Alexandra Beckett

Alexandra Beckett is a scientist on the R&D team at Kite Pharma in San Bruno, California, where she contributes to cellular therapy development for cancer. She began her research career in a cancer research lab at UC San Diego the summer before her freshman year while majoring in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, initially intending to attend medical school before shifting focus to therapeutics development. After graduating, she pursued her PhD at St. Jude Children's Hospital, completing it in 2023 with a focus on CAR-T cell therapies for pediatric solid tumors, then completed a postdoc at Stanford Medical School developing synthetic cytokine receptors to enhance CAR T cell function before transitioning to industry a year and a half ago. Her work involves model development and collaboration with pipeline teams to test therapies in preclinical animal models. She also volunteers with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and CASA, serving as court-appointed special advocates for foster children.