Meet the Team

Shorla Oncology was founded by two healthcare entrepreneurs, Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan who worked together previously in senior positions at EirGen Pharma and have a passion for building organizations and developing products to meet unmet needs.

Board of Directors

Sharon Cunningham

Executive Director
CEO & Co-Founder US Based

  • Over 14 years in leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Led EirGen Pharma’s finance function for seven years prior to founding Shorla Oncology.
  • Compliance Officer & member of the SOX disclosure committee for OPKO Health Inc (NASDAQ & NYSE) post acquisition of EirGen Pharma.
  • PwC Qualified Chartered Accountant with an MBA from University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and a BSc in Finance from University College Cork, Ireland.
  • Certificate in Healthcare Innovation from MIT & Harvard Medical School and a Certificate in Healthcare Leadership from Columbia University.
  • Board member at MassBio, the world’s oldest and largest biotech trade association and Young President’s Organization (‘YPO’) Healthcare Business Network.

Orlaith Ryan

Executive Director
CTO & Co-Founder

  • Previously on EirGen Pharma’s Management team, holding senior positions in Analytical, QA & Regulatory Affairs.
  • Led numerous regulatory inspections including FDA, HPRA and Saudi FDA.​
  • Coordinated IND’s, INAD’s and pre-development meetings with FDA for OPKO Health Inc.
  • Primary interface with FDA & EMA on the development and registration of new human (including orphan) and veterinary drugs.​
  • Is a chartered scientist and holds an MSc in Regulatory Affairs from the University of Wales, BSc in Applied Biology with Quality Management from Waterford Institute of Technology & a Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD business school.

Harcharan (Harry) Singh

Non-Executive Director

  • Founder, President and CEO of Glopec International Inc. a privately held international pharmaceutical trading and investment company based in Ontario, Canada.
  • With over 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Harry has been the Founding Director and Strategic Investor in several ventures in India, Canada, Ireland and USA. ​
  • He was previously a non-executive director at EirGen Pharma, Ireland from its inception and has been a Director of Cyanamid India, General Manager and COO of Tata Pharma and Product Group Manager at Warner Lambert Co. subsidiary in India (Warner Hindustan). 

Alan O’Connell

Non-Executive Director

  • Alan is a Partner at Seroba Life Sciences.
  • Prior to joining Seroba, worked at Elan (Dublin), American Biogenetic Sciences, Inc. (New York), and Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (London).
  • Alan has a Ph.D. (neuropharmacology) from the National University of Ireland and has a M.Sc. in pharmacology from the University of London.
  • In addition to the Shorla board, Alan also sits on the boards of Ario Pharma, Crescent Diagnostics and Fusion Pharmaceuticals. He previously sat on the boards of Prexton (acquired by Lundbeck), Veryan (acquired by Otsuka) and Xention (exited via pharma partnerships).

John Moloney

Non-Executive Director

  • John Moloney is Chairman of FTSE 100 listed DCC Plc, and a board member of Smurfit Kappa Group.
  • From 2001 to 2013 he was Group Managing Director of Glanbia Plc, the global Nutrition group.
  • At Glanbia he led the significant expansion of the business into the US. Prior to this, he was CEO of Agribusiness and CEO of Food Ingredients in Glanbia.
  • He is also a Board member and Chairman designate of ABP Food Group, a leading privately held food processor.
  • John’s exceptional track record as a CEO, chairman and non-executive director on a number of listed companies brings key operational, strategic and governance experience.​

Daniel Parera

Non-Executive Director

  • Partner at Kurma Partners SA, co-managing the Kurma Growth Opportunities Fund
  • Prior to joining Kurma was an entrepreneur co-founding a biotech company and having had senior management roles at Novartis AG. For 12 years at Novartis, he lead line functions across three Divisions including Global Franchise Head Strategic Marketing for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Pharma in Switzerland, Global Head of Development, Diagnostics for Vaccines & Diagnostics in CA, USA and Global Head New Product & Portfolio Strategy Biopharmaceuticals for Sandoz in Germany. He oversaw and was involved in multiple collaborations, licensing deals and large acquisitions, global clinical trials, world-wide registrations and commercial launches
  • Previously at McKinsey & Company, Inc.
  • Trained as a Medical Doctor in Germany, Switzerland and the USA and a university scientific co-worker.