This week on Careers in Discovery, we’re joined by Peter Hamley, Founder and CEO of Scripta Therapeutics.

Peter didn’t follow the typical founder path. After a long and successful career in big pharma R&D and business development, he made the leap into Biotech with a mission: to unlock the potential of transcription factors in treating neurodegenerative diseases. What followed was a complete mindset shift - from structure and scale to agility and risk.

In this episode, Peter shares the thinking behind Scripta’s unique approach to drug discovery, how his experience at Sanofi and AstraZeneca shaped his leadership style, and why failure, iteration, and clarity of purpose are more important now than ever.

Kathryn Golden didn’t set out to be a scientist. In fact, she made her parents promise she wouldn’t have to become one when she enrolled at a science-focused high school. But a chemistry class changed everything, setting her on a path from MIT’s bioprocessing labs to senior leadership roles in Biotech and pharma.

Now VP of Technical Operations at Ottimo Pharma and co-founder of Sunflower Therapeutics, Kathryn’s career has been shaped by a relentless curiosity, a deep commitment to patient access, and a willingness to step into the unknown. She shares her journey from building perfusion bioreactors in grad school, to leading global CMC teams, to launching portable manufacturing units for biologics in the developing world.

In this conversation, Kathryn reflects on lessons in leadership, mentorship, and integrity - from creating a calm, learning-focused culture to knowing when to walk away. She talks openly about imposter syndrome, what it really takes to transition into executive roles, and how entrepreneurship, like science, is best approached as an experiment.

Ofer Haviv didn’t take the usual route into Biotech. With a background in economics and finance, he began his career far from the lab - but a long-standing passion for biology brought him back to science in an unexpected way.

Now CEO of Evogene, Ofer shares how he moved from CFO to spinning out a company at the intersection of AI and biology, building platforms to discover small molecule therapeutics and agricultural innovations. He reflects on leading through uncertainty, what makes a strong Biotech culture, and why staying focused on real-world problems is essential to innovation.

Evogene’s evolution is far from over, but Ofer’s story offers a rare and thoughtful look into the blend of science, business and humanity that drives Biotech forward.