Senior Management Team

Mike Andriole

President and CEO

Mr. Andriole became President, CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Chimerix in 2023. and has 22 years of experience in a range of leadership roles with the biotechnology industry.

Prior to becoming President and CEO, Mr. Andriole was Chimerix’s Chief Business Officer and CFO from 2019 to 2023 during which time he led key strategic acquisitions divestitures and capital raising transactions which reprioritized Chimerix’s pipeline and recapitalized the Company.

Prior to joining Chimerix, Mr. Andriole served as CFO of Endocyte, Inc., a leader in developing targeted treatments for prostate and other cancers where he was instrumental in managing the company through a series of strategic transactions culminating in a sale to Novartis for $2.1 billion, including raising nearly $300 million in capital.

Prior to Endocyte, Mr. Andriole spent 16 years at Eli Lilly and Company in a range of financial, marketing and global business development roles.

Mr. Andriole earned a BSBA from Xavier University’s Williams School of Business and an MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Allen Melemed, MD, MBA

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Allen Melemed is the Chief Medical Officer at Chimerix.  Dr. Melemed joined Chimerix from Eli Lily where he has spent more than 20 years dedicated to the clinical development and approval of oncology medicines across a broad range of tumor types including VERZENIO^®, CYRAMZA^®, LARTRUVO^®, ALIMTA^®  and RETEVMO^® among others. Most recently, he served as a Distinguished Medical Fellow and Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs Oncology, North America. In addition to his role at Eli Lilly, Dr. Melemed was an attending physician in pediatric oncology at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine, Riley Children’s Hospital from 1996 to 2012.

Dr. Melemed holds a B.S. in Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Minnesota and a M.D. from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. In addition, he completed his residency in pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at IU School of Medicine. He earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Dr. Melemed has authored dozens of scientific and clinical publications.

Michael A. Alrutz, JD, PhD

Dr. Alrutz joined Chimerix in 2012 and was named Vice President, General Counsel in September 2014. From 2002 to 2011, Dr. Alrutz was counsel to Trimeris, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMS), serving in a variety of in-house positions, most recently as General Counsel. While at Trimeris, Dr. Alrutz had primary responsibility and oversight of the company’s legal department during the development and commercialization of FUZEON^®, a first-in-class viral fusion inhibitor for the treatment of HIV. Dr. Alrutz received his JD from Duke University School of Law and his PhD in molecular biology from the Tufts University Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Roy W. Ware, PhD, MBA

Dr. Ware joined Chimerix in 2007 promoted to Vice President, Chemistry in 2015 and in 2017 was named Chief Manufacturing and Technology Officer. Prior to joining Chimerix, he worked at PharmaCore, Inc. and Scynexis, Inc. (contractor) in the areas of chemical process development and cGMP synthesis for various classes of compounds, including anti-cancer agents. Dr. Ware also contributed to oncology (PI3-kinase inhibitors) and malaria programs during his tenure at Serenex, Inc. where he led a team of medicinal chemists. Dr. Ware worked in the area of drug addiction therapy as a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Triangle Institute International under the direction of Dr. F. Ivy Carroll. He received his PhD from Wake Forest University, MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and BA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Caryn Barnett

Ms. Barnett joined Chimerix in 2020 as Vice President Clinical Operations.  She brings 25 years of clinical development experience with primary focus in Clinical Project Management and Clinical Operations.  Prior to joining Chimerix, Ms. Barnett served as Vice President Clinical Operations for Advanced Accelerator Applications, a Novartis Company where she led the execution of the prostate cancer program and a highly complex Phase 3 program with radioligand therapy.  She was previously with Endocyte, Inc prior to the acquisition by Novartis.  Ms. Barnett also held numerous positions with Eli Lilly and Company where she simultaneously led multiple global Phase 3 oncology trials which led to product approvals.  She has been responsible for global and regional clinical operations, including patient enrollment, protocol development, regulatory inspections, and project management with Novartis and Eli Lilly and Company.  Ms. Barnett has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from West Virginia University and a Master of Science in Nursing from Indiana University.

Michelle LaSpaluto

Michelle LaSpaluto joined Chimerix in 2011 and was named Vice President of Strategic Planning and Investor Relations in 2019. She has over 20 years of experience in a range of financial, accounting and project planning roles. Prior to joining Chimerix, Ms. LaSpaluto was the senior director of accounting at AlphaVax, Inc. and started her career at Coopers & Lybrand in Detroit before transferring to Raleigh with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Ms. LaSpaluto received her MBA from East Carolina University and her B.S. in Accounting from Michigan State University.

Odin Naderer, PharmD

Dr. Naderer joined Chimerix as Vice President of Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Medicine. He brings more than 15 years of clinical pharmacology and development leadership experience in the area of infectious diseases. Dr. Naderer joins Chimerix from GlaxoSmithKline, where he served most recently as Medicine Development Leader and Senior Scientific Director, Infectious Diseases. He previously served as Clinical Pharmacologist in the Antiviral Clinical Pharmacology/Discovery Medicine and Senior Clinical Research Scientist in HIV and Opportunistic Infections. Dr. Naderer has also served most recently as the EFPIA Coordinator for the IMI-funded New Drugs for Bad Bugs Clinical Trial Consortium (COMBACTE) that is being developed in Europe. Dr. Naderer earned a B.S. in Nutrition and Medical Dietetics and his PharmD at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Joshua E. Allen, PhD

Joshua Allen, PhD, joined Chimerix in 2021 as Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Allen discovered the anti-cancer activity of ONC201 and co-invented the imipridone class of compounds. Dr. Allen has continuously advanced the research and development of ONC201 from academic discovery to its registration program, along with the creation and clinical introduction of biologically distinct derivatives. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania. Several research publications, patents, grants, and awards reflect his scientific and entrepreneurial efforts in oncology, including recognition on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Prior to joining Chimerix, Dr. Allen served as Chief Scientific Officer at Oncoceutics. Dr. Allen also serves in advisory roles for disease foundations such as the National Brain Tumor Society and translational medicine programs such as SPARK at Stanford University.

Christopher Jordan

Christopher Jordan joined Chimerix in 2022 as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.  He has more than 30 years of global drug development experience spanning the development process from compound discovery to Phase 3, submission and approval.  Prior to joining Chimerix, Mr. Jordan served as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Endocyte, and then as a Senior Global Program Regulatory Director following the acquisition by Novartis.  In these roles he led the development and execution of the global regulatory strategy for PLUVICTO®, the first radioligand therapy approved for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer, and LOCAMETZ®, the first PET imaging agent approved to select patients for PLUVICTO therapy.  Prior to his roles at Endocyte/Novartis, Mr. Jordan worked at Eli Lilly in roles of increasing responsibility across discovery, project management, clinical research and regulatory affairs.  He also served as an adjunct professor of regulatory affairs at George Washington University from 2017 to 2019. Mr. Jordan earned his Master of Science in Health Science in Regulatory Affairs from George Washington University, and Bachelor Science in Chemistry from Purdue University.