Maryland Franklin is Vice President and Enterprise Head of Cell and Gene Therapy (C>) for Labcorp where she leads a high-performing, matrixed team of cell and gene therapy experts supporting the depth and breadth of Labcorp’s business. She is responsible for development, alignment, and pursuit of the C> strategic vision. She fosters a high touch, high science purpose to deliver on engagement with customers, drive thought leadership and build internal and external collaborations. Maryland joined Labcorp in 2019 through the acquisition of a preclinical oncology CRO where she established and led a group of scientists who advanced customer success through science, business, operations, and marketing collaboration. She forged the development of immuno-oncology capabilities, including cell-based therapies, and enhanced overall corporate performance. Maryland was a crucial member of the leadership team supporting the acquisition by Labcorp. While at Labcorp, Maryland represents the organization through regular meetings with clients, numerous poster, and podium presentations at industry conferences and with a C> presentation during Labcorp’s 2023 Investor Day.
Prior to moving into the CRO industry in 2014, Maryland had over 15 years’ experience in biotech and pharma partnering on numerous multi-disciplinary teams delivering therapeutic candidates from Research into Development including a key role in bringing four drugs into Phase 1 clinical trials. She is named on 3 patents and holds more than 25 peer-reviewed publications. She spent over nine years at OSI Pharmaceuticals / Astellas Pharma where she held increasing roles of responsibility culminating as the Director of In Vivo Pharmacology overseeing all internal and external placement of in vivo-focused studies and played a leading role in managing a multi-million-dollar external collaboration around target identification, biomarkers, novel animal models and in vivo imaging.
Maryland received her Ph.D. in Medical Genetics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she pursued research in cancer gene therapy. She has been a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy.
Area of expertise: Cell and gene therapy
Memberships: AACR, ASGCT