Youssef brings a wealth of experience from project inception to clinical work, technology transfer, and in-and-out licensing transactions with academic and corporate partners' R&D units. His work has led to over twenty pre-clinical and clinical-stage NMEs, out-licensed partnerships, and contributions to approved medicines. He was the Chairman of the Board at Domain Therapeutics for 9 years and oversaw the spinoff of five single-asset and technology companies. He was the founding CEO of Find Therapeutics and an observer on the board of Thryv Therapeutics. Youssef holds many vital positions in the industry. He was an independent Board member of Bellus Health, which GSK acquired for >$2B. He was also involved in establishing 5 new companies at at adMare BioInnovations.

He brings over 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical R&D leadership and management. Previously, he served as Site Head and Vice President of R&D at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. Before this position, Youssef was the Vice President of Drug Innovation at Vertex’s headquarters in Boston. He has also held various positions of increasing responsibility in pharmaceutical R&D at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Abbott Laboratories (now AbbVie), and Athersys. Dr. Bennani has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Université de Montréal, an MBA from LFGSM in Chicago, and a corporate governance certificate from McGill-Rotman Schools of Business.

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