Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, Dr

Dr. Ruxandra Draghia-Akli is a Senior Advisor in the Healthcare & Life Sciences practice within the firm’s Strategic Communications segment in Brussels. As a life sciences innovator and M.D.-Ph.D., Dr. Draghia-Akli bridges the gap between groundbreaking science and global business impact to help businesses deliver the next generation of medicines and vaccines. Her expertise spans the entire development lifecycle, from preclinical studies and translational medicine to clinical trials, regulatory authorization and post-marketing studies, with a focus on drug discovery and development, infectious diseases, vaccines, genomic medicine, advanced therapies and rare diseases. She translates complex preclinical and clinical data into compelling narratives for investors and analysts, building market credibility through disciplined R&D de-risking, AI-driven discovery and platform scalability.

Dr. Draghia-Akli previously served as Executive Vice President and Head of R&D at Novavax. Prior to this position, she was the Global Head of Global Public Health R&D at Johnson & Johnson and led scientific and medical affairs at Merck Vaccines, Inc., delivering groundbreaking innovations in drugs and vaccines to address climate-related, emerging and entrenched health threats, such as Ebola, human papillomavirus, dengue, coronaviruses, antimicrobial resistance, tuberculosis and HIV. She currently serves as the Chair of the INTREPID Alliance Scientific Advisory Board, as well as the Chair of Every Cure Scientific Advisory Council. 

Dr. Draghia-Akli led the health research and innovation programs at the European Commission, supporting programmatic, legislative, regulatory and policy issues in medical research and innovation. She is recognized for fostering high-stakes partnerships, including the Innovative Medicines Initiative (“IMI”), the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (“IRDiRC”) and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (“EDCTP”). More recently, she co-led the National Institutes of Health’s ACTIV Therapeutics Clinical Working Group. Throughout her career, Dr. Draghia-Akli has authored a variety of scientific publications and served on numerous boards and committees to help shape thinking on vaccine and public health issues.

Dr. Draghia-Akli received her M.D. and Ph.D. in human genetics from the University of Medicine Carol Davilla in Romania. She undertook additional doctoral and post-doctoral training at the University Rene Descartes in France and Baylor College of Medicine in the United States, respectively.

Awards & Recognition: 

• Top 20 Women in Biopharma, Endpoint News (2022)
• Director Award, The National Institutes of Health (2022)