Vicki L. Sato

Vicki L. Sato, Ph.D., serves as Chairman of the board of directors at Denali. Vicki served as the Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, where she taught from 2006-2017. During this time, she also had an appointment as Professor of the Practice in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard University. In addition to her academic work, she is a business advisor to enterprises in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Before returning to academia, Vicki spent nearly 14 years at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, joining in 1992 as Chief Scientific Officer with responsibility for research and development. In 2000, she was named President of Vertex with general management responsibility for business and corporate development, commercial operations, legal, and finance, in addition to research and development. Before joining Vertex, Vicki was vice president of research at Biogen, Inc., where she led research programs in the areas of inflammation, thrombosis, and HIV disease, and was a member of the executive management team of the company. She also served as a member of the Biogen Scientific Board.

In addition to Vicki’s role at Denali, she is a member of the board of directors of publicly held companies Bristol Myers Squibb Company and Borg Warner Corporation. She is also Chair of the board of directors for Vir Biotechnology. Vicki continues to be a member of the board of Advisors of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, having been Chair of the Advisors for a number of years. She received her A.B. from Radcliffe College, and her A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. Following postdoctoral work at both the University of California Berkeley and Stanford Medical Center, Vicki was appointed to the faculty of Harvard University, where she was an assistant and associate professor of biology.