Notable Alumni

Bio

Dr. Pedro Beltran '92 is currently the Head of Biology at BridgeBio Pharma, Oncology Therapeutics in the Bay Area, California. Pedro and his team of experienced drug hunters are dedicated to developing novel therapeutics to target RAS, the most frequently mutated human oncogene found in ~35% of all human cancers.

Pedro received a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Florida Tech and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center under the mentorship of Isaiah J. Fidler, DVM, Ph.D. He was awarded a Lois Pope Fellowship for post-doctoral work in Neuroscience at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami.

Pedro has a long track record of dedication to discovering novel medicines to treat serious illnesses. Before BridgeBio Pharma, Pedro led the Biology Team at UNITY Biotechnology, a company dedicated to preventing, halting, and reversing diseases of aging. His team's work was published in Cell Metabolism and resulted in the identification of UBX1375, currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for vascular eye diseases.

Pedro started his career as a Scientist at Amgen, Inc., where he led multiple Drug Discovery Research programs focused on oncology, including Imlygica for Melanoma and ganitumab for pancreatic cancer. As Executive Director of Discovery Research at Amgen, he led a large team of Scientists and helped progress more than ten development candidates into the clinic.

Pedro believes in a robust industry-academic partnership in the drug development process and has strongly supported productive collaborations with leading academic groups in oncology and aging. Pedro has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts and abstracts. He has been an invited speaker at multiple national and international conferences and holds patents describing novel ways to treat malignant diseases.

Outside the laboratory, Pedro tries to influence his two beautiful daughters, Sofia and Valeria, into becoming valued members of the world community and visiting home (Lima, Peru) with his wife, Vanessa.