Deborah Charych

Dr. Deborah Charych has held scientific leadership positions in both academia and biotech. At Nektar Therapeutics, she led the strategic development of the Immuno-Oncology pipeline and designed NKTR-214, an IL-2 receptor agonist, currently in Phase 3. Alternative engineering of the IL-2 pathway led to clinical development of NKTR-358 for autoimmune disease. Follow-on cytokine and small molecule immune modulators include an IL-15 receptor agonist and a TLR 7/8 agonist. At FivePrime Therapeutics, Dr. Charych led a team that contributed to the clinical development of FP-1039, a pan-FGF inhibitor for oncology. While at Chiron Corporation she initiated and led a large proteomics effort to guide oncology target discovery. At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, she assumed an academic leadership role as tenured Principal Investigator, focusing on new materials. Dr. Charych’s formal education is in Chemistry, earning a Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in Chemistry from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.