Mariana Mihalusova focuses on biotech and pharmaceutical investments. Mariana led Venrock’s formation of Interdict Bio, where she currently serves on the Board, and is a Board Observer at Bright Peak, Mythic, MBrace, and Tisento. Mariana brings to Venrock deep experience spanning the entire spectrum of drug development – from preclinical, to marketing approval, to lifecycle management – with a special emphasis on crossing the chasm from discovery to clinical validation.

 

Prior to joining Venrock, Mariana was Executive Director at Celgene Corporation, where she led global development for over a dozen drugs across hematology, oncology, inflammation/immunology, and neurodegenerative diseases – many of which she brought from development candidate nomination, through IND, to clinical proof-of-concept. Among the drugs in her portfolio were protein degraders (mezigdomide, eragidomide), epigenetic modifiers (BETi, LSD1i), bispecifics (PD1xLAG3, CD47xCD20), and several CAR-Ts.

 

Mariana received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University, MBA from Harvard Business School, and Sc.B. in Biochemistry from Brown University. She is also a member of the Key Advisory Board for the HBS Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship.