George D. Yancopoulos MD, PhD

Board of Governors

Co-Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron

George Damis Yancopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., is Co-Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron, one of the world’s premier biotech companies, working alongside long-time partner Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer. Yancopoulos is the driver of Regeneron’s science-driven culture and unique ability to repeatedly and consistently translate science into medicine, leading to its ten FDA-approved or -authorized treatments and promising pipeline. Yancopoulos and his team invented multiple innovative and industry-leading technologies, such as the VelocImmune^® mouse (with a genetically humanized immune system that can efficiently generate human antibody drug candidates), that have delivered life-changing medicines for a range of diseases, including cancer, vision-threatening eye diseases, asthma and infectious diseases.

Yancopoulos graduated as valedictorian of both the Bronx High School of Science and Columbia University, where he also earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.

Regeneron has routinely been named among the “Most Innovative Companies in the World” by Forbes and as a top company to work for by Science magazine. Yancopoulos was among the ten most highly cited scientists in the world during the 1990s, was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 and joined the “Biotech Hall of Fame” in 2014. His numerous accolades include EY’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2016 (with Schleifer), Forbes’ “100 Most Innovative Leaders” in 2019, and Fortune’s “Heroes of the Pandemic” in 2020.