Jeni joined Avilar in October 2024 as Associate Director of Biology to lead discovery programs and advance the pipeline. Before Avilar, she was Principal Scientist of Translational Sciences at Mitobridge (acquired by Astellas), where she spearheaded portfolio expansion and contributed to delivery of one program into the clinic. She has extensive experience leading small molecule programs from ideation to candidate nomination in rare and metabolic diseases, managing partnerships and collaborations, and conducting diligence for business development opportunities. Jeni earned her PhD at the University of Crete / IMBB in the laboratory of Dr. Kostas Tokatlidis focused on mitochondrial biology, and she completed her post-doctoral training and research fellowship at MIT and NIH under Dr. Chris Kaiser and Dr. Richard Youle, investigating cellular homeostasis pathways.
