Kate Yen

Kate Yen, Ph.D., is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Auron. Prior to founding Auron, she held senior roles at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where she led the IDH translational research team responsible for the preclinical and clinical development of two FDA-approved IDH mutant inhibitors, IDHIFA® for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and TIBSOVO® for AML and cholangiocarcinoma. Her team identified the differentiation induction mechanism of action that facilitated the clinical development of this novel class of cancer therapies. During her time at Agios, Dr. Yen also co-led the discovery of vorasidenib, an IDH1/2 mutant inhibitor that received Fast Track Designation by the FDA for low grade glioma. Prior to joining Agios, Dr. Yen held positions at Merck and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Dr. Yen is an author of 47 peer-reviewed publications. She earned a B.S. in Biology from the College of St. Elizabeth and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from UCLA. In her postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, she developed the Hi-Myc murine model of prostate cancer and studied the molecular mechanisms of tumor initiation and progression.