Sheila Mikhail, J.D., M.B.A.

Co-Founder, Former CEO, AskBio

Sheila Mikhail has over 20 years of biopharmaceutical leadership experience and is a Co-Founder of AskBio. She served as CEO until March 2023 and currently serves as Advisor/Co-Founder. As CEO, she built three GMP manufacturing facilities in Spain and with $235m in Series A funding, built the company to over 349 employees operating in five countries. Under her leadership, AskBio advanced programs into the clinic for Pompe, late stage Heart Failure, Parkinson’s, MSA, and Huntington’s. In December 2020, she led the negotiation of the $4b AskBio acquisition by Bayer AG and has since grown the company to over 800 employees.  

Prior to AskBio, she served as CEO/Co-founder of Bamboo Therapeutics which, in 20 months, raised $50m, advanced a therapeutic for GAN into the clinic, completed pre-IND studies for a Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapeutic, and built a GMP manufacturing facility. Bamboo was acquired by Pfizer in a deal valued at $827m. Ms. Mikhail practiced law and founded Life Sciences Law servicing clients including Bayer, Gilead, GSK, Sanofi and Aventis. She earned a JD with honors from Northwestern University, a finance MBA with honors from the University of Chicago, and a BS with highest honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.