James Bianco, M.D. is a 30-year veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry. In 1991, Dr. Bianco founded CTI Biopharma, Inc. and from 1992 to 2016 was the Chief Executive Officer of CTI Biopharma. During his tenure at CTI Biopharma, Dr. Bianco was responsible for strategic portfolio development and identifying, acquiring, licensing, purchasing, or acquiring through international merger and acquisition, five drug candidates, four of which have since been approved by the FDA and with three receiving accelerated or conditional regulatory approval in the U.S. and/or E.U. Dr. Bianco was responsible for the purchase of pacritinib, a novel Jak2 inhibitor which was partnered with Baxalta for $60 million upfront and $120 million committed Phase 3 clinical trial related expenses. Dr. Bianco designed and implemented the pacritinib PERSIST-2 phase 3 trial which was the basis for its accelerated approval and the subsequent acquisition of CTI Biopharma by SOBI for $1.75 billion. Dr. Bianco earned his M.D. from the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine and completed his residency and chief residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He completed his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) where he was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine, Assistant Member FHCRC and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at a “Hutch” affiliate (SVAMC). He is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Organization of Rare Disease award for the development of Trisenox.