Dr. Arati Rao is dual fellowship trained Geriatric-Oncologist and a former Associate Professor of Medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine who is passionate about cell therapy development. She has experience both in the heme malignancies CAR T space at Kite-Gilead and currently in the solid tumor neoantigen TCR space at PACT where she serves as the Senior VP and Head of Clinical Development.

She has in depth knowledge on cell therapy/immunology programs and has worked closely with regulatory agencies including the FDA and EMA. As the global lead and medical monitor for ZUMA-2, she was responsible for successfully filing a BLA and received accelerated approval for TecartusTM (brexucabtagene autoleucel) in relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma with the FDA.

During her academic career, she led the myeloid leukemia efforts at Duke and served as a PI/Co-PI on several trials. She was an NIH funded clinical researcher. She has served as a faculty on the NCCN-Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma guidelines (v1.0) and on several ASCO and ASH committees including the ASH- scientific committee for myeloid biology.