Anna Protopapas

Anna Protopapas is a veteran biotech executive with a substantial track record of leadership and business experience in oncology. Her broad industry experience ranges from global development to commercial expertise with a focus on building businesses from start-ups to leaders in their categories to deliver meaningful therapies to patients. She joined Nuvalent as Board Chair in March 2022.

Most recently, Ms. Protopapas served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mersana Therapeutics from 2015 until September 2023, where she led advancement of the company’s ADC platforms, pipeline, collaborations, transitioning the company to a publicly traded, clinical-stage entity.

Prior to Mersana, Ms. Protopapas was President of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, where she led Takeda’s oncology business. Ms. Protopapas also served as Executive Vice President of Global Business Development at Takeda, was a member of the company’s executive committee and served as a corporate officer. Earlier, Ms. Protopapas was an executive officer at Millennium and served in various senior leadership positions, playing an integral role in the company’s transformation from a genomics start-up to a fully integrated oncology leader.

Ms. Protopapas serves on the Board of Directors for Mersana Therapeutics and previously served on the Board of Directors for leading biotechnology companies ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Bioverativ and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals. She received her B.S. in Science and Engineering from Princeton University, M.S. in Chemical Engineering Practice from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.