Una S. Ryan

Una S. Ryan, Ph.D., OBE is Managing Director Golden Seeds (Silicon Valley), an angel investing group focused on women-led companies. She is currently a Research Professor of Medicine at BU School of Medicine and serves on its Board of Visitors. Her board positions include AMRI (Lead Director, Nominating and Compensation committees) and MSH (Audit and Compensation committees).

Dr. Ryan was most recently President and CEO of Diagnostics For All (DFA), a non-profit organization developing inexpensive diagnostics for global health and agricultural uses. Previously, she was President and CEO of AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc, (NASDAQ) a company developing vaccines and immunotherapeutics for cancer, travelers, food safety, and global health, and also a member of its Board of Directors. Prior to AVANT, she was director of Health Sciences at Monsanto Company. Before that, she held a number of positions in academia, including Research Professor of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Professor of Medicine at the University of Miami School of Medicine. She was also Chair of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, served on its Board, as well as the Biotechnology Industry Organization, New England Healthcare Institute, Board of Associates of the Whitehead Institute, Strategy & Policy Council of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation, Massachusetts Life Sciences Collaborative Leadership Council and the Goddard Council on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

Dr. Ryan holds a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Cambridge University and BS degrees in Zoology, Microbiology, and Chemistry from Bristol University. She received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Bristol University in 2009. In 2007, Dr. Ryan received the Albert Einstein Award for outstanding achievement in the life sciences. In 2002 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded Dr. Ryan the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to research, development, and promotion of biotechnology.