biopharmaceutical
(25)
Adam Townsend
He spent two decades launching other people's medicines. Now he is running a biotech built to delete the antibodies that make patients sick - and taking the top job for the first time.
Tara Nickerson
Tara Nickerson, PhD, is President, CEO and Director of Therini Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing fibrin-targeting immunotherapies for neurological and retinal diseases. A biopharma executive with more than 20 years of experience, she was a founding-team member and Chief Business Officer at both Maze Therapeutics and Prothena Corporation before taking the top job at Therini in 2024. She combines a research background from McGill University with an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School and a long track record of company-building, financing and dealmaking in the life sciences.
Eddine Saiah
Eddine Saiah, Ph.D., is the CEO and President of Stablix, a preclinical biotechnology company pioneering targeted protein stabilization (TPS) as a new class of small-molecule medicines. A medicinal chemist and drug hunter with more than 25 years of experience, he joined Stablix as Chief Scientific Officer in 2022 and moved into the chief executive role in 2025. His career spans big pharma research leadership at Pfizer and Wyeth, an entrepreneur-in-residence stint at Atlas Venture, and CSO duties at Navitor Pharmaceuticals. He is a co-inventor and author on more than 120 patents and publications, and has helped advance more than a dozen small-molecule candidates into clinical trials.
Katherine Bowdish
Katherine (Kathy) Bowdish is a molecular geneticist and biopharmaceutical leader who serves as President and CEO of PIC Therapeutics, a Natick, Massachusetts biotech developing cancer drugs that work by modulating RNA translation - targeting the eIF4E 'master switch' that tumors use to overproduce oncogene proteins. Over more than two decades she has founded and led a string of early-stage life science companies including Prolifaron (acquired by Alexion), Anaphore and Permeon Biologics, and she built and ran Sanofi Sunrise, the pharma giant's early-stage venture and partnering arm. She holds a PhD in molecular genetics from Columbia and led PIC through a $35 million Series A to push its lead program toward the clinic in drug-resistant breast cancer.
Todd Bazemore
Todd Bazemore is the President and CEO of AIRNA, a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech developing RNA-editing medicines that rewrite disease-causing genetic variants without permanently altering DNA. Appointed in June 2026, he arrived as the company's lead program, AIR-001 for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, moved into the clinic on the back of an oversubscribed $155 million Series B. A University of Massachusetts Lowell graduate with more than 30 years in rare-disease drug development, he previously ran Kala Bio, led U.S. operations at Santhera, and was chief commercial officer at Dyax during its $6.5 billion acquisition by Shire.
Tony Kingsley
Tony Kingsley is a biopharmaceutical executive who runs Stablix, Inc., a New York biotech betting that you can treat disease by protecting proteins instead of destroying them. He took the CEO seat in February 2022 after a career of running one drug company after another - Scholar Rock, TARIS Bio, The Medicines Company - and heading global commercial at Biogen, with a McKinsey partnership and a stint in medical devices before that. In July 2025 he joined the board of Indivior. He holds a Dartmouth degree and a Harvard MBA.
Scott Greenberg
Scott Greenberg is the Chief Business Officer of Nura Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in South San Francisco building small-molecule drugs to stop nerves from dying. He joined in February 2025 to steer business development and corporate strategy as the company pushes its lead SARM1 inhibitor, NB-4746, into the clinic. He arrives with more than two decades crossing the line between finance and biology - a Goldman Sachs banking start, more than a decade at Celgene, an operations leadership role at Roivant Sciences, and a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Aro Biotherapeutics. He studied both Finance and the Biological Basis of Behavior at the University of Pennsylvania before an MBA at Harvard.
Ahsan Arozullah
Ahsan Arozullah, MD, MPH is Executive Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at TerSera Therapeutics, a Deerfield, Illinois specialty pharmaceutical company focused on oncology, CNS disorders and rare disease. A Northwestern-trained physician with a Harvard MPH, he spent over 15 years at Astellas, rising to Senior Vice President and Head of Oncology Development, where he helped validate claudin 18.2 as a cancer target through the pivotal SPOTLIGHT trial of zolbetuximab. He pairs two decades of clinical research with academic roots in health literacy at the University of Illinois and serves on the board of Darul Qasim College, working at the intersection of medicine and Islamic bioethics.
