MaxCyte Leadership
Maher Masoud
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Masoud was named President and Chief Executive Officer of MaxCyte in January of 2024. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including 17 years as an attorney and general counsel, to his new role at MaxCyte. Mr. Masoud has most recently served as Executive Vice President, Head of Global Business Development, and Chief Counsel at MaxCyte. During his tenure, MaxCyte’s strategic platform license (SPL) partnerships grew to include 29 partners (as of September 2024).
Mr. Masoud started his biopharmaceutical career as a research associate with Glen Research, a Maravai company, before joining Human Genome Sciences as Director and Corporate Counsel, overseeing legal activities for the company’s global clinical trials, until its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to joining MaxCyte, he oversaw the operations of six business subsidiaries at Wellstat, a life science holding company. During his tenure at Human Genome Sciences and Wellstat, Mr. Masoud supported the launch of three FDA approved therapies, Benlysta®, Vistogard® and Xuriden®.
Mr. Masoud earned his Juris Doctor degree from Michigan State University College of Law after completing his Bachelor of Science degree in cell and molecular biology genetics at the University of Maryland.
Maher Masoud
President and Chief Executive Officer
Douglas Swirsky
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Swirsky is a seasoned financial leader with more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare sector, including as a public company executive at Nasdaq-listed organizations. He previously held various executive leadership positions at several biotechnology companies including AavantiBio, Rexahn Pharmaceuticals and GenVec. He also worked in the investment banking industry at Stifel Nicolaus, Morgan Stanley, UBS, PaineWebber and Legg Mason. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Cellectar Biosciences.
Mr. Swirsky is a certified public accountant and CFA® charterholder. He received a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Boston University.
Douglas Swirsky
Chief Financial Officer
Jay Gelfman
Senior Vice President of Operations
Mr. Gelfman’s diverse experience as a cross-functional finance, information technology and operations leader has allowed him to guide numerous organizations through successful business transformations over the past 25 years. Previously, he was the Vice President of Finance at MaxCyte after serving in several leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Innate Pharma, AstraZeneca, MedImmune and Accenture.
Mr. Gelfman earned a Master of Business Administration in finance and information systems from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business after receiving a Bachelor of Science in finance from the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University.
Jay Gelfman
Senior Vice President of Operations
Ana-Paula Martins Fernandes
Senior Vice President, Global Sales
Ms. Fernandes has over 30 years of global commercial leadership and general management experience in the life sciences industry. She has launched and scaled businesses across multiple continents, introducing disruptive tools that have advanced research, diagnostics, and treatment - leading to new diagnostics tests, drug targets, and novel therapies. Before joining MaxCyte, she held senior leadership roles at Azenta Life Sciences, Roche Diagnostics, Precision NanoSystems (now Cytiva), Mettler-Toledo Rainin, and Life Technologies (Applied Biosystems/Thermo Fisher Scientific). With expertise in building high-performing teams and developing go-to-market strategies, she has driven commercial growth through data-driven and eCommerce business models.
Ms. Fernandes excels in strategic turnarounds, operational excellence, and customer-centric execution. She holds an MBA from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and a B.S. in Business Administration from Universidade Paulista (UNIP).
Ana-Paula Martins Fernandes
Senior Vice President of Global Sales
Founder
Doug Doerfler
Founder
Mr. Doerfler founded MaxCyte in 1999 as one of three cofounders who started MaxCyte to commercialize flow electroporation technology and served as the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer through 2023. He has more than 35 years of experience in biotechnology product and company development, commercialization and international financing. Previously, Mr. Doerfler was President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Immunicon Corporation and also held various executive leadership positions with Life Technologies (now Thermo Fisher Scientific). He is an active life sciences industry advocate, serving as Chair Emeritus on the Tech Council of Maryland and member of the executive committee for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).
Doug Doerfler
Founder
