Heather L. Franklin

Ms. Franklin has over 20 years of broad biotechnology expertise. She founded Blaze Bioscience in 2011 and has led the company from its infancy to become a clinical-stage company. Prior to establishing Blaze, Ms. Franklin spent 10 years at ZymoGenetics in positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately serving as senior vice president, business development, where she was a member of the executive management team and was responsible for business development, alliance management, strategic planning, portfolio management, and pipeline marketing. Ms. Franklin was the architect of the $1.1 billion deal with Bristol Myers Squibb for interferon lambda, which at the time was the largest single-molecule Phase 1 deal ever consummated and ultimately led to the subsequent acquisition by BMS. Earlier in her career, she held roles in program management at Amgen and Targeted Genetics. Ms. Franklin has her Masters in Business and Administration from The Warton School of the University of Pennsylvania, her Masters of Science from the University of Washington, and her bachelors of science from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.