Sheila Dewitt

Dr. Sheila DeWitt is an executive and serial entrepreneur with 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. She earned her B.A. in Chemistry & Chemical Biology from Cornell University in 1982 and Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from Duke University in 1986. She is internationally recognized for pioneering automated and high-throughput chemistry during her time at Parke-Davis and has received numerous awards in recognition for her innovation and entrepreneurship. She has authored >60 publications and abstracts, created and delivered >20 short courses or symposia, and is an inventor on >100 patents and/or patent applications. Dr. DeWitt has founded and/or led the start-up or turnaround of 9 biotechnology companies or business units, orchestrated $2+ billion in transactions, engineered the shutdown and asset sales of a publicly traded company, and managed global R&D organizations with up to $30 mil annual budgets. Since 2010, she has served as the Founder, Chair, President, and CEO of two deuterated drug companies. During this time, she led the development and sale of several product assets including the sale of one company Celgene (Dec 2012) and DRX-065 and a portfolio of related assets to Poxel SA (Aug 2018). During this time, she raised >$8 million in angel and non-dilutive funding and delivered up to 20x returns to investors based on upfront payments and >100x based on future success-based milestones (not including royalties).