Sheila Mikhail has over 25 years of biopharmaceutical leadership experience. She is a serial entrepreneur, an advocate for equitable access to healthcare, and a philanthropist. She co-founded and serves as Chief Executive Officer of Jurata Thin Film, Inc. which has developed a cellulose matrix platform technology for the storage of gene therapies and vaccines at room temperatures for extended periods, thereby enabling broader access to areas without adequate cold supply chain infrastructure. Previously, she co-founded Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, Inc. (AskBio) and served as its Chief Executive Officer until March 2023. During her tenure as CEO, she built three GMP manufacturing facilities in Spain and AskBio’s excess capacity is sold under the tradename Viralgen Vector Core for CDMO services and TAAV Biomanufacturing Solutions for plasmid supply. With $235m in Series A funding, she built the company to over 900 employees operating in five countries. Under her leadership, AskBio advanced programs into the clinic for Pompe, Congenital Heart Failure, Parkinson’s, Multiple System Atrophy, and Huntington’s. In December 2020, Ms. Mikhail led the negotiation of AskBio’s $4b acquisition by Bayer AG. Additionally, she co-founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Bamboo Therapeutics which, in 20 months, raised $50m, advanced a therapeutic for GAN into the clinic, completed pre-IND studies for a Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapeutic, and built a GMP manufacturing facility. Bamboo was acquired by Pfizer in August 2016 in a deal valued at $827m. Prior to that, she was part of the management team at Chatham Therapeutics which was acquired by Baxter International in 2014. Deeply committed to ensuring equitable access to healthcare, Ms. Mikhail founded and serves as Executive Director of Breast Cancer Ruckus focused on raising awareness of the need for supplemental cancer screening for women with dense breasts and championing legislation mandating insurance coverage, and Columbus Children’s Foundation (CCF) with a mission to accelerate access to gene therapies for children with ultra-rare diseases. To date, CCF has treated 52 children suffering from amino acid decarboxylase deficiency (AADC), a devastating neurological disease with no viable treatment option, at no cost to their families. Ms. Mikhail serves as a Board member for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), Verve Therapeutics, NC Biotechnology Center, NC LifeSci, and the Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM) organization. Early in her career, Ms. Mikhail practiced law for more than 15 years. During that time, she founded Life Sciences Law, a boutique law firm that serviced clients such as Bayer, Gilead, GSK, Sanofi, and Aventis. Prior to moving to North Carolina in 2000, she practiced law with Ropes and Gray in Boston and was a management consultant with AT Kearney in Chicago. In 2021, Ms. Mikhail was recognized as the Ernst & Young Overall National Entrepreneur of the Year and, in 2022, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award (Entrepreneurial) from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She was honored with the 2024 Life Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award by the Triangle Business Journal. She earned a JD with honors from Northwestern University, a finance MBA with honors from the University of Chicago, and a BS with highest honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.