In Vivo’s 2025 Rising Leaders

Meg Alexander was promoted to the role of president and chief operating officer of Ovid Therapeutics, in September 2024. Alexander collaborates with Ovid’s leadership team to advance the company’s development pipeline of potential disease-halting neurotherapeutics, specifically KCC2 activators is at the heart of Ovid’s pipeline, and to define and execute its strategic vision.

Since joining Ovid in 2020, Alexander has served as chief strategy officer and chief corporate affairs officer, playing a key role in rebuilding the company’s pipeline to focus on epilepsies and rare neurological conditions. Her experience prior to Ovid includes guiding the launch of over 25 medicines and shaping major initiatives for leading multinational companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, Amgen, and Janssen.

Before Ovid, Alexander founded and scaled the Reputation and Risk Management business at Syneos Health.

Dan Anderson is chief scientific officer of Eikon Therapeutics and part of the company’s founding team. Under Anderson’s leadership, Eikon is harnessing its novel drug discovery platform, which integrates the company’s proprietary technology platform along with deep engineering and data science, to visualize and measure the real-time movement of proteins in living cells.

Anderson has led the development of Eikon’s early-stage pipeline, including two androgen receptor antagonists and an internally derived WRN inhibitor, which is currently being evaluated for its potential as a treatment for patients with MSI-high and other DNA repair–deficient cancers.

Before joining the company in 2019, Anderson was the vice president of biology at Recursion Pharmaceuticals, overseeing platform technology advancements and discovery program validation. Prior to that, he was the head of biology at Cleave Biosciences, identifying novel oncology targets. Anderson began his biotechnology career at Genentech, leading the development of cellular and advanced microscopy assays to report on drug activity and mechanisms of action.

Anderson earned his doctorate in cell biology and biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego and has authored more than 20 publications and four patents. 

Robert Barrow joined MindMed, a clinical stage biotech developing novel product candidates to treat brain health disorders, as chief development officer in January 2021 and became CEO in June 2021.

Previously, he was the director of drug development and discovery at Usona Institute, overseeing preclinical, clinical and regulatory development. At Olatec Therapeutics, he served as chief operating officer, managing early- and late-stage clinical trials in various therapeutic areas, including analgesics, rheumatology, immunology and cardiovascular disease. He also led preclinical research programs for CNS conditions like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

Barrow has advised numerous pharmaceutical organizations, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He holds a Master's degree in Pharmacology from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Wake Forest University.

Yaw Bediako is a Ghanaian immunologist and biotech entrepreneur. He obtained a PhD at Northwestern University, and undertook post-doctoral fellowships at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kenya and subsequently at the Francis Crick Institute in London.

In 2019 he took up a faculty appointment at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana and was one of five scientists selected in the inaugural round of the prestigious Crick Africa Network Fellowship.

Soon after returning to Ghana, Bediako became increasingly concerned about the almost complete lack of biotech industry across the African continent. Convinced that private biotech is crucial to the establishment of a sustainable R&D ecosystem, in June 2020 he co-founded Yemaachi Biotech, an immunogenomics research company. Yemaachi’s vision is to leverage Africa’s unrivalled genetic diversity to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for cancer, that work uniformly well irrespective of genetic background.

In November 2021, Bediako was selected as a Calestous Juma Science Leadership Fellow by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is also a fellow of the Ghana Young Academy and an Affiliate member of the African Academy of Sciences. In 2022, he was recognized as one of the top 40 under 40 business people in Ghana, and in January of 2023, was selected as one of the 100 most influential Africans by the New African magazine.

Since February 2024, Kerry Benenato has served as chief platform officer at Sail Biomedicines, a Flagship Pioneering company focused on programming circular RNA medicines. Benenato brings extensive expertise in mRNA product development. Prior to joining the company, she served as chief scientific officer at 76Bio, a start-up focused on developing novel targeted protein degradation modalities using mRNA/lipid nanoparticle technologies. Benenato also spent eight years at Moderna where, as vice president of platform chemistry and formulation discovery, her work was instrumental in optimizing the LNP technology that made Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, effective.

For her contributions while at Moderna, Benenato received the American Chemical Society’s Heroes of Chemistry award.

Benenato holds a doctorate in organic chemistry from Boston College and has completed a research fellowship at Harvard University.

Whit Bernard is co-founder, president and CEO of Metsera, a company that is “reducing the physical, emotional and economic burdens of obesity.” Bernard was a founding leadership team member and led the company buildout until April 2024, when Metsera came out of stealth and launched with $290m in financing. The company’s IPO in February 2025 netted $316.2m.

