About Us

Dr. Jonathan Arambula is the CEO at OncoTEX Inc. and the co-inventor of TEX Core, a novel oncology platform that is able to develop range of well-tolerated, MRI-detectable cancer therapeutics that target drug-sensitive and drug-resistant solid tumors. The first cancer therapy in development is OxaliTEX, indicated for ovarian cancer.

Dr. Arambula brings decades of experience in oncology research and therapeutics to The iQ Group Global team. He joins The iQ Group Global from the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as a Research Associate and Lecturer focused on the discovery of novel cancer therapeutics in the Department of Chemistry. Prior to that, Dr. Arambula was an assistant professor of Biochemistry at Georgia Southern University. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and served as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at both the University of Texas at Austin and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

With a broad background in accounting, IPOs, capital and debt raising, and business system designs, Mr. Kostandas has extensive experience in finance across a diverse industry base. As a CPA with more than 25 years’ commercial experience in accounting, finance and banking, Mr. Kostandas passionate about the invention and development of life saving biopharmaceuticals becoming a commercial reality.

Dr. Krystle Karoscik is the Director of Development Operations at OncoTEX, Inc., leading the pre-clinical and clinical programs with an integrated strategic approach based on combined industry experience. Her prior work focused on portfolio management for the development of oncology therapeutics. Notably, Dr. Karoscik designed business and optimization models to increase portfolio acquisitions, designed development and commercialization pathways, and lead cross-functional teams to support clinical strategy.

Passionate about research innovation, she earned her doctorate in entrepreneurship and graduate degrees in neuroscience and bioethics, and is the recipient of Innovation Excellence awards for the development of biotech companies from within the university ecosystem. Dr. Karoscik is dedicated to integrating scientific discovery, operations, and corporate strategy to develop life-saving therapeutics.

Mr. Dykstra is an accomplished pharmaceutical manufacturing operations executive with over thirty-five years of experience, a proven ability to successfully direct compliant manufacturing activities, and a demonstrated track record in successfully developing and launching new drugs. Mr. Dykstra has held a number of leadership positions at numerous companies, he was Vice President of CMC for Flexion Therapeutics and worked on development activities supporting the eventual approval of the commercial product Zilretta. He was Senior Vice President at BioDelivery Sciences International where he managed commercial manufacturing partner relationships supporting commercial distribution of Onsolis worldwide. Mr. Dykstra was Vice President of Manufacturing Operations and a member of the Executive Management Committee at IVX Animal Health/Teva. He provided tactical and strategic leadership for over 200 people at four manufacturing, packaging, and distribution facilities. Mr. Dykstra held positions of increasing responsibility at MGI Pharma where he was Senior Director of Manufacturing Operations and oversaw production, planning, validation, distribution, and customer service during a time of rapid growth and multiple product approvals (Aloxi, Dacogen, Salagen, Hexalen). Mr. Dykstra started his career in product development and worked as a scientist for Baxter Travenol, then American Critical Care, and later was a Research Associate and Pilot Plant Manager at DuPont Merck.

Mr. Dykstra has worked for the past 10 years as a consultant in Manufacturing Operations and Drug Substance and Drug Product Development. He has 12 years of experience working in internal pharmaceutical development and manufacturing and more than 20 years of outsourced pharmaceutical development and manufacturing experience. He has a demonstrated track record of developing and launching new drugs and has successfully directed compliant manufacturing activities in many different environments.

Mr. Dykstra provides clients with ongoing advice as a CMC subject matter expert, provides interim leadership of project teams, supervises clinical supply or commercial product production, and drafts or reviews CMC sections for IND and IMPD documents. As a member of a development team, he works to ensure alignment of CMC plans with business strategies and manage CMC programs to integrate clinical considerations in the advancement of therapeutic candidates.

Dr. Stoudemire is an expert in nonclinical development with 25+ years of industry experience in both biotech and well-established pharmaceutical environments.

He specializes in developing novel therapeutics, leading the strategies and execution of programs that support the nonclinical evaluations of drug candidates from lead optimization to initial clinical trials and through to product approval. His areas of expertise include toxicology, ADME, regulatory, and project management.

