Who is Nucleus RadioPharma?

Stephen M. Hahn, M.D. is the Chief Executive Officer and Board Member at Nucleus RadioPharma and brings more than two decades of distinguished leadership in biotechnology, government, healthcare strategy, oncology medical practice, and translational/clinical research to this role. He served as the 24th Commissioner of Food and Drugs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2019 to 2021 overseeing both COVID and non-COVID regulatory affairs, including therapeutics and vaccine development, devices, diagnostics, and clinical trials. Most recently, from 2021 to 2025, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Harbinger Health, a cancer diagnostics biotechnology company.

Prior to his FDA appointment, Steve served as chief medical executive at the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Prior to his role as chief medical executive, he served as deputy president and chief operating officer, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the nation’s top cancer center, which included leading more than 21,000 employees and overseeing a $5.2 billion operating budget. Steve was elevated to the role of Chief Operating Officer after serving as division head, department chair, and professor of Radiation Oncology. Prior to his executive leadership roles at MD Anderson, Dr. Hahn was the Chair of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Steve focused his translational research efforts on the evaluation of the tumor microenvironment, signal transduction pathways involved in tumor response to therapies and proton therapy. He has authored more than 220 peer-reviewed original research articles and has experience in medical product development.

Steve earned his M.D. from Temple University and received his B.A. in Biology from Rice University. He was an internal medicine resident at the University of California San Francisco before completing a fellowship and residency at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Geoffrey B Johnson, M.D., Ph.D. is founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Nucleus RadioPharma. Dr. Johnson is board-certified in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine and recently rotated out of an 8-year tenure as Chair of Nuclear Medicine at Mayo Clinic. Under his leadership, Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN has become the largest theranostic center in the world, averaging 40 therapies per week for 2023.

Dr. Johnson now serves as Associate Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC) and as Chair of Radiopharmaceutical Therapy.

Dr. Johnson was the top-recruiting physician in the MCCCC in 2022 and has enrolled over 140 patients on radiopharmaceutical cancer therapy trials in the last 3 years, serving as overall PI and local PI. He also serves as Co-PI on multiple active theranostic trials.

Dr. Johnson is a co-inventor of Alpha-PET Double-L.E.T. theranostic technologies, the first of which is now licensed to Perspective Therapeutics.

He served as Medical Director of the Nuclear Medicine Technology Program, Program Director of the Nuclear Radiology Fellowship Program, and Chair of PET/MR research and development committee.

Dr. Johnson earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving Tau Beta Phi academic honors. He completed his M.D./Ph.D. in the Mayo Medical-Scientist Training Program as the Davis Physician-Scientist Scholar. He completed postdoctoral training in immunology and surgery in the Mayo Graduate School. He went on to complete an internship in internal medicine, a residency in diagnostic radiology and a fellowship in nuclear radiology in Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education.

In recognition of his work, Dr. Johnson has received awards and honors, including the Roentgen Resident Research Award and the Honored Educator Award twice, conferred by the Radiological Society of North America; Physician/Scientist of the Year, conferred by Mayo School of Health Sciences; and the Carman Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice, conferred by the Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Johnson is active in research and education, garnering more than 30 awards with trainees on projects at national and international meetings. Dr. Johnson’s memberships with 13 professional organizations include the AAI, ACR, ABR, ARRS, RSNA, ASNC, SNMMI and STR.

Jami M. DeBrango-Palumbo is the Chief Technical Operations Officer of Nucleus RadioPharma, bringing over 25 years of global leadership in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and molecular diagnostics. Most recently, as President of SIH Consulting LLC., she partnered with academic and life sciences organizations to strengthen leadership—and optimize complex technical, laboratory, and manufacturing operations—while empowering teams with a singular focus: to deliver transformative therapies that improve and save patients’ lives.

She has held senior executive positions at leading life sciences organizations, including Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Client Services at Foundation Medicine, Global Head of Sequencing Operations at Roche, President and General Manager of Operations at Roche Biologics, and Vice President and Officer of Global Regulatory and Supply Chain Programs at Genentech. Earlier in her career, she held pivotal and expanding leadership roles at Genentech, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, and Biogen-Idec, working across multiple functions with increasing responsibility. Her career has spanned several continents, giving her a deep appreciation for leading in a global industry and the ability to drive impact in an interconnected world.

