Kenneth Rhodes BA, PhD

Dr. Rhodes is chief scientific officer of Yumanity Therapeutics. Prior to Yumanity, Dr. Rhodes served as vice president, neurology discovery at Biogen, where he led a scientific organization focused on discovery and early development of novel protein and small molecule drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. During his tenure at Biogen Idec, Dr. Rhodes’ team delivered nine new chemical entities into preclinical development in areas such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

In the Alzheimer’s disease area, Dr. Rhodes and his team played a major role in the preclinical development of BIIB037 (aducanumab), a fully human monoclonal antibody will enter Phase 3 trials later this year. In addition to drug discovery activities, Dr. Rhodes and his team led preclinical research studies in the area of translational biomarkers, played an active role in business development to grow the Biogen discovery pipeline and published seminal research findings characterizing the mechanisms of action of Tecfidera, Biogen Idec’s blockbuster oral therapy for the treatment of relapsing forms of MS.