Dr. Stoudemire has held senior level positions in biotech and pharmaceutical companies including Genetics Institute (Wyeth, Pfizer), Genentech (Roche), Chugai-Roche, and Mirna Therapeutics. Dr. Stoudemire received his PhD at the University of Miami and completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, San Francisco.

As an innovator in his field, Professor Sessler is well known for his ground-breaking work on expanded porphyrins and their applications to biology and medicine. He brings an unprecedented wealth of experience to the OncoTEX Inc. board. Obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with Highest Honors from The University of California, Berkeley Professor Sessler went on to complete his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Stanford University in 1982. Since 1984 Jonathan Sessler has been a Professor of Chemistry at The University of Texas Austin, one of the world’s leading basic and applied research facilities, and currently holds The Doherty-Welch Chair. He has received many awards and recognitions throughout his career. Professor Sessler’s work has been cited more than 37,000 times; his h-index (Web of Science) is 104.

Dr. Zahid is a co-inventor of the Tex Core platform. He is a platinum drug specialist and was one of the original participants in the development of carboplatin in the 1980s. He is currently based out of the MD Anderson Cancer center.

S. Gail Eckhardt, MD is a tenured Professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School where she is also the inaugural Director of the Livestrong Cancer Institutes, Chair of the Department of Oncology, and Associate Dean of Cancer Programs. She has been a faculty member at the institution since January of 2017. Prior to joining UT Austin, Dr. Eckhardt was at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where she was Division Head of Medical Oncology from 2006-2014; Associate Director for Translational Research at the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of the Phase I Program and Fellowship.

Dr. Eckhardt has served on numerous committees/study sections, including the ASCO Molecular Oncology Task Force, the ASCO Board of Directors, the FDA Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee, and the NCI Cancer Centers Study Section. She is a member of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee and serves on 10 External Advisory Boards of NCI designated Cancer Centers, was a lead mentor in ASCO’s Leadership Development Program and currently is a member of the Board of Directors, Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI).

Dr. Eckhardt is the Principal Investigator on grants involving early clinical trials and colorectal cancer research, has conducted numerous phase I and II clinical trials and has published over 200 manuscripts. Her area of interest is in the preclinical and early clinical development of combinations of molecularly targeted compounds, with a laboratory focus on colorectal cancer.

Dr. Eckhardt earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Stephen F. Austin State University and her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. She conducted her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia Medical School followed by a post-doctoral research fellowship in Experimental and Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research Institute, in LaJolla, CA and a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the University of California, San Diego.

Prof. Finch has been involved in various aspects of preclinical cancer drug development for more than 30 years both in academic settings and in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He specializes in animal models of disease and toxicology and has knowledge of the regulatory requirements for advancement of therapeutics through the preclinical development process. He is currently a Professor of Comparative Medicine and the leader of the Preclinical Studies Program at the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research.

Prof. Finch earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Baylor College of Medicine and then studied the pharmacology of cancer therapeutics at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Dr. Bast is the Vice President for Translational Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In this role, he leads broad initiatives to facilitate multidisciplinary collaborations among MD Anderson faculty and with external companies and institutions.

He is the Harry Carothers Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research and holds dual appointments as professor of Experimental Therapeutics and Gynecologic Medical Oncology.

Dr.Bast is a renowned scientist, best known for work in identifying CA125, a protein that ovarian cancer cells shed into the bloodstream that is used in hundreds of thousands of women worldwide to judge the success of treatment. His lab developed the first monoclonal antibodies against ovarian cancer leading to the discovery of CA125. That marker now is being evaluated as part of a screening strategy for early detection of ovarian cancer.

Over the last 15 years, his research group has done pioneering work on identifying other molecular alterations in ovarian and breast cancers that might serve as targets for therapy and diagnostic tests. His most recent studies have focused on DIRAS, a tumor suppressor gene that is a critical switch to induce cancer dormancy.

Dr. Bast earned his medical degree magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School. After completing an internship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, he served as a research associate at the National Cancer Institute. Returning to Boston, Dr. Bast completed a medical residency at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, now Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He joined the faculty at Harvard and later Dana-Farber. Dr. Bast was recruited to the Duke University Medical Center in 1984, where he became the director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1987.

