Clayton W. Beard is Chief Scientific Officer at Adrenas Therapeutics. Dr. Beard’s scientific and management experience has spanned academia, government, biotech, and pharmaceutical organizations. These have included positions at Novartis Vaccines, Precision Biosciences, Global Vaccines, the USDA, the University of North Carolina, and Maxygen. Prior to joining Adrenas Therapeutics, Dr. Beard was the vice president of therapeutic discovery at Precision Biosciences where he oversaw the buildout and expansion of the gene editing/therapy programs. As head of viral vector R&D at Novartis, he led a team that developed novel RNA virus-based vaccines and RNA vaccines. Dr. Beard later built and led the Novartis technical development team responsible for synthetic virus and RNA vaccine production process development and scale up. His R&D expertise includes discovery and development of RNA and DNA-based viral vectors for vaccines and gene therapy, molecular virology, analytical development, and large-scale RNA production. Dr. Beard received his PhD in viral genetics from The University of Georgia, and a BS in microbiology from The University of Georgia.