Alex Martin
Alex Martin is the Chief Executive Officer of Abcuro, a clinical-stage biotech in Newton, Massachusetts working on selectively depleting highly cytotoxic T cells in autoimmune disease and cancer. A biopharma operator with more than 30 years of company-building and deal-making, he has run Palladio Biosciences and Realm Therapeutics (both acquired), served as COO of Intercept Pharmaceuticals and CFO of BioXell, and held business-development leadership at Novartis. In February 2025 he steered Abcuro to a $200 million Series C led by New Enterprise Associates. He also chairs the board of Veralox Therapeutics, sits on the board of ESSA Pharma, coaches senior executives, and lectures at Wharton and Columbia Business School.
Heidi Gillmore
Heidi Gillmore is a commercial leadership executive at TerSera Therapeutics, the Deerfield, Illinois specialty pharmaceutical company she helped build from its 2016 inception. Across roles spanning marketing, strategy, business development and running TerSera's US oncology business, she has helped turn a portfolio of 'one-and-only' therapeutics, including the prostate and breast cancer drug Zoladex, into a durable commercial enterprise. A University of Northern Iowa graduate with a University of Chicago credential, she sits on the board of the Illinois Biotechnology Innovation Organization and has spent her career taking specialty and orphan medicines from acquisition to market.
Julia Owens
Julia C. Owens is a biopharmaceutical executive who in October 2025 became CEO of Basking Biosciences, a clinical-stage company building the first reversible thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke. With a UCSF Ph.D. and more than 25 years in the industry, she co-founded and ran Millendo Therapeutics for nearly a decade through its NASDAQ debut, later led Ananke Therapeutics, advises GV (Google Ventures) on women's health, chairs Sena Therapeutics, and co-founded the Biotech CEO Sisterhood to put more women in the corner office.
Larry Brown
Larry Brown, Sc.D., is Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Noveome Biotherapeutics, the Pittsburgh clinical-stage biopharma he joined in 2012. He is leading the translation of ST266, a cell-free secretome of hundreds of proteins harvested from amnion-derived cells, from proof of principle into the clinic. Trained at MIT under Robert Langer and in Judah Folkman's surgical research lab at Children's Hospital Boston, he spent 35-plus years inventing drug-delivery systems at Baxter, Alkermes and biotech startups, accumulating more than 100 publications and a thick stack of patents along the way.
Shankar Ramaswamy
Shankar Ramaswamy is the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Kriya Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company building one-time gene therapies for common, highly prevalent chronic diseases rather than only rare ones. A physician by training who started his career evaluating drug candidates at Roivant Sciences and helping launch Axovant's record biotech IPO, he founded Kriya in 2019 and has since raised more than $600 million to vertically integrate gene therapy design, computational biology and in-house GMP manufacturing.
Dinesh V. Patel
Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D. is the President and CEO of Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTGX), a Newark, California-based biopharmaceutical company he has led since December 2008. With over 38 years spanning medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, venture capital co-founding, and three CEO stints, Patel has guided Protagonist from a peptide-platform startup to a company with its first FDA-approved drug - ICOTYDE (icotrokinra), approved March 2026 as the world's first targeted oral peptide for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, partnered with Johnson & Johnson.
Cheng Liu
Cheng Liu is the founder, President, and CEO of Eureka Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Emeryville, California. A molecular cell biologist trained at UC Berkeley and Peking University, Liu invented a novel class of TCR mimic antibodies that allow engineered T cells to recognize intracellular tumor antigens - a major challenge in treating solid tumors. Since founding Eureka in 2006 after a decade at Chiron/Novartis, he has built a pipeline of ARTEMIS T-cell therapies targeting liver cancer, multiple myeloma, and neuroblastoma, with the company's ECT204 program earning FDA RMAT Designation in January 2026 - one of the highest-priority designations the FDA gives to regenerative medicine therapies. Eureka has raised over $168 million in total funding and holds more than 500 patents worldwide.
Joe Belanoff
Joe Belanoff is the co-founder and CEO of Corcept Therapeutics, a Redwood City-based biopharmaceutical company he has led since 1999. A physician-scientist trained at Amherst College, Columbia University, and Stanford, Belanoff pivoted from academia to entrepreneurship after co-developing intellectual property on cortisol modulation with Stanford psychiatry chair Alan Schatzberg. Under his leadership, Corcept achieved two landmark FDA approvals: Korlym in 2012 for Cushing's syndrome and Lifyorli in 2026 for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer - the first selective glucocorticoid receptor antagonist ever approved. He maintains an adjunct professorship at Stanford while steering a company with over $760 million in annual revenue and more than 30 ongoing clinical studies.
