Stephen Kelsey Biography and Net Worth

Realizing he wasn’t good enough to make a career out of playing rugby or soccer, Steve went to medical school. Training as an academic hematologic oncologist in London and working as a clinician scientist at Barts and The London before joining the pharmaceutical industry in 2000, Steve was always motivated to have science drive the discovery of novel therapies. In London, he ran a clinical practice treating patients with leukemias and lymphomas in a research-focused environment, ran a research laboratory doing both basic and translational research and taught hematology to medical students. After two years of leading the clinical development of Sutent® for Pharmacia/SUGEN, he joined Genentech where he became vice president of hematology/oncology, playing a significant role in the development of key products such as Perjeta®, Kadcyla® and Erivedge® as well as other molecules in the company’s oncology portfolio. He then led the development of imetelstat, a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor, at Geron where he served as head of research and development and chief medical officer. Following his time at Geron, Steve served as president of Onkaido Therapeutics, a Moderna Venture focusing on discovery and development of mRNA therapeutics for cancer. During his 17 years in the biotechnology industry, Steve has worked with small molecules, antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, DNA oligonucleotides and mRNA platforms and has driven multiple industry and industry-academia collaborations as part of the mission to provide better drugs for patients with cancer. He has a passion for building and leading high-functioning teams doing groundbreaking cancer research.

Steve graduated with bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degrees (MB ChB) and a doctorate of medicine (M.D.) from the University of Birmingham, U.K. He is a fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) of London and the Royal College of Pathologists (FRCPath), U.K. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications spanning cell biology, drug discovery, drug development and patient care, and is a named inventor on several patents. He now watches more soccer than he plays.