Join the Center for Ethics in Society as we welcome Kerry Benenato to campus for a dinner discussion with students. Dr. Benenato received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Boston College and spent eight years working at Moderna, where she served in multiple roles including Vice President of Platform Chemistry and Formulation Discovery. In 2022, Dr. Benenato was awarded the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry award for her work contributing to Moderna’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine (Spikevax™️). Dr. Benenato is currently the Chief Platform Officer at Sail Biomedicines.

During the dinner discussion, Dr. Benenato will discuss the value of a liberal arts education to future success and keys to career growth, all within the context of her work as a chemist.

Dr. Kerry Benenato joined Sail in February 2024 as Chief Platform Officer, bringing to the company a distinguished career in the development of mRNA products and product candidates. Prior to Sail, she served as Chief Scientific Officer of 76Bio, a startup focused on the development of a novel targeted protein degradation modality using mRNA/lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technologies. Prior to this, she spent eight years in positions of increasing responsibility at Moderna, most recently serving as Vice President, Platform Chemistry and Formulation Discovery, where she led the Platform team, with oversight for the discovery and development of mRNA delivery tools for multiple modalities (infectious disease, rare disease, immuno-oncology, auto-immune diseases) and the development of tools for LNP biophysical characterization.  
In 2022, Kerry was awarded the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry award for her work contributing to Moderna’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine (Spikevax™️). She began her industry career in scientific research at AstraZeneca, after completing a research fellowship at Harvard University as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow. She holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Boston College and a B.S. in Chemistry from Providence College.