Rosenbaum helping champion breakthrough cancer therapies at Kurome Therapeutics

This story is supplemental content to the Courier's 2023 list of best-funded startups.

Jan Rosenbaum always seemed destined for startup life. Following a 23-year stint as a scientist at Procter & Gamble, she finally stepped onto the scene when the consumer goods giant in 2008 made moves to exit the pharma business. She first landed at seed-stage investment firm CincyTech as an entrepreneur-in-residence, then as its director of life sciences. It was her job to go into universities and hospitals and look for technologies to spin out as stand-alone firms. It was there she learned about venture capital and how to build a company.

At P&G, she described herself as a square peg in a round hole. “P&G didn't know what to do with me,” she said. But that experience proved invaluable for the next step in her career.

“My background was unique,” Rosenbaum said. “I was in this unique position of knowing the science, so I could speak to the professors in their language, while also understanding what business wanted.”

Since 2019, Rosenbaum has helmed Kurome Therapeutics – a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital spinout – and the company sits on the verge of a breakthrough. The team is developing therapies that target cancer cells in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, a rare blood cancer. The technology could also be applicable to solid tumors and inflammatory disease, she said. It's received venture funding from Medicxi, a European-based life sciences investment firm, and Affinity Asset Advisors, a New York hedge fund, along with CincyTech and Queen City Angels locally, among others.

Kurome plans to submit an investigational new drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by year's end, a step that, if cleared, means the company can start its first clinical trials.

AML is a crowded space, but excitement is high.

“Everything has come together in this company,” Rosenbaum said. “The No. 1 thing is the team. These are really, really smart scientists, and everyone works very well together. And it's exciting science. We're pushing the boundaries, and everybody wants to see this get into the clinic so we can help these patients.”

What was your first job? I was a waitress at Pizza by DiRose in Buffalo. I used to have to put the pizzas and sandwiches together and bus tables.

Why do you have the career you have? When I was little, I really wanted to be a veterinarian. I absolutely loved animals. But I was allergic to everything. My pediatrician refused to sign the health form for me to go to Cornell, which (had) the only state school (in New York) for veterinary medicine. So I said I'll go be a people doctor instead. I had a fellowship at Roswell Park, which is a big cancer institute, and that's where I was introduced to the field of pharmacology. I became really interested in not only how drugs worked, but how the molecules interacted with their targets. I learned how to look at the world through a chemist’s eyes. That just shaped my whole career. 

Night owl or early bird? My biorhythm is to work late at night. One of our investors is in London, and we have a member of the company in San Francisco, so the day tends to go on forever. I don’t sleep a lot. But anytime there is a new piece of data, everybody jumps on it. It's like cats on toys, because we’re all so excited, and it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is. 

What’s your hidden talent? Gardening, although I don't do a lot of it. I’m also good at arranging silk flowers when I get the time.

What leadership traits have helped you along the way? I’ve always rolled up my sleeves and worked alongside the team. It's important to understand what the people you work with are doing in their jobs. The biggest mistake leaders make is having unrealistic expectations about what they're asking their people to do, because they don't understand what it is those people are doing.

What do you listen to on your way to work? The On Broadway station on Sirius XM.

What was the last movie you saw in a theater? "Oppenheimer."

Biggest pet peeve? When people don't apply themselves, it really bothers me. It's one thing if you don't understand. It's another if you just don't buckle down and try.