Board of Directors

Dr. Ram Palanki

Executive Vice President, Commercial Strategy & Operations

Dr. Ram Palanki currently serves as executive vice president of commercial strategy & operations at REGENXBIO, a leader in AAV gene therapy, and is responsible for the planning, execution and commercialization of their pipeline across the ophthalmology, central nervous system and neuromuscular disease franchises.

Ram has nearly 20 years of drug development and commercialization experience in the biopharmaceutical and device industry. Before joining REGENXBIO, Dr. Palanki was senior vice president of Commercial for all of Americas at Santen Inc. Previously, he served as the executive team member and lead the global marketing, sales, pricing, reimbursement, commercial operations and alliance management functions at ThromboGenics. Over the span of his career, Dr. Palanki has held roles of increasing responsibility at several small, mid and large companies, including NeoVista Inc, and Genentech.  He actively serves as a board member and strategic advisor to multiple biotech, technology start-up companies and global non-profits in ophthalmology.

Ram holds a PharmD from Albany College of Pharmacy, Union University, NY, and his post doctorate from Rutgers University, NJ.

Dr. Natalia Misciattelli

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Misciattelli has more than 25 years of experience as an executive in the life sciences industry. She previously served as Chief Business Officer of NovalGen, a London-based biopharmaceutical company developing breakthrough cancer therapies, where her broad remit ranged from strategy development through to operational planning and execution.

Prior to that, she was Senior Vice President, Strategy and Operations for Freeline Therapeutics, a public biotech company developing transformative AAV-based gene therapies. At Freeline, she was responsible for multiple corporate functions and was also pivotal in enabling the company to raise a series of successful investment rounds, including a $158.8 million initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq in August 2020.

Dr. Misciattelli  started her career in finance with Arthur Andersen in London and went on to work in corporate development at General Electric Healthcare where she gained valuable experience in the life sciences industry internationally as a partner at PA Consulting.

She holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Marine Microbiology from Bangor University, University of Wales.

Paola Pozzi

Sofinnova Partners

Non-Executive Director at AAVantgarde’s board of directors.

Non-Executive Director at Pincell and Epsilan Bio’s board of directors.

Former Head of Biotechnology Transfer Office at Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.

Annamaria Merico

Head of Business Development at Fondazione Telethon, Milan, Italy

Non-Executive Director at AVVantgarde’s board of directors.

Former Technology Transfer Officer at Unimitt, University of Milan, Italy.