Dr. Hege is a highly regarded physician-scientist with 30 years of experience in biopharma drug development and academic clinical medicine. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Kelonia, EvolveImmune and KSQ Therapeutics and recently stepped down from director roles at Mersana and Adaptimmune following external acquisitions. In addition, she serves as co-chair of the Biotech Committee and Women in Immunotherapy Network for the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) along with advisory roles at cTRL, Moonlight, Dispatch, Neomorph, Kamau, Cartography, Shennon, Avemi, OverT, Waypoint and Moderna.
Dr. Hege retired from her executive role at Bristol Myers Squibb in 2023 to pursue her lifelong dream of thru hiking the 2650 mile Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). In her BMS role as SVP Early Clinical Development, Hematology, Oncology & Cell Therapy, she was responsible for advancing a pipeline of small molecules, biologics and cell therapies from first-in-human studies through clinical proof-of-concept. While there she led the 2Seventybio (formerly bluebird)-partnered BCMA CART cell program (Abecma) in multiple myeloma from inception through FDA approval. Prior to BMS she held a similar role at Celgene as well as executive R&D roles in biotech at Cell Genesys, Cellerant, and Theraclone. In addition, Dr. Hege spent nearly three decades as part time clinical faculty in hematology at the Univ. California, San Francisco (UCSF), most recently as Clinical Professor of Medicine.
Dr. Hege has received numerous accolades including recognition by Forbes magazine as one of “50 women over 50: entrepreneurs” and by UCSD with the Duane Roth Career Achievement award for advances in science and medicine. She has published a 6-part essay series in Endpoint News reflecting on parallels between cancer research, including her personal history with CART cell R&D, and hiking the PCT. She is passionate about advocacy for the advancement of women in science and medicine and has turned her PCT adventure into a fundraiser supporting leadership skills development for early career women working in the field of cell and gene therapy. A documentary film sharing this story will premier in the Fall of 2026.