Yalia (Jaya) Jayalakshmi, Ph.D.

Yalia Jayalakshmi is an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in research and development of therapeutic drugs, drug delivery/nanotechnology products, medical devices, and optical imaging diagnostics. She is passionate about building innovative product companies and advancing product candidates from conception through clinical trials.

Jayalakshmi holds a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the Indian Institute of Science and has completed post-doctoral programs at the Centre d'Etude Nucleaire d' Saclay, Ecole normale supérieure, University of Delaware, and Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She has also studied Cancer Biology, Physiology, Bioscience, Business Development, and Pharmaceutical Marketing at UC Continuing Education and completed the Smith Executive Education program at Smith College Consortium.

Jayalakshmi has held various leadership positions throughout her career, including Principal at C2CBio Consulting, VP of Clinical Development at OncoNano Medicine, Inc., Head of Clinical Development (consultant) at OncoNano Medicine, Inc., and Senior Director of Drug Delivery Technologies at Onyx Pharmaceutical. She has also served as Vice President of Product Development at StemPar Sciences, Inc., Program Director/Compound Development Team Leader at Alza/Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical, and Senior Program Manager at Genentech Inc. Additionally, Jayalakshmi worked at Cygnus Inc, where she held various roles, including Project Leader, Senior Staff Scientist, Senior Scientist, and Staff Scientist.

Jayalakshmi's expertise includes drug delivery technologies, nanotechnology, clinical development, product development, optical imaging diagnostics, cancer biology, bioscience, pharmaceutical marketing, how to build innovative products, and technical problem-solving.