Johnson & Johnson Innovation Taps New Head for D.C. Incubator
This article originally appeared in the Washington Business Journal.
By Sara Gilgore – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal
Johnson & Johnson Innovation’s D.C. incubator has a new top executive after inaugural leader Sally Allain stepped away this summer.
This month J&J (NYSE: JNJ) named Rachel Rath as the permanent head of the local JLABS site, after appointing her to the role on an interim basis upon Allain’s departure in August. She was previously director of J&J’s collaboration with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
In an announcement posted to its website, J&J called Rath’s shift to the JLABS D.C. head slot “a natural progression” from her role leading the BARDA program. Rath has held that position since 2019, involved in developing the Blue Knight initiative, a biotech-focused hub within the incubator that supports companies addressing health threats and emerging infectious diseases.
Rath shepherded Blue Knight through its 2020 launch and grew it from an initial seven companies to a total of 47 from around the world that, together, raised more than $1 billion in funding, according to J&J. She’s been leading that charge from the D.C. JLABS site on the Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus since it opened at 7144 13th Place NW in 2021.
Rath had also stepped in as interim head of JLABS in Houston from summer 2022 to spring 2023. Prior to joining J&J, she held multiple posts with both Arlington’s Medical Device Innovation Consortium and the D.C.-based Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, among others.
Rath, a longtime D.C. resident, earned her bachelor’s in international relations and pre-med from American University, master’s in global health policy from George Washington University and MBA from Georgetown University.
With JLABS in D.C., Rath is charged with overseeing operational activities and establishing its strategic direction, according to J&J. The job involves working with Children’s National Hospital and Virginia Tech — neighbors on the campus — as well as others. She’s also the point person for identifying the portfolio companies that come through the incubator, the company said.
Angela Specht, who has spent nearly two decades with J&J, has been tapped as global head of the BARDA Alliance for Johnson & Johnson Innovation, and has taken over leading the Blue Knight initiative, according to J&J. She was most recently senior director of enterprise innovation and, before that, led J&J’s global Public Health Vaccine Access Strategy team.
Allain, a member of the Business Journal’s 2023 Power 100 list of influential leaders, led JLABS in D.C. for more than four years, since its inception. The incubator occupies 32,000 square feet on the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus. She left the position in August for a gig with Virginia Tech, her alma mater. There, she is chief health sciences growth and innovation officer — a new position charged with spinning out technology companies and tapping big-name partners across sectors.
In the three years since J&J’s incubator opened to portfolio companies in the District, it has served more than 55 early-stage ventures that have collectively raised more than $600 million in funding. The group has included a bunch of homegrown startups in the medical device, pharmaceuticals and health tech arenas such as K’ept Health, Nanochon, Hibiscus Health, Nostopharma, and AlgometRx and Adipomics, both Children’s National spinouts.
