SEATTLE– Curi Bio, a leading developer of human stem cell-based platforms for drug discovery, today announced the appointment of Nicholas A. Geisse, Ph.D. as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Dr. Geisse has been serving as the Chief Science Officer at Curi Bio since 2017. During that time, he was responsible for guiding the company’s scientific strategy and the commercialization of its next-generation products that greatly improve the predictive power of in vitro cell-based assays. Dr. Geisse succeeds Michael Cho, J.D., who will continue on with the company in a role focusing on corporate strategy and legal matters.
“It has been an honor to lead this company and to work with such talented and dedicated colleagues over the past seven years,” said Michael Cho. “I am proud to announce Nick as my successor; he has shown exceptional leadership for our science and product development teams and brings a deep understanding of our values and mission. His broad experience was critical in the development of the Mantarray 3D engineered muscle tissue platform and he has a proven track record of delivering results for our stakeholders. Nick has my full support. I look forward to working with him and the management team to bring even more success to the company.”
Dr. Geisse stated, “During my time at Curi Bio, I’ve been privileged to witness the company become a world leader in developing in vitro disease models that are in use by virtually all top pharmaceutical companies. I am also very proud of the strong company culture of ‘science first’ innovation that we have fostered. I am honored and humbled to lead this extraordinary team of world-class scientists and engineers into Curi Bio’s next growth phase as we doggedly pursue our mission to accelerate the development of next-generation medicines. I am looking forward to the opportunity to cultivate additional partnerships and client relationships and to build on our incredible momentum.”
“Nick has been essential to Curi Bio’s rapid growth since he joined the company six years ago,” said Elliot Fisher, co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Curi Bio. “I have full confidence in Nick’s ability to continue delivering strong leadership as we build on our successes and tackle new challenges. Nick has shown a clear commitment to excellence as we strive to achieve a very aggressive growth trajectory at Curi Bio.”
Dr. Geisse completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Boston University, followed by his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Cambridge University in England under Dr. RM Henderson. He continued his studies in tissue engineering and instrumentation development with a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiac cell and tissue engineering at the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences under Prof. Kevin Kit Parker. After his postdoc, he worked in a variety of scientific, commercial, product development, and management roles for Asylum Research (acquired by Oxford Instruments in December 2012). Dr. Geisse’s work at Curi Bio has been recognized by several national awards, including Xconomy’s 2020 ‘Big Idea’ award, the US Small Business Administration’s 2020 Tibbetts award, and 2021 Edison Award. Dr. Geisse has also led an active R&D program at Curi Bio that is supported by customer partnerships and a number of SBIR grants from the National Institutes of Health.
