2026 40 Under 40 Honoree: Christopher N. Hansen (39)
“That’s the impact I want, not a single headline, but a thousand small ones I’ll never get to read.”
PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA
Christopher N. Hansen
Division General Manager, U.S. Medical Affairs, Sanofi
Christopher Hansen’s children call him the “crazy scientist” of the family. The collection of brain specimens in their attic probably doesn’t help his case.
Hansen takes some of those specimens into elementary school classrooms, where the initial chorus of “Ew, gross!” usually gives way to children leaning in for a closer look. He hopes one of them might someday make a discovery he never could.
Hansen has already made one of his own. While studying spinal cord injuries, the neuroscientist found damaging immune activity in more than 10 spinal segments from the injury itself, within networks involved in walking. The research challenged a narrower focus on the lesion site and helped lead to NIH-funded work.
Seeing patients in neurorehabilitation ultimately pushed Hansen toward another question: how to get discoveries to patients faster.
Today, as a division general manager for U.S. Medical Affairs at Sanofi, he has helped support 13 therapy launches, including treatments for rare diseases.
“I wasn’t content to only ask ‘why’ anymore,” he says. “I wanted to be part of the answer.”
