Maria Luisa R. Candelore, MSc
Director
Life Sciences Projects
Maria Luisa R. Candelore leads GCAPS’ Life Sciences initiatives and brings experience across research partnerships, licensing, alliance management, and commercialization support. Most recently, she served in the External Scientific Partnerships group supporting the strategic interests of JDRF, where she worked at the research-business interface to identify, evaluate, negotiate, and manage strategic alliances with academic and healthcare industry partners. Her work included support for projects involving artificial pancreas devices, microbiome, beta cell regeneration, and drug repurposing initiatives in diabetes. Prior to JDRF, she worked in Merck Research Laboratories’ External Scientific Affairs Department, where she supported licensing, contract negotiation, and alliance management activities from early-stage development through commercialization in both U.S. and developing markets. Earlier in her career, she was a bench scientist at Merck across multiple therapeutic areas, including microbiology, molecular biology, pharmacology, immunology, obesity, and diabetes research.