Sheila Mikhail founded Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio) in 2001 and set out on a mission to bring life-changing drugs to patients in desperate need. Started during a time when gene therapy was not thought of as a realistic therapeutic approach, AskBio went without a round of funding for more than 15 years.
With the belief that their therapeutics could change the world, Sheila, her co-founder Jude Samulski and their team persevered. Over the course of 20 years, Sheila transformed AskBio into a gene therapy pioneer with an established global operation of more than 350 employees. In 2020, AskBio was acquired by Bayer AG for $4 billion.
Sheila was recently named Ernst & Young’s 2021 Entrepreneur of the Year National Overall Award Winner. Among her many notable accomplishments, Sheila’s commitment to diversity and inclusion stands out — today, 41 percent of AskBio’s leadership positions are held by women, which is significantly higher than other biotech companies.
Listen to the full conversation here:
Follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or visit podcast.matter.health for updates. Find the video recording of this event and others at matter.health/live.
The Tales from the Trenches™ series invites seasoned healthcare entrepreneurs to the MATTER stage to share their journeys — from how they got started to what they’re trying to accomplish and what they’ve learned along the way. Tales from the Trenches is sponsored by VillageMD.