Julianne Hunt, Ph.D.
Julianne Hunt is a seasoned biopharma R&D leader with broad expertise across scientific and business functions. She partners with bio/pharma entrepreneurs and executives to build high-performing teams that drive innovative ideas to the clinic and beyond, and to create fit-for-purpose processes and infrastructure that support those teams. Over 25+ years as a research scientist and operations specialist across big pharma, small biotech, and venture cap incubators, Julianne has been responsible for developing strategy and managing resources, timelines, and budgets for a wide variety of drug discovery and development programs, as well as designing, implementing, and managing portfolio-level governance. She is an experienced alliance manager and meeting facilitator with a knack for distilling complex information into clear, actionable plans that bridge scientific and business objectives.Prior to starting her consultancy practice, Julianne was a project manager and strategic research leader at Deerfield Discovery and Development (3DC), where she provided project management expertise and support to teams engaged in projects spanning a range of therapeutic areas and modalities, working closely with partners at academic institutions, bio/pharma companies, patient advocacy groups, and contract research organizations. At Abide Therapeutics, where she was head of scientific operations, she built the company’s clinical operations team, personally managing or overseeing eight Phase 1 trials and one Phase 2 trial, as well as developing a GxP quality infrastructure to enable those trials. At Abide, she also managed all corporate alliances, including directly supervising the realization of license agreements valued at over $20M. At Merck Research Labs, she held operational roles in project management, alliance management, franchise management and outsourcing management, including managing 15+ discovery and clinical alliances, supervising a team that provided business oversight of 600+ external chemistry FTEs, coordinating operations for the post-merger integration of the Merck and Schering Plough Respiratory and Immunology discovery portfolios, and providing project management expertise for MK-0822 (odanacatib), a Phase 3 osteoporosis program. Finally, in the first stage of her career at Merck as a medicinal chemist, she designed, planned, executed, and supervised discovery chemistry research across a variety of therapeutic areas, including atherosclerosis, immunology, and infectious diseases.
Julianne holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Indiana University, she was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University, and she is a certified Project Management Professional.
Julianne holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Indiana University, she was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University, and she is a certified Project Management Professional.