Brisbane, California, United States, August 2025 – Jessamyn Wead has joined Character Biosciences as Head of People, bringing with her over 15 years of experience across biotech, agriculture tech, and nonprofit sectors. In her new role, she will lead the company’s people strategy, aligning HR operations with Character Bio’s mission to develop precision therapies for age-related diseases using cutting-edge AI and genomics.
Before joining Character Biosciences, Jessamyn served as Director, People Operations at Initial Therapeutics, where she played a key role in establishing foundational HR practices during the company’s early growth phase. Her contributions focused on strategic HR partnership, engagement programs, and operational scalability during a critical stage of expansion.
Previously, Jessamyn spent over four years at Sound Agriculture, progressing from People Operations Manager to Director, People Operations. Her work spanned multiple HR domains, including performance management, compensation strategy, compliance, employee coaching, and cross-functional alignment. She was instrumental in designing data-driven HR programs and driving cultural initiatives that supported the company’s national growth.
Earlier in her career, Jessamyn was HR Operations Manager at Pendulum Therapeutics and held similar roles at Second Genome, Inc., where she led talent engagement, benefits management, and system implementations. These roles shaped her expertise in high-growth environments and operational excellence.
Jessamyn’s diverse background also includes strategic and research-focused roles. As a Program Management Consultant with Farm to Keiki, she managed grant writing, program design, and data analysis for statewide educational initiatives in Hawaii. Her earlier experience as a Graduate Researcher and Instructor at UC Berkeley and as Development & Event Manager at Vitamin Angels further demonstrates her versatility in people leadership, program design, and global stakeholder engagement.
About Character Biosciences
Character Biosciences is a precision medicine company focused on transforming drug development for progressive, polygenic diseases, beginning with ophthalmology. With a strong emphasis on AI-powered platforms, genomics, and multi-modal data, Character Bio partners with over 150 ophthalmology clinics to reclassify diseases like AMD into genetically defined subtypes. Their flagship programs, CTX114 and CTX203, are advancing toward clinical trials aimed at slowing or preventing vision loss. The company is dedicated to delivering a new generation of targeted therapies to combat age-related blindness.
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