# Rachel Haurwitz

> Rachel Haurwitz is the President and CEO of Caribou Biosciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company she co-founded in 2011 with Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and colleagues Martin Jinek and James Berger. A pioneer in CRISPR commercialization, Haurwitz earned her PhD from UC Berkeley under Doudna's mentorship — she was the first student in the lab to work on CRISPR — and pivoted from academia to industry to bring genome-editing technology to patients. Under her leadership, Caribou has developed a proprietary Cas12a-based platform (chRDNA technology) enabling precise, multiplex genome editing for off-the-shelf allogeneic CAR-T and CAR-NK cell therapies targeting blood cancers and autoimmune diseases. She also co-founded Intellia Therapeutics in 2014 and has been recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30, Fortune 40 Under 40, and featured in Walter Isaacson's bestseller 'The Code Breaker.'

- **Role:** President and CEO at Caribou Biosciences
- **Organizations:** Caribou Biosciences, Intellia Therapeutics, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
- **From:** Austin, Texas, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A. in Biological Sciences, Harvard College, Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
- **Known for:** Co-founded Caribou Biosciences in 2011, one of the earliest CRISPR-focused biotech companies, Co-founded Intellia Therapeutics in 2014, another leading CRISPR therapeutics company, Forbes '30 Under 30' in Science and Healthcare (2014)

## Career timeline

- **2008** — Joined Jennifer Doudna's lab at UC Berkeley as a PhD student; became the first student in the lab to work on CRISPR
- **2010** — Co-authored landmark paper in Science: 'Sequence- and Structure-Specific RNA Processing by a CRISPR Endonuclease'
- **2011** — Co-founded Caribou Biosciences with Jennifer Doudna, Martin Jinek, and James Berger
- **2012** — Completed PhD from UC Berkeley; began working full-time as CEO of Caribou Biosciences
- **2012** — Co-authored 'RNA processing enables predictable programming of gene expression' in Nature Biotechnology
- **2014** — Forbes '30 Under 30' in Science and Healthcare
- **2014** — Co-founded Intellia Therapeutics with Rodolphe Barrangou, Luciano Marraffini, Erik Sontheimer, and Derrick Rossi
- **2016** — Fortune Magazine '40 Under 40' — Most Influential Young People in Business
- **2018** — Received Association for Women in Science Next Generation Award
- **2021** — Featured in Walter Isaacson's bestseller 'The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race'
- **2021** — Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst honoree
- **2021** — Caribou Biosciences IPO on Nasdaq
- **2024** — Presented at major healthcare conferences (Citi, Evercore ISI HealthCONx)
- **2025** — Presented corporate update at 43rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference; announced two planned clinical data disclosures in H1 2025

## Achievements

- Co-founded Caribou Biosciences in 2011, one of the earliest CRISPR-focused biotech companies
- Co-founded Intellia Therapeutics in 2014, another leading CRISPR therapeutics company
- Forbes '30 Under 30' in Science and Healthcare (2014)
- Fortune '40 Under 40' Most Influential Young People in Business (2016)
- Association for Women in Science Next Generation Award (2018)
- Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst (2021)
- Featured in Walter Isaacson's bestselling book 'The Code Breaker' (2021)
- Led development of Caribou's proprietary chRDNA (hybrid CRISPR RNA-DNA) Cas12a platform for multiplex genome editing
- Pioneered off-the-shelf allogeneic CAR-T and CAR-NK cell therapy approach for hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases
- First student in Jennifer Doudna's lab to work on CRISPR technology
- Named inventor on multiple CRISPR-related patents
- Led Caribou Biosciences to Nasdaq IPO

## Latest updates

- **2025-01** — Presented at the 43rd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, announcing two planned clinical data disclosures for H1 2025
- **2024-12** — Participated in Citi's 2024 Global Healthcare Conference and Evercore ISI HealthCONx Conference
- **2024-12** — Caribou Biosciences reported $249.4 million in cash as of December 31, 2024, with runway into H2 2026
- **2025-03** — Purchased approximately $20,400 in Caribou Biosciences stock via The City Canyon Family Trust

## Links

- Website: https://cariboubio.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelhaurwitz

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rachel-haurwitz
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-15