M. Kathleen Behrens

Dr. M. Kathleen Behrens served as a member of the board of directors of each of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (SRPT), a multi-billion dollar medical research and drug development company focused on the discovery and development of unique RNA-targeted therapeutics for the treatment of rare neuromuscular diseases, since March 2009 (Chairwoman of the Board since April 2015) and IGM Biosciences, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, since January 2019.

Dr. Behrens has worked as an independent life sciences consultant and investor since December 2009. She served as the Co-Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer, and as director of the KEW Group Inc., a private oncology services company, from January 2012 until June 2014.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Behrens served as a general partner for selected venture funds for RS Investments, a mutual fund firm, from 1996 until December 2009. While Dr. Behrens worked at RS Investments, from 1996 to 2002, she served as a managing director at the firm and, from 2003 to December 2009, she served as a consultant to the firm. During that time, Dr. Behrens also served as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), from 2001 to 2009 and as chairwoman of PCAST’s Subcommittee on Personalized Medicine, as well as the President, director, and chairwoman of the National Venture Capital Association, an organization that advocates for public policy that supports the American Entrepreneurial ecosystem, from 1993 until 2000. Prior to that, she served as a general partner and managing director for Robertson Stephens & Co., an investment company, from 1983 through 1996.

She served as a director of Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly AMLN), a biopharmaceutical company, from 2009 until the company’s sale in 2012 to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Prior to that, she served on the board of directors of Abgenix, Inc. (formerly ABGX), a biopharmaceutical company, from 2001 until the company was sold to Amgen, Inc. in 2006. From 1997 to 2005, Dr. Behrens was a director of the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy for the National Research Council.

Dr. Behrens was also a Co-Founder of the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine, a trade association for new-generation diagnostics companies.

Dr. Behrens holds a B.S. in Biology and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis.