Najat Khan, Ph.D., is an accomplished biopharma leader at the forefront of driving bold innovation to bring transformative therapies to patients. Building on a track record of integrating science, AI/data science, and business leadership across both large pharma and emerging TechBio, she serves as Chief R&D Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, and Board Member at Recursion, where she is advancing an AI-native approach to discovering, developing, and delivering novel medicines to address unmet patient needs.
At Recursion, Dr. Khan has combined bold vision with disciplined leadership to advance value and impact. She has sharpened the company’s portfolio and optimized resource allocation across its pipeline and operations – prioritizing and progressing multiple first-in-class and best-in-class clinical programs in oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, and inflammation & immunology, both internally and with partners such as Sanofi and Roche/Genentech.
Dr. Khan also helped lead Recursion’s combination with Exscientia – the largest TechBio deal of 2024 – and has expanded the Recursion OS 2.0 platform into an end-to-end engine for drug discovery and development, spanning biology, chemistry, and ClinTech. She has helped build a world-class “bilingual” team fluent in both science and data science and engages deeply with analysts, investors, and other stakeholders to strengthen understanding of Recursion’s model and shape broader conversations about the future of biopharma and TechBio.
Previously, Dr. Khan was Chief Data Science Officer and Senior Vice President, Global Head of Strategy, Portfolio & Operations for R&D at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. There, she helped triple pipeline value and advance 10 potential blockbusters, while leading J&J’s efforts to become one of the first major pharma companies to strategically embed AI and digital health across the R&D value chain. She also co-chaired the enterprise-wide Data Science Council, helping to accelerate adoption of data science across the company.
Dr. Khan has also been instrumental in founding industry consortia, including DISRUPT and the AI in Structural Biology Consortium; serves on the board of the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare; and is a member of Chief, a network for women in senior leadership. She holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.
