Sanofi Kick Off Event

Karen Chandross, Ph.D.

Head of External Innovation for North America, R&D, Sanofi

Dr. Chandross is Head of External Innovation for North America R&D at Sanofi, where she leads strategic partnerships with academia, clinical research centers, startups, and consortia to accelerate novel solutions into the drug development pipeline through borderless collaboration. With over 25 years of R&D leadership, she has advanced innovative therapeutic strategies—particularly in CNS disease-modifying therapies—and built high-impact, cross-functional alliances. Her recent accomplishments include orchestrating Sanofi’s seed-funding programs (iAwards, iDEA-TECH, iNEXT), establishing large-scale strategic partnerships that integrate cutting-edge science and technology, and launching the Open Innovation Lab at Cambridge Crossing—a unique model that invites external innovators to collaborate directly with Sanofi scientists within active R&D laboratories.

Srini Rao, DVM, Ph.D., MBA, Diplomate ACVP

R&D US Country Lead, Sanofi

Srinivas Rao (Srini) is the R&D US Country Lead at Sanofi, in addition to his role as Global Head of the Translational Models Research Platform (TIM) within Sanofi Research. In his capacity as R&D US Country Lead, Srini plays a critical leadership role in advancing Sanofi’s R&D strategy across the United States. He represents R&D externally, strengthening relationships within scientific, industrial, and political ecosystems. As Global Head of the Translational Models Research Platform, Srini leads a multidisciplinary organization spanning Discovery Pathology, Bioimaging, Transgenic Models & Technology, and Compliance & Policy across four global sites. TIM delivers cutting-edge scientific models and technologies critical to early drug development, supporting Sanofi’s robust R&D pipeline with in vivo and in vitro models, organoids, and compliance with regulatory standards.

Christian Mueller, Ph.D., is the Global Head of the Genomic Medicine Unit at Sanofi, where he focuses on delivering transformative treatments for rare and common diseases using viral, non-viral, and cell therapies. Previously, as a tenured faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Dr. Mueller built a distinguished academic career and became a recognized leader in genomic medicine, advancing novel vector platforms, gene and base editing approaches, and mechanisms of gene silencing in the liver and CNS.

Dr. Mueller has helped translate genomic medicines into the clinic for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, Huntington’s disease, Wet AMD, Dry AMD, DM1, PKU and ALS. He was a pioneer in vectorized RNAi, as well as the first to translate AAV-mediated RNAi into the clinic in SOD1 ALS and DM1 patients. His work has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Bettina Irvine Family Award for Excellence in Alpha-1 Research and the ALS Angel Fund Angel Award. He was also honored by the Boston Patent Law Association for holding one of the top 12 patents in Massachusetts.

Sarah Tao, PhD, is the Head of Search & Evaluation, Technology Platforms within Global Business Development & Licensing at Sanofi. In this role, she is responsible for identifying and evaluating external technologies that align with Sanofi’s strategies for its therapeutic modalities. Dr. Tao joined Sanofi in 2017 as Technology Lead for Biologics Research with successive roles in Research before shifting to Business Development in 2021. Prior to Sanofi, Dr. Tao was a Senior Manager of New Technologies at CooperVision leading external research programs, and was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff in the MEMS Design Group at Draper Laboratory. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University with a research focus on MEMS-based devices for drug delivery, and has received numerous accolades for her contributions to the field of drug delivery, including the Controlled Release Society Grand Prize.