Jeff has experience across the healthcare industry, including biopharmaceuticals, devices, and services. At ScaleVP, he has been actively involved with such companies as Orexigen, Zogenix, Horizon, and Sonexa