Hanadie Yousef
Co-Founder and CEO
Bio:
Dr. Hanadie Yousef is the CEO and co-founder of Juvena Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company mapping the therapeutic potential of stem cell-secreted proteins and developing them as tissue restorative biologics for chronic muscle and metabolic degenerative diseases. The company entered the clinic with its lead candidate, a broadly applicable, muscle regenerating fusion protein for Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1) in H1 2025. In addition, Juvena is progressing multiple preclinical programs, including a novel obesity asset with a unique mechanism, and a muscle-targeting metabolic disease discovery program partnered with Eli Lilly in H1 2025. Under Dr. Yousef’s leadership, Juvena has been recognized as the "NextGen Class of 2024: Top Life Sciences Startups to Watch This Year" by BioSpace and as a World Economic Forum 2024 Technology Pioneer company.
Hanadie’s scientific background focused on the biology of aging and mechanisms underlying brain and muscle tissue degeneration and her biomedical research, with support from the NIH, NSF, CIRM, and others has led to multiple issued and pending patents and high-impact first authorships. She is honored to be among the 2024 San Francisco Business Times’ "Women Who Lead in Life Sciences", In Vivo’s "Rising Leaders", and Founders Forum's "100 Women Founders to Watch", as well as 2023 Fierce Biotech’s “Fiercest Women in Life Sciences,” Business Insider’s “30 Leaders Under 40 Changing Healthcare in 2023,” Pharmaceutical Executive’s “Emerging Pharma Leader”, Endpoints“The 20(+2) under 40”, and the 2022 Biocom Catalyst Award, amongst other accolades recognizing her entrepreneurship and innovation.
Dr. Yousef earned her B.S. in chemistry, summa cum laude from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008, a PhD from UC Berkeley as an NSF graduate research fellow in 2013 then completed a 5-year postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford School of Medicine as an NIH fellow and SPARK scholar prior to launching Juvena in 2018.