Erik Richardson

About Erik Richardson

I love to be high in the mountains or deep in the science.My biotech career started in business development, tasked to build a pipeline for Acucela. We in-licensed an optogenetic gene therapy project that I led in pursuit of vision restoration for patients blinded by retinal degeneration. Now, I lead an R&D program team focused on clinical POC with genetic therapies to treat complement-related diseases at Apellis and serve as the Development Lead on a cross-functional leadership team building the longterm R&D pipeline for the company.Next to biotech I have a passion for mountains that spans over 30 years. I spent a long time on freeride skiing and now aspire to be a ski alpinist. It\'s been a humbling experience on the other side of the gravity sport dichotomy. But every summit and ride down is worth it.The long term vision is to start an advanced therapy biotech company. I feel fortunate to be involved as cell and gene therapy hit their stride and am intrigued to pursue the next era of medicine with these sophisticated technologies.

Experience

1. Senior Director, Pipeline Development Lead

   Apellis Pharmaceuticals

   Sep 2025 — Present

   Development representative on a cross-functional strategy leadership team. Provides strategic direction and scientific guidance for early-stage development through clinical proof of concept (POC). Critical role in shaping the future of Apellis\' pipeline and alignment of R&D priorities with broader company objectives.Continued leadership of the APL-3007 development program to clinical POC.

Education

• University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business

  Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.)

• University of Washington

  Bachelor of Science (BS)

Skills

• Gel Electrophoresis
• Market Research
• Blast
• Social Enterprise
• Biochemistry
• Statistics
• Recruiting
• Nonlinear Optimization
• Research
• Start-Ups
• Column Chromatography
• Affinity Chromatography
• Business Planning
• Operations Management
• News Writing
• Biotechnology
• Chemistry
• Site-Directed Mutagenesis
• Physical Organic Chemistry
• Networking
• Recombinant Dna Technology
• Restriction Digestion
• Microsoft Office
• Sales
• Time Management
• Entrepreneurship
• Ir Spectroscopy
• Biotechnology Industry
• Rt-Pcr
• Strategy
• Immunochemistry
• Public Speaking
• Cell Biology
• Forecasting
• Wordpress
• Linear Programming
• Leadership
• Immunoprecipitation
• Nmr Spectroscopy
• Southern Blotting