Irena Melnikova, Ph.D. is a Partner at Pfizer Ventures. She joined the CellCentric board in July 2024.
Irena is an accomplished biopharma and finance executive with over 20 years of experience in equity financings in both public and private markets, corporate strategy, business development, and operations. She currently serves as a Board Director of Artios Pharma, Crossbow Therapeutics, Flare Therapeutics, Priovant Therapetuics and was a Director of Telavant Holdings (acquired by Roche for $7.1 billion).
Prior to Pfizer Ventures, Irena served as the Chief Financial Officer at Umoja Biopharma where she was a senior member of the executive team responsible for all aspects of financial strategy and operations of the company.
Prior to Umoja, Irena was a Managing Director, Biopharma Investment Banking at Leerink Partners, where she provided critical advice to biopharma companies and their boards on equity financing strategies, completing over 80 transactions raising over $9 billion for clients. Earlier in her career, she held leadership positions at Sanofi and TVM Capital.
Irena holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine/Molecular Biology from the University of Texas.