Under Bernard’s leadership, Metsera has rapidly progressed its lead program, an injectable, ultra-long acting GLP1 receptor agonist with once-monthly dosing, through multiple clinical milestones. The company has two additional assets in the clinic and plans to file at least five Investigational New Drug applications in 2025.

Prior to Metsera, Bernard cofounded Population Health Partners, where he co-led the incubation of Metsera as well as Areteia Therapeutics. Prior to PHP, he was senior vice president of commercial strategy and business development at The Medicines Company, where he oversaw a global business development process for the sale of the company to Novartis for $9.7bn in 2020.

Sara Brenner was appointed as the acting commissioner of the FDA in January 2025, and is now principal deputy commissioner of the US regulator. She is an accomplished preventive medicine physician with extensive experience in academia, federal health policy and regulatory affairs.

Before her current role, Brenner served as the chief medical officer for in vitro diagnostics and associate director for medical affairs at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. She has also held significant positions at the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the US Department of Health and Human Services, contributing to initiatives on biomedical innovation, health data interoperability, and the COVID-19 response.

Brenner holds a BS in Genetics from Iowa State University, an MD from the University of Iowa, and an MPH in Health Policy and Administration from the University at Albany, SUNY.

Daniel Cohen is the president of Valence Labs, a research engine within Recursion Pharmaceuticals dedicated to advancing AI in drug discovery. As a co-founder of Valence Discovery, Cohen has been instrumental in integrating chemistry, biology, and computer science to revolutionize drug development.

Under his leadership, Valence Labs has developed cutting-edge AI methods to create powerful chemistry engines, significantly enhancing the drug discovery process. Daniel's work focuses on leveraging AI to solve complex challenges in therapeutic discovery, aiming to improve human health through innovative biotechnological solutions.

Daniel holds degrees in computer science and neuroscience from McGill University. His expertise and vision continue to drive Valence Labs' mission to push the boundaries of what's possible in drug discovery.

Amir Hefni was appointed CEO of Resolution Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing macrophage cell therapies to treat advanced liver disease, in 2023. Hefni brings nearly 20 years of experience in drug discovery and development leadership within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Before joining Resolution Therapeutics, Hefni was the head of cell and gene therapy at Novartis, where he oversaw global product development, manufacturing, supply chain and commercialization. He also held significant roles at Ipsen and Bristol-Myers Squibb, contributing to the launch and growth of oncology products.

Hefni's expertise in autologous cell therapy development and commercialization is important in advancing Resolution's mission to provide innovative treatments for patients with chronic end-stage liver cirrhosis, aiming to reduce the need for liver transplants.

Emma Hodcroft  assistant professor at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), associated with the University of Basel, and a rising voice in the world of infectious diseases. She specializes in the phylogenetics of viruses and other pathogens, mapping the spread and evolution of different genetic variants.

Hodcroft completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on the heritability of viral load in HIV. She has worked on various projects, including the Nextstrain project, which tracks the transmission chains of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-founded CoVariants.org, a platform for tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Doxie Jordan is the head of global commercial market strategy and insights in the Oncology Commercialization division at Bristol Myers Squibb. Previously, he was vice president of US hematology sales and clinical nurse coordinators at BMS. He is also involved with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Before BMS, Doxie spent 12 years at Novo Nordisk in senior roles, including vice president, area commercial lead for the Diabetes Business Unit, and corporate vice president/general manager for Novo Nordisk UK and Ireland. He also held sales and marketing positions at Pfizer and MedImmune.

Doxie holds a Business Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MBA from Howard University, and completed programs at The Wharton School and Harvard University.

Aneesh Karatt-Vellatt is the chief scientific officer and co-founder of Maxion Therapeutics, a company focused on developing antibody treatments for diseases driven by ion channels and GPCRs created in 2020.

Karatt-Vellatt also co-founded IONTAS, where he played a key role in developing the KnotBody technology which combines the power of millions of years of Knottin evolution in targeting ion channels and GPCRs with state-of-the-art antibody engineering techniques, addressing key challenges in ion channel and GPCR drug discovery. He has led various antibody discovery projects from 2012 to 2020.

His career journey includes research positions at MedImmune, Wyeth Research Aberdeen, and the University of Cambridge, focusing on molecular biology and therapeutic antibody engineering. Karatt-Vellatt's innovative work and leadership in biotechnology have made significant contributions to the field of antibody engineering.

