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INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP How ReNetX's Erika Smith is leading the charge to develop a drug to reverse spinal-cord injury damage Fighting the Good Fight By Karen Singer T wo years ago, Erika R. Smith le her job as director of the Blavatnik Fund for Innovation at Yale to become chief executive officer of ReNetX Bio. Inc., a New Haven bioscience company that recently began the first human clinical trial of a drug to reverse spinal-cord injury damage. e move represented a dramatic departure for Smith, 49, who had spent the past 25 years helping faculty and students at several uni- versities advance and commercial- ize their research and innovations, principally in the life sciences. Two years aer the move, a verdict has been rendered: "It was absolutely the right fit with the right company at the right time," Smith says today. Under Smith's leadership, New Haven-based ReNetX has re- ceived a $7 million award from a spinal-cord research foundation, completed a successful Series A financing round and received FDA approval for its first clinical trial. "I've always been very inspired to try to make a difference of some kind in medicine," says Smith, who excelled at math and science while growing up near Chicago and earned both a bachelor's degree in biomedical and electrical engineer- ing as well as a master's in business administration from Vanderbilt University. Her first jobs, in manufacturing, provided opportunities to oversee "key quality initiatives" at Alcoa, generic drug maker Ivax Corp., and Hyperion, a medical diagnostic device company. Continued on page 28 When she came to ReNetX the company 'was at a critical inflection point and just needed extra support,' Smith recalls. 'I knew I could help.' 26 n e w h a v e n B I Z | S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m

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