Irena Melnikova, PhD, is a Partner at Pfizer Ventures and Executive Director, Worldwide Business Development. Irena is responsible for identifying, evaluating, making and managing equity investments aligned with the future directions of Pfizer. Currently, she has responsibilities for Pfizer’s investments in Artios Pharma, CellCentric, Crossbow Therapeutics, Enodia Therapeutics, Flare Therapeutics, Levicept, Oblenio Bio and Priovant. Irena also served as Director of Telavant Holdings until its acquisition by Roche for $7.1 billion.

Irena is an accomplished biopharma and finance executive with over 20 years of experience in equity financings in both public and private markets, corporate strategy, business development, and operations. Prior to Pfizer Ventures, Irena served as the Chief Financial Officer at Umoja Biopharma where she was a senior member of the executive team responsible for all aspects of financial strategy and operations of the company. Prior to Umoja, Irena served as a Managing Director, Biopharma Investment Banking at Leerink Partners, where she provided critical advice to biopharma companies and their boards on equity financing strategies, completing over 80 transactions raising over $9 billion for clients. Earlier in her career, Irena held leadership positions at Sanofi and TVM Capital; the latter - a global life sciences venture capital firm.

Irena brings a strong scientific background and proven capacity to work across a wide range of therapeutic areas and technology platforms. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine/Molecular Biology from the University of Texas.