Dr. Vicki Sato, Ph.D.
Chair, VirBiotechnology
Venture Partner, ARCH Venture Partners
Dr. Vicki Sato, Ph.D., is currently Chairman at Vir Biology, non-executive Director at Allogene Therapeutics, Inc., privately held Encoded Therapeutics, and Aera Therapeutics. She is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Science, Technology, and Law. From 2020-2024, she served on President Biden’s Council of Advisors in Science and Technology. She is also a Venture Partner at ARCH Venture Partners.
Between 2005-2017, she was a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, Founder of the Blavatnik Fellowship Program in Life Science Entrepreneurship at HBS, and a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at Harvard University.
Dr. Sato retired in 2005 from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where she served as President since 2000. She joined the company in 1992 and had previously served as Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President of Research and Development, and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board.
Before Vertex, Dr. Sato was Vice President of Research at Biogen, Inc., where she led research programs in the areas of inflammation, thrombosis, and HIV disease, and was part of the executive team.
Previously, she served as a board member of Perkin Elmer (now Revvity), Bristol-Myers Squibb, BorgWarner, Syros, and Alnylam. She served for 10 years as the Chair of Denali Therapeutics.
Dr. Sato received her A.B. in Biology from Radcliffe College and her A.M. and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. She conducted her postdoctoral work at both the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford Medical Center.