# Joanne Smith-Farrell

> Joanne Smith-Farrell is the President and CEO of Be Biopharma, a Cambridge, Massachusetts company building a new class of medicines from engineered B cells - the body's own protein factories. A physicist by training who moved into drug development, she has spent more than 25 years leading teams tackling cancer and rare diseases, most notably building bluebird bio's 400-person oncology cell therapy business behind the CAR-T therapy Abecma. Since taking the helm at Be Bio in early 2021, she has steered the company through more than $350 million in funding as it works to turn B cells into durable, in vivo sources of therapeutic proteins.

- **Role:** President & CEO at Be Biopharma
- **Organizations:** Be Biopharma, bluebird bio, Merck, Pfizer, Gene Logic, The Boston Consulting Group
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Physics and Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, Ph.D. in Physics, The Catholic University of America, Postdoctoral research in Biomedical Engineering, Harvard-MIT Division for Health Sciences and Technology (Robert Langer's lab)
- **Known for:** Built and led a ~400-person oncology cell therapy business unit at bluebird bio, Helped bring Abecma to market, a first-in-class CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma, Leads Be Biopharma in pioneering engineered B cell medicines (BeCMs), a new class of in vivo biologics

## Career timeline

- **Early career** — Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group
- **Earlier** — Executive roles at Gene Logic, VP of Business Development at Pfizer, and VP of Transactions at Merck
- **Through 2020** — Chief Operating Officer and Business Unit Head, Oncology at bluebird bio, building a ~400-person oncology cell therapy business behind Abecma
- **2021** — Appointed President & CEO and Director of Be Biopharma (February 2021)
- **2025** — Company raised a Series C, bringing total funding to roughly $356 million

## Achievements

- Built and led a ~400-person oncology cell therapy business unit at bluebird bio
- Helped bring Abecma to market, a first-in-class CAR-T therapy for multiple myeloma
- Leads Be Biopharma in pioneering engineered B cell medicines (BeCMs), a new class of in vivo biologics
- Steered Be Biopharma through more than $350 million in cumulative financing, including a Series C
- Crossed disciplines from physics to biomedical engineering to drug development and executive leadership

## Latest updates

- **2025-01** — Be Biopharma's latest financing, reported as a Series C, brought total funding to roughly $356 million as the company advances its engineered B cell platform.

## Links

- Website: https://be.bio
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-smith-farrell-b785217

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/joanne-smith-farrell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-16