In this episode of Spread Love in Organizations, Naji Gehchan sits down with Christian Stegmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evlabio, to explore the intersection of science, innovation, and leadership in biopharma. Christian shares his personal journey from growing up in his father’s pharmacy in southern Germany to training at the Max Planck Institute and building a career across pharma and biotech. He reflects on formative experiences working in an intensive care unit, where he witnessed firsthand the impact of teamwork, leadership, and unmet medical needs. These experiences ultimately shaped his passion for translating scientific discoveries into medicines that can make a meaningful difference for patients.
Christian also shares a powerful leadership lesson from a drug discovery program that was ultimately discontinued—not because of its science, safety, or biology, but because the commercial case was insufficient. The experience taught him that “amazing science does not necessarily defend itself” and that scientific expertise alone is not enough to advance innovation. He discusses the importance of becoming an integrator who can bridge science and business, communicate with decision-makers, understand stakeholders, and build the support needed to bring promising discoveries to patients. He also reflects on his evolving leadership philosophy, which he describes as “challenge and support,” emphasizing the importance of rigor while creating an environment where people feel safe enough to tell leaders when they are wrong.
The conversation also explores the transformative potential—and limitations—of generative AI in drug discovery and development. Drawing on his experience advancing AI-enabled biologics into first-in-human trials, Christian explains how AI can accelerate hypothesis generation and help tackle previously difficult targets, while emphasizing that human judgment remains essential to validate those hypotheses and decide what truly matters. He shares his vision for connecting large, well-curated healthcare datasets to improve clinical trial design, patient recruitment, and development timelines. The episode closes with reflections on passion, truth-telling, lifelong learning, and what it means to “spread love” in organizations: creating cultures where people are taken seriously enough to be honest, because in drug development, the truth ultimately protects patients.
“I’d rather have a team that tells me the truth than a team that tells me I’m right.”
MEET OUR GUEST Christian Stegmann, Chief Scientific Officer of EvlaBio.
Christian Stegmann is Chief Scientific Officer of EvlaBio AG, where he drives scientific strategy and the EVLA-101 program, a first-in-class anti-FGFR4 monoclonal antibody targeting FGF23-driven left ventricular hypertrophy in chronic kidney disease. He was previously Chief Scientific Officer at Absci, where he advanced the company’s first clinical-stage biologics from AI-enabled design to first-in-human trials. Earlier, as VP Global Head of Research and Non-clinical Development at CSL Vifor, he built and ran drug discovery in nephrology and hematology. At Bayer, he served as Senior Director and Head of Precision Cardiology Laboratory, co-founding a collaboration with the Broad Institute to generate single-cell atlases of heart disease. Across his career, Christian has a track record of leading teams, inventing novel molecules, and advancing them from research into clinical development. He holds a PhD from the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen and an MBA from MIT Sloan.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Christian Stegmann
Naji Gehchan: Welcome to SpreadLove in Organizations, the healthcare leadership podcast where we explore leadership with purpose. I’m Naji, your host, and I’m delighted to be joined today by Christian Stegmann Chief Scientific Officer of EvlaBi, where he drives scientific strategy and the EVLA-101 program, a first-in-class anti-FGFR4 monoclonal antibody targeting FGF23-driven left ventricular hypertrophy in chronic kidney disease. Christian was previously Chief Scientific Officer at Absci, where he advanced the company’s first clinical-stage biologics from AI-enabled design to first-in-human trials. Earlier, as VP Global Head of Research and Non-clinical Development at CSL Vifor, he built and ran drug discovery…
