Mona Jhaveri

Mona Jhaveri is an American biotech scientist and entrepreneur notable for innovative approaches to cancer research, detection, and funding. From 2005 to 2010, she founded and ran Foligo Therapeutics Inc., a biotech startup that worked to develop and commercialize a DNA-based compound as a potential treatment for ovarian cancer. She is also the founder and executive director of Sound Affects, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving financing for cancer research through collaboration with musicians.

Education Jhaveri received a bachelor's degree from SUNY Binghamton, and a doctorate in biochemistry from the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Career Jhaveri worked as a postdoc at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland (1997–2001), where she co-discovered the compound FOLIGO 002 with Patrick Elwood. She continued to develop the compound as a potential cancer therapeutic at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Awards and honors Jhaveri received the SPORE Fellowship Award for Breast Cancer Research at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2001.

Personal life Jhaveri is married and the mother of two children, Arthur and Pearla.

Selected publications Mona S. Jhaveri, Antonina S. Rait, Koong-Nah Chung, Jane B. Trepel, Esther H. Chang (2004) Antisense oligonucleotides targeted to the human α folate receptor inhibit breast cancer cell growth and sensitize the cells to doxorubicin treatment. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 3: 1505–12