Pernille B. Laerkegaard Hansen

As the Executive Director and Head of Renal Bioscience, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM) and a member of the CVRM Review Board, I lead AstraZeneca’s early research strategy on kidney diseases and work closely with our commercial and late-stage development teams.

By leading our early-stage renal research strategy, I help to ensure that we use patient-first thinking and build our scientific understanding of these diseases to identify and validate treatment targets that address unmet clinical needs. I am accountable for delivering new drug targets to the renal portfolio and work with my team to identify and validate novel targets and pathways of interest. My responsibilities include integrating the latest technologies – including artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health solutions – into our research, and presenting potential drug targets for review, to ensure we are always focused on projects with the greatest potential to improve the lives of patients.

My academic career began with my PhD at the University of Southern Denmark, focusing on vascular resistance in renal blood vessels using in vitro techniques. Over the following 15 years, I undertook postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) before returning to the University of Southern Denmark where I taught and came to lead a research group. I have acquired extensive experience studying the kidney using in vitro, in vivo and translational approaches and since joining AstraZeneca, I have helped to bridge academic and industry interests. This has led to collaborations with the Karolinska Institutet and Harvard Medical School, among others. I am also leading an partnership with Benevolent AI to integrate its AI capabilities with AstraZeneca’s scientific excellence to deliver novel targets for chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Alongside my role at AstraZeneca, I hold academic positions as Professor at University of Southern Denmark and Gothenburg University. My scientific interests are kidney pathophysiology, kidney function and blood pressure regulation. The evidence from our research formed the basis for translational research that is informing novel advances in understanding kidney disease.