Lori Payton, PhD
In her role as Chief Development Officer, Lori oversees the strategy and execution of Yarrow's drug development programs, guiding candidates from clinical trials to regulatory approval.
Lori was most recently Senior Vice President, Development Strategy & Operations at Allovir, Inc. serving as a member of the executive team and overseeing several development functions including clinical operations, program management, data management, quality assurance and vendor management/outsourcing. Lori was also accountable for working with the board of directors to establish the company’s development strategy and contingency plans.
Previously, Lori served as Senior Vice President, Strategy, Portfolio and Program Management at Sage Therapeutics where she led generation of the R&D strategy and portfolio planning process that informed investment in the Sage pipeline. In this role, Lori had supervisory responsibility for team leaders and established the team operating model for the growing organization. Lori previously served as Vice President and Global Medicine Team Leader at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where she led the multi-indication Ultomiris team through strategic planning and execution of several complex development programs to achieve global registrations with industry leading timelines.
Prior to Alexion, Lori spent 22 years at Pfizer in various roles spanning the entire drug development continuum across multiple therapeutic areas. Lori served in key roles including Head of Project and Portfolio Management, Head of Asset Team Leaders, and as Global Development and Commercial Team Leader responsible for registration and commercialization of Celebrex and Eliquis. Lori has also served as a biopharmaceutical consultant working with executive leadership to guide start-up fundraising, company building, operational planning, due diligence, and alliance management.
Lori has a B.A. in Biology from Wheaton College, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics from Boston University School of Medicine