Melissa Junttila, PhD, is currently Vice President, Head of Biology Research at ORIC Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving patients’ lives by Overcoming Resistance In Cancer. Prior to joining ORIC, Dr. Junttila was a discovery group leader and Senior Scientist at Genentech, in addition to leading the genetic models core lab. Combining her preclinical modeling expertise with her extensive knowledge of small molecule and antibody-based therapeutic approaches in cancer immunology and oncology signal transduction, Dr. Junttila has contributed to >25 target projects with eight candidates progressing to clinical development. Prior to Genentech, Dr. Junttila was a Fellow of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation at UCSF. Melissa received her BSc from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and her PhD in Medical Biochemistry from University of Turku, Finland.