Our core values are the foundation of everything we do. They guide our decisions, shape our culture and keep us focused on what matters most—our mission.
It’s Better Together
We address the incredible complexity of gene therapy as a team, gathering insights, ideas, and perspectives from our internal and external subject matter experts and stakeholders.
Keep an Open Mind
In the rapidly evolving field of gene therapy, we regularly ask ourselves what we can do differently to solve emerging challenges.
Patients and Families are Waiting
Knowing that families urgently await treatment options, we work with a sense of urgency balanced with the necessary scientific rigor to advance our gene therapy programs.
Imagine the Future
We prize innovation, encourage new ideas, and actualize our vision to drive transformation in genetic medicine.
Our senior leadership team brings a strong sense of passion and urgency and extensive drug development experience to the task.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
President and Chief Financial Officer
Chief Scientific Officer
Chief Medical Officer
Chief Commercial Officer
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, and Quality Control
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Donna M. Cochener, J.D., LL.M.
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Venture Partner
Partner
President and Chief Financial Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Chief Executive Officer
Sarah B. Noonberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Why I Founded Neurogene
Rachel McMinn, Ph.D. Founder and Chief Executive Officer
“My older brother lives with an undiagnosed rare neurological disease. I have witnessed firsthand, initially as a sibling and then into my adult life, the devastating impact his condition has had on my entire family. His condition inspired a profound sense of purpose and responsibility in me to want to make the world a better place for other people and families living with similar challenges.
I dedicated my early life to science, studying chemistry in college, completing a Ph.D. in chemistry and molecular biology, and accepting a post-doctoral fellowship in cell and molecular biology. I then spent the next 13 years as a Wall Street biotechnology equity analyst, learning about cutting edge science, its application to develop transformative medicines, and the recipes for company failures and successes.
I left my Wall Street career in order to learn how to directly apply my scientific and analytical skills in advancing treatments to patients. I took on the role of Chief Business and Strategy Officer at Intercept Pharmaceuticals, and spent several years gaining leadership and operational experience. However, when gene therapy began to show that life-altering improvements for patients with genetic diseases was possible, it was a crystalizing moment when I knew I needed to be part of this genetic medicine revolution, and it provided the catalyst for me to found Neurogene in 2018.”
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Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Rachel McMinn, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer of Neurogene and serves as Executive Chair of the company’s Board of Directors. She founded Neurogene in January 2018 with the mission of developing genetic medicines to improve the lives of neurologically-impaired people and their families. Prior to founding Neurogene, Dr. McMinn served as the Chief Business and Strategy Officer of Intercept Pharmaceuticals, a company dedicated to patients with serious liver disease. Prior to her industry experience, Dr. McMinn was an award-winning biotechnology analyst, with 13 years of experience at firms including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Cowen, and Piper Jaffray. She graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude with a B.A. and earned her Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute and was awarded a Post-Doctoral Miller Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.
President and Chief Financial Officer
Christine Mikail, J.D., is President and Chief Financial Officer of Neurogene and serves on the company’s Board of Directors. In her role, Ms. Mikail leads Corporate Strategy and Business Development, Portfolio Management, Operations, and Finance. Ms. Mikail, who joined Neurogene in 2019, brings over two decades of experience supporting biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in corporate strategy and business development, operations, legal and finance capacities. Prior to Neurogene, Ms. Mikail was Chief Administrative Officer and Head of External Business Development/Alliance Management and General Counsel at Axovant Sciences, Inc., where she was an integral member of the team that raised $362 million in the company’s IPO. Prior to joining Axovant, she held a variety of senior executive positions at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dendreon Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, and ImClone Systems. Ms. Mikail developed her life sciences focus as a corporate and securities lawyer at Reed Smith and WilmerHale. Ms. Mikail graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Rutgers University and earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in New York.
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, and Quality Control
Andrew Mulberg, M.D., serves as Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance, and Quality Control at Neurogene. Dr. Mulberg is a pediatric gastroenterologist with nearly 30 years of experience and has a strong passion for helping bring important new medicines to market for patients with devastating rare diseases. In his role at Neurogene, he provides strategic leadership and direction for regulatory and quality activities. Prior to joining Neurogene, Dr. Mulberg led global regulatory affairs for Amicus Therapeutics and held various roles of increasing responsibility within global drug development and medical affairs at Johnson & Johnson. In addition to Dr. Mulberg’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience, he spent six years as the Division Deputy Director in the Division of Gastroenterology and Inborn Errors Products at the U.S. FDA. He received his B.A. from Columbia University and his M.D. from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Mulberg also previously served as Attending Physician and Fellowship Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is currently an adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board Go4 the Goal foundation, a pediatric cancer advocacy 501(c)(3) organization.
