Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, is Global Head, Johnson & Johnson Global Public
Health R&D, where her and her team advance global public health into the next
era of innovation through discovery, development, and technology capabilities. She accelerates GPH’s end-to-end strategy
by collaborating with teams across Johnson & Johnson on assets with application in global public health settings. Under her
leadership, GPH R&D adds value and generates new external innovation opportunities through our J&J Centers for Global
Health Discovery and other external partnerships.
Ruxandra is a cross-sector leader with experience in industry, government, and academia. She led Medical and Scientific
Affairs for vaccines at Merck, and she worked for the European Commission, first as Director and later as Deputy Director
General, overseeing research and innovation programmatic, legislative, and financial initiatives, leading public-private
partnerships, global programs and consortia, and development of novel research financial instruments, while contributing to
the Commission’s strategy for improving public health. Ruxandra has a track record of unlocking innovation in biotechnology
as both a founder and head of research at ADViSYS, Inc. and VGX Pharmaceuticals (now Inovio Pharmaceuticals).
Ruxandra holds a M.D. from Carol Davila University, Romania, and a Ph.D. in human genetics from the Romanian Academy
of Medical Sciences. She undertook doctoral training at University Rene Descartes in Paris, France and a postdoctoral
training at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, with a focus on rare diseases, molecular biology, gene therapy and
novel vaccines. Ruxandra has authored and co-authored more than 100 papers and holds over 100 patents.