Gökben Koca is a passionate drug developer with a strong focus on patients and science. She is a physician-scientist with in-depth clinical experience in hematology/oncology and holds an MD from the Charité University Medical Center in Berlin, Germany, where she also completed her residency training in internal medicine and hematology/oncology. Gökben brings more than 20 years of translational cancer research experience to Mariana Oncology, including oncology drug development expertise from preclinical, early development through registration and up to life-cycle management. She held various roles of increasing responsibility in the pharmaceutical industry and has broad experience in the development of small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, bispecifics, antibody-drug conjugates, and targeted radiopharmaceuticals. She contributed successfully to submissions of multiple commercial oncology assets, including Nubeqa and Vitrakvi.

Prior to her role at Mariana Oncology, she was vice president of global development radiopharmaceuticals at Bayer, with strategic responsibility for targeted alpha therapies both in early- and late-stage clinical development oncology, including marketed brand Xofigo. Under her leadership, three Actinum-225 based radioconjugates progressed into early clinical phase.