Alex Therien is a biopharmaceutical executive with nearly 25 years of experience leading drug discovery and development across multiple modalities and therapeutic areas, including immunology, infectious diseases, oncology, neuroscience, and cardiometabolic diseases. He has a proven track record of advancing programs from target identification to IND and through regulatory approval and commercialization. As Executive Vice President and Head of Research & Development at Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Therien oversees all R&D functions as the company advances its lead molecules and looks to expand the DiffusphereTM technology to additional indications. Prior to Eupraxia, Dr. Therien served as Senior Vice President and Head of Drug Design & Preclinical Development at Generate Biomedicines, where he led the translation of the company's AI/ML-driven protein generation platform into a robust drug discovery pipeline. Before that, he was Vice President and Head of Therapeutic Area Biology at Eikon Therapeutics, where he drove the company's drug discovery pipeline and expanded its therapeutic area focus. Dr. Therien also spent over 17 years at Merck & Co., most recently as Executive Director and Head of Molecular & Cellular Discovery at the Exploratory Science Center. During his tenure at Merck, he was the preclinical lead for bezlotoxumab (Zinplava®), an antitoxin antibody therapy for recurrent C. difficile infections that received FDA approval in 2016. He has contributed to the development and regulatory approval of multiple other therapeutics including molnupiravir (Lagevrio®) and relebactam (Recarbrio®). Prior to embarking on his drug development journey, he earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McGill University, work for which he received the Governor General’s Gold Medal, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Toronto. He is the author of over 50 published articles and serves on the IBD Ventures Review Panel (Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation) and as Editorial Advisory Board Member for the journal Biochemical Pharmacology.