Biography
Rajul is a Managing Director at Vida Ventures and physician-scientist by background. Prior to coming to Vida, he was most recently leading the Development organization at Kite Pharma, a Gilead company where he oversaw a team of approximately 200 people developing engineered cell therapy products to treat a variety of blood cancers and solid tumors. Rajul joined Kite in 2014 and was instrumental to the company’s growth and success, including the advancement of Yescarta® and Tecartus® from pre-IND phase through global regulatory approvals. Previously, Rajul was at Amgen where his last role was Global Development Lead. There he oversaw the development of small molecules and biologics in the oncology and bone health therapeutic areas and was instrumental in advancing the R&D pipeline including regulatory approvals of Xgeva and Prolia. Rajul completed his BA in chemistry and biochemistry at Rice University, and MD and Internal Medicine internship and residency at UT Southwestern Medical school, where he was a Howard Hughes Fellow. He completed his post-doctoral training in biophysics at Rockefeller University, and fellowship training at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he was Chief Fellow. Rajul serves on the Board of Directors of Capstan Therapeutics, InnoSkel, LocanaBio, Indupro, and Neogene Therapeutics. Rajul was previously a volunteer Attending Physician treating underserved patients at UCLA Harbor Medical Center and continues to lecture regularly at UCLA.