Kia Motesharei is currently Head of Global Licensing & Business Development, Immunology at EMD Serono (Merck Serono outside the US and Canada).  He is responsible for Search & Evaluation and all transactions within the Immunology Franchise at Merck KGaA.  Prior to EMD Serono, Kia was Vice President of Business Development & Alliance Management at Dyax, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in rare disease.  Previously, Kia managed the US operation of Genfit - a French biotech company – in Cambridge and led its global business development as the company’s Chief Business Officer.   Prior to Genfit and over the past 15 years, he has worked for multiple private and public biotech companies with increasing levels of responsibility in R&D, New Technologies, Technical Marketing, Product Management, Business Development and Alliance Management.  

Kia has a successful track record of transactions which include strategic alliances, product and technology licensing, distribution, divestitures, and M&A agreements with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the US, Europe, Japan, China, LATAM, and Middle East.  In addition, he has been involved in a number of financing activities.

Kia received his B.A. in Chemistry from The Colorado College and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of California, Los Angles. He completed his postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute as an NIH Fellow.