On February 15, 2019 Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq: PHIO) reported that Gerrit Dispersyn, Dr. Med. Sc., currently President and COO, has been appointed by the Board of Directors as the Company’s new CEO, effective March 1 (Press release, Phio Pharmaceuticals, FEB 15, 2019, View Source [SID1234533352]). He will succeed Geert Cauwenbergh, Dr. Med. Sc., who will retire as CEO of the Company. Dr. Cauwenbergh will be available to support the transition and will remain as a member of the Board of Directors.

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Dr. Cauwenbergh was elected President and CEO of Phio Pharmaceuticals when the business was spun-off from its parent company, then known as Galena Biopharma, Inc., in April 2012. He was also elected to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. During his tenure, he has helped guide Phio Pharmaceuticals from a platform company with products in dermatology and ophthalmology to a company developing groundbreaking immuno-oncology therapeutics.

Robert Bitterman, Chairman of the Board, said, "We are very grateful for Dr. Cauwenbergh’s past leadership, energy and vision and we are pleased he will remain a member of the Board of Directors to continue to offer guidance based on his extensive experience in the health care sector."

Prior to his current role, Dr. Dispersyn was elected Chief Development Officer of the Company in April 2017. Over the past two years, Dr. Dispersyn has provided exemplary leadership to the research and development team at Phio Pharmaceuticals. He has been a catalyst in Phio Pharmaceuticals’ transformation into an immuno-oncology therapeutics company and has been instrumental in finalizing the clinical work in its dermatology and ophthalmology programs, with the closure and report-out of various successful clinical studies.

Dr. Cauwenbergh commented, "I am very happy that Dr. Dispersyn has accepted this new responsibility as CEO of Phio Pharmaceuticals. Since joining the Company, Gerrit has demonstrated leadership, team-building capability and an ability to relate to our shareholders and the rest of our Board. As a continuing member of the Board of Directors, I look forward to working with Dr. Dispersyn to help him build our Company into one of the leaders in immuno-oncology. Our recent financing provides cash into the third quarter of 2020 and creates a stable foundation for Dr. Dispersyn to carry out Phio’s mission."

Dr. Dispersyn said, "I’m extremely excited and feel privileged to be appointed the next CEO of Phio Pharmaceuticals. I want to thank the Board of Directors for their vote of confidence in appointing me to this role. I look forward to advancing Dr. Cauwenbergh’s vision to develop a very promising next generation of immuno-oncology therapeutics based on our self-delivering RNAi platform."