Kristeen A. Pareja-Navarro, PhD
Chief Executive Officer, Founder
Dr. Pareja-Navarro is the CEO and co-founder of EngramBio, where she leads the development of therapeutics designed to repair synapses and restore cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She brings over 17 years of research experience spanning pharmacology, biochemistry, cell biology, and neuroscience, with expertise in protein biology and neurodegeneration. She earned her PhD in Pharmacology at Cornell University, where she studied proteins involved in oxidative stress signaling. She later trained at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, where her work helped define how KIBRA promotes resilience against tau-driven synaptic dysfunction and how tau oligomers drive synapse loss, with findings published in Journal of Clinical Investigation and Molecular Neurodegeneration. She also holds a certificate in Artificial Intelligence in Pharma and Biotech from MIT Sloan, bringing a data-driven and AI-informed perspective to therapeutic development. Dr. Pareja-Navarro is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a 2025 NIA Startup Challenge winner. She has held leadership roles across scientific training, education, and workforce development initiatives, including contributing to regional STEM and career pathway programs. Her motivation for tackling Alzheimer’s disease is personal. After losing her grandfather to the disease and growing up with a mother who has been a caregiver to older adults for over 25 years, she is driven to translate rigorous science into therapies that improve the lives of patients, families, and caregivers.