Chandra Vargeese

Biography

 Dr. Vargeese has over 25 years of experience in oligonucleotide research and development and has authored numerous scientific publications and patents in the field. Before joining WAVE as Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery, Dr. Vargeese served Novartis as Executive Director of Chemistry and Delivery, RNA Therapeutics Division, a position she held for over five years. Prior to joining Novartis, she led siRNA delivery in the RNA Therapeutics division at Merck & Co, where she served as Senior Director. Dr. Vargeese joined Merck through its $1.1 billion acquisition of Sirna Therapeutics, where she was Vice President of Chemistry. Before Sirna she served as Associate Director of Chemistry at NeXstar Pharmaceuticals and is the co-inventor of Macugen® (pegaptanib), an approved therapy for treating wet AMD. Dr. Vargeese earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and completed post-doctoral work at University of Rhode Island.

Research Interest

 RNA Therapeutics