Chief Scientific Officer
Stuart Cobb, Ph.D., is Chief Scientific Officer at Neurogene. Dr. Cobb, who joined Neurogene in 2019, brings to the team more than 20 years of experience in translational neuroscience. He leads Neurogene’s scientific research, the development of scientific strategy to support the company’s existing and growing gene therapy portfolio, and efforts to identify novel technologies that complement Neurogene’s pipeline. In addition to his role at Neurogene, Dr. Cobb also leads a research team at the University of Edinburgh, where he is Professor of Translational Neuroscience at Simons Initiative in the Developing Brain and Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences. Prior to his work at Neurogene, Dr. Cobb was a Caledonian Research Fellow and led an academic research laboratory at the University of Glasgow. His research has focused on developing novel genetic treatments for brain disorders based on a deep understanding of the molecular and cellular pathology. Dr. Cobb’s work has been published in leading journals and includes seminal work on the inherent reversibility of neurological features in neurodevelopmental disease. Dr. Cobb has a B.Sc. from the University of Glasgow and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford.
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
Donna M. Cochener, J.D., LL.M., is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Neurogene. She is a seasoned legal and executive professional with over two decades of experience in corporate law, governance, and executive leadership across the biotechnology and financial services sectors. Prior to joining Neurogene, Ms. Cochener held the roles of Interim Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel at Neoleukin Therapeutics, where she led the company through its merger with Neurogene in December 2023. Her earlier career includes serving as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at HomeStreet, Inc., the parent company of HomeStreet Bank, where she was primarily responsible for securities reporting and compliance, corporate governance, and led various transactions including mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Cochener was previously a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Seattle, and also held associate positions at Heller Ehrman LLP, Riddell Williams P.S., and Perkins Coie LLP.
Chief Medical Officer
Julie Jordan, M.D., is Chief Medical Officer at Neurogene. Dr. Jordan brings over 20 years of industry and clinical expertise involving the design and execution of global clinical trials across multiple development areas, including gene therapy and central nervous system disorders. Before joining Neurogene, she was Chief Medical Officer at Homology Medicines, where she was responsible for leading clinical development and operations, leading regulatory interactions and supporting translational research programs for the company’s pipeline of gene therapy and gene editing candidates for rare diseases. She previously held global leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Cerevel Therapeutics, Avanir Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Prior to her industry experience, Dr. Jordan was a practicing physician for 10 years and previously served as Clinical Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and in the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She holds an A.B. in Biology from Harvard College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed her residency in Internal Medicine at MGH, Harvard Medical School.
Venture Partner
Robert Baffi, Ph.D., has served as a member of our Board since December 2023 and served as a member of the board of directors of Neurogene OpCo from September 2020 to December 2023. Dr. Baffi is a Venture Partner at Samsara BioCapital, an investment company focused on the life sciences industry, which he joined in March 2021. Dr. Baffi had a 23-year tenure at BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN), a global biotechnology company, from May 2000 to March 2023, where he served as President of Global Manufacturing & Technical Operations from 2018 to 2020, and was responsible for overseeing manufacturing, process development based on the baculovirus system, quality, logistics, engineering and analytical chemistry, and led the building of one of the first gene therapy manufacturing facilities of its kind, before he became Senior Advisor to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2021. Prior to BioMarin, Dr. Baffi served 14 years in a number of increasingly senior positions at Genentech, Inc., primarily in the functional area of quality control, as a Research Scientist at Cooper BioMedical, Inc. and as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Becton Dickinson Research Center. Dr. Baffi has contributed to the approval and commercial success of 28 products. Dr. Baffi currently has been a member of the board of directors of Neuvivo Inc., a biotechnology company, since 2024. Dr. Baffi is an emeritus member of the science advisory board of the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research & Training. Dr. Baffi has served as a member of the board of directors of Mosaic ImmunoEngineering Inc. (OTCMTKS: CPMV), a biotechnology company, from June 2021 until April 2025 and Bionic Sight, Inc., a biotechnology company, from 2020 to 2024. Dr. Baffi received his Ph.D., M. Phil. and B.S. in biochemistry from the City University of New York and his M.B.A. from Regis University.
