Co-Founder, President and CEO
Dominique Verhelle, Ph.D., MBA, is the co-founder and chief executive officer of NextRNA Therapeutics, a Boston-based biotech company with a unique technology to develop transformative medicines for cancers and neurological disorders. Dominique has over 20 years of industry experience, spanning key scientific leadership roles in biopharma and venture capital. Before joining NextRNA, Dominique served as head of academic innovation at Takeda’s Center for External Innovation, where she led efforts to build partnerships for Takeda with leading academic investigators in the United States and globally. During that time, she also served as a director on the board of Bridge Medicines, a Takeda Ventures-backed company. Prior to joining Takeda, Dominique was a principal at Third Rock Ventures, where she cofounded Fulcrum Therapeutics and Cedilla Therapeutics. Previously, Dominique launched and led epigenetic drug discovery efforts in oncology at Celgene and Pfizer for over a decade. Dominique holds a Ph.D. in life sciences from Université Côte d’Azur, France, and an MBA in entrepreneurship from the UC San Diego Rady School of Management.