Heather Franklin is an experienced corporate executive with over 25 years of broad biotechnology expertise, including positions in research, product development, business development, strategic planning and executive management. She is the co-founder, President and CEO of Blaze Bioscience, The Tumor Paint Company®, a privately held biotechnology company dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients. Prior to joining Blaze Bioscience, Ms. Franklin was Senior Vice President of Business Development and Alliance Management at ZymoGenetics. Her areas of responsibility included business development, alliance management, strategic planning, portfolio management and pipeline marketing. She was the architect of the $1.1B deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb for Interferon lambda, which at the time of execution was the largest single-molecule Phase 1 deal ever and led to ZymoGenetics’ subsequent acquisition by BMS. Ms. Franklin has designed and negotiated deals across the product development spectrum from research through commercialization. Prior to ZymoGenetics, Ms. Franklin held positions of increasing responsibility at Amgen and Targeted Genetics.
Ms. Franklin holds a BS degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an MS from the University of Washington and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.