Mr. Aktar is an accomplished life sciences industry executive with over twenty years of multinational experience bridging science and business in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. He currently serves as chief executive officer of Peran Therapeutics, a privately held biotech, and serves on the Board of UCLA Technology Development Corporation. Prior to joining Peran Therapeutics, Mr. Aktar was the SVP and Global Head of Corporate Development & Strategy at Kite Pharma where he played a key leadership role in shaping the future direction of Kite and establishing it as a global leader in cell therapy. Mr. Aktar led numerous deals strengthening Kite's R&D portfolio including expansion in Asia, facilitating regulatory approval and commercial launch of the first autologous cell therapy product in China, and transfer of commercial rights from Daiichi Sankyo and regulatory approval and commercial launch of Yescarta ® in Japan. Previously, Mr. Aktar held senior leadership positions at biotech and large pharma organizations across diverse modalities and therapeutic areas, most notably at Shire, where he played a key leadership role in the transformation of the company into the global rare disease leader. Mr. Aktar holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a M.S. in Engineering Management from Tufts University.
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