Dr. Rebecca Farkas joined CEPI in January 2022 as Head of the Office of Technology, where she is responsible for seeking scientific innovations that can accelerate the development of vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats and enable access to all people in need. Prior to joining CEPI, she served as Director of Scientific Collaborations for Vaccines at GSK for five years, where she led search and evaluation and the development of strategic R&D partnerships with U.S. universities and government agencies. Dr. Farkas helped drive the development and implementation of GSK’s pandemic strategy, including the negotiation and launch of GSK’S Operation Warp Speed contract. From 2015-2017, Dr. Farkas forged strategic partnerships with U.S. east coast universities and local industry leaders as Associate Director for Partnering & Strategy at MedImmune/AstraZeneca.
Before joining industry, Dr. Farkas spent 12 years at the NIH in a variety of roles spanning program management and science policy. Recognizing the need for a new paradigm to drive innovation in neuroscience drug discovery, she envisioned, created, and directed an NIH-funded “virtual biotech” that de-risked academic assets to attract industry investment. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Farkas initiated a strategic plan and research program to develop medical countermeasures for chemical threats.
Dr. Farkas holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from Stanford and a B.A. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale.