Tom Spencer, PhD

Chief Technical Officer

Tom Spencer, PhD is a process scientist with a passion for bringing unique biological treatments from the bench to the bedside and to patients in need. Tom has deep expertise in biological manufacturing and operations with over twenty years of experience building and leading teams across industry, academia, and clinical institutions. He has spent the last 15 years working in the cell therapy space, most recently at Ziopharm Oncology, where he established the Cell Therapy Technical Operations Team, manufacturing autologous TCR T-cell products to treat a variety of solid tumors.   

Prior to that, he managed the Analytical and Process Sciences Group at Novartis, supporting the approval and commercial launch of Kymriah®. His first cell therapy experience occurred at Tengion Inc, overseeing the manufacturing and development of cutting-edge regenerative medicine products. Tom’s formative industry years include stints at Biogen, Covance Biotechnology Services, Life Technologies and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He earned his bachelors and doctoral degrees from Virginia Tech in biochemistry.

Tom is a father of five who enjoys long cross-country drives with his wife to see the sights and his large extended family, along with an occasional game of golf.