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Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D. (2014)

Louis DeGennaroLouis J. DeGennaro is executive vice president and chief mission officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Dr. DeGennaro’s current responsibilities include oversight of all LLS mission functions, including public policy, patient services and research, with the goal of effectively deploying resources in pursuit of the LLS mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. The Society’s annual mission budget exceeds $100 million.

DeGennaro has more than 25 years of research, drug development and executive management experience in academic and private-sector settings. He received his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco, and conducted his postdoctoral research at Yale University School of Medicine. His previous academic appointments include research group leader at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, where his laboratory was among the first to clone genes expressed exclusively in the nervous system, and associate professor of neurology and cell biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

DeGennaro’s private-sector positions include senior director of molecular genetics at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in Princeton, N.J., where his department contributed to the development of pantoprazole (Protonix®) to treat acid reflux disease, Effexor (Venlafaxine®) for anxiety and depression, and Mylotarg® for leukemia; executive vice president for research and development at SynX Pharma, Inc., in Toronto, Canada, where he was responsible for the development of a point-of-care diagnostic test for congestive heart failure; and research manager at Streck, Inc., in Omaha, Neb., where he helped develop a diagnostic test for HIV/AIDS approved by the Food and Drug Administration.