Why this commencement speech was canceled (with Arcellx CEO Rami Elghandour) | Rapid Response
About Rami
Led 2 IPOs; built 2 public biotechs into multibillion-dollar companies
Engineered Arcellx's 2026 sale to Gilead for nearly $8B
Scaled Arcellx to $6B+ peak valuation; Nevro to $3B+ market value
Raised $1.75B+ to advance cancer and autoimmune therapies
On Rapid Response, Oscar-nominated producer and Arcellx CEO Rami Elghandour shares how he was supposed to deliver an address to Rutgers University engineering graduates this week. But days before the ceremony, the school canceled his appearance after student objections to his social media posts around Palestine. Elghandour joins Rapid Response to speak out about free speech on campus, the personal cost of conviction, and what it really means to lead with your values when you run a public company. He also opens up about why the recent $8 billion acquisition of Arcellx by Gilead Sciences left him surprisingly cold, and his case for kindness and empathy as a competitive advantage — despite what Elon Musk says.
