Ernest Bognar

Ernie is Gradalis' Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Gradalis, Ernie was General Manager of Dendreon Corporation’s manufacturing facility in Hanover, New Jersey which was developed to meet the anticipated clinical and commercial manufacturing needs for PROVENGE (sipuleucel-T) and other active immunotherapy product candidates in development.

Prior to Dendreon, Ernie served as Vice President of Manufacturing at Apptec Laboratory Services where he managed and grew a mammalian cell-based contract manufacturing business unit. Prior to that, he was Senior Director Commercial Manufacturing for ImClone Systems Inc., where he managed a biopharmaceutical start-up operation that produced the company's monoclonal antibody, ERBITUX (cetuximab) Injection for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

Ernie also served as Manufacturing Head at Baxter Healthcare's Hyland-Immuno Division for the production of Recombinate® (FactorVIII) and held key manufacturing positions at Cellex Biosciences, Verax, Charles River Biotech, KC Biological and Ayerst Research Laboratories. He received his Bachelor's of Science degree in in vitro cell biology from the State University of New York of Arts and Sciences at Plattsburgh and his Cell Biology Certificate from W. Alton Jones Cell Science Center in Lake Placid, NY.