He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Medical Biotechnology with Biobusiness from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc in Biotechnology from Bharathiar University.

Abbas Kazimi was appointed CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics in 2025 after 11 years with the company. Prior to becoming CEO, Kazimi was chief business officer, where he was pivotal in raising over $600m in equity financing and securing transactions with pharmaceutical partners totaling over $7bn in upfront and milestone capital, including the $4bn sale of the company’s TYK2 inhibitor to Takeda.

Kazimi also led the expansion of Nimbus’ computational drug discovery engine, forging strategic alliances with innovators in experimental approaches that complement Nimbus’ deep expertise in structure-based drug discovery and medicinal chemistry.

Before joining Nimbus, Kazimi was with Extera Partners (formerly PureTech Development) and at JSB-Partners, a specialized investment banking and advisory firm serving biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

Kazimi earned his master’s degree in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University.

Stefan König was appointed as CEO of Merz Therapeutics, part of the Merz Group, in March 2023. Merz has several clinical and approved assets in neurology, hepatology and dermatology. Last year, it bought two products from Acorda Therapeutics in Parkinson’s disease an multiple sclerosis and König now leads the mission to increase the company’s workforce in the US by 50%.

Before Merz, he was president and CEO of George Medicines, a London-based company focusing on the development of clinical combination pharmaceuticals. Before this, König worked for many years at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where he held various senior positions in global, regional and local functions. Among others, he was responsible for the global inflammatory bowel disease franchise, after heading up a number of local and regional market organizations.

He has a diploma degree from Berufsakademie Ravensburg, a degree from Georgia State University, Atlanta, and has completed post-graduate studies at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City.

Neha Krishnamohan is the chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate development at Artiva Biotherapeutics. Since joining Artiva in 2024, she has played a pivotal role in advancing natural killer cell therapies for autoimmune diseases, including leading a $179m IPO to support clinical trials for Artiva’s AlloNK therapy.

Krishnamohan has held significant roles, including CFO and executive vice president at Kinnate Biopharma, where she led strategic alternatives resulting in successful asset and company sales. At Goldman Sachs, she served as VP in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group and M&A Group, executing over $100bn in transactions.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a double major in Biomedical Engineering and Economics from Duke University, and is also a board member and audit committee member of Arcutis Biotherapeutics.

June Lanoue was recently appointed as President of US Hematology at J&J Innovative Medicine. She leads Johnson & Johnson’s hematology portfolio, managing a $10bn plus US commercial business with products like Carvykti, Darzalex, Imbruvica, Tecvayli and Talvey.

She has a proven track record across multiple therapeutic areas in pharma strategy, P&L management, and global strategy. She previously served as vice president of sales and marketing for US Hematology at J&J, steering product strategies and market engagement.

Lanoue joined J&J Innovative Medicine in July 2016 after 16 years at Novartis, where she led teams in various therapeutic areas and launched more than 15 products. She is also the founder of the WoMMen in Hematology initiative, supporting and empowering female professionals in the field.

Lanoue graduated from the State University at Binghamton, NY with a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature.

Mollie Leoni was promoted to chief medical officer at Kura Oncology in January 2025 after serving as executive vice president of clinical development and clinical lead for the company’s ziftomenib program since 2020.

Leoni has more than 10 years of drug development experience, heavily focused within the orphan disease and oncology spaces. During this time, she has held positions of increasing responsibility at pharmaceutical companies. Most recently, she served as the executive director of medical science for Kyowa Kirin, serving as the clinical lead for several oncology programs including mogamulizumab, which achieved international registration for cutaneous T- cell lymphoma.

Leoni is now leading Kura Oncology through multiple late-stage clinical trials in acute myeloid leukemia and gearing up for the company’s first NDA submission.

She obtained her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, where she also trained extensively in bioethics before entering postgraduate training at Thomas Jefferson University.

At Immuneel Therapeutics, Amit Mookim focuses on expanding access to cutting-edge cancer treatments, particularly CAR-T therapies. His leadership has built partnerships with health care providers, public health organizations, and global innovators to bring these transformative therapies to patients across India.

Immuneel’s autologous CD19 CAR-T cell therapy Qartemi, was approved in India last year for the treatment of relapsed and refractory Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the second approval in India for a CAR-T therapy.

With 24 years of experience in health care, technology, analytics, and private equity advisory, Mookim has held significant roles, including managing director at IQVIA and head of health care at KPMG India.

