(US and Canada) Generation Bio Co., a biotechnology company innovating genetic medicines for people living with rare and prevalent diseases, announced the promotion of Phillip Samayoa, Ph.D., to chief strategy officer. Samayoa has led strategy, corporate and portfolio development at Generation Bio since he joined the company in 2017, most recently serving as senior vice president.

“Phillip has been instrumental in building a holistic strategy for platform development that will enable its application to multiple genetic medicine modalities,” said Geoff McDonough, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Generation Bio. “In this new role, Phillip will lead corporate strategy, business development and discovery research, enabling the integration of these key strategic activities.”

“We are leading the field of non-viral DNA therapeutics and targeted lipid nanoparticle delivery, and I am excited to further expand the opportunity space for Generation Bio’s unique technologies – closed-ended DNA, rapid enzymatic synthesis, and cell-targeted lipid nanoparticles,” said Samayoa. “I look forward to continuing working with this great team to push the boundaries of our platform and maximize its potential benefit for patients.”

Samayoa co-founded Generation Bio as a principal at Atlas Venture, where he focused on genetic medicines and building novel platform therapeutics companies. While at Atlas, Samayoa also co-founded Dyne Therapeutics. Previously, he was director of MRL Ventures Fund at Merck, where he helped construct the strategic venture fund and led investments in early-stage companies including Alector, Translate Bio, and Spero Therapeutics. Prior to Merck, Samayoa was an associate at Flagship Pioneering where he was involved in building several startups, including Codiak BioSciences and Indigo Ag.

Samayoa graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with dual Bachelor of Science degrees in biological engineering and physics, and earned his Ph.D. in systems biology from the University of California San Diego, where he was a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow.