Dr. Kariuki is an accomplished life sciences executive with extensive strategic, operational, and financial experience. He currently serves on the board of Zentalis (NASDAQ: ZNTL). He most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of Lengo Therapeutics (acquired by Blueprint Medicines for $465 million). Previously, Dr. Kariuki was the Chief Financial Officer of VelosBio (acquired by Merck for $2.75 billion) and prior to that was the Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Synthorx (acquired by Sanofi for $2.5 billion). He was also a Board Director at Imago Biosciences (acquired by Merck for $1.35 billion)
Before Synthorx, Dr. Kariuki was Vice President at H.I.G. Capital (a $50 billion+ private equity fund), where he led investments into, and served on the boards of, several life sciences companies. His other previous roles include Senior Associate at Leerink Partners and Associate Director at UBS Investment Bank. At Leerink and UBS, Dr. Kariuki advised healthcare companies on equity capital financings, mergers, and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and recapitalizations.
Dr. Kariuki completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in R&D Strategy and Analytics at Bristol-Myers Squibb and was a Pharmacist at CVS Caremark. He holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a PharmD from Texas Southern University.