Emily McGinnis

Emily McGinnis has served as Chief Patient and External Affairs Officer at Taysha Gene Therapies since 2020.

Emily is a dedicated patient affairs leader with 25 years of experience in patient advocacy and community engagement, government affairs, medical affairs and marketing in the biopharmaceutical space. Her career reflects a deep commitment to improving patient lives and advocating for the needs of patients and families. Before joining Taysha, Emily served as Vice President of Patient Advocacy and Government Affairs at AveXis during the organization’s development and approval of Zolgensma for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, the first U.S. FDA approved one-time gene therapy to treat a monogenic CNS disorder. In this role, Emily collaborated with advocacy organizations to implement newborn screening efforts that enabled earlier identification and treatment for infants with spinal muscular atrophy. Before AveXis, Emily served as Medical Affairs Lead at Melinta Therapeutics, where she implemented strategies designed to support the clinical and commercial objectives of the company’s product portfolio focused on acute and life-threatening illnesses. Emily has also held roles in development, sales and product management at Abbott, Reata Pharmaceuticals, Ovation Pharmaceuticals and the American Heart Association.

Emily earned a B.S. in education from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.P.H. from University of Illinois at Chicago.