About the interviewee
Melanie Gloria
Chief Operating Officer, ACELYRIN
Melanie is Chief Operating Officer at ACELYRIN, INC. After a successful nursing career, Melanie joined the pharmaceutical industry to fulfill her personal mission to have a broader impact on patients' lives. Melanie has 20 years of experience in the biotechnology industry. Her experience spans across multiple therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, immunology, inflammation, ophthalmology, oncology, virology, and women’s health. Melanie has a strong operational background having led a variety of research and development functions. Most recently at Horizon Therapeutics plc, Melanie worked with the executive team to build the R&D capabilities and the global team to be a strong growth driver for the company. Throughout her work at Abbott, AbbVie, and Horizon she led teams to achieve global approvals of HUMIRA®, Viekera Pak®, Mavyret®, Skyrizi®, Rinvoq®, TEPEZZA®, and ORILISSA® She has been recognized by PharmaVOICE as one of its 100 Most Inspiring People, awarded the Crain's Notable Women in Health Care award, and is a Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association Luminary award recipient.
Q: Could you tell us about your current role at ACELYRIN and your career history?
A: From a very young age I knew I wanted to be a nurse and help others, and so I started my career as an oncology nurse. From nursing I moved into the pharmaceutical industry where I have been fortunate to be part of bringing to patients some of the most impactful medicines developed for immunologic diseases. Today I lead a team of talented professionals across various functions all focused on achieving our vision of delivering transformative medicines.
Q: Did you have a female mentor during your childhood or in your professional development?
A: I have been incredibly fortunate to work with and learn from incredible women throughout my career. In all cases these women helped me to appreciate the importance of diversity of thought, perspectives and experience. At ACELYRIN I am extremely proud that 66% of our employees –including our senior leadership team – are women as that diversity helps to ensure our teams reflects the diversity of the patients we serve. This only helps to make us more productive in our work for patients.
Q: How has being a successful female executive impacted your personal life?
A: Balancing work and family is always a constant challenge, especially as a working mom. But I practice gratitude and a mindset of appreciating “what I get to do” instead of “what I have to do.” At work, I get to do this job every day and work and learn from amazing colleagues. At home, I get to raise two amazing teenagers who I learn from every day and who hopefully see my success as a female executive as an example that there are no ceilings to what they can achieve in life.