Omar Khwaja is the chief medical officer and head of research & development at Voyager Therapeutics, having been appointed to this position in early 2019. An experienced drug developer, Khwaja is a pediatric neurologist with specialized skills in critical care, fetal-neonatal neurology and neurogenetics. His research background includes pediatrics, neonatology, human genetics and neurosciences as well as developmental neurobiology. He has significant experience in clinical-translational research specifically related to diseases of the developing brain and monogenetic and rare diseases.

Prior to moving to Voyager Therapeutics, Khwaja was the head of rare diseases at Roche Pharma Research and Early Development for seven years. Khwaja was also previously the director of the Clinical Neurogenetics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and on the faculty of Harvard Medical School.

Khwaja received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is a member of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom and of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health.