He has advised national bodies and industry organizations on health care strategy and market access. Amit is also a board member of several national industry forums and mentors startups, promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in health care.

Kevin Parker is CEO and co-founder of Cartography Biosciences, where he leads efforts to create targeted cancer therapies by leveraging advanced molecular and computational tools to analyze the body through the lens of the immune system. 

Parker has led Cartography in securing $57m in funding to advance its antigen atlas platform, aimed at developing precise and effective immunotherapies, and to a strategic collaboration with Gilead Sciences to develop oncology therapies targeting novel antigens, focusing on treatments for triple-negative breast cancer and adenocarcinoma.

Parker completed his PhD at Stanford working in functional genomics, computational biology and immunology, and has coauthored papers on topics ranging from immunotherapy responses, analysis of antigen profiles and development of novel single-cell genomics methodologies.

Parker’s publication of a paper on the use of single-cell sequencing to understand immunotherapy toxicities led directly to Cartography’s mission to build a comprehensive database of gene expression across all human cell types to enable precise identification of cell type-specific target antigens. 

Crystal Qin is the CEO and Founder of the Shanghai-based LaNova Medicines, a biotech company dedicated to developing innovative antibody-based cancer treatments.

Since founding LaNova in 2019, Qin has focused on original innovation, particularly in the tumor microenvironment and the development of tumor-specific targeted ADCs and immune-modulating biologics.

Under her leadership, LaNova has established a robust pipeline of differentiated drugs, advancing from preclinical to Phase III. In 2023, AstraZeneca paid $55m for rights to a preclinical candidate from LaNova. The company has secured numerous IND approvals and is conducting multiple clinical trials in China, the US and Australia.

Prior to founding LaNova, Qin was vice president and CMO at SciClone Pharmaceuticals. From 2010 to 2015, she was director of translational and early clinical development oncology at GSK.

João Ribas joined Novo Holdings’ seed investments team in 2018, focusing on early-stage investments and venture creation. He holds several board positions and has led investments in companies like Asgard Therapeutics, Tribune Therapeutics and Orbis Medicines. Ribas often combines his investment role with interim operational responsibilities in portfolio companies and currently serves as chief business officer for Booster Therapeutics. 

Prior to Novo Holdings, he was a fellow at M Ventures, involved in the entire investment process including deal sourcing, investment selection and due diligence. Before this, he founded new ventures in the US and Europe, earning several entrepreneurial awards.

During his PhD, he was part of MIT Hacking Medicine and led a non-profit organization in the US. Ribas earned his PhD from the University of Coimbra, conducting research at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Rodriguez Lorenc was promoted to therapeutic area lead for Hematology Oncology at Regeneron in early 2025. Here, she oversees the strategic direction of Regeneron’s hematology-oncology assets across all drug development phases.

She has led the clinical development for the BCMA-CD3 bispecific program, supported regulatory submissions, and advanced investigational medicines in various stages and indications, including research focused on intercepting pre-malignant conditions to prevent disease progression. She has also led pre-IND stage programs for novel bispecific antibodies.

Known for her scientific excellence and leadership, Rodriguez Lorenc is committed to talent development and collaboration.

Jacob Rubens is an origination partner at Flagship Pioneering. He is a scientist entrepreneur and leads a team that founds, builds and grows companies based on new biotechnology.

At Flagship, Rubens co-founded Sana Biotechnology and Tessera Therapeutics, and launched Kaleido Biosciences. He is the chief innovation officer and founding chief scientific officer at Tessera, where he led research from 2018 through 2021. Previously, Rubens was the head of innovation at Cobalt Biomedicine, where he co-invented and developed the company’s Fusosome platform prior to its merger with Sana Biotechnology.

Before joining Flagship, Rubens received his PhD in microbiology from MIT, working in the Synthetic Biology Center with Professor Tim Lu with the support of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. At MIT, Rubens invented gene circuits that allow engineered cells to do novel analog, digital, and hybrid computations, enabling the emerging field of ​“intelligent” cell therapies.

Gunnar Sachs was admitted as a Rechtsanwalt in Germany 2006 and in the same year favored Clifford Chance, above other “Magic Circle” law firms as the place to begin his legal career in industry.  

To date, his one-company career has stretched to two decades. He became a partner in 2017, co-heads Clifford Chance's global healthtech group and is a “SteerCo” member of the firm’s healthcare & life sciences group and a member of its global tech & digital group.

An expert IP lawyer, he specializes in medtech, ehealth, regulatory pharmaceutical and chemicals law, with a particular focus on European market regulation.

