Our team’s deep expertise in retina, global business experience, and determination to make a real difference in the lives of people affected by blinding eye diseases, drives our work and decisions, every day. We are supported by expert board members as well as global thought leaders in retina who share our dedication to deliver superior vision for fuller and healthier lives.
Fred Guerard, PharmD, MS
Chief Executive Officer
Fred Guerard, PharmD, MS
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Guerard’s career in the pharmaceutical industry spans over 25 years and includes multiple leadership, strategic and commercial roles.
Dr. Guerard served as the Chief Executive Officer of Graybug Vision, Inc., a clinical‐stage pharmaceutical company developing potentially transformative therapies for ocular diseases. He led the clinical development of a late‐stage wet AMD product candidate. Dr. Guerard led the merger of Graybug with CalciMedica, Inc. and remains a non‐executive Board member of CalciMedica.
Before Graybug, Dr. Guerard acted as the Worldwide Business Franchise Head of Ophthalmology at Novartis. In this role, he successfully led the integration of Novartis Retina and Alcon Pharmaceuticals and accelerated the rejuvenation of the product pipeline through strategic acquisitions and licensing transactions in dry eye disease, presbyopia, and inherited retinal diseases. Prior to this role, he served as Global Franchise Head of Pharmaceuticals at Alcon. Dr. Guerard held additional leadership positions at Novartis, including Head of UK, Ireland, North and West Africa, Head and Country President of Australia, New Zealand and Egypt and Head of Marketing and Sales for Emerging Growth Markets.
Dr. Guerard holds a PharmD and a Master of Biological and Medical Sciences from the University of Rouen, and a Master of Marketing from HEC Paris, France.
Tom C. Reilly
Chief Financial Officer
Tom C. Reilly
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Reilly has more than 25 years of experience in building and leading finance and administration teams at life sciences companies both in the United States and globally.
Before joining Opthea, Mr. Reilly served as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Human Resources of Amarin Corporation, supporting the commercial expansion of the company’s lead asset in cardiovascular disease. Mr. Reilly also served as Chief Financial Officer for Cara Therapeutics and Head of Finance for the Allergan General Medicines business supporting several commercial launches in neuroscience.
Mr. Reilly spent 14 years with Novartis serving in roles of increasing responsibility, including Finance Head for the Oncology development unit, Chief Financial Officer for Novartis Pharma Austria, and Financial Controller for Novartis Pharmaceuticals US. He earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Manhattan College, an MBA in accounting from Seton Hall University, and he is a certified public accountant.
Parisa Zamiri MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Parisa Zamiri MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Zamiri is a physician-scientist with deep expertise in drug discovery and development.
She is an ophthalmologist by training with clinical experience in medical retina, immunology, and inflammation.
Dr. Zamiri most recently served as the Chief Medical Officer at Complement Therapeutics and previously at Graybug Vision, where she oversaw clinical, regulatory, medical affairs and biostatistics. Prior to that, she served as Vice President, Global Head of Clinical Development and Therapeutic Area Head for Ophthalmology at Novartis Pharmaceuticals leading a group of clinical scientists and ophthalmologists that designed and executed Phase 1 to Phase 4 clinical trials with novel biologics, gene therapies, small molecules, and digital therapeutics for ophthalmic indications, such as wet AMD, geographic atrophy, retinitis pigmentosa and dry eye.
Dr. Zamiri received her medical degree from the King’s College Hospital, University of London, and did her ophthalmology residency at the North Thames Rotation, affiliated with the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. She earned her PhD in ocular immunology for her research on the immune privilege of the subretinal space, conducted at the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a Harvard Medical School affiliated institute.
Karen Adams, B.BBUS, CPA, GAICD, FCC GFIA
Vice President, Finance & Company Secretary
Karen Adams, B.BBUS, CPA, GAICD, FCC GFIA
Vice President, Finance & Company Secretary
Ms. Adams is directly accountable to the board, through the chair, on all matters to do with the proper functioning of Opthea’s board.
Prior to joining Opthea, Ms. Adams was the Chief Financial Officer of the Victor Smorgon Group in Melbourne.
Ms. Adams has over 20 years of experience in financial management in board‐level positions for private and listed companies in Australia, UK, the US, and Ireland.
Ms. Adams holds a Graduate Degree in Business from Swinburne University and is a member of the Australian Society of Chartered Accountants, Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Company Secretaries. Ms. Adams is also the Company Secretary of the Company’s subsidiary, Vegenics Pty Ltd.
