Francesca Cignarella

Francesca Cignarella, PhD, PMP, is a Senior Project Manager at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), where she has managed the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® Alzheimer’s Disease (AMP AD) program and other neuroscience initiatives since 2023. Francesca brings nearly 15 years of experience across academic research, biotechnology, consulting, and venture capital. Before joining FNIH, she worked at Dolby Family Ventures, an early-stage firm investing in technology and life sciences, with a focus on neuroscience therapeutics, depression, and neuromodulation. Previously, as a senior scientist at Alector, she worked on neuroimmunology and neurodegeneration programs, including TREM2, and led an early-stage target discovery program. Francesca completed postdoctoral research on multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease at Washington University in St. Louis. She also studied iron and neurodegeneration at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan and holds a PhD in