Dhana Nair-Schaef, PhD | Principal Consultant: R&D Strategy, Product Dev. & Scientific Leadership

Dhanalakshmi Nair-Schaef, PhD, is a life sciences R&D executive and biochemist with more than 20 years of experience transforming complex science into viable products, development strategies, and commercial outcomes.

As a Principal Consultant for R&D Strategy, Product Development & Scientific Leadership at Attic Muse, Dhana partners with diagnostics, biotechnology, and life sciences organizations facing high-stakes scientific and product-development decisions, from evaluating whether a technology deserves further investment to determining how promising science can become a robust, scalable, regulated product.

Her career spans early-stage drug discovery, high-throughput screening, translational science, biomarker development, regulated in vitro diagnostics, analytical validation, technology transfer, manufacturing scale-up, regulatory submissions, and commercialization. This breadth gives her a rare ability to evaluate not only whether the science works, but whether it can ultimately become a product that performs reliably in the real world.     

Throughout her career, Dhana has held senior R&D leadership roles at Sekisui Diagnostics and Diabetomics, following extensive scientific research at Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth College. She has led multidisciplinary R&D organizations, managed multimillion-dollar portfolios, built and developed scientific teams, evaluated acquisition opportunities, directed external partners, and worked across R&D, Regulatory, Quality, Clinical, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Product Management.    

Her technical expertise includes immunoassays, lateral flow technologies, microfluidics, biomarker development, assay optimization, analytical validation, system integration, design control, and regulated IVD development, with experience spanning infectious disease, oncology, metabolic disease, autoimmune disease, and maternal health applications. Earlier in her career, her work in small-molecule drug discovery and high-throughput screening contributed to patent filings and peer-reviewed research.     

Dhana has contributed to the commercialization of five diagnostic products and has supported development programs involving EUA authorization, 510(k) clearance, FDA Breakthrough Device designation, IVDD/IVDR pathways, and global regulatory submissions. She has worked directly with FDA and other external stakeholders to resolve technical questions, establish study strategies, generate performance evidence, and move complex programs forward.     

Her leadership experience extends well beyond the laboratory. Dhana has owned approximately $3 million in R&D budget responsibility, directed multi-program development portfolios, implemented stage-gate and go/no-go frameworks used by executive leadership, and helped organizations make investment decisions under significant scientific and commercial uncertainty. She has also led technology transfers and manufacturing scale-up efforts, including programs reaching approximately one million devices per month.    

She brings a particularly valuable perspective to organizations confronting programs that are stalled, technically ambiguous, or approaching an important investment decision. Dhana is skilled at identifying whether the real obstacle is fundamental science, development strategy, product design, manufacturability, validation, organizational capability, or execution, and then creating a practical path forward.

Her track record includes reducing operational losses by approximately 20%, shortening EUA submission timelines by approximately 30%, building and stabilizing R&D organizations, developing future scientific leaders, and creating structured decision frameworks for executive-level portfolio and funding decisions.     

Known for combining deep scientific rigor with practical business judgment, Dhana works comfortably at both the bench and executive level. She can challenge experimental assumptions with scientists in the laboratory, evaluate development risk with cross-functional teams, and translate highly technical information into clear recommendations for CEOs, investors, and senior leadership.

Her approach is grounded in a simple principle: good science alone is not enough. 

Successful innovation requires the right evidence, the right development strategy, the right organization, and the judgment to know when to advance, adapt, or stop.

Dhana earned her PhD in Biochemistry from Dartmouth Medical School, where her research focused on transcriptional regulation. Her additional executive and professional training includes Leading with Finance through Harvard Business School Online, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification through Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering, and biotechnology leadership training through the Tuck School of Business.     

Outside of her professional work, Dhana enjoys ice hockey, badminton, hiking, and literature.