Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD

Chief Executive Officer


Ryan Schoenfeld, PhD, is Chief Executive Officer of The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, a philanthropic organization dedicated to transforming the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer around the world. An experienced scientific leader, Ryan oversees the Foundation’s scientific programs, investments, and operations.

Ryan joined The Mark Foundation in 2018, was named Chief Scientific Officer in 2021, and was named CEO in 2022. During his tenure, Ryan has worked to establish The Mark Foundation as a leader in accelerating innovative cancer research across diverse areas of science including molecular biology, chemistry, immunology, genetics, and data science. He has been instrumental in increasing the research portfolio; launching the ASPIRE, Drug Discovery, Endeavor, and Emerging Leader award programs; and establishing Mark Foundation Centers at Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Cambridge.

Ryan is an expert in therapeutics discovery and development, with extensive experience working across functional boundaries in oncology, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, and data science. Over the course of 15+ years as a scientific leader in the pharmaceutical industry and nonprofit sectors, Ryan has played a major role in the discovery and advancement of multiple novel small molecule therapeutics to human clinical trials. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications and is a named inventor on over 25 patents.

Prior to joining The Mark Foundation, Ryan was Senior Director of Data Sciences at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, where he built and led a large global team of data scientists who delivered high impact machine learning and AI-based solutions for a wide range of problems across all therapeutic areas. Prior to his time at J&J, Ryan was a Scientific Director at the CHDI Foundation, where he pursued therapeutics for Huntington’s disease, directing teams of global collaborators in medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, structural biology, imaging biomarkers, and stem cell research. Earlier in his career, Ryan worked for Roche Pharmaceuticals where he led medicinal chemistry and chemical biology projects across several different therapeutic areas, coordinated global research informatics initiatives, and oversaw all discovery chemistry and biology outsourcing for North America.

Ryan received a PhD in Chemistry from Cornell University studying organic synthesis with Professor Bruce Ganem, and a BS in Chemistry from California Polytechnic State University.

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