Mario Barro | President / CEO
GIVAX Inc.

Mario Barro is the CEO of GIVAX, a vaccine development startup dedicated to eliminating the burden of preventable GI tract infections in children and adults. As the CEO, Mario is leading the development of innovative vaccine solutions designed to address critical unmet medical needs. In addition to co-founding GIVAX, Mario is also a Venture Partner, and Head of the Infectious Disease Team at RA Capital. In his Venture role, Mario is focusing on early-stage investment and company creation. As Head of the Infectious Disease Team, he is leading the RA vaccine team to support our evidence-based investment strategy. Mario is responsible for partnering with several of RA portfolio companies as Board Member or Technical Advisor, and has more than two decades of experience in vaccinology, virology and immunology in large pharma, government, academy, and biotech settings. Prior to joining RA Capital, Mario was Associate Vice President for Advanced Research at Sanofi Pasteur and Head of the team executing a strategy for integrating influenza vaccine development with machine learning and antigen design. He also held a Project Director position at BARDA working on Universal Flu Vaccine and leading the technical selection and completion of multiyear/multi million vaccine development programs. Mario received postdoctoral training at the NIH and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and earned a PhD in microbiology at University of Chile.