Jeremy M. Levin
Chairman of the Board
Jeremy M. Levin
Chairman of the Board
Dr. Levin held leadership roles in major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and made significant contributions to the industry. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Ovid Therapeutics and Chairman of Opthea. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, was on Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Executive Committee, where he led the transformative “String of Pearls” strategy in immuno-oncology, and held the position of Global Head of Strategic Alliances at Novartis. Dr. Levin holds numerous board positions and serves on the Board and Executive Committee of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) as Emeritus Chairman.
He earned a BA in Zoology, an MA, and a DPhil in Chromatin Structure from Oxford University, followed by medical degrees from Cambridge University, where he won the Kermode Prize for his work on Captopril. In 2019, he published Biotechnology in the Time of COVID-19, detailing the industry’s early efforts to create vaccines and treatments for the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. He was named one of the 60 living pioneers of the industry by Endpoints, one of the 25 most influential biotechnology leaders by Fierce Biotech, and one of the top 3 biotech CEOs by The Healthcare Technology Report. Among other honors are the Albert Einstein Award for Leadership in Life Sciences and the B’nai B’rith Award for Distinguished Achievement.
Kathy Connell, GAICD
Non-Executive Director and Chair of Remuneration Committee
Kathy Connell, GAICD
Non-Executive Director and Chair of Remuneration Committee
Kathy Connell is an internationally recognised healthcare and life sciences leader with deep and broad investment and licensing expertise, delivering a solid track record of value creating deals across pharmaceuticals, medtech, vaccines consumer and digital healthcare for some of the world’s largest companies.
For the past 20 years, Kathy has held senior executive leadership positions in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health sectors specialising in business development, licensing, acquisitions and venture investment, as well as having worked in healthcare and Life Sciences executive search and management consulting with Korn Ferry. During her tenure at Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi, Kathy led external innovation investment, licensing and acquisition across ANZ, with more than $US1B of capital being deployed in Australia with industry, academia, VCs and government organisations. A dedicated advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion, Kathy co-founded Medicines Australia’s Pharmaceutical Australia Inclusion Group (PAIG) – a special working group designed to foster diverse and inclusive corporate cultures and was awarded BioMelbourne Network’s Woman of the Year in 2018 for her leadership in supporting Australia’s high priority strategic growth sectors of biotech, medtech and pharmaceuticals.
Kathy serves as a Non-Executive Director for ASX listed biotechnology company Avecho (drug delivery company), Proto Axiom (biotech investment company with an incubation arm) and BioNSW (Life Sciences industry association) as well as an advisory board member for Flinders University Medical Device Research Institute. Kathy is a registered psychologist, holding tertiary degrees and qualifications in Applied Science, Psychology, Mediation and Law as well as being a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Lawrence Gozlan
Chair of Nominations and Governance Committee
Non-Executive Director
Lawrence Gozlan
Chair of Nominations and Governance Committee
Non-Executive Director
Lawrence Gozlan has 20 years of experience as a leading biotechnology investor and corporate advisor with deep roots in the scientific community. He is the Chief Investment Officer and Founder of Scientia Capital, a specialized global investment fund focused exclusively on life sciences. The Company was founded to provide high level expertise and manage investments for high-net-worth individuals, family offices and institutional investors wanting exposure to the biotechnology industry.
Prior to this, Mr. Gozlan managed the largest biotechnology investment fund in Australia at QIC (“the Queensland Investment Corporation”), an investment fund with over AU$60 billion under management. Earlier in his career, he worked as the senior biotechnology analyst in the equities team at Foster Stockbroking, and gained senior corporate finance experience advising life sciences companies at Deloitte.
He currently serves as a director on several private and public company boards in Australia and the US. Mr. Gozlan holds a Bachelor of Science with Honors from the University of Melbourne.
Sujal Shah
Chair of Audit and Risk Committee
Non-Executive Director
Sujal Shah
Chair of Audit and Risk Committee
Non-Executive Director
Sujal Shah served as President and Chief Executive Officer at CymaBay Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for patients with liver and other chronic diseases from April 2017 until the sale of the company to Gilead Sciences for $4.3 billion in March 2024. Mr. Shah joined CymaBay as Chief Financial Officer in 2012, taking the company public in 2013. Prior to CymaBay, Mr. Shah was a healthcare investment banker for Citigroup from 2010-2012 and Credit Suisse First Boston from 2004-2010, where he was responsible for managing client relationships and executing strategic and financing related transactions for clients focused on life sciences.
Mr. Sujal currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Tvardi Therapeutics and as a Director on the Board of Opthea Limited. He received an MBA from the Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business, where he currently serves on the Business Board of Advisors, and MS and BS degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University.
