Anna Protopapas was named president and chief executive officer of Mersana Therapeutics, a company that engineers antibody-drug conjugates to maximize the potential of new and established cancer-fighting drugs. She also joins the bio-tech company’s board of directors.

Protpapas has extensive leadership experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to this new appointment at Mersana, she was president of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. Among other executive management positions at Takeda, she had served as executive vice president of global business development and as a member of the executive committee. Protopapas has a BSE in chemical engineering received from Princeton in 1986, an M.S. in chemical engineering practice from MIT and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.