Leen Kawas is the co‑founder and Managing General Partner of Propel Bio Partners, a life sciences investment firm that supports early-stage biotechnology companies. The firm concentrates on backing entrepreneurs developing technologies with a meaningful impact on human health, with a particular emphasis on diverse and underrepresented founders. Leen is also the CEO of EIT Pharma, Inc., where she leads a team developing treatments for infectious diseases with significant unmet need, including hepatitis D and acute respiratory infections. The company’s patient‑centric strategy reflects her conviction that no patient should be left behind. She is a pioneering biotechnology executive and investor who has established herself as a voice in life sciences innovation and diversity advocacy.
Her biotechnology career began after immigrating to the United States from Jordan in 2008. She earned a PhD in Pharmacology from Washington State University, then co‑founded what is now LeonaBio, where she served as CEO and co‑invented multiple drug candidates. Under her leadership, she advanced multiple drug development programs through clinical trials and successfully took the company public in September 2020, raising over $400M. This achievement made her the first woman in 20 years in Washington State to lead a company through an IPO. She was one of only 22 women founders in the United States to accomplish this milestone at the time.
She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including Life Science Entrepreneurial Achievement Award (2020), French-American Foundation Leader (2019), and GeekWire Startup CEO of the Year (2019). Leen serves on the boards of Inherent Biosciences and Persephone Biosciences, and is a member of the Springboard Network. Kawas lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children, where she continues advocating for innovative research and supporting the next generation of scientists and entrepreneurs.