Jessica has over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical development and over 10 years of experience working in rare diseases with cell and gene therapies. She started her career at Ernst & Young consulting to hospital networks in New Zealand, and in 2002, joined GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in the UK, where she worked across discovery and clinical development teams. In 2012, Jessica joined the GSK Rare Diseases Team in the United States to deliver ground-breaking cell and gene therapy treatments for multiple immunodeficiencies and leukodystrophies. In 2016, she led the European launch of the first autologous ex vivo gene therapy (Strimvelis) for children born with adenosine deaminase-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (ADA-SCID), and through 2018, she led the rare growth strategy plans for rare disease treatments worldwide for GSK. Moving to small biotech, Jessica led the development of two rare disease ophthalmology programs toward IND submission at Limelight Bio and had the honour of bringing a first-in-class in vivo CAR T product for B-cell malignancies into the clinic at Interius BioTherapeutics. Most recently, Jessica joined CSL Behring to work across the R&D portfolio with a renewed focus upon bringing rare disease treatments to patients.
Jessica received her MBA in healthcare and pharmaceuticals from Drexel University, Philadelphia, and her undergraduate degree in strategic management and industrial psychology at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.
