Laura Bessen

Laura Bessen, M.D., has served as a member of the Board of Directors since August 2022. Dr. Bessen currently serves as managing partner at Maxsam Advisors LLC where she provides strategic clinical and medical affairs advice to clients across the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Previously, she held roles of increasing responsibility over a 15-year career at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), most recently as Vice President, Head of US Medical. During her tenure at BMS, she helped launch 11 new products including Opdivo®, Yervoy®, elotuzomab, and Eliquis® and co-led BMS’ partnership with Gilead to develop Atripla®. Dr. Bessen also co-led the development of the BMS product commercialization model, life cycle management, and launch investment principles. Earlier in her career, Dr. Bessen served in medical affairs roles at DuPont Pharmaceuticals. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Artiva Biotherapeutics, an oncology company developing and advancing off-the-shelf, allogeneic natural killer cell therapies for patients with hematologic cancers or solid tumors. Dr. Bessen received her M.D. degree from New York University School of Medicine and B.S. in biochemistry from the State University of New York at Binghamton.