Parsa Akbari, PhD
Associate Director, Genomics Discovery
Parsa Akbari is an Associate Director at Foresite Labs, formerly at Regeneron.
Parsa’s work at Foresite Labs is focused on target identification, validation, and incubation of new ventures. Prior to joining Foresite Labs, Parsa’s drug discovery in the cardiovascular, metabolic, and musculoskeletal therapeutic area led to multiple drug development programs (Akbari et al., Nat Comms, 2022, Verweij et al., NEJM 2022, Akbari et al., Science 2021), 4 granted patents, and 20+ research papers generating ~3,000 citations.
Furthermore, Parsa was involved in the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem at Cambridge, UK, supporting tech and biotech founders at an alumni Angel syndicate affiliated with Downing College, University of Cambridge.
- Drug discovery findings including discovery of GPR75 (Akbari et al., Science) and INHBE (Akbari et al., Nat Comms) which have led to clinical development programs.
- Strong interdisciplinary background with a PhD in Statistical Genetics following initial training as a biochemist.
- Over 6 years of experience in industry, including at Regeneron. In addition to sourcing deals and supporting founders at an alumni Angel syndicate at the University of Cambridge.