Leadership Team

Yuval Cohen, Ph.D., joined Corbus as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer in 2014. Prior to joining Corbus, he was the President and co-founder of Celsus Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CLTX) from 2005 to June 2013. Dr. Cohen has a Ph.D., summa cum laude, from the Curie Institute of Cancer Research in Paris and the University of Paris V.

Dr. Smethurst, MA MRCP, joined Corbus as our Chief Medical Officer in February 2024.  He has over twenty years of experience working with various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, clinical research institutions, and the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). He most recently served as CMO of Bicycle Therapeutics, where he helped advance Nectin-4 investigational drugs through early stage and into late-stage development.  Previously, Dr. Smethurst worked as a consultant advising biopharma companies, providing guidance on clinical development strategies and licensing projects. Prior to that, he served as CMO of Tusk Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company acquired by Roche, where he oversaw development of antibodies targeting CD25 and CD137, among others. Previously, as Vice President Oncology and Global Therapeutic Area Lead at Icon, a global contract research organization, he executed clinical trials involving numerous novel cancer treatments, including CAR-T therapies. Prior to that, Dr. Smethurst held physician leadership roles at AstraZeneca, Amgen and Adaptimmune. Dr. Smethurst is a member of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine. He earned an MBChB with Distinction from Addenbrooke’s Clinical School Cambridge, as well as an MA from Christ’s College Cambridge.

Sean Moran, CPA, joined Corbus in January 2014. He has more than twenty years of senior financial experience with emerging biotechnology, drug delivery, and medical device companies. Mr. Moran has successfully managed operations from start up through development to commercialization and profitability. He has completed three IPOs and has raised more than $500 million of capital. Before joining Corbus, Mr. Moran served as Chief Financial Officer for InVivo Therapeutics, Celsion Corporation, Echo Therapeutics, and Anika Therapeutics. Mr. Moran earned his M.B.A. and a B.S. in Accounting from Babson College in Wellesley, MA.

Christina Bertsch joined Corbus in April 2020. She is an accomplished senior human resource executive providing strategic HR consulting services to both large and small businesses across a variety of industries. Her expertise spans the full employee lifecycle including talent acquisition, workforce development, performance management, succession planning, total rewards as well as employee engagement and retention. In addition to her expertise, Christina also has significant experience in HR strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions, change management, executive coaching & development and building scalable HR infrastructures for growing companies.

Ms. Bertsch has worked with a number of organizations within the life sciences space including Stoke Therapeutics, Jounce Therapeutics, Magenta Therapeutics, Ironwood, Bruker, Merus, and Sarepta Therapeutics. Previous to starting her consulting business she was Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Santander Holdings US, Vice President of Human Resources at Beacon Partners and Director of Talent Management & Development at EMD Serono.

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Manhattanville College, and a Master’s Degree in Industrial / Organizational Psychology from Hofstra University.