He is a double Doctor/Master of Law graduate of the Universities of Münster (Cologne) and Paris. During his legal education, Sachs has worked for the World Trade Organization, French government ministries and German state institutions, among others.

Namrata Saroj joined Ocular Therapeutix as chief business officer in November 2024, bringing a unique perspective from her track record in the commercialization of Lucentis and Eylea, two highly successful products in the ophthalmology sector.

She has collaborated with multiple companies, supporting strategic partnerships, clinical development, trial enrolment, and commercialization. She is well-regarded in the retina community for her work in clinical development and has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications on retinal diseases.

Saroj co-founded the Clinical Trials Resource Group, a CRO focused on ophthalmology trials, and previously led the Ophthalmology Medical Affairs team at Regeneron. Saroj has also held positions at Genentech and the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. She is president of the Association for Macular Diseases.

Saroj earned her Doctor of Optometry and Bachelor of Science in Optometry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Whittier College.

Christina Smolke co-founded Antheia in 2015 to address drug shortages and improve access to essential medicines. As a biotech pioneer, she recognized biotechnology's potential to revolutionize pharmaceutical manufacturing and strengthen drug supply chains. Her research at Caltech and Stanford University led to breakthroughs like engineering yeast to produce complex medicines, which inspired Antheia's founding.

Antheia's biomanufacturing platform significantly reduces production timelines, costs and land use while increasing yields. The company has grown to over 50 employees, secured more than $120m in funding, and developed a pipeline of over 70 pharmaceutical ingredients. Last year, Antheia launched its first commercial product, thebaine, used in pain and addiction treatments.

Christina holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from UC Berkeley and has received numerous awards, including the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator and the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award.

Noam Solomon co-founded Immunai in 2018 and is CEO, helping the biotech achieve its goal of mapping and, when necessary, reprogramming the immune system using single-cell biology and artificial intelligence. He also leads efforts at the company to integrate computational methods with biological data to enhance drug discovery and development.

Under Solomon’s leadership, Immunai has developed advanced AI models to decode the immune system’s complexities, facilitating the discovery of novel therapeutics and improving patient outcomes. Solomon has shepherded the company towards $300m in funding, three acquisitions and several big pharma partnerships.

Solomon holds dual PhDs in mathematics and computer science from Israel’s Ben Gurion and Tel Aviv Universities and has pursued postdoctoral research at MIT and Harvard, focusing on advanced computational and mathematical studies.

Pedro Valencia is the vice president of AbbVie’s oncology asset strategy leadership, overseeing the lifecycle of oncology assets. Previously, he was the vice president of solid tumor pipeline strategy and vice president of corporate strategy at AbbVie, where he developed long-term strategies for the company.

Before joining AbbVie, Pedro was a principal at The Boston Consulting Group, focusing on health care, particularly in biopharma and global health. He has also consulted for biotech companies in Boston/Cambridge on intellectual property, data analysis and new technologies.

Pedro holds a PhD and MS in chemical engineering from MIT and a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was named one of Forbes' top 30 under 30 in science and health care.

Christina Ziegenberg is the head of the EU regulatory affairs department at BVMed, Germany's largest medical devices industry association, where she has worked since 2019. She also serves as the association’s deputy chief executive.

Before joining BVMed, Ziegenberg worked in Liechtenstein as a chemical engineer at Hilti AG and later as head of the medtech and radiology department at the Office for Health.

Born in Vienna, she completed her studies in Austria, graduating from the Federal College and Research Institute for Chemical Industry (HBLVA) and the University of Vienna with a Master’s Degree in pharmacy studies.

She also holds a Doctor of Medical Science from the Private University of the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Lily Zou is co-founder and CEO of Degron Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of innovative molecular glue degrader drugs for novel disease targets utilizing its proprietary technology platform.

Degron has built a robust pipeline with its lead program received FDA clearance of its IND application in January 2025, raised three rounds of venture capital financing and executed a $1.2bn research collaboration deal with Takeda.

Prior to Degron, Lily was CEO of Fosun Pharma USA and vice president of Fosun Pharma Group, where she built and grew Fosun Pharma’s US business with R&D, commercial and investment capabilities, and served as chairman or member of the board of four Fosun portfolio companies.

Zou has worked at Bain & Co, large pharma companies (Novartis and Wyeth), and smaller biotechs (ArQule and Coley Pharmaceutical Group) in various functions including business development, investment, drug discovery and development and commercialization.