As Founder of IO Biosciences Dr. Popma brings more than 25 years of experience in research and delivering innovative solutions in cell therapy combination product development in both academic and commercial settings to his role as CEO, President, and Founder of IO Biosciences, Inc. Prior to starting IO Biosciences, Inc., Dr. Popma provided consulting for startup and early development companies focused on cell therapies and gene modified cell therapies. Specifically, he served as a translational research expert instrumental in designing and guiding work streams and value creation strategies. Additionally, Dr. Popma served 7 years as the Scientific Director (Gene Modified Cell Therapy and Cell Therapy) for Janssen R&D, at the forefront of pre-clinical and clinical CAR T cell therapy development programs in Immunology, Biomarkers, Clinical Imaging, and Surgical Technology. He was also a founding member of a high performance, multi-million cell therapy venture within Johnson & Johnson in 2005 and led cell therapy related immunology research. He became Scientific Leader within the cell therapy product team and was responsible for preclinical and clinical immunology, biodistribution, biomarkers, and surgical drug delivery development. In his early career, Dr. Popma succeeded as part of the Clinical Cell and Vaccine Production Facility at the University of Pennsylvania developing and producing clinical cell therapies. In addition, Dr. Popma has extensive experience in xenotransplantation and visionary project leadership.

Dr. Popma holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences – Immunology from University of Groningen – Netherlands in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania. He also received a bachelor of science in Immunology from Hanzehogeschool College – Netherlands and a bachelor of science in Microbiology from the Leeuwarden Laboratory School – Netherlands. He is the author of over 40 publications and is an active invited speaker, presenter, and panelist within the global scientific community.