As CTOO, Jami leads and scales technical operations as the organization evolves into a multi-site, commercially focused, best-in-class radiopharmaceutical manufacturing network. Her leadership encompasses cGMP manufacturing, supply chain, facilities, EHS, engineering, CAPEX/construction, quality, process excellence, program management, technical development, and enterprise-wide systems.

Recognized for her impact, Jami was named to the San Diego Business Journal’s “Leaders of Influence in Life Sciences” list. She attended The College of Saint Rose and holds advanced credentials and executive certifications from UC San Diego, MIT, and London Business School.

Beyond her professional achievements, Jami is deeply committed to community service. She co-founded Kristin’s Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to domestic violence awareness and prevention, and has served on the Hollings Cancer Center Board of Advisors at the Medical University of South Carolina since 2013.

Throughout her career, Jami has built and led high-performing global organizations with strength, vision, and a people-first philosophy, always focused on advancing innovation and delivering transformative therapies that improve and save patients’ lives.

Dr. Kimberly Blackwell is a pioneering oncology leader and breast cancer researcher recognized as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for her groundbreaking work developing targeted therapies—such as lapatinib and T-DM1—for HER2+ breast cancer. With more than 20 years of experience in drug development and clinical innovation, she is the Founder of Key Oncology Consulting, advising early-stage biotech companies on precision oncology and transformative therapeutic strategies.

Previously, Dr. Blackwell served as CEO and Board Member of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, advancing novel therapies for Cyclin E-driven solid tumors, and as Chief Medical Officer at Tempus AI, where she led precision medicine and AI-driven oncology initiatives. She also held senior leadership roles at Eli Lilly, where she was recognized as one of Endpoints News’ “Twenty Extraordinary Women in Biopharma R&D.”

A former faculty member at the Duke University Cancer Institute, Dr. Blackwell has led over 50 clinical trials and co-founded the radiotherapeutics company Cereius. She currently serves on the Boards of Century Therapeutics (Nasdaq: IPSC), Monte Rosa Therapeutics (Nasdaq: GLUE), and Fore Therapeutics.

Akira brings 20 years of US and Global experience as a biotechnology and pharmaceutical consultant and industry leader. His experience includes leading commercial teams, global brand planning efforts, product launch strategies, and cross-functional collaborations that have contributed to market success across diverse therapeutic areas. His career began at Baxter working on Hemophilia. He then moved to Wall Street, covering small and mid-cap biotech companies in equity research. His consulting career which spans data analytics, competitive intelligence, and management and strategy consulting, has included stints in NY, London, and now Los Angeles, along with broad therapeutic exposure, including innovative oncology therapies and diagnostics.

Over the past decade, Akira has focused his attention on helping companies launch effectively in the US and building launch practices emphasizing readiness, launch strategy, commercial operations, commercial analytics, and PMO support, as well as supporting the underlying components of successful launches.

Akira received his MS in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins, and a BA in biochemistry from Harvard College. He enjoys spending time with family and friends, and playing tennis.

Susan L. Drexler is the Chief Financial Officer (ad interim) of Nucleus RadioPharma. Susan is an accomplished CFO with more than 25 years of experience in financial management across development and commercial-stage life science companies. She has extensive expertise in M&A and licensing transactions, financial planning and analysis, and business analytics. Susan has successfully prepared companies for IPOs, managed all aspects of public company financial operations, led multi-million-dollar fundraising efforts, implemented formal cash flow management systems to support strategic objectives, and built strong relationships with investors and financial partners.

Susan earned her BS in Accounting from Albright College and her MBA from the Joseph M Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also a CPA with an active license in the State of Pennsylvania.

Dr Jeremie Calais, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Nuclear Medicine and Theranostics in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He is the director of the UCLA Theranostics Program and the Director of the Clinical Research Program of the Ahmanson Translational Theranostics Division. He is also a faculty member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Institute of Urologic Oncology, and the Physics and Biology in Medicine Graduate Program at UCLA. Dr. Calais earned his medical degree and Master of Science degree at the University of Paris, France.

Dr. Calais is a nuclear medicine physician specialized in cancer imaging and theranostics. His goal is to improve the outcome of patients with cancer through theranostic approaches and the application of knowledge gained from preclinical models and clinical studies.

