Cynthia Smith

Cynthia is a biopharmaceutical board member and advisor with 20 years of experience leading healthcare companies through complex transformations.  Cynthia is on the board of directors of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Akebia Therapeutics, and Spero Therapeutics.  She has served on the board of the French American Foundation since 2018.

Cynthia was Chief Commercial Officer of ZS Pharma, a biotechnology start-up. She led the company’s transition from R&D to product commercialization and played a key role in its successful IPO and $2.7 billion acquisition by AstraZeneca. Prior to joining ZS Pharma, Cynthia held leadership roles at Affymax, Inc. and Merck & Co. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Cynthia served on the health care policy team of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Cynthia has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an MS in Public Policy from the Eagleton Institute at Rutgers University, and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.