Vicki Sato, Ph.D.

Chairman

Vicki Sato, Ph.D., has served as Chairman of our Board since December 2016. 

Dr. Sato is currently a partner at ARCH Venture Partners, Chairman at Denali Therapeutics, non-executive Director at Allogene Therapeutics, Inc., a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicines’ Committee on Science, Technology and Law. 

Previously, she was a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School and a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at Harvard University. 

Dr. Sato retired in 2005 from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where she served as President since 2000. She joined the company in 1992 and had previously served as Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President of Research and Development and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board. 

Before Vertex, Dr. Sato was Vice President of Research at Biogen, Inc., where she led research programs in the areas of inflammation, thrombosis and HIV disease, and was part of the executive team. 

Previously, she served as a board member for several U.S. publicly traded companies biotech and biopharma companies. 

Dr. Sato received her A.B. in Biology from Radcliffe College and her A.M. and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. She conducted her postdoctoral work at both the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford Medical Center.