Kat Kayser-Bricker is the chief scientific officer of New Haven biotech Halda Therapeutics, and was honored in December as Entrepreneur of the Year in the bioscience industry.
The award is given annually by New Haven-based BioCT, the state’s bioscience booster organization, and law firm Shipman & Goodwin LLP, which has an office in New Haven. It honors outstanding innovators who are “imaginative, passionate and game-changers in Connecticut life sciences.”
Halda Therapeutics is developing a novel class of cancer therapies called RIPTAC (Regulated Induced Proximity Targeting Chimeras) therapeutics, which are small molecules that selectively target cancer cells and “kill” them.
The firm has raised $226.2 million over five funding rounds, including $126 million in August 2024.
Before joining Halda Therapeutics as an original team member, Kayser-Bricker spent 10 years as a scientific leader at FORMA Therapeutics, a public company that was acquired in 2022 by Novo Nordisk for $1.1 billion.
She has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park, and earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University.