Partner
Cory Freedland, Ph.D. is an independent consultant for biopharmaceutical companies, and was a Partner at Samsara BioCapital from October 2017 through April 2025. Prior to Samsara BioCapital, he was a Principal at Sofinnova Ventures, where he focused on biopharmaceutical investments. Prior to Sofinnova Ventures, Dr. Freedland was a Principal at Novo A/S. Before his transition to healthcare investing, he was a Vice President in the healthcare investment banking practice at Morgan Stanley. Prior to transitioning to life sciences finance, Dr. Freedland worked as a Research Scientist for Roche, focusing on preclinical drug discovery and novel target identification for psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Jiya Acquisition Corporation. Dr. Freedland received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management, and his B.A. in Psychology and Religious Studies from Connecticut College.
Chief Operating Officer
Keith Woods has served as a member of our Board since December 2023. Mr. Woods has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has served as Chief Operating Officer of Scholar Rock since April 2025. Prior to Scholar Rock, Mr. Woods was an advisor to the board of directors of argenx SE (Nasdaq: ARGX), a biopharmaceutical company, where he served as Chief Operating Officer from April 2018 to March 2023. Prior to argenx, Mr. Woods served as Senior Vice President of North American Operations for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he managed a team of several hundred people in the U.S. and Canada and was responsible for more than $1 billion in annual sales. Within Alexion, Mr. Woods had previously served as Vice President and Managing Director of Alexion UK, overseeing all aspects of Alexion’s UK business, and Vice President of U.S. Operations and Executive Director of Sales, leading the launch of Soliris in atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. Prior to Alexion, Mr. Woods held various positions of increasing responsibility within Roche, Amgen Inc. and Eisai Co., Ltd., over a span of 20 years. Mr. Woods has served on the board of directors of TScan Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: TCRX) since December 2023. Mr. Woods received his B.S. in Marketing from Florida State University.
Chief Executive Officer
Rohan Palekar has served as a member of our Board since March 2022. Mr. Palekar served as Chief Executive Officer of 89bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: ETNB), a biopharmaceutical company, from June 2018 until January 2026 and a member of the board of directors, from June 2018 until October 2025 when the company was acquired by Roche. Prior to 89bio, Mr. Palekar held various positions at Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, including the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of Avanir from December 2015 to July 2017, where he led the company following its acquisition by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in 2015. Prior to the acquisition, Mr. Palekar served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2015 and as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Avanir from March 2012 to March 2015. Mr. Palekar has also held prior executive roles, including Chief Commercial Officer for Medivation, Inc. and in various senior commercial and strategic management roles during his 16 years at Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). Mr. Palekar served as a trustee for Aim High for High School, a non-profit educational institution, from 2018 till 2023 and chair of the board of trustees from 2021 to 2023. Mr. Palekar earned his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, his B.Com. in Accounting from the University of Mumbai and his L.L.B. from the University of Mumbai. Mr. Palekar is also a certified Chartered Accountant and a Cost and Management Accountant.
Chief Medical Officer
Sarah B. Noonberg, M.D., Ph.D. has served as a member of our Board since August 2019. Dr. Noonberg has over 20 years of industry experience leading development programs from discovery to commercialization across a range of indications, and has served as the Chief Medical Officer of AbCellera (Nasdaq: ABCL), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on antibody-based medicines in endocrinology, women’s health, immunology and oncology, since September 2025. Prior to AbCellera, from January 2023 to August 2025, Dr. Noonberg served as Chief Medical Officer of Metagenomi, Inc. (Nasdaq: MGX), a next generation gene editing biotechnology company, and from September 2020 to September 2022, Dr. Noonberg served as the Chief Medical Officer of Maze Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MAZE), a human-genetics driven research and development company. Other executive roles have included Chief Medical Officer of Prothena Corporation plc (Nasdaq: PRTA), a biotechnology company. Group Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN), and Senior Vice President of Early Development at Medivation. Dr. Noonberg also previously served as a member of the board of directors of Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MRNS), a biopharmaceutical company, from May 2023 to November 2024, and on the board of directors of Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc (Nasdaq: PTGX), a biopharmaceutical company, from December 2017 to May 2023. Dr. Noonberg received her M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.S. in Engineering from Dartmouth College. She is a board-certified internist and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Rachel McMinn, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer of Neurogene and serves as Executive Chair of the company’s Board of Directors. She founded Neurogene in January 2018 with the mission of developing genetic medicines to improve the lives of neurologically-impaired people and their families. Prior to founding Neurogene, Dr. McMinn served as the Chief Business and Strategy Officer of Intercept Pharmaceuticals, a company dedicated to patients with serious liver disease. Prior to her industry experience, Dr. McMinn was an award-winning biotechnology analyst, with 13 years of experience at firms including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Cowen, and Piper Jaffray. She graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude with a B.A. and earned her Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute and was awarded a Post-Doctoral Miller Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.
