Since 2018, Mehdi has led the gene therapy IP group at Sarepta, building and maintaining a strong IP team and portfolio directed to discovery, development, manufacturing and commercialization across all gene therapy efforts of the company, including partnered programs. He has over 20 years of combined legal experience in patent law and related transactional matters.  Prior to joining Sarepta, Mehdi spent over 7 years providing senior level intellectual property support at Novartis for its Biotechnology platforms, and CAR-T cell therapies including Kymriah®, the first FDA-approved cell therapy. Prior to that his experience includes senior of counsel roles in private practice, as well as 11 years at Pfizer supporting various biotechnology and small molecule efforts. Mehdi received his PhD in Medical Sciences, Pharmacology from the Medical College of Ohio, his JD from North Carolina Central University, and his BA in Genetics from UC Berkeley.  His post-doctoral research spanned several cell- and molecular biology projects.