John Monahan is an Irish-born biochemist and CEO of biotechnology and gene therapy companies in the United States.
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Education
Monahan is from County Kildare in Ireland and was educated at Newbridge College, where he was the inaugural winner of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in 1965, his project was an explanation of the process of digestion in the human stomach.
He holds a Bachelor of Science from University College Dublin and a PhD in Biochemistry from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
Work and research
Monahan founded Avigen Inc in Alameda, California a company which became a leader in its sector for the development of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of serious human disease, and raised over $235 million USD through its initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
He has directed a number of preclinical and clinical trials and led biotech and pharmaceutical research programmes.
He is current Executive Vice President Research & Development for Synthetic Biologics and sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of Agilis Biotherapeutics, LLC.
Monahan also sits on the Board of Directors at IdentiGEN, the Irish-based DNA analysis company.