Senior Vice President, Business Operations
Arvind Sreedharan serves as Senior Vice President, Business Operations at Neurogene. Mr. Sreedharan, who leads business operations at Neurogene, has over three decades of commercial experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, including significant experience in CNS disorders and multiple orphan diseases. Prior to Neurogene, he served as Vice President, U.S. Commercial Operations for AveXis, the gene therapy company that developed Zolgensma®, an FDA-approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which was acquired by Novartis for $8.7 billion. Earlier, Mr. Sreedharan served as Vice President of Marketing at Auspex Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on hyperkinetic movement disorders and rare diseases, acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical for $3.5 billion. Before Auspex, he served as Director, Movement Disorders at Lundbeck, where he played an integral commercial role in the successful product launch and management of Xenazine®, the first FDA-approved drug for the treatment of chorea associated with Huntington’s disease. Mr. Sreedharan has supported and partnered with numerous rare disease advocacy groups throughout his career. He previously served on the Huntington’s Disease Society of America Board of Trustees and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for The Huntington Study Group (HSG), the first Huntington’s Disease cooperative therapeutic research organization and a world leader in facilitating high-quality clinical research trials and studies in Huntington’s Disease. Mr. Sreedharan holds a B.A. in both Biology and History from the University of North Carolina.
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Ricardo Jimenez serves as Senior Vice President, Technical Operations at Neurogene. Mr. Jimenez has nearly three decades of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, the majority of which has been focused in the gene therapy field. He joined Neurogene in 2018 and during his tenure has led the company’s internal build out of process and analytical development, the CGMP manufacturing facility including its design, manufacturing operations, quality assurance, and quality control supporting viral vector manufacturing from research grade to clinical scale. Prior to his work at Neurogene, Mr. Jimenez was the site head of the Lonza Houston manufacturing facility and played a leading role in establishing Lonza as a leading contract cell and gene therapy manufacturer, including designing and overseeing the construction of the cell and gene therapy facility in Texas. He began his career in gene therapy in 2005 at Introgen Therapeutics, where he was responsible for the validation activities for adenoviral-based products, and subsequently served as Head of Quality at Vivante GMP Solutions, a gene therapy contract manufacturing organization acquired by Lonza in 2010. Mr. Jimenez holds a B.S. in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University.
President and Chief Financial Officer
Christine Mikail, J.D., is President and Chief Financial Officer of Neurogene and serves on the company’s Board of Directors. In her role, Ms. Mikail leads Corporate Strategy and Business Development, Portfolio Management, Operations, and Finance. Ms. Mikail, who joined Neurogene in 2019, brings over two decades of experience supporting biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in corporate strategy and business development, operations, legal and finance capacities. Prior to Neurogene, Ms. Mikail was Chief Administrative Officer and Head of External Business Development/Alliance Management and General Counsel at Axovant Sciences, Inc., where she was an integral member of the team that raised $362 million in the company’s IPO. Prior to joining Axovant, she held a variety of senior executive positions at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dendreon Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, and ImClone Systems. Ms. Mikail developed her life sciences focus as a corporate and securities lawyer at Reed Smith and WilmerHale. Ms. Mikail graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Rutgers University and earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in New York.
Chief Commercial Officer
Christy Shafer is Chief Commercial Officer at Neurogene. Ms. Shafer brings over 20 years of industry experience, with expertise building and leading commercial organizations and launching therapies for rare diseases. She most recently served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, North America, of Avidity Biosciences, a late-stage biotech developing RNA therapeutics for rare neuromuscular diseases that was acquired by Novartis. She was responsible for building and leading Avidity’s North America commercial organization in advance of its first U.S. product launches. Prior to Avidity, Ms. Shafer served as Chief Commercial Officer at Marinus Pharmaceuticals, where she built and led the commercial organization and launched Ztalmy®, the first approved therapy for seizures associated with CDKL5 deficiency disorder, which led to Marinus Pharmaceuticals’ acquisition by Immedica Pharma. Previously, Ms. Shafer held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where she supported multiple neurology launches, including Soliris® for generalized myasthenia gravis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, as well as earlier commercial leadership positions at Pacira Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi Biosurgery (formerly Genzyme). She holds a Bachelor of Life Science degree in Cell and Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and completed postbaccalaureate studies in immunology and pharmacology.
Andrew Mulberg, M.D.