In this episode of She Leads Biotech, I sit down with Rhonda Wallen, Founder & CEO of IleraBio, and a biotech leader whose career spans science, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and health equity.
Rhonda has built and advised companies from every angle, lab bench, boardroom, and investor pitch, and now she’s applying that experience to transform how we treat serious diseases through drug repurposing.
We talk about:
🔹 Her path from science to finance to founding
🔹 What it was like launching her first startup during the 2008 downturn
🔹 Lessons learned from rejection, reinvention, and raising capital
🔹 The mission behind IleraBio: affordable, repurposed therapies for underserved diseases
🔹 Her perspective on leadership, equity, and building with integrity
“There’s more than one way to build a successful biotech company. We just need investors who are willing to see it.”
📌 Chapters / Timestamps:
00:00 – Meet Rhonda Wallen and her journey into biotech
03:00 – From the lab to Wall Street: navigating early career pivots
06:30 – Founding her first company and learning the hard way
10:00 – Resilience, rejection, and raising capital as a woman in biotech
14:00 – The birth of IleraBio and why drug repurposing matters
18:30 – Funding models, access, and system change
22:00 – Boardrooms, balance, and redefining leadership
26:00 – Advice to founders navigating uncertainty
29:00 – What’s next for Rhonda and IleraBio
This episode is a masterclass in perseverance, perspective, and purpose, from a founder who’s seen biotech from every side and is reshaping it from within.
#SheLeadsBiotech #RhondaWallen #IleraBio #BiotechLeadership #WomenInSTEM #HealthEquity #DrugRepurposing #StartupFounder #AuthenticLeadership #LifeSciences #CNAInternationalUSA