Michael Bigham
Michael F. Bigham is a veteran biopharmaceutical executive and investor who spent nearly a decade as Chairman and CEO of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, guiding the company through the FDA approval and commercial launch of NUZYRA (omadacycline) - a novel tetracycline-class antibiotic tackling drug-resistant bacterial infections. A Stanford MBA and CPA with roots in Gilead Sciences' early days, he has built, funded, and led companies across the full arc of drug development. He now operates as founder and managing director of Firebrand River Capital.
Mike Fitzgibbons
Mike Fitzgibbons is the CEO and Founder of Claritas Rx, a South San Francisco-based healthtech company that uses AI and real-world patient-level data to help biopharmaceutical companies track, understand, and support patients across the specialty drug treatment journey. Founded in 2011, Claritas Rx serves 20+ rare and specialty therapeutic areas and has appeared on Inc.'s 2025 list of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies. Before founding Claritas Rx, Fitzgibbons spent seven years at Morgan Stanley as an equity research analyst covering pharma services and drug distribution, then joined Genentech where he worked on pricing strategy and led the Avastin marketing team - experiences that directly shaped his conviction that patient-level data, not aggregated reports, is what biopharma companies actually need.
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.'
Rick Winningham
Rick Winningham is the CEO of Theravance Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical company focused on organ-selective medicines for serious diseases including COPD, rare neurological conditions, and inflammatory diseases. With over 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry - including 13 years as CEO of Innoviva and 15 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb - Winningham has built a career defined by transformative drug development, strategic company leadership, and a widely recognized commitment to mentoring the next generation of biopharma executives, particularly women in leadership. He was named the 2026 HBA Honorable Mentor by the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association.
Ryan Spencer
Ryan Spencer is the CEO of Dynavax Technologies, the Emeryville biotech behind HEPLISAV-B and the CpG 1018 adjuvant. He joined as an interim controller in 2005, climbed for fourteen years through finance, IR, and commercial roles, and took the top job in December 2019. Under him, Dynavax supplied adjuvant for nearly a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses and, in December 2025, agreed to be acquired by Sanofi for roughly $2.2 billion.
Steven Basta
Steven Basta is the President and CEO of Phathom Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: PHAT), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on gastrointestinal disorders. He joined in April 2025 to lead the commercialization of VOQUEZNA (vonoprazan), a next-generation potassium-competitive acid blocker for GERD and H. pylori. With more than 25 years of biopharma and medical device leadership spanning BioForm Medical, Merz Aesthetics, AlterG, Menlo Therapeutics, Mahana Therapeutics, and SaNOtize, Basta brings a track record of building and launching products in highly competitive markets. He trained as a biomedical engineer at Johns Hopkins and later earned his MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School.
Terry Rosen
Terry Rosen is the CEO and co-founder of Arcus Biosciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing combination cancer immunotherapies. A medicinal chemist by training with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, Rosen has spent over 30 years at the intersection of chemistry and oncology - from Abbott Laboratories and Pfizer to Amgen, and then co-founding Flexus Biosciences which sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb for $1.25 billion in 2015. He immediately used that platform to launch Arcus, which has since secured a landmark 10-year partnership with Gilead Sciences and advanced multiple molecules into pivotal clinical studies, including casdatifan, a best-in-class HIF-2α inhibitor showing strong results in kidney cancer.
Jung Choi
Jung Choi is the President and CEO of Alterome Therapeutics, a clinical-stage precision oncology company pioneering mutation-specific cancer drugs. With over 20 years in biopharmaceutical leadership - spanning Gilead Sciences, InterMune, Chimerix, and Global Blood Therapeutics where he led a $5.4B Pfizer acquisition - Choi brought deal-making, strategy, and operational depth to Alterome when he was appointed CEO in April 2025. Under his leadership, Alterome has advanced two first-in-class inhibitors into Phase 1/1b trials targeting KRAS and AKT1 E17K oncogenic drivers, backed by $231M in total funding including a $132M Series B.
Adam Rosenthal
Adam Rosenthal is the CEO and Founder of Star Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech he launched in 2018 with a mission to develop life-changing therapies for rare diseases. An MIT and Harvard-trained biomedical engineer, Rosenthal built Star around the insight that shared biology across multiple rare diseases can yield single therapies addressing many conditions at once. His lead asset VGA039 - a first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting Protein S - entered Phase 3 trials in 2025 for von Willebrand disease, the most common inherited bleeding disorder. Star has raised over $315 million from top-tier life sciences investors including Sanofi Ventures and Viking Global Investors.