Leadership

Dr. Kim D. Kjøller joined UNION in 2021. He brings more than 20 years of experience from various senior executive positions in the pharmaceutical industry, of which the last 10 years were in dermatology.

Before joining UNION, Kim was EVP and Head of R&D at LEO Pharma. Kim previously held senior positions in Strategic Marketing, Medical Affairs, Global Development and General Management at Sanofi, Lundbeck, and Sanofi Pasteur MSD.

Kim is an MD from Copenhagen University and has authored and co-authored over 35 scientific publications and given presentations at both scientific and pharmaceutical marketing meetings globally.

Rasmus Toft-Kehler is co-founder of UNION. Rasmus has extensive leadership and strategic development experience from founding and building companies in the life science industry, and he is co-founder and board member of multiple companies.

Before going into biotech, Rasmus worked in investment banking and in management consulting, and acted as board member of a family-owned company that was sold in 2005.

Rasmus has published research in leading entrepreneurship and scientific journals such as Journal of Business Venturing and Nature Reviews Microbiology.

Rasmus holds a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship from Copenhagen Business School and executive education from Harvard Business School.

Morten H. Boesen joined UNION in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to UNION, Morten worked with EQT, the largest private equity fund in the Nordics, initially as an investment professional and subsequently as an executive director in the EQT-owned global retailer Flying Tiger Copenhagen, where he held responsibility for strategy, business development as well as global commercial and supply chain operations.

Earlier in his career, Morten worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, in the M&A advisory group of Nordea Bank and in the finance department of Novozymes, the world leader in industrial biotech.

Morten holds an M.Sc. in Finance and Accounting from Copenhagen Business School and studied at New York University’s Stern School of Business and Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management.

Morten Sommer is the co-Founder of several biotech companies specialized within the fields of drug development, industrial biotech and microbiome research.

Morten is also a Professor and Scientific Director at the Technical University of Denmark with a lab of more than 20 Ph.D.s and Post-Doctorial researchers, working with microbial foods and and the human microbiome.

Morten is a member of the board in Novonesis, Clinical-Microbiomics, SNIPR biome and UTILITY therapeutics.

Morten holds a M.Sc. in Physics from University of Copenhagen and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University from the laboratory of Professor George Church.

Dr. Günter Ditzinger has more than 30 years of pharmaceutical innovation experience spanning early development to product launch at Sanofi and subsequently Novartis.

Before joining UNION in 2020, Günter was Chief Technology Officer at Basilea Pharmaceutica, where he was responsible for pharmaceutical, chemical and analytical development as well as the commercial supply chain at the global level. Günter has played vital roles in the successful development and commercial launch of multiple marketed products: Toctino® in chronic hand eczema, Zevtera® in bacterial infections, and Cresemba® in systemic fungal Infections.

Günter is a Registered Pharmacist and holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

Dr. Lutz Wevelsiep has more than 25 years of experience in international regulatory affairs across Europe and the US within multinational and start-up companies. His experience includes EU decentralized and centralized procedures, product development from Phase I through marketing as well as particular expertise in anti-infectives. Lutz has prepared and managed interactions with all health authorities including the FDA, EMA, and EU national agencies.

Prior to joining UNION, Lutz spent 16 years as Head of Global Regulatory Affairs at Basilea Pharmaceutica. His track record includes the successful European marketing authorization applications for Isavuconazole (Cresmba®), Ceftobiprole (Zevtera®) and Alitretinoin (Toctino®).

Lutz holds a Ph.D. and Postdoc in Chemistry from the Max-Planck Institute in Germany.

Philippe Andres joined UNION in April 2019 and currently holds the position as Medical Lead of Dermatology.  

Philippe Andres has more than 20 years of experience as dermatologist in the pharma industry, most recently as a member of the executive team at Galderma/Nestlé Skin Health. He has a wealth of experience in encompassing early and late-stage developments, scientific communication, and medical affairs. 

During his career, Philippe has been involved in developing and launching multiple approved products, including topicals calcitriol (Vectical®) and adapalene (Differin®), submitted more than 100 patents and has published numerous scientific papers. 

Philippe is an M.D. and Board-Certified Dermatologist from Nantes University, France. 

Danielle Frederiksen joined UNION in September 2020 as Director of Finance.

Danielle brings extensive experience from auditing and controlling in various companies across several industries.

Most recently, Danielle was responsible for the establishment of the Finance function at AJ Vaccines and instrumental in the cultural transformation of the company as part of the Management team. She has worked with Business Finance for 10+ years and prior to that built her “accounting toolbox” as an auditor at KPMG.

Danielle holds a Master of Science in Business Economics and Auditing from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.

Alex Rodriguez joined UNION in 2021 as Head of Toxicology & Non-clinical Safety. Alex brings 21 years of pharmaceutical, clinical diagnostics and vaccine development experience from companies in USA and Europe.

Before joining UNION, Alex spent 18 years at GSK pharma (RTP, NC) & GSK-vaccine divisions (Wavre, Belgium) as nonclinical Scientific Safety Investigator and Global Regulatory Toxicologist. From 2015-2017 he had a tenure as Director of Toxicology & Genetics at Mako Medical Laboratories, Raleigh, NC.

Alex has a broad toxicology and biomarker experience within multiple therapeutic areas, including vaccines, and has managed IND and NDA enabling tox programs at CROs as well as engaging in numerous F2F and written interactions with global regulatory bodies including the FDA, EMA, PMDA, and CFDA/NMPA.

Alex is a board-certified and registered toxicologist in USA (DABT) and Europe (ERT), and holds a BSci in Microbiology from North Carolina State University and MSci from Campbell University School of Pharmacy, NC.