Dr Calais is also an Associate Editor of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, a Board Member of the Correlative Imaging Council (CIC) of the SNMMI, a Committee Member of the Prostate Theranostics and Imaging Centre of Excellence (ProsTIC), Melbourne, a Member of the SWOG Cancer Research Network and an Advisory Board Member of the Oncidium Foundation, Belgium.

Dr. Iagaru is a Professor of Radiology – Nuclear Medicine and the Chief of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Stanford University Medical Center. He completed medical school at Carol Davila University of Medicine, in Bucharest, Romania, and an internship at Drexel University College of Medicine, Graduate Hospital, in the Department of Medicine in Philadelphia. He began his residency at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, in the Division of Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Iagaru finished his residency and completed a PET/CT fellowship at Stanford University’s School of Medicine in the Division of Nuclear Medicine. His research interests include PET/MRI and PET/CT for early cancer detection, clinical translation of novel PET radiopharmaceuticals, peptide-based diagnostic imaging and therapy, and targeted radionuclide therapy. Since joining the faculty at Stanford in 2007, Dr. Iagaru has received several awards including the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) 2009 Image of the Year Award; AuntMinnie 2016 Best Radiology Image, American College of Nuclear Medicine (ACNM) Mid-Winter Conference 2010 Best Essay Award; 2009, 2014 and 2015 Western Regional SNM Scientist Award; 2011 SNM Nuclear Oncology Council Young Investigator Award; the 2020 Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Distinguished Scientist Award, Western Regional SNM and the 2022 Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Trailblazer Award, SNMMI. Dr. Iagaru published more than 230 papers in peer-reviewed journals, as well as nine book chapters and one book.

Dr. Luke Nordquist is a Medical Oncologist who is recognized for his expertise in Prostate Cancer. He is the Founder and CEO of XCancer® in Omaha, NE.

Dr. Luke completed his Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC with a focus on Prostate Cancer.

Dr. Luke founded his cancer center & research network in 2010. His center, XCancer®, is globally recognized for its contribution to the advancement of therapies for prostate cancer. More than 450 prostate cancer patients from more than 40 states and several countries have traveled to Omaha for their prostate cancer care. To date, Dr. Luke and his team have accrued more than 1500 patients to clinical trials and conducted more than 20 1st-in-World Patients to novel clinical trials for Prostate Cancer.

Dr. Luke and the XCancer® team are also recognized as leaders for their global work with theranostic trials. They have performed over 40 radiopharmaceutical and molecular imaging trials for Prostate Cancer and are consistently referred to as a go-to site for phase 1 trials because of their focus, quality, and exceptional efficiency. His team not only accrued the first patient, but have also accrued the most patients while delivering the highest quality data on the Lu177 PSMA Vision Trial. His team has experience with a multitude of radioisotopes for Prostate Cancer.

Dr. Luke is the Founder of TheranosticTrials.org a digital platform to increase awareness, education and access to theranostic trials globally.

XCancer® has expanded to assist other Community Cancer Centers from coast to coast in conducting novel clinical trials including the strategy and development of Radiopharmaceutical programs that are clinical trials ready. XCancer® is helping assist cancer care as far away as Tanzania, Africa.

Dr. Luke’s philosophy is a trifecta: cience, compassion, and the entrepreneurial spirit.

Martin Pomper is Professor and Chair of Radiology and the Effie and Wofford Cain Distinguished Chair of Diagnostic Imaging at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He received undergraduate, graduate (organic chemistry) and medical degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Postgraduate medical training was at Johns Hopkins, including an internship on the Osler Medical Service, residencies in diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, and a fellowship in neuroradiology. He was on the radiology faculty at Johns Hopkins between 1995 and 2023, with other joint appointments, recently transitioning to UT Southwestern. He is most interested in the development of new imaging and therapeutic agents for cancer, central nervous system disease, and other disorders.

Dr. Oliver Sartor has broad expertise in prostate cancer research extending over a 30-year career and has published over 500 manuscripts in the peer-reviewed literature, the vast majority of which focus on clinical and translational studies in prostate cancer. At last count, his manuscripts have been cited over 50,000 times in the peer-reviewed literature (H-index, 102). Dr. Sartor has served as PI or co-PI of multiple pivotal phase III trials leading to FDA approval of several prostate cancer therapeutics, including samarium-153, radium-223, cabazitaxel, and Lu-177 PSMA-617. These trials have been practice-changing and have helped to shape the current therapeutic landscape in advanced and castration-resistant prostate cancer. In addition, Dr. Sartor continues to co-lead several phase III pivotal trials (i.e. PSMAddition study), including a trial being sponsored by the NCI NRG Cooperative Group (i.e. NRG-009). Furthermore, he is deeply involved in the development of novel therapeutics at the level of multiple other phase I/II trials.

