Few lives embody resilience, reinvention, and relentless purpose like that of Dr. Maky Zanganeh. A global biotech leader, bestselling author, and cancer survivor - recognized by Forbes in 2025 as one of America′s self-made female billionaires - she has transformed personal adversity into groundbreaking innovation. One of her guiding mottos comes from Bob Marley: ᳓You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only option.᳓ Those words echo in her journey, as war, displacement, and illness shaped a woman who thinks fast, acts fearlessly, and embraces every challenge head-on.
Born in Tehran in 1970, Dr. Zanganeh grew up during the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. As a teenager, she left her homeland to finish high school in Germany, later joining her sisters in France. While they pursued medicine, she studied dentistry at Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg and earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree in 1995. Dentistry offered stability, but her vision extended far beyond private practice. Determined to make a broader impact, she went on to earn an MBA and entered the fast-moving world of healthcare and medical business.
In 1997, she joined Computer Motion, a pioneering surgical robotics company, as President of EMEA. Her bold career pivot soon took her to California, where she became Global Vice President of Training and Education. Following Computer Motion′s 2003 merger with Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), Dr. Zanganeh partnered with Bob Duggan, an entrepreneur who later become her husband and father of her son, to tackle an even greater challenge: developing lifesaving therapies for cancer patients.
In 2008, they took over Pharmacyclics, then a struggling biotech firm, and turned it into one of the most remarkable success stories in oncology. Their work led to IMBRUVICA®, a groundbreaking therapy for blood cancers that transformed countless lives. In 2015, the company was acquired by AbbVie in a landmark $21 billion transaction-one of the largest in biopharma history.
But Dr. Zanganeh′s story is not defined by financial triumph alone. In 2019, she faced a deeply personal battle: a diagnosis of stage II breast cancer. She endured grueling chemotherapy through the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on the same resilience that powered her professional success. Instead of retreating, she used that period to write The Magic of Normal, a powerful memoir chronicling her journey from biotech executive to patient and survivor. Today, as Co-CEO and President of Summit Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SMMT), Dr. Zanganeh once again partners with Bob Duggan to advance groundbreaking therapies. Her mission remains clear: to collapse time for patients and bring lifesaving treatments to those in need.
ALL SURVIVORS SHARE THE SAME FEAR: CAN CANCER COME BACK?
᳓Before diagnosis, you believe it will never touch you᳓, she reflects. ᳓After, you can never forget it. I don′t wish my path on anyone, but every challenge - revolution, risk, illness - shaped who I am. Each one was an experience I am profoundly grateful to have lived.᳓
From a childhood marked by war to boardrooms shaping the future of medicine, Dr. Maky Zanganeh embodies the power of perseverance. Her life is proof that strength is not just a trait, it is a choice, forged in the crucible of extraordinary challenges.
