Aleksandra Rizo

Aleksandra Rizo, M.D., Ph.D., joined Vividion in July of 2022 as President and Head of Research and Development. In January 2023 Dr. Rizo was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer and has joined the Board of Directors of Vividion. Previously, Dr. Rizo served as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Geron Corporation since January 2019 where she provided leadership and direction for all clinical and translational efforts. Included in her reporting responsibilities were clinical development, clinical operations, clinical pharmacology, biometrics, translational research, program management and medical affairs. Prior to joining Geron, Dr. Rizo was Executive Director, Strategy and Clinical Lead, at Celgene Corporation from March 2018 to January 2019, where she led submission activities and participated in strategic development activities in the Myeloid Therapeutic Area. From October 2008 to March 2018, Dr. Rizo served in a number of oncology drug development functions with increasing responsibilities at Janssen Research and Development, LLC (Janssen), including Senior Director, Compound Development Team Leader for all myeloid assets, Senior Director, Global Clinical Leader for the imetelstat, ibrutinib mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) program, and others. In these roles, she had oversight and leadership responsibilities for overall clinical development strategy, study designs, execution and data interpretation. In addition, Dr. Rizo was a core member of Janssen’s Hematology Strategy Team where she participated and led multiple diligence projects in hematology. During her initial tenure with Janssen, Dr. Rizo also worked on Velcade clinical trials in lymphoma and multiple myeloma. Dr. Rizo holds an M.D. from the University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia, where she also completed a residency in internal medicine/hematology. She also has a Ph.D. in human leukemic stem cell biology from the University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, and a Ph.D. in mouse stem cell biology from the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.