Currently, he is the Medical Oncology Chair of the NRG GU Committee in addition to being the Director of the Transformational Prostate Cancer Research Center at the LCMC Hospitals in New Orleans. He formerly served as Chief of the Genitourinary (GU) Cancer Disease Group at Mayo Clinic (system-wide). He has served on numerous guideline and consensus committees—including those convened by the AUA, AJCC, APCCC, and the Prostate Cancer Working Group (PCWG3/4)—and has served as an ad-hoc consultant to the FDA and MEDCAC.

Dr. Sgouros is Professor and Director of the Radiological Physics Division in the Department of Radiology at Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. He is an author on more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, several book chapters, and review articles. He is a recipient of the SNMMI Saul Hertz Award for outstanding achievements and contributions in radionuclide therapy and the 2024 recipient of the Paul C. Aebersold Award for outstanding achievement in basic science applied to nuclear medicine or molecular imaging. He is a member (2000-) of the Medical Internal Radionuclide Dose (MIRD) Committee of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), which he chaired from 2008 to 2019. He has chaired a Dosimetry & Radiobiology Panel at a DOE alpha-emitters workshop and also an ICRU report committee for ICRU guidance document No. 96 on dosimetry for radiopharmaceutical therapy. Dr. Sgouros is a former member (2012-2017) and chair (2015-2017) of the NIH study section on Radiation Therapeutics and Biology (RTB). Dr. Sgouros is also the founder and principal of Rapid, a dosimetry and imaging services and software products start-up in support of radiopharmaceutical therapy.

Currently, he is the Director of the Transformational Prostate Cancer Research Center at the LCMC Hospitals in New Orleans. He formerly served as Chief of the Genitourinary (GU) Cancer Disease Group at Mayo Clinic (system-wide). He has served on numerous guideline and consensus committees—including those convened by the AUA, AJCC, APCCC, and the Prostate Cancer Working Group (PCWG3/4)—and has served as an ad-hoc consultant to the FDA and MEDCAC.

Lisa Jenkins VanLuvanee, Ph.D., is the Chief Operating Officer & Vice President of Research and Development at Facet Life Sciences. Dr. VanLuvanee has almost 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry. She specializes in product, program, and business R&D strategy; CNS, ophthalmic, and PET radiopharmaceutical product development; trial design, endpoint selection, and analysis; and FDA interactions. She has provided US strategic program and product guidance, tactical support, and content review for hundreds of products over the course of her career.

Prior to her position at Facet, Dr. VanLuvanee served as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington as a research psychologist studying normal and diseased aging. Several years later, she joined Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as Principal Statistician and then transitioned to Senior Manager of Regulatory Affairs. Dr. VanLuvanee gained much of her regulatory strategy experience at Wyeth working on venlafaxine, desvenlafaxine, sonata, and methylnaltrexone. She received the Wyeth Team of the Year Award twice and the “Above and Beyond Award” four times in a six-year stretch. After seven years at Wyeth, she joined Kendle International, Inc.: a clinical trial organization (CRO) headquartered in the Midwest. In the roles of Associate Director and Regulatory Group Leader at Kendle, Dr. VanLuvanee led numerous New Drug Application (NDA) and Biologic License Application (BLA) teams which resulted in successful U.S. filings and subsequent approvals. Dr. VanLuvanee also led regulatory affairs, biometrics, and medical writing teams as the Director of Strategic Regulatory Services at ISI (a regulatory submissions company acquired by CSC, Inc. in 2010).

Dr. VanLuvanee received her bachelor’s degree from Juniata College, her Ph.D. from Syracuse University, and completed a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. She served as Deputy Editor of DIA’s Therapeutic Innovation and Regulatory Science journal from 2015-2017. She has published in a multitude of peer-reviewed industry journals, including Global Forum, Neurology, Journal of Neurology, Psychology and Aging, has presented at numerous industry conferences (RAPS and DIA Annual Meetings). She was awarded by PharmaVoice as one of the 100 most inspiring people in 2015.