Dawn Bell
Executive Profile
Dr. Dawn Bell has been starting and scaling life-sciences businesses from academic spinouts to Top 5 Pharma for the past 20 years. Her career spans buy and sell-side BD&L, portfolio strategy, R&D, and commercialization in both private and public companies (NYSE: NVS; NASDAQ: MDCO). She has raised venture capital, led global teams of 100+ people and managed budgets/P&L of more than $50M. She is a start-up thought leader, board director, and advisor for life-science companies, research institutes, CEOs, founders, and innovation accelerators in the US, Canada, and Europe.
Career Highlights
Delivered Entresto ($3.5B) approval 18 months ahead of schedule as global GM. Secured Break-Through and Fast-Track status at the FDA.
Led sell-side BD&L process resulting in out-licensing of a novel biologic for rare hematologic disease; Buy-side BD&L leader at Novartis with full visibility into BD&L and M&A decision-making and governance processes.
Led development and launch of 12+ medicines across 8 therapeutic areas. Built the team that launched the 1st two gene therapies approved in Canada.
Founding CEO of Emory University spinout. Raised seed round of venture capital and negotiated proof of principal collaboration with Duke University.
Early commercial leader at The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) contributing to market cap growth from $400M to >$2B over 3 years.
Board Service
TMIC: Guided National Research Consortium through critical restructure and renewal of Federal Funding.
Gold Track: Helped ventures raise over €500M, achieve three exits (totaling over €1B) and secure 24+ partnerships. Portfolio companies include Turbine (€20M Series A ), Ochre Bio ($30M Series A) and Phagomed (acquired by BioNTech).
Awards and Honors
University of Florida College of Pharmacy Alumnus of the Year, 2022.
Awarded for extraordinary accomplishments and exceptional achievements which have brought pride, honor, and recognition to the College.
Creative Destruction Lab, Mentor of the Year Toronto, 2018
Selected by founder-led, science-based start-up ventures out of 100+ mentors.