Rachel Groppo
Associate Director, Preclinical Operations, Pioneering Medicines
Rachel joined Pioneering Medicines in 2020 to establish and lead preclinical operations as well as provide scientific insight and project management to Pioneering Medicines pipeline programs.
Immediately before joining Pioneering Medicines, Rachel was the program and research leader of a respiratory virus vaccine program at Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of Sanofi. In that role, she established a cross functional team to progress a new target in the vaccine pipeline and secured external collaborations to advance the program. Rachel’s previous roles in her 10-year career at Sanofi Pasteur focused on viral vector design, mRNA prophylactics, and in vivo assessments.
By training, Rachel is a molecular virologist. Her thesis work in the lab of Professor Ann Palmenberg focused on translational shutoff mechanisms employed by RNA viruses, including investigations on internal ribosome entry site (IRES) translation. Her postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Joel Richter sought to understand eukaryotic cellular translational control mechanisms.
Rachel earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She holds a B.S. in Biochemistry/Biophysics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
