Jeff Jonker in

Jeff Jonker

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President & COO at Xaira Therapeutics
📍 South San Francisco, California, United States

Jeff Jonker is the President and COO of Xaira Therapeutics, leveraging his decades of experience in biotech leadership to scale the companys AI-driven drug discovery platform. A veteran of multiple CEO and President roles, he excels at building companies, securing major partnerships, and is a graduate of Columbia Law School.

He is the host of "The Birth of a Biotech Podcast, " where he shares insights on building a biotech company from the ground up. Inspired by conversational podcasts, he aims to contribute to the progress of aspiring entrepreneurs in the field by sharing his teams journey and learnings.

Jeff has a humorous take on technology, once joking that every member of his household, presumably including pets, has a more sophisticated social media presence than he does.

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Experience
28 Years
Current Role
President & COO
Job Level
Leadership
Location
South San Francisco, California, United States
Personality Overview

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Decision Approach
Work Preference

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Priorities

Topics Jeff cares about

AI in Drug Discovery
Currently President & COO at Xaira, an AI-native biotech. His public statements emphasize reimagining drug discovery by uniting machine learning, biological insight, and therapeutic development.
Biotech Entrepreneurship
Hosted a seven-part podcast called "The Birth of a Biotech Podcast" to chronicle the formation of Belharra Therapeutics and help other aspiring founders learn from the experience.
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Career

Work history

7-2025
President & COO
Xaira Therapeutics
7-2025
Senior Advisor
Belharra Therapeutics
9-2021 - 7-2025
President & CEO
Belharra Therapeutics
2-2024
Board Member
TOLREMO therapeutics
11-2018
Board Member
California Life Sciences Association (CLSA)
In the press

Media appearances

Xaira Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Jeff Jonker as President and Chief Operating Officer. Featured in BioSpace
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Xaira Therapeutics Appoints Biotech Exec Behind Belharra and Ambys as President and COO to Scale AI‑Driven Drug Discovery Platform. Featured in BiopharmaTrend
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Education
JD
Columbia Law School
M.Litt.
University of St Andrews
BA
Claremont McKenna College
Social presence
in
Behavioral profile

DISC profile (public)

DISC behavioral profile

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