Stephen Festin, PhD

With 30+ years of experience across academic, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and government settings, I support biotech and research organizations in strengthening preclinical strategy, model selection, and translational research execution. My work is centered on making early in vivo research more decision-useful through better model design, characterization, and scientific-commercial alignment. At Charles River, I held scientific and commercial development leadership roles focused on strategic initiatives in research tools, including novel xenogenic models, microbiome, and genetics. I have also led R&D and scientific services roles at Taconic, TDMI, BioReliance (Sigma-Aldrich), and Pulmokine, combining deep scientific expertise with operational and business leadership. I help teams build stronger preclinical foundations, especially in oncology and research model development, so programs move forward with more confidence and fewer downstream surprises.