David Bettoun, PhD, joined Larimar Therapeutics in December 2016 as Vice President of Discovery and non-Clinical R&D, bringing more than 17 years’ experience to the company. Previously, Dr. Bettoun held leadership roles at myriad pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies where he managed drug discovery programs for various indications and pathways. His most recent position was Chief Scientist at HaRo Pharmaceutical, a startup biotech that he co-founded and led the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of a rare childhood cancer. Prior to that, Dr. Bettoun’s early work at Eli Lilly and Merck focused on discovery research for bone and inflammatory diseases. While at Glaxo SmithKline, Dr. Bettoun successfully managed a challenging lead optimization effort aiming at preventing tissue destruction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Dr. Bettoun received a BS and MS in biochemistry from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France. He received his PhD from the department of Physiology at McGill University, in Montréal Canada, and pursued postdoctoral studies in molecular genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
