CLL Society Board of Directors
Solid, generous, grounded, experienced, compassionate, and business savvy, CLL Society’s Board of Directors fortifies CLL Society’s foundation and directs its laser focus towards actualizing our mission.
Steven Bloom
President & Chair
Steven Bloom is a seasoned executive with 35 years of experience across multiple health care business models. Steve started his career at Eli Lilly and Company where he worked in many senior level roles including PROZAC USA Marketing Leader and Executive Lead in Corporate Affairs, which included patient advocacy and allied development. Steve left Lilly to help start up companies Inflexxion (addiction services) and Pharmetrics (health outcomes and patient level analytics) build and scale their business models as the executive responsible for Commercial Planning, Corporate Development, and Corporate Strategy. Pharmetrics was subsequently acquired by IMS Health in 2005. Steve joined ZIOPHARM Oncology (ZIOP) as SVP of Corporate Development and Commercial Planning and led the effort to build a business in both the sarcoma and lymphoma disease areas. Steve then served as Chief Strategy Officer at VERASTEM Oncology (VSTM) where his team led the effort to acquire duvelisib, which was approved by the FDA in September 2018 for CLL and FL. Steve was the Chief Business Officer at Boston Pharmaceuticals where he helped the company with commercial and business development strategy. He currently serves as Chief Business Officer of Vincerx. Steve graduated from Northeastern University College of Pharmacy in 1984 and has been an American Cancer Society Road to Recovery driver since 2008.
Sandy Bihlmeyer, MEd
Secretary
Ms. Bihlmeyer received her Master of Education in Community Counseling from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She worked the first 13 years of her career in mental health and social services in a variety of settings and organizations including those serving victims of domestic violence, adults with mental illness, and children with varying needs. She then moved into the area of continuing medical education (CME) for primary care and family medicine healthcare providers, and has spent the last 20 years in this field. She is currently the Senior Project Manager at the National Association for Continuing Education (NACE), an accredited provider of continuing medical education. Ms. Bihlmeyer is originally from Ohio, has lived on both the east and west coasts, and is happily back in the Midwest. In her free time, she likes to cook and invent recipes, and Midwest weather allowing, she likes to garden, camp, and be outdoors.
Rick Heinick
Drug developer and leader in the life sciences industry. CEO and Chairman of SLAM BioTherapeutics, an oncology company developing a platform of first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and bispecifics aimed at transforming outcomes for patients with life-threatening cancers. CLL cancer survivor and active patient advocate.
Serves as a board member and investor across the pharmaceutical, medical device, oncology, and ophthalmology sectors. Current roles include board member and investor in cardiology company UltraSight Medical, as well as ophthalmic companies NanoDrops and Lentechs. Has also invested in and advised dozens of early-stage life science companies alongside leading venture partners.
Previously served as an executive and officer at Bausch + Lomb, where he helped lead the company’s transformation culminating in an $8.7 billion sale. Former CEO and board member of RxSight (formerly Calhoun Vision), now a publicly traded company.
Co-authored The Merger Dividend, published in Harvard Business Review. Featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Chief Executive Magazine, and Pharmaceutical Executive.
Holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a Master of Management from McGill University.
Raquel Izumi, PhD
Raquel Izumi, PhD, is a seasoned clinical development scientist with an extraordinary record of advancing therapies from early-stage research through regulatory approval. Her contributions to the CLL field are significant. As a co-founder and senior executive at Acerta Pharma, she played a foundational role in the clinical development of acalabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor that has become a critical treatment option for many individuals living with CLL. Earlier in her career at Pharmacyclics, she contributed to clinical programs that led to FDA Breakthrough Designation and ultimately the approval of ibrutinib for CLL and mantle cell lymphoma.
Dr. Izumi currently serves as Acting CEO of Vincerx Pharma, where she continues to lead clinical development and operations across multiple oncology programs. She holds a doctorate in Microbiology and Immunology from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from UC Santa Barbara, and is a prolific author of peer-reviewed scientific literature.
Susan O’Brien, MD
Susan O’Brien, MD is the associate director for Clinical Science at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the medical director of the Sue and Ralph Stern Center for Cancer Clinical Trials and Research, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Hematology and Oncology, and the endowed chair of Cancer Clinical Science at University of California, Irvine. She earned her medical degree from and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (currently known as the Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences). She completed her fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX where she spent over 30 years of her career advancing science in cancer, specifically in the field of leukemia.
Dr. O’Brien is an internationally recognized leader in the research of treatments for both acute and chronic lymphocytic leukemias and an expert on several important therapies that are presently used as the standard of care for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Her work is credited with improving cure rates for these blood cancers. She is routinely recognized on America’s Top Doctors, Super Doctors and America’s Top Doctors for Cancer. She has been a principal investigator and driving force behind more than 100 funded clinical research protocols, 30 invited articles, numerous book chapters and abstracts, and has authored more than 900 articles in peer-reviewed journals. In 2020, she was named the Giant of Cancer Care in Leukemia for sustained contributions in the field. She is the Hematology Executive member of SWOG and the President of the Society of Hematologic Oncology (SOHO).
Kirk Taylor, MD
Dr. Kirk Taylor is a biotech and pharmaceutical executive with over 26 years of experience in drug development and product launches. He has successfully launched products in CLL, bladder cancer, NSCLC, multiple sclerosis, ophthalmology, migraine, hemophilia, and pain. His passion for patients and people is evident in his work in healthcare equity, diversity in clinical trials, care for the care givers and higher level educational opportunities for at risk youth. He is currently the Chief Medical Officer, EVP at Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics in Burlington, MA, working on a late stage treatment for ALS and Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Taylor received his BA from Harvard College, MD from SUNY Downstate, Neurology Training from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and post doc training in neuropathic pain and headache from UCSF. He has completed executive leadership training from Columbia, Stanford, INSEAD, Berkeley and Harvard Business Schools. He is on the Board of Directors for the Augustus A White III Healthcare Equity Institute and the Board of Advisors for Bottom Line.
