Biotech CEO Sisterhood: Deborah Dunsire on trends in drug development, investments, regulation, and her advice on key skills for growing into a position of leadership

Interviewed by Sisterhood editorial board member Erika Smith, Deborah Dunsire describes her career path, how medicine is making progress in areas such as neuroscience, the cyclical nature of biotech and what it means for investment risk, and more.

Biographies

Dr. Deborah Dunsire, is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of Neurvati Neurosciences, a company dedicated to advancing therapies for neurological and psychiatric diseases.

She graduated as a medical doctor from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Deborah’s passion is the discovery and development of medicines that transform outcomes for patients. For over 30 years she has built and led companies within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. From 2018-2023, Deborah led Lundbeck, a global company singularly focused on restoring brain health, with products in over 100 countries addressing mental and neurological health. Prior to joining Lundbeck she was CEO and President of: XTuit Pharmaceuticals focused in inflammatory disease and cancer, FORUM Pharmaceuticals focused in cognition, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals focused in innovative medicines for blood cancers and inflammatory diseases.

In addition to Chairing Neurvati, she serves on the boards of MCKesson, Ultragenyx and Vima Therapeutics and has been a member of multiple other public company boards in addition to those of the companies she has led, including Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Japan, Allergan and Alexion.

In the course of her career, she has been accountable for the launch of 11 blockbuster medicines, the turnaround of commercial operations, transformation of R&D organizations and multiple successful mergers and acquisitions.

Outside of her work in industry, Deborah serves as a trustee for multiple not-for-profit organizations including: Northeastern University in Boston, the International Institute of New England, The Whitehead Institute of MIT and the Museum of Science in Boston

Erika Smith is the CEO and Board Member of EpiTET Therapeutics developing novel oral therapeutics that selectively eliminates pathogenic macrophages, the key drivers of chronic inflammation and disease micro-environment. Previously she led ReNetX Bio, venture funded neuro-science company, from preclinical development through Phase 1/2 clinical trials and acquisition.

As an investor, she served as the inaugural director of the $65M Blavatnik Fund at Yale, launched the Johnson & Johnson investment fund in partnership with the Center for Innovative Technology and was a Venture Advisor to Epidarex Ventures, a transatlantic life-science venture firm. These early-stage investments enabled successful exits including medSage (acq: Philips Healthcare), Isoplexis (NASDAQ: ISO), and Biorez ($250M Acq NYSE: CNMD).

She is the Board Chair (ECS) and on the Executive Committee Board of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and a recognized thought leader holding numerous awards including: “Industry Superstar”, “Entrepreneur of the Year,” and co-author of playbook “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs” sponsored by JPMorgan Chase; and TEDx speaker. Erika received a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).