Safia Rizvi PhD - Director
KERMODE BIOTECHNOLOGIES

Dr. Rizvi brings over 20 years of experience across the entire biopharma value chain, from drug discovery to commercialization. She leverages her scientific and business expertise to enhance pipelines, accelerate regulatory approvals, optimize reimbursement, and create value for biopharma companies. Throughout her career, she has closed deals worth over $12 billion, managed P&L exceeding $1 billion, and launched 10 products in the US, EU, and Asia Pacific, each within different regulatory and market access environments.

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Dr. Rizvi is the founder of Cila Therapeutics, a company developing inhaled therapeutics for respiratory rare diseases. At Cila Therapeutics, she translated scientific concepts into a robust pipeline of five programs and built a team of advisors featuring world-class experts in pulmonary medicine, inhaled therapeutics, and biopharma R&D. Currently, Dr. Rizvi serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Caravan Biologix Inc., a company developing a revolutionary platform technology for the treatment of solid tumors and other human diseases.

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Before founding Cila Therapeutics, Dr. Rizvi was the Managing Director of The Blue Group, a strategic advisory company for biopharma firms focused on portfolio, partnership, product development, and commercialization of therapeutic products.

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Dr. Rizvi is a seasoned pharmaceutical professional, having worked at GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune (AstraZeneca), UCB Inc., Galderma Laboratories, and Voyager Therapeutics in various roles, including Drug Discovery Scientist and General Manager of country division businesses.

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In addition to her executive roles, Dr. Rizvi has served on the boards of several biotechnology companies, including RLS-AKI and Akanas Antibody Engineering.

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Prior to joining the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Rizvi was a Research Faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania's Medical School, where her research focused on protein structure and function.

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Dr. Rizvi holds an MBA in Health Care Management from the Wharton School of Business and a Ph.D. in Chemistry, with numerous authored articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. She is an inventor on over 50 patent filings for therapeutics and therapeutic targets.

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Among her accolades are a fellowship from the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross Spectrum “Rising Star 2001 Award,” the “National Working Mother of the Year 2001” Award, and the “Women of Distinction 2005” Award.