Sadik Kassim

Dr. Sadik Kassim has a wealth of experience that he brings to his role as Chief Technology Officer at Vor. He is a cell and gene therapy bioprocessing and translational research expert. Prior to joining Vor, Dr. Kassim served as Executive Director at Kite Pharma where he led the development of manufacturing processes for autologous CAR-T and TCR-based cell therapies. He and his team at Kite led the BLA and MAA filing efforts for Kite’s X-19 product, which is a CD19 CAR-T therapy for Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Before Kite, Dr. Kassim served as Chief Scientific Officer at Mustang Bio, where he was the first employee and oversaw the foundational build-out of the company’s preclinical and manufacturing activities. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kassim was Head of Early Analytical Development for Novartis’ Cell and Gene Therapies Unit, where he and his team contributed to the BLA and MAA filings for Kymriah. Prior to Novartis, Dr. Kassim was a research biologist at the National Cancer Institute, where he worked with Dr. Steven Rosenberg and was involved in early research and CMC projects that led to the development of several first-in-human TCR and CAR-T products, including the CD19 CAR-T therapy that would be developed into Yescarta. Dr. Kassim earned his BS in cell and molecular biology from Tulane University and received his PhD in microbiology and immunology from Louisiana State University. After receiving his PhD, he was a research fellow in the lab of Dr. James Wilson at the University of Pennsylvania’s Gene Therapy Program, where he led the initial discovery and preclinical studies for an AAV8 based gene therapy for familial hypercholesterolemia, a program that is now in the clinic.