Shelly Meeusen

CEO at RheostatTx

Speaker

Dr. Meeusen is a biotechnology executive and scientific founder with broad expertise in drug discovery, newco creation, and translational biology. She has built and led high-performing research organizations, launched venture-backed companies, and advanced innovative therapeutic strategies across diverse areas of biology.

Shelly currently serves as Founder and CEO of RheostatTx, where she is developing novel therapeutic approaches grounded in deep biological insight to treat rare genetic diseases. In parallel, she is collaborating with academic scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys to advance a novel therapy to treat chronic pain and addiction. Previously, she was Chief Scientific Officer of Velia Therapeutics, guiding scientific vision and platform advancement.

Earlier in her career, Shelly served as Head of Biology at Inception Therapeutics, where she focused on newco creation—shaping emerging scientific concepts into investable companies. She evaluated technologies, defining early pipelines, recruiting scientific talent, and building the biological strategy required to launch multiple startups.

Prior to her work in venture creation, Shelly served as Executive Director of General Medical Biology at Novartis for over a decade. There, she led an organization of more than 100 drug hunters advancing novel therapeutics across a wide spectrum of disease biology. Under her leadership, multidisciplinary teams integrated genetics, cell biology, pharmacology, and translational science to drive programs from target identification through early clinical development.

In addition to her operating roles, Shelly serves as a board member and advisor to multiple early-stage biotechnology companies, supporting scientific strategy, capital formation, and organizational build-out. She also serves on the Board of Life Science Cares, a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in local communities.

Across each of these roles, Shelly combines deep biological fluency, rigorous drug discovery experience, and company-building acumen – with the goal of positioning transformative science to become durable, impactful therapeutics.