Petra Kaufmann

Petra most recently served as Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development, Analytics and Translational Medicine at Novartis Gene Therapies where she played a key role in the global approvals of gene therapy, Zolgensma®, and multiple IND filings. Petra’s expertise in translational medicine and clinical development in neuroscience, rare disease, and gene therapy also comes from many years of clinical research and development positions in academia, and at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she held leadership roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Director of the Office of Rare Diseases Research. Petra earned her M.D. at the University of Bonn, and her M.S. in Biostatistics at Columbia University where she also trained in neurology and served as tenured faculty member, advancing research, and caring for patients.