA, Director, Cell Therapy Manufacturing at AstraZeneca since April 2026, after Director Of Manufacturing at Sonoma Biotherapeutics, Inc. (2022-2026). At Bristol Myers Squibb, Donald was Associate Director, Material Operations (2021-2022) and Sr. Manager, CAR-T Manufacturing Operations (2019-2021).
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Heather Francis
LinkedInExperience: Head of Cell Therapy Manufacturing · AstraZeneca
Operations, regulatory, quality and aseptic manufacturing all run through the background of Heather Francis, Head of Cell Therapy Manufacturing at AstraZeneca since June 2024. Heather was Vice President, Head of Manufacturing and Facilities (2023-2025) and Executive Director, Head of Manufacturing and Facilities (2021-2023) at Neogene Therapeutics, and Sr. Director Facilities and Engineering at Kite Pharma (2020-2021).
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Joseph Segatta
LinkedInExperience: Former Director, CAR T Manufacturing Operations · Bristol Myers Squibb
Since July 2025, Joseph Segatta has been Director, CAR T Manufacturing Operations at Bristol Myers Squibb, after Associate Director, CAR T Manufacturing Operations (2022-2025) and Senior Manager, CAR-T Manufacturing Operations (2020-2022) there. Joseph was also Viral Vector Manufacturing Manager at Advanced Therapies, LLC (2018-2020) and a Process Engineer at Bristol Myers Squibb (2015-2018), a mix that covers both CAR-T and viral vector production.
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Juliana Dias Alves Pinto
LinkedInExperience: Head of GMP CAR T Production · NHS
At the NHS since November 2020, Juliana Dias Alves Pinto has been Head of GMP CAR T Production, leading CAR T GMP production and process development for the UCL trials, and set up a manufacturing platform at the Centre for Cell, Gene and Tissue Therapeutics. Juliana was a Research Associate - Pule Translation Team at UCL (2017-2020) and BMT Production Scientist at the Brazilian National Institute of Cancer (2011-2017).
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Nidhi Shah
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director, Value Stream CAR-T Manufacturing Operations · Bristol Myers Squibb
Aseptic processing and value stream organization for CAR-T are the strengths of Nidhi Shah, Senior Director, Value Stream CAR-T Manufacturing Operations at Bristol Myers Squibb since May 2023. At Sanofi, Nidhi was Director - Aseptic Processing SME (2020-2023), Associate Director - Manufacturing (2017-2020) and Senior Manager - Manufacturing (2007-2020), and was a Senior Scientist at Roche (2005-2007).
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Quinn (Kun) Yao
LinkedInExperience: Senior Director and Head of MSAT, Rockville Manufacturing Center · AstraZeneca
At AstraZeneca's Rockville GMP cell therapy site, Quinn (Kun) Yao has been Senior Director and Head of MSAT, Rockville Manufacturing Center since June 2024, leading operations there and building MS&T capabilities for autologous CAR-T manufacturing and release. Quinn was Vice President (VP), Head of CMC and Tech Ops at NeuExcell Therapeutics (2022-2024) and Executive Director at Passage Bio (2020-2022).
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Victor Liu
LinkedInExperience: Director of Manufacturing · AbelZeta
Victor Liu has been Director of Manufacturing at AbelZeta since October 2025, leading cGMP manufacturing operations for clinical-stage cell therapy products, after US Supply Chain Head (2024-2025) and Director of Technical Operations (2023-2024) there. Victor was Senior Manager (2021-2022) at Cellular Biomedicine Group Vax Inc and works on technology transfer and global partnerships.
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Choose the right perspective
For CAR-T operations questions, Nidhi Shah and Joseph Segatta at Bristol Myers Squibb are the closest fits, with Donald Ane for allogeneic and autologous scale-up. Quinn (Kun) Yao and Bernhard Hillenbrand fit process science and MSAT questions. For building a manufacturing function, David O'Donnell, Heather Francis, Chad Headlee and Victor Liu have held head or director of manufacturing titles at Vor Bio, Neogene Therapeutics, Poseida Therapeutics and AbelZeta, and Juliana Dias Alves Pinto set up a CAR T manufacturing platform for UCL trials.
Questions to take into the conversation
- 01When should a cell therapy developer bring CAR-T manufacturing in-house instead of using a contract manufacturer?
- 02What does a manufacturing science and technology team need in place before an autologous process moves to commercial supply?
- 03How do you plan cleanroom capacity and staffing for an autologous therapy as patient numbers grow?
About this directory
This is a professional research starting point based on business profile data retrieved on . Titles and companies reflect that source snapshot; roles marked former had ended by then. Check the linked profiles for current details. Inclusion does not imply Instant Expert membership or availability.