Saperis Advisors

Rita Balice-Gordon is an accomplished executive, impactful leader and respected scientist who has built research and development strategies and portfolios, created financial and business strategies, and secured significant biotech funding and pharmaceutical partnerships.

Rita co-founded and served for 5 years as Chief Executive Officer of Muna Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotech company with a global footprint, focused on discovering and developing disease modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. She is a Director on the Boards of Directors of Muna Tx, Lundbeck ApS and Collegium Pharmaceutical. She also advises several privately held, early-to-clinical stage biotech companies and VCs.

Prior to taking on these roles, Rita was the Global Head, Rare and Neurologic Diseases Research Therapeutic Area at Sanofi, Inc. for several years. She led groups scientists based in Boston and Paris working on pre-clinical and early development stage projects for patients with lysosomal storage disorders, inborn errors of metabolism and renal and musculoskeletal diseases; Multiple Sclerosis; Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Before joining Sanofi, she was a senior leader/VP in Pfizer's Neuroscience and Pain Research Unit, led the psychiatry (Boston) and pain (Cambridge, UK) portfolios, and was Head of the Worldwide Research and Development Postdoctoral Program.

Before joining biopharma, Rita was Professor of Neuroscience and Chair of the Neuroscience Graduate Group in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where she holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor. Rita and her laboratory have studied the cell-cell signaling mechanisms underlying synapse formation and maintenance and pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying autoimmune CNS disorders affecting cognition and behavior. She was continuously funded by the NIH for more than 30 years, has authored more than 100 scientific papers, has received several awards and honors, has given hundreds of invited research talks around the world, and has chaired or served on many NIH, national and international committees, study sections, editorial boards and research organization advisory boards. Rita was elected in 2015 as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.