Karen Akinsanya

CEO

New York City, New York, United States34 yrs 4 mos experience

Highly Stable

Key Highlights

Over 30 years in drug discovery and development.
Led multi-disciplinary teams in therapeutic advancements.
Significant experience in business development and collaborations.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a leader in Healthcare and Pharmaceutical R&D with extensive experience in drug discovery.

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Skills

Core Skills

Drug DiscoveryClinical Development

Other Skills

Business DevelopmentComputational ChemistryBiomarkersClinical ResearchClinical PharmacologyPharmacologyOncologyCROCell BiologyImmunologyPharmaceutical IndustryGLPINDLifesciencesTherapeutic Areas

About

A strategic leader, drug discovery and development professional with >30 years of hands-on experience in drug discovery and translational science including target selection, validation, early clinical development and business development at Merck & Co. Schrödinger and Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Currently leading a multi-disciplinary team of computational and medicinal chemists, physicists, physicians, structural and target biologists with KOLs to discover and develop a portfolio of therapeutics for unmet medical needs #therapeuticmomentum

Experience

Ps stealth stage

Co-Founder

Sep 2025 – Present · 7 mos · New York City Metropolitan Area

Envision science productions

Narrator & Writer

Jan 2024 – Present · 2 yrs 3 mos · London, England, United Kingdom · Remote

Narrator for a new documentary series featuring the invisible and fascinating life of the cells around us and inside us.

Nautilus biotechnology

Member Board Of Directors

Mar 2022 – Present · 4 yrs 1 mo

Schrödinger

2 roles

President, R&D - Therapeutics & Chief Strategy Officer, Partnering

Promoted

Feb 2022 – Present · 4 yrs 2 mos

Responsible for the discovery and development of therapeutics as well as business development and collaborations. Leading a team of >120 discovery scientists and clinical scientists who leverage Shrödinger's physics-based computational platform and digital chemistry approaches to advance candidates into the clinic internally and in collaborations with biotech and pharma companies.

Drug DiscoveryClinical DevelopmentBusiness DevelopmentComputational Chemistry

Chief Biomedical Scientist

Apr 2018 – Feb 2022 · 3 yrs 10 mos

Thermo fisher scientific

Scientific Advisory Board Member

Feb 2020 – Present · 6 yrs 2 mos

Merck

5 roles

Associate Vice President, Early Scientific Assessment Lead

Dec 2013 – Jul 2017 · 3 yrs 7 mos

Responsible for a search and evaluation team within Merck Research Labs BD&L group. Scope includes US licensing and partnering opportunities up through clinical POC. > 30 significant executed deals
Board Member - National Medical Fellowships http://www.nmfonline.org
Executive Ambassador - Merck For Mothers http://merckformothers.com

Associate Vice President & Head, BD&L Early Assessment & MRL Alliance Management

Dec 2013 – Dec 2014 · 1 yr

Karen leads BD&L Early Assessment and Alliance Management for Merck Research Laboratories and is responsible for scientific evaluation of emerging therapeutic opportunites from preclinical through proof-of-concept and enabling technologies.
Board Member - National Medical Fellowships http://www.nmfonline.org
Executive Ambassador - Merck For Mothers http://merckformothers.com