In 1994, Dr. Bast was recruited to MD Anderson to head the Division of Medicine. He was appointed vice president for Translational Research in 2000.

Dr. Bast has published more than 680 peer reviewed articles and book chapters and edited the textbook Cancer Medicine. He continues to care for patients with breast and ovarian cancer and has been listed in the Best Doctors of America and America’s Top Physicians guides.

Dr. Jonathan Arambula is the CEO at OncoTEX Inc. and the co-inventor of TEX Core, a novel oncology platform that is able to develop range of well-tolerated, MRI-detectable cancer therapeutics that target drug-sensitive and drug-resistant solid tumors. The first cancer therapy in development is OxaliTEX, indicated for ovarian cancer.

Dr. Arambula brings decades of experience in oncology research and therapeutics to The iQ Group Global team. He joins The iQ Group Global from the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as a Research Associate and Lecturer focused on the discovery of novel cancer therapeutics in the Department of Chemistry. Prior to that, Dr. Arambula was an assistant professor of Biochemistry at Georgia Southern University. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and served as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at both the University of Texas at Austin and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

S. Gail Eckhardt, MD is a tenured Professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School where she is also the inaugural Director of the Livestrong Cancer Institutes, Chair of the Department of Oncology, and Associate Dean of Cancer Programs. She has been a faculty member at the institution since January of 2017. Prior to joining UT Austin, Dr. Eckhardt was at the University of Colorado School of Medicine where she was Division Head of Medical Oncology from 2006-2014; Associate Director for Translational Research at the University of Colorado Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of the Phase I Program and Fellowship.

Dr. Parmakellis has been a member of the board of directors for GBS since October 2021.
He has a wealth of experience gained over the last 25 years as a medical practitioner, including 10 years as a rural medical practitioner where timely diagnosis and point of care testing is of essence.
Dr. Parmakellis is a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP) and a fellow of the Cosmetic Physicians College Australasia (FCPCA). He also trains and educates Australian Registered Medical Practitioners in the Cosmetic Medical Field. He has been a board of director of GBS Inc. (Nasdaq: GBS) since July 2019.

Dr. Steven Boyages has served as a member of OncoTEX’s board of directors.

He is a practicing clinician in endocrinology with more than 30 years’ experience in medicine, including multiple executive positions.

Dr. Boyages was the foundation director of the Centre for Research and Clinical Policy in NSW Health in 1999, during which he established the Priority Health Programs (receiving $15 million in funding per annum), doubled the Research Infrastructure Grants Program, established the Quality Branch of NSW Health, and was appointed as Clinical Advisor to the Director General to implement the Government Action Plan for Health Reform.
Additionally, Dr. Boyages was instrumental in establishing and securing funding for the NSW biotechnology strategy, BioFirst, a $150 million investment.

Dr. Boyages has been the Chairman of GBS Inc. (Nasdaq: GBS) since October 2020, and he has been the interim CEO of GBS Inc. since November 1, 2021.

Mr. Towers has been a member of our board of directors since October 2021, and he chairs the Audit Committee of the board of directors.

Mr. Towers is a Certified Public Accountant with 13 years’ experience in auditing, accounting, and financial reporting in previous roles held at PwC and Pall Corporation. Since February 2021, he has been the Chief Accounting Officer at Katapult Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: KPLT).

Between September 2014 and February 2021, Mr. Towers was EVP, Chief Accounting Officer and Principal Financial Officer of Newtek Business Services Corp (Nasdaq: NEWT). Since August 2020, he has served as a member of the board of directors at GBS Inc. (Nasdaq: GBS).

Mr. Dimitrios Thanos has been a member of our board of directors since November 2021. He is tax practitioner in public practice.

Born in Sydney, Australia, Mr. Thanos has run his own tax practice since 1994, specializing in tax planning, setting up complex and sophisticated tax structures and tax compliance across all tax structures. His other professional experience including financial planning and 2-years credit risk analyst for Optus Communication (Group Credit & Billing). He also has many years’ experience as a mortgage and finance broker.

Mr. Thanos is a member of National Tax & Accountants Association (NTAA).