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Biotech CEO Sisterhood: Avidity Biosciences' CEO Sarah Boyce discusses a leader's responsibility to address dysfunction and the importance of corporate culture

Interviewed by Sisterhood editorial board member Sheila Gujrathi, Sarah Boyce describes how to recognize dysfunction and the importance of acting on it directly and with clarity. Plus, maintaining Avidity's culture during a period of explosive growth for the company.




Biographies


Sarah Boyce joined Avidity as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors in October 2019. She has more than 25 years of global leadership experience in both pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. Sarah’s tenure at Avidity has been marked by transformative leadership, starting with the company's successful Series C funding round and IPO. She continues to drive the company’s evolution from a research and development entity to a biopharmaceutical company through the advancement of three therapies into clinical development and the expansion of the broad utility of the company’s proprietary RNA technology. Prior to joining Avidity, Sarah held the position of president and a member of the board of directors of Akcea Therapeutics. She previously held executive roles in business development and global operations for leading life sciences companies including Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Novartis Oncology and Roche. Sarah was named a Healthcare Technology Report Top 25 Biotech CEO in 2022 and has been named one of Fiercest Women in Life Sciences. Sarah currently serves as a member of the board of directors at OmniAb, Inc., Contineum Therapeutics, Inc., and Abcuro, Inc. Sarah holds a BSc (Hons) degree in microbiology from the University of Manchester, England.



Sheila Gujrathi, MD is a biotech entrepreneur, healthcare investor, and drug developer with over 25 years of experience. She serves as chair of ADARx, Ventyx, and Lila Bio, and director of Janux. She previously served as chair of Turning Point (acquired by BMS for $4.1B) and ImmPACT Bio (acquired by Lyell). Dr. Gujrathi is the co-founder and former CEO of Gossamer Bio. Prior to Gossamer Bio, she served as chief medical officer of Receptos (acquired by Celgene for $7.2B). At Receptos, she led the development of  Zeposia®, which is approved for multiple sclerosis and for ulcerative colitis. Previously, she was the immunology therapeutic area head at BMS and held multiple roles in immunology and oncology at Genentech. Earlier in her career, she was a management consultant at McKinsey and completed her medical training at Harvard, UCSF and Stanford.


Dr. Gujrathi has earned multiple awards, including Corporate Directors Forum Director of the Year; Healthcare Technology Report Top 25 Women Leaders; Athena Pinnacle Award, and was named among the Fiercest Women in Life Sciences. Dr. Gujrathi is passionate about making the working world safe and inclusive for women and other minority groups. She is co-founder of the Biotech CEO Sisterhood and the South Asian Biopharma Alliance. She received both her M.D. and B.S. in biomedical engineering in the accelerated Honors Program in Medical Education at Northwestern University where she was the 2024 commencement speaker.

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