
Title: Franchise Head for Cell and Gene Therapy
Company: Parexel International
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Chris A. Learn, Franchise Head for Cell and Gene Therapy at Parexel International, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Executives for dedication, achievements, and leadership in Pharmaceutics.
Dr. Learn has established himself as a leading authority in clinical drug development, with a career marked by progressive leadership and innovation in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Since 2022, he has served as a franchise head of cell and gene therapy at Parexel International, where he leads global advanced therapy programs across cell therapies and nucleic acid-based modalities, including gene therapy, gene editing, RNA therapy and antisense oligonucleotides. In this capacity, Dr. Learn oversees the end-to-end delivery of all service lines within cell and gene therapy to meet global customer needs, directs investigational clinical trial execution from Phase I through Phase IV, and partners with biotechnology companies and large pharmaceutical organizations to achieve market authorization for novel therapies. His responsibilities also include designing and authoring clinical protocols, selecting and activating appropriate clinical sites for specialized patient populations, and guiding programs through phased clinical development, regulatory milestones and post-marketing commitments. As a highly technical global service partner in advanced therapeutics, Dr. Learn drives critical path strategy and execution.
Having initially joined Parexel International in 2023, Dr. Learn spent two years as the senior vice president of cell and gene therapy. During this period, he played a pivotal role in the rollout of several innovative drugs, most notably Keytruda. He was also heavily engaged in the early-phase human studies of two groundbreaking cell therapy programs, now known as Abecma and Breyanzi, which have since become commercially available treatments for cancer patients. These experiences were particularly meaningful to Dr. Learn due to their personal resonance with his family’s medical history.
Before these achievements at Parexel International, Dr. Learn served as a senior director of clinical development at Istari Oncology, Inc., from 2021 to 2022, where he led teams focused on advancing novel immunotherapies for oncology indications. Between 2019 and 2021, he was a therapeutic strategy lead at the Cell and Gene Therapy Center of Excellence at IQVIA, where he developed strategic plans for cell and gene therapy programs and collaborated closely with the chief medical officer during organizational restructuring efforts. Notably, Dr. Learn demonstrated his commitment to equity by promoting a long-serving physician from South Africa into his own role, a testament to his dedication to recognizing talent within his teams.
Dr. Learn worked as program manager for oncology and hematology at ICON plc for several years, beginning in 2016. He also worked for ExecuPharm, now Parexel International, as a clinical development scientist from 2015 to 2016 and then briefly as a senior clinical scientist in early 2016. Among his earlier roles, Dr. Learn spent 2008 to 2015 as a senior clinical project manager and therapeutic compound lead at Quintiles, now IQVIA, following his brief tenure as a senior clinical scientist at SRC in 2007 and as a postdoctoral research fellow at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences from 2006 to 2007. He began his professional journey as an associate in research in the neurosurgery division at the Brain Tumor Center at Duke University Health System in 2001, where he dedicated over five years to developing cell therapies for patients in the clinic. This formative experience set the stage for Dr. Learn’s future impact on translational medicine.
Possessing a rich educational background, Dr. Learn acquired a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry, summa cum laude, from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg in 1995, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in microbiology and immunology from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem in 2000 and a Master of Business Administration from Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University in Raleigh in 2026.
Dr. Learn holds several certifications that have further enhanced his technical proficiency, including as a project management professional through the Project Management Institute. He also completed the Barnett Expert Good Clinical Practice Training from Barnett International and completed several courses in statistics from the LinkedIn Corporation.
Dr. Learn’s expertise is further reflected by his active memberships in leading professional organizations, such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology. He is also a committee member for the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and sits on the board of CHCF Brain. Dr. Learn’s commitment extends beyond corporate leadership into civic engagement and mentorship. He has volunteered with Ronald McDonald House, Habitat for Humanity and Catholic Charities since 2001 while supporting Catholic Parish Outreach Food Pantry initiatives. He is also recognized for mentoring numerous graduate students annually through Georgetown University’s internship program.
As a seasoned researcher, one of Dr. Learn’s scholarly contributions included co-authoring “Developing an Effective Training Curriculum for Cell and Gene Therapy Operational Teams,” published by the Journal of Clinical Trials in 2020. He has also authored or co-authored numerous articles on oncology drug development, biomarkers, immunologic transcriptome profiling, and molecular genetics published between 2001 and 2015 across journals such as Clinical Cancer Research: An Official Journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, Neuro-Oncology, Surgical Endoscopy, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, and others.
Dr. Learn’s accolades include recognition from Johnson & Johnson in 2014 for leadership on specific programs. He also received Parexel International’s With Heart™ Award in 2023. He was one of five recipients of the award within an organization of 22,000 employees. Furthermore, Dr. Learn was recognized by Georgetown University numerous times as a Mentor of the Year within its biotechnology graduate program.
Among Dr. Learn’s most notable achievements, however, was the acceptance of three biological license applications for cell and gene therapies that have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for commercialization. His work on first-in-class gene editing programs in partnership with Chinese collaborators represents a significant advancement in medicine’s ability to address the root causes of disease.
Dr. Learn’s decision to pursue research over medicine was influenced by formative experiences during his undergraduate years when he witnessed firsthand the limitations of available treatments for serious illnesses. This conviction propelled him toward a career focused on scientific discovery rather than direct patient care. Looking ahead, Dr. Learn remains deeply committed to advancing cell and gene therapies globally, enabling future generations to continue benefiting from transformative medical breakthroughs regardless of geographic or political boundaries. He is passionate about securing the funding and research necessary to drive progress in this field, ensuring patients remain at the heart of every innovation achieved under his guidance.
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