Hanadie Yousef, PhD

Dr. Hanadie Yousef is the CEO and co-founder of Juvena Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company developing tissue restorative biologics for chronic muscle and metabolic diseases. Juvena leverages a proprietary platform to map the therapeutic potential of stem cell-secreted proteins, translating biology into clinical reality. Under Dr. Yousef’s leadership, the company entered the clinic in H1 2025 with its lead candidate—a broadly applicable, muscle-regenerating fusion protein for Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1). Juvena is also progressing a novel obesity asset and a muscle-targeting metabolic discovery program, partnered with Eli Lilly. Dr. Yousef's scientific expertise is rooted in the biology of aging and tissue degeneration, with research supported by the NIH, NSF, and others, leading to multiple patents and high-impact publications. Her vision has garnered significant recognition, including being named a World Economic Forum 2024 Technology Pioneer, a BioSpace "NextGen Class of 2024 Startup to Watch," and being honored among the "Fiercest Women in Life Sciences" by Fierce Biotech (2023). Dr. Yousef holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (NSF Fellow) and completed a five-year postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford School of Medicine (NIH Fellow and SPARK Scholar) before launching Juvena in 2018.