Svetlana Sadekova PhD

Dr. Svetlana Sadekova is the Head of Experimental & Translational pathology at Merck S&D, Palo Alto, USA. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and completed her post-doctoral studies in cellular and molecular biology at McGill University, Montreal, Canada which led to her appointment as Director of the Breast Cancer Functional Genomics group and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology, McGill. In 2006, Dr. Sadekova joined the research team at Schering Plough developing cancer therapeutics and after an acquisition by Merck in 2010, she has focused on identifying and advancing lead biologics into clinical trials, and developing biomarker-based strategies for immuno-oncology programs. Her areas of expertise include oncology translational research, the development of strategic partnerships for the focusing mechanism of action studies on immune-oncology drugs, and biomarker development.