David A. Carmel

David A. Carmel is Vice President and Head of Immunotherapy at Atara Biotherapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing meaningful therapies for patients with severe and life-threatening diseases. He leads Atara’s efforts in its collaborations with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Queensland Institute for Medical Research to develop and commercialize allogeneic T-cell therapies for the treatment of certain cancers and persistent viral infections.

Prior to joining Atara, Mr. Carmel was a Co-Founder and Principal of Carmel Asset Management, an investment partnership where he was responsible for life science investments. Previously, he led corporate development for StemCyte, Inc., a cell therapeutics company with operations in the U.S., Taiwan, and India. He worked on the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, a ballot initiative approved by voters in 2004 that provided $3 billion to fund stem cell research. Earlier, he worked in U.S. Planning and Business Development at Pfizer, Inc., and at Independence Technology, a division of the Johnson & Johnson Corporation. Mr. Carmel served as the White House Fellow for the Secretary of the Treasury from 2002 to 2003. Mr. Carmel earned a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.