Ulf Ellervik

Co-founder, board member, responsible for R&D and patents

Ulf is Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry at Lund University.

Helena Strevens

Co-founder, board member, medical advisor

Helena is Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Skåne University Hospital and holds an MD and PhD from Lund University.

Julie Waras Brogren

CEO

Julie Waras Brogren holds M.Sc. in International Business Administration and Finance from Copenhagen Business School and Ecole de Management de Lyon, France. She has over 20 years of life science experience from leadership positions in pharma and medical device companies. She joined Gedea Biotech from a position as Deputy CEO, Chief Commercial and Chief Financial Officer at Ascelia Pharma. Her experience spans product strategy, global product launches, business development, finance and fundraising from both smaller and larger organisations. Having lived, worked, and studied in Sweden, Denmark, France, Brazil, Canada, the US and Hong Kong, she has a global perspective. She also has experience as member and chair of the Board of Directors in early-stage life science companies.

Per-Ola Forsberg

CFO

Per-Ola holds a degree in business administration from Lund University. He has served as CFO at Pharmiva AB, WntResearch AB, Idogen AB, LIDDS, Lund University Bioscience, and Probi AB. At Probi, he also held the role of Vice President, overseeing the company’s business operations.

Per-Ola has more than 25 years of experience in financial management within the life science industry.

Annette Säfholm 

Business Developer

Annette holds a PhD in Medicine from Lund University, a Master’s degree in Medical Biology from Linköping University, and an Executive MBA from Executive Foundation Lund (EFL). She has more than ten years of experience in project management and business development within privately held and publicly listed biotech companies, as well as in the healthcare sector.

Sten Kornfält

Clinical Project Manager

Sten holds a Degree of Master of Science in Pharmacy from University of Uppsala. He has held positions as clinical trials manager and project manager for over 25 years. He has extensive experience from developing pharmaceutical products and medical devices.

Rob Swinnen

RA/QA Director

Rob holds a Master’s degree in Biomedicine from Lund University and has more than ten years of experience in regulatory affairs within both the pharmaceutical industry and medical device start-ups.
In these roles, he has been responsible for regulatory strategies, quality assurance activities, and manufacturing processes.

Eva Norell

Marketing and Communications Manager

Eva has a Master’s Degree in Politics and Economics from Linköping University. She has held positions as Key Account Manager, Communications Manager and Marketing Manager for over 20 years. She has an extensive experience from sales, marketing and communication in both pharma and medical device industries.

Emilia Lahtinen

Industrial Doctoral Student

Emilia holds a Master of Science in Translational Medicine from the University of Helsinki. In her doctoral project, she is using advanced sequencing techniques coupled with computational pipelines, machine learning and mathematical modelling to determine the microbial etiology of bacterial vaginosis and factors associated with successful, antibiotic-free treatment with pHyph.

Ton Berkien

Chairman of the board

Ton holds a B.Econ from Saxion University of Applied Sciences and a Life Science industry Diploma from PwC / Harvard Business School / IMD. Ton Berkien’s expertise is within in leadership, business development and M&A. Since October 2024, he is Chief Business Officer at Cantargia and prior to that he held the same position at  Ultimovacs ASA (Norway). Further he has experience from, among others, Takeda / Nycomed as Sr. Director of Corporate Development and M&A.

Ulf Ellervik

Co-founder, board member, responsible for R&D and patents

Ulf is Professor of Bioorganic Chemistry at Lund University. His research is focused on design and synthesis of carbohydrates in biological systems. Apart from the commitment in Gedea AB, he is founder of Molecular Knowledge AB, as well as an author of popular science.

Helena Strevens

Co-founder, board member, medical advisor

Helena is Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Skåne University Hospital and holds an MD and PhD from Lund University. As Medical Officer at Gedea, she is responsible for clinical trials and matters regarding use of the product. Helena has many years of experience in treating vaginal infections and their complications in clinical work.

Caroline Mofors

Board Member

Caroline holds a Master of Laws and a post-master’s degree from the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas. She is Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at BioGaia AB (publ).

Previously, she has held senior legal and executive roles in large international companies within highly regulated sectors. Caroline has more than 20 years of experience in corporate governance, regulatory affairs, sustainability, and commercial agreements.

Stina Gestrelius

Board Member

Stina has a PhD in applied biochemistry and has 40 years of experience in research, development, management and board work in Scandinavian life science companies. As an entrepreneur, Stina has worked with research, development, manufacturing and regulatory issues within Biora AB. Stina has also been Vice President of Medicon Valley Alliance and offers evaluation services to RDI sponsors via SigridScience.

Berit Lindholm

Board Member

Berit holds a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from Uppsala University. Previously, she has served as CEO of Bluefish Pharmaceuticals and SIQ, and as VP Operations and Managing Director at Fresenius Kabi.  Sha has about 25 years of experience from AstraZeneca in various global leadership roles, with a strong background in commercial strategy, supply chain management, and business development.

Paan Hermansson

Board Member

Paan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economic History from Lund University and has more than 20 years of experience in the medical device industry. His expertise spans business development, strategy, and commercial execution.

He is currently CEO of Suturion and serves as a Board Member of Invent Medic AB. Paan has a background in the Swedish Armed Forces and has held international leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson.