Leslie J. Williams
Leslie Williams is a 25-year biopharmaceutical veteran and an experienced biotech CEO and board of directors' member. She has experience in healthcare, management, business development, commercial product development and marketing and venture capital.
Leslie is the founder, director, president and CEO at hC Bioscience, which is focused on developing tRNA based therapeutics for oncology and rare disease. Prior to this, she spent 10 years at ImmusanT developing immunotherapies for autoimmune disease. She was the founder, director, president and CEO until the reverse merger in 2019.
Before her time at ImmusanT, Leslie was president & CEO of Ventaira Pharmaceuticals. Under her leadership, the company became a significant player in the pulmonary drug-delivery market until it was sold in 2007.
Leslie has held positions in business development, sales and marketing, product development at INO Therapeutics, Inc., Merck and GSK, and also has drug-delivery and -monitoring experience at Datex-Ohmeda (formerly Ohmeda, Inc.). She was a venture partner at Battelle Ventures where she sourced and evaluated deals and assisted early-stage technology companies with strategy, management, business development and M&A.
Leslie has served on several private, public and non-profit boards. She is currently an operating partner at Accelerator Life Science Partners and serves on the Board of Ocular Therapeutix (Nasdaq: OCUL) and Windtree Therapeutics (Nasdaq: WINT) and on the Editorial Advisory Board of Life Science Leader.
Before entering industry, Leslie was a critical-care nurse at Duke University, Medical College of Virginia and at the University of Iowa.
Education:
MBA, Washington University
B.S., Nursing, University of Iowa.