Maria Palasis

Maria Palasis, Ph.D., is an accomplished scientist, inventor, entrepreneur and healthcare industry leader who has led the development of multiple highly successful medical device and drug delivery systems. She is considered one of the pioneers of drug-eluting stents, currently over a ~$6B annual commercial market.

Dr. Palasis has served as Lyra’s President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of its board of directors since January 2015. Previously, she was the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer from 2011 to 2015. Prior to Lyra Therapeutics, Dr. Palasis was President and CEO of both Arsenal Medical and its spin-out, 480 Biomedical. At Arsenal Medical and 480 Biomedical, she secured a strategic partnerships with large medical device companies and was instrumental in leading the company from pre-clinical into clinical development on multiple programs. As an excutive, she has led the raising of over $300M of private and public proceeds from investors and non-dilutive government and strategic funding.

From 1995 to 2008, Dr. Palasis served in senior leadership roles at Boston Scientific Corporation, Inc., where she spearheaded major strategic alliances with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, led due diligence on investments, and managed a portfolio of external biotechnology and medical device investments totaling $170M. She was an early member of the team that created the TAXUS® drug-eluting stent, the single most important revenue generator for the company at the time, a $3B annual product.

Dr. Palasis is an inventor on more than 120 issued and pending patents related to drug eluting medical implants and drug delivery systems. She was elected into the National Academy of Engineering in 2021 for outstanding contributions to the design of medical devices and drug delivery systems. Dr. Palasis serves on the Board of Directors of PanTher Therapeutics and is on the Advisory Board of MedExecWomen, a non-profit focused on empowering female executives in medical technology. She holds a B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.