Ljiljana Minwalla

Ljiljana Minwalla, J.D., Ph.D., joined Cygnal Therapeutics in October 2020. With both a scientific and legal background, Ljiljana specializes in IP and pharmaceutical/biotechnology law. She has extensive experience working with early-stage biotech companies, building out legal infrastructures, negotiating complex strategic collaborations and transactional matters, advising on healthcare compliance, and managing, growing, protecting, monetizing, and budgeting IP portfolios.

Before joining Cygnal, Ljiljana most recently held the position of VP, IP and Legal Affairs at CiVi Biopharma, Inc., where she was sole in-house counsel and took responsibility for all IP, corporate, legal and compliance matters. Prior to CiVi Biopharma, Ljiljana was senior corporate counsel at Helsinn Therapeutics. She has also held roles at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Mesoblast, Protein Sciences Corporation, and Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP.

Ljiljana holds her JD from Brooklyn Law School. Before becoming a lawyer, Ljiljana received her undergraduate degree in chemistry and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from University of Cincinnati. She also worked as a postdoctoral fellow at New York University in dermatology and cell biology.