TUCSON, Ariz., June 10, 2026 — Critical Path Institute® (C-Path) today announced the appointment of Yalonda Howze, J.D., to its Board of Directors. Howze brings nearly two decades of executive leadership and legal experience across the biotechnology and life-science sectors, including her most recent current service as interim chief executive officer and president of Generation Bio.
Howze was named interim CEO and president of Generation Bio in October 2025, after joining the company as chief legal officer in April 2023. She previously served as executive vice president and chief legal officer at Codiak BioSciences and spent more than a decade as a partner at the law firm Mintz, where she specialized in complex tort and product liability litigation.
“It’s rare to meet someone who carries both the discipline of a great lawyer and the heart of a true builder, and Yalonda is that rare person,” said M. Wainwright Fishburn J.D., C-Path Chairman of the Board. “She has guided organizations through their hardest moments with a steadiness that puts everyone around her at ease, and with a clarity that helps them see the way forward. She listens before she leads, and when she speaks, people trust her. On behalf of the board, I could not be more delighted to welcome her, and I look forward to all that we will do together to help C-Path serve the rare disease community.”
“Yalonda is an accomplished corporate executive and legal expert, with extensive leadership credentials in genetic medicine and autoimmune therapeutic development,” said C-Path CEO Klaus Romero, M.D., M.S., FCP. “Her impact on drug development lies in her ability to navigate scientific innovation through highly complex legal, regulatory, and corporate frameworks. She has been instrumental in advancing entirely new classes of medicine by securing their legal, operational, and structural foundations. I am grateful she has chosen to bring her expertise to our mission, and I am confident she will help us accelerate the development of safe and effective therapies to the people who need them.”
“It is a profound honor to join the board of an organization I have admired for as long as I have worked in this field,” said Howze. “I have spent my career helping scientific innovation withstand the legal, commercial and regulatory pressures that can kill it, and along the way I came to believe that the consensus C-Path builds is one of the most powerful forces we have for moving medicine forward. To bring competitors, regulators and patient advocates to the same table and have them agree on what should happen next is extraordinary, difficult work. I am humbled to be able to contribute to it, and I promise to give this mission everything I have, for every family that is counting on us.”
Howze holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Master of Divinity from Harvard University.
Howze’s appointment is effective immediately.
About Critical Path Institute
Critical Path Institute® (C-Path) is an independent, nonprofit established in 2005 as a public-private partnership in response to the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative. C-Path’s mission is to lead collaborations that advance better treatments for people worldwide. Globally recognized as a pioneer in accelerating drug development, C-Path has established numerous international consortia, programs and initiatives that currently include more than 1,600 scientists and representatives from government and regulatory agencies, academia, patient organizations, disease foundations and pharmaceutical and biotech companies. With dedicated team members located throughout the world, C-Path’s global headquarters is located in Tucson, Arizona and C-Path’s Europe subsidiary is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands. For more information, visit c-path.org.
Critical Path Institute is supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is 56% funded by the FDA/HHS, totaling $23,740,424, and 44% funded by non-government source(s), totaling $18,881,611. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, FDA/HHS or the U.S. Government.
Media Contacts:
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