Reshma Kewalramani’s journey to become the first female CEO of a large, public U.S. biotechnology company after immigrating from India at age 11 embodies what makes America great. In 2018, her exceptional career in medical research led her to become the chief medical officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Within two years, she was CEO.
Reshma sat on my board at Ginkgo Bioworks, and her insights proved invaluable: she knows how to effectively push the limits of science while navigating the drug-approval process. She told us that when you are doing something innovative, if it sounds crazy or impossible, that’s OK—it’s only because no one has done it before.
Under her leadership, Vertex secured the first-ever FDA approval for a CRISPR-based therapy, which treats sickle cell disease by correcting patients’ own DNA mutations. Our bodies speak the language of DNA. Our best drugs in the future will use DNA to talk directly back to our bodies, leading to many more cures. Reshma is the kind of leader who can deliver that extraordinary future—it only seems crazy because no one’s done it before.
Kelly is the co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks