Craig Basson
Chief Medical Officer; President, R&D
- Role
- Independent Board Director at Olatec Therapeutics
- Location
- Boston, MA, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Craig Basson
Dr. Craig Basson graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, was awarded a Marshall Scholarship at the University of Oxford, and then completed his MD and PhD at Yale University School of Medicine. Craig trained in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and subsequently completed his clinical Cardiology fellowship at Harvard University and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital along with a research fellowship in human genetics. He began his independent laboratory there before moving to Cornell University Medical College. At Cornell, Craig assumed roles with increasing responsibility and most recently was Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Medicine, Director of the Center for Molecular Cardiology, and the Director of Cardiovascular Research. Craig was highly recognized for deciphering the molecular genetic basis of inherited congenital and adult onset cardiovascular disease and received several honors including election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and designation as an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. Craig joined Novartis in 2010 as Global Head of Cardiovascular Translational Medicine and assumed the leadership of the combined Cardiovascular and Metabolism team in 2014. At NIBR, Craig’s team was responsible for more than 10 positive proof of concept studies and supported the development of EntrestoTM, licogliflozin, iscalimab, abelacimab, and canakinumab amongst other novel medicines for patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic disorders.Craig was Chief Medical Officer at Boston Pharmaceuticals from 20••••22 and also served as interim Chief Executive Officer 20••••22. He was responsible for devising new strategies to assess early efficacy of drugs, such as efimosfermin, that improve survival and quality of life for patients who suffer from general medicine and oncology disorders. In 2022, Craig was the Chief Medical Officer of Bitterroot Bio whose mission was to develop novel immunotherapies for cardiovascular disease. In 2026, Craig joined Variant Bio as Chief Medical Officer and President of R&D. Variant Bio has created a world-class innovative platform that integrates AI/ML, deep phenotyping, and statistical genetic / multi-omic analyses in unique populations to develop novel drug targets and to develop impactful therapies for our patients.
Experience
Independent Board Director
Jun 2022 — Present
Education
Yale School of Medicine
MD, PhD, Medicine, Experimental Pathology
1984 — 1990
Washington University in St. Louis
BA, MA, Biology, French
1979 — 1982
University of Oxford
MSc, Physiological Sciences
1982 — 1984
Skills
- Clinical Development
- Neuroscience
- Hospitals
- Human Genetics
- Medical Education
- Healthcare
- Biotechnology
- Drug Development
- Oncology
- Cancer
- Internal Medicine
- Infectious Diseases
- Genetics
- Clinical
- Clinical Trials
- Life Sciences
- Immunology
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Clinical Research
- Epidemiology
- Cardiology
- Translational Medicine
- Pharmaceutical Industry
- Medicine
- Lifesciences
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Pharmaceuticals
- Molecular Biology
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