Susan Hershenson

Susan Hershenson provides technical expertise and strategic guidance to foundation teams and partners on therapeutics projects, drawing on her 30-plus years of experience in drug development.

Before joining the foundation in 2013, Susan had her own consulting practice, Pharmaceutical Transformations LLC. Her clients included a wide range of biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and drug delivery companies, venture capital firms, university labs, and nonprofit organizations. Earlier, she served in a variety of roles in the biopharmaceutical industry, most recently as vice president of pharmaceutical and device development at Genentech and vice president of pharmaceutics at Amgen. Over the course of her career, Susan has made significant contributions to the development and commercialization of numerous therapeutic products.

Susan earned a B.A. in chemistry from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Yale University, and she was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Stroud at University of California, San Francisco. She publishes and speaks actively and serves on scientific advisory boards.