Dr. Angelika Fretzen

Victories in pharmaceutical research may be life-changing, or they may be very small, says Dr. Angelika Fretzen, senior vice president of product development at Catabasis Pharmaceuticals. This year’s Science Assembly speaker, Dr. Fretzen discussed Catabasis’ research into a drug to regenerate muscle and lessen the effects of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Prior to joining Catabasis, Dr. Fretzen was vice president of pharmaceutical chemistry and development at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, where she led the development and approval process for the irritable bowel syndrome drug Linzess. She was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. She holds a Diploma (M.S.) in chemistry from the University of Würzburg in Germany and her Ph.D. in organometallic and synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Fretzen also has an MBA from Suffolk University in Boston.

“If you are open to finding what fascinates you, what will grow into a passion over the years of your life, the next steps will come to you. You don’t know exactly what those next steps are going to be, but discovering that passion is perhaps the most important thing you could do at this stage in your life.”