Katie McCauley
Director Novartis
Katie McCauley, PhD, is Head of Portfolio Strategy and Discovery Biology in Disease Area X (DAx) at Novartis, where she leads early research at the intersection of exploratory biology, in vitro pharmacology, and portfolio strategy. She has extensive expertise in fibrosis and respiratory diseases, including IPF, integrating human biology, mechanistic insight, and translational models to drive target prioritization and project progression. In her role, she guides early portfolio decision making and resource allocation, with oversight over assay development across DAx and accountability for identifying and advancing emerging scientific opportunities. Katie earned her PhD at Boston University and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, specializing in lung epithelial biology and fibrosis.
Seminars
- Reassessing Historical Pathways: Revisiting canonical mechanisms such as TGF-β signaling, integrins, and inflammatory mediators, what have we learned, and do these pathways still hold untapped therapeutic potential?
- Emerging Target Opportunities: Exploring epithelial repair, fibroblast heterogeneity, immune modulation, and regenerative biology as potential avenues for next-generation interventions.
- Bridging Preclinical Insights to Clinical Readouts: How preclinical findings and cellular-level insights can guide trial design, biomarker selection, and patient stratification; challenges of relying solely on lung function endpoints (FEV/FVC); and leveraging multi-omics, spatial biology, and imaging technologies to accelerate target validation and predict meaningful clinical outcomes.
- Forward-Looking Questions: Which cellular or molecular readouts best predict clinical efficacy? Can we design trials focused on fibrosis biology rather than aggregated lung function metrics? How can new technologies inform both target discovery and endpoint selection for more translatable therapies?
