Diana Gallagher, MD: The Intersection of Biology and Humanity

When Diana Gallagher began her career as an intensive care physician, she was on the front lines of medicine, caring for patients in their most vulnerable moments. That experience shaped her perspective and sparked a question that would define her career: How can we do better for patients facing complex, life-altering conditions?

A Scientific Puzzle and a Human Mission

For Diana, autoimmune diseases like lupus and MS represent both a scientific puzzle and a human mission. “No two patients have the same journey with lupus,” she explained. Lupus typically affects women, with about 90 percent female predominance, usually between ages 15 and 45. “These are young women often in college or starting their first job at a time when they are establishing themselves... it is quite daunting to be told you have a lifelong autoimmune condition.”

Innovation for Better Outcomes

For more than 15 years, Biogen has focused on advancing lupus treatments, leveraging its expertise across diverse therapeutic approaches to help improve disease management.  “We’ve been working in immunology for a long time and it’s going to take multiple mechanisms of action to help bring patients all the way to adequate disease control,” explained Diana. "Sometimes they might need an agent that is a biologic administered intravenously or subcutaneously, but maybe they can get to periods where they can be on an oral molecule. That is attractive to us because we have capabilities in all those places.”

She envisions a future where treatment approaches could become less burdensome, offering options that help reduce reliance on steroids and lower the risk of long-term complications like bone loss, diabetes, and cataracts.

“As you see the guidelines advising to get patients off or on minimal steroids, that is going to impact control of their disease. You cannot just take them off steroids without replacing them. So, I think that is going to push an uptake of different modalities in order to be steroid sparing, and that is pretty exciting.”

Empathy at the Core

That vision is rooted in empathy. "We want to develop medicines that could help treat people living with lupus wherever they are in their journey so that every lupus patient can get the help they need.” Under Diana’s leadership, Biogen is advancing a robust lupus portfolio with two potential first-in-class therapies currently in Phase 3 trials. Biogen is working toward a future where patients could have more options to meet their unique needs and potentially improved outcomes.

Looking Ahead

From the ICU to the forefront of global drug development, Diana Gallagher’s journey reflects a singular commitment: to make a meaningful difference for patients. Through relentless science and a patient-centered approach, Biogen is working to deliver the next generation of therapies and bring hope to those who need it most.

Hear more from Diana and how Biogen is working toward developing the first-ever lupus franchise.