Hicham Alaoui

Dr. Alaoui has more than 20 years of experience in a variety of drug discovery and development organizations. Most recently Dr. Alaoui served as Vice President of Biology at Ardelyx where he led a multidisciplinary research organization consisting of molecular and cellular pharmacology, in vivo pharmacology and DMPK. Prior to Ardelyx, Dr. Alaoui was the Vice President of Biotherapeutics Research and Development at Codexis and before that Senior Vice President Discovery Biology and Co-head of Research at Symic Bio. In these senior leadership roles, Dr. Alaoui was responsible for expanding that company’s pipeline and strategically extending into new therapeutic areas. Dr Alaoui spent several years at Genentech as Director Biochemical and Cellular Pharmacology, ultimately leading a large in vitro pharmacology group dedicated to lead drug discovery and optimization for both biotherapeutic and small molecule programs. Prior to Genentech, he acted as key contributor for driving multiple protein therapeutic candidates into clinical trials, as well as the establishment of novel in vitro and in vivo pharmacology assays through his various R&D leadership positions at Stryker Biotech, VisEn Medical, Neogenesis Pharmaceuticals, and Shire BioChem. Dr. Alaoui earned a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as well as an M.Sc. in biochemistry from Pierre & Marie Curie Université, Paris, France. Dr. Alaoui has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, in addition to being named as an inventor on multiple patent applications.