Robert Perni

I am a 37-year veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry working at organizations of all sizes, ranging from big pharma to startups to my own business. Starting at the bench as a medicinal chemist at Sterling Winthrop, a large multinational pharmaceutical company, I worked my way up to eventual positions as Project Head, running an integrated drug discovery program at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Chemistry at Sirtris (A GSK Company) and Vice President R&D at IM Therapeutics.

I have extensive research experience in multiple therapeutic areas, including anti-infectives, virology, oncology, and metabolic diseases, among others. I also have overseen early development work on process development and manufacturing of drug candidates for clinical studies. Nine years ago, I started my own consulting business and have been a consultant helping start-up biotech companies with drug discovery and early development efforts ever since.

I earned my BS in Chemistry at Northeastern University and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Dartmouth College. On the business end, I have significant experience across the various areas of biopharma R&D but have also worked with multiple startups trying to get off the ground as well as my own consulting business.