Karine Rossignol

Biotech serial entrepreneur, Smart Immune

Karine Rossignol has 30 years of experience leading large-scale operations within major companies and leading biomedical research institutes. A Doctor of Pharmacy and a graduate of HEC Paris, she brings a rare breadth of management experience across both the public and private sectors.

Karine describes herself as a “pathological optimist.” A former patient at different times in her life, she has a deep-rooted commitment to patients. This is what led her to make a radical career change, moving from marketing to therapeutic innovation.

Before co-founding Smart Immune with Marina Cavazzana and Isabelle André, Karine served for three years as Managing Director of the Fondation Française pour l’Audition, where she established an €80 million translational research partnership with AP-HP and the Institut Pasteur. Prior to that, she was Co-Secretary General of the Imagine Institute for Genetic Diseases, where she co-led a €180 million fundraising campaign over 10 years.

Karine also has 15 years of experience at LVMH, L’Oréal and Chanel, where she developed her expertise in international marketing before dedicating her career to serving patients with genetic diseases. She was appointed a Knight of the French National Order of Merit in 2014. In 2024, she was named to the Forbes “50 Over 50” list and received the Business with Attitude award (Madame Figaro & Bpifrance).

In all her ventures, and in the fight against disease, Karine Rossignol draws inspiration from the words of poet René Char: “Impose your luck, hold tight to your happiness and go toward your risk. Looking at you, they’ll get used to it.”