Leslie J Williams is a biopharmaceutical industry veteran.  As a serial entrepreneur, an experienced biotech CEO and board of directors’ member, she has proven expertise in building companies, raising funds, and negotiating strategic collaborations both domestically and internationally.  Leslie is founding CEO, President & Director of hC Bioscience, Inc. a pioneer, innovator and leader in protein editing with tRNA based therapeutics targeting genetically defined diseases including cancer.  She serves on the Board of Directors for Ocular Therapeutix (Nasdaq: OCUL), Windtree Therapeutics (Nasdaq: WINT), and Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), CSCRI (Coral Sea Clinical Research Institute) and the Board of Advisors of Life Science Cares.  In addition, she serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Life Science Leader, is a founding Ambassador of BioBoost and serves as a mentor at the GLG Institute.  She is an EIR at University of Iowa and University of Virginia and is an Operating Partner at Accelerator Life Science Partners. Ms. Williams was formerly Founder, Director, President and CEO at ImmusanT developing immunotherapies for autoimmune diseases until the reverse merger in 2019.  Prior to that she was President & CEO at Ventaira Pharmaceuticals developing therapies using the lung as a portal for delivery until it was sold the end of 2007. Williams was a founding member of the INO Therapeutics team developing a treatment for pulmonary hypertension in newborns. The Nobel Prize was given for the discovery around nitric oxide’s signaling role in the cardiovascular and nervous systems.  INO Therapeutics was sold to Ikaria for $670M in 2007 and then Mallinckrodt in 2015 for $2.3B.  She has prior pharmaceutical experience at Merck and GSK, and drug-delivery and monitoring experience at Datex Ohmeda.  She was a venture partner at Battelle Ventures where she sourced and evaluated deals and assisted early-stage technology companies with strategy, management, business development and M&A. Williams holds an MBA from Washington University, John Olin School of Business, where she initiated, built, and sold her first technology to Hewlett Packard.  Williams graduated cum laude with a B.S. (biology) degree and multiple scholastic and leadership honors from the University of Iowa including membership to Omicron Delta Kappa and Sigma Theta Tau.  She was given the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Iowa in 2015.  Williams served on the College of Pharmacy Board at the University of Iowa and was presented an Honorary Alumni Award from the College in 2019.  Before entering industry, she was a critical-care nurse at Duke University, Medical College of Virginia and at the University of Iowa.