Suguna Rachakonda

Suguna has 20 years of experience in drug discovery, business development, and the creation of new ventures to translate breakthrough science into commercial products. Most recently she was Sr. Director at the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center and the NIH Center for Accelerated Innovations at the Cleveland Clinic, responsible for scouting and evaluating early stage therapeutic assets from partner institutions and building industry partnerships across therapeutic areas. She also led strategy and operations of a start-up to advance a drug targeting the gut microbiome for cardiometabolic diseases. Suguna led the office of technology commercialization at Kent State University, overseeing licensing and start-up creation. Her industry experience as a drug discovery scientist includes a brief stint at United Therapeutics. Suguna spent ten years at Pharmasset Inc. working on the discovery of drugs for HIV, HBV, and HCV. She was a significant contributor to numerous clinical candidates including the marketed drug Sovaldi®, a cure for HCV.

Suguna holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Hyderabad, India, and conducted post-doctoral research in nanomaterials at Tulane University, and earned an MBA from New York University. She is a coauthor on 30-peer reviewed publications and a co-inventor on 14 issued patents.