Elena Diez Cecilia, PhD, MBA
Senior Director, External Innovation, DPDS
Bio:
Elena is Senior Director of External Innovation within Discovery, Product Development & Supply (DPDS) at Johnson & Johnson R&D and part of the J&J Innovation East North America team in Boston. She is responsible for the sourcing, evaluation, and negotiation of strategic external innovation partnerships, focusing on enabling platform technologies, synthetic drug modalities across therapeutic areas (Oncology, Immunology and Neuroscience), and AI/ML companies and collaborates with JLABS to identify and support start ups aligned with DPDS strategy.
Her background includes business development, strategic consulting, and venture advising for West Coast VC firms, conducting due diligence on biotech therapeutic and platform companies. She has also served as an expert evaluator for European Commission grant programs and co founded DealMak(HER)s to support women in life science dealmaking. Elena holds a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from Trinity College Dublin, completed research roles at the University of Toronto and San Francisco State University in Oncology and Neurodegeneration, and earned an Executive MBA from University of Barcelona/EAE Business School.