Predictive Oncology Inc. announced the appointment of healthcare commercial and business development veteran Veena Rao, Ph.D., MBA, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Rao currently serves as Chief Business Officer of Portal Instruments, where she leads the identification, evaluation, and negotiation of partnership opportunities for Portal, and heads a cross-functional team of science and business professionals to guide the companys short and long-term commercial strategy. Dr. Rao will replace David Smith, who is stepping down but will remain an advisor to the Board of Directors and assume duties as legal counsel to the company.

I joined Predictive Oncologys Board because I see the significant and rapidly growing role that AI and machine learning can play in drug discovery, noted Dr. Rao. Predictives PEDAL AI platform, together with its proprietary biobank, CLIA laboratory and formulation services, provide the company with a unique portfolio of assets and capabilities that I believe make it the partner of choice for both commercial drug developers and research institutions looking to de-risk their drug discovery and development programs. I look forward to working with Raymond and my fellow Board members to guide this company to achieve its full commercial potential. Dr. Veena Rao, PhD, has extensive experience launching products and building commercial organizations in the pre-launch and early launch phases.

Before Portal, she served as Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Corporate Development &Strategy at Beta Bionics where she was, where she led the commercial team and was responsible for the go-to-market strategy. Prior to Beta Bionics, Dr. Rao spent more than a decade working for Eli Lilly in a number of commercial and technical roles including Vice President of External Innovation in the Lilly Device, Delivery, and Digital Health groups. Dr. Rao has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.