Steve Kelsey MBChB, MD

Realizing he wasn’t good enough to make a career out of playing rugby or soccer, Steve went to medical school. Training as an academic hematologic oncologist in London and working as a clinician-scientist at Barts and The London before joining the pharmaceutical industry in 2000, Steve was always motivated to have science drive the discovery of novel therapies. In London, he ran a clinical practice treating patients with leukaemias and lymphomas in a research-focused environment, ran a research laboratory doing both basic and translational research and taught haematology to medical students. After two years of leading the clinical development of Sutent® for Pharmacia/SUGEN, he joined Genentech where he became vice president of haematology/oncology, playing a significant role in the development of key products such as Perjeta®, Kadcyla® and Erivedge® as well as other molecules in the company’s oncology portfolio. He then led the development of imetelstat, a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor, at Geron where he served as head of research and development and chief medical officer. Following his time at Geron, Steve served as president of Onkaido Therapeutics, a Moderna Venture focusing on discovery and development of mRNA therapeutics for cancer. During his 17 years in the biotechnology industry, Steve has worked with small molecules, antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, DNA oligonucleotides and mRNA platforms and has driven multiple industries and industry-academia collaborations as part of the mission to provide better drugs for patients with cancer. He has a passion for building and leading high-functioning teams doing groundbreaking cancer research.

Steve graduated with bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degrees (MB ChB) and a doctorate of medicine (M.D.) from the University of Birmingham, U.K. He is a fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) of London and the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath), the U.K. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications spanning cell biology, drug discovery, drug development and patient care, and is a named inventor on several patents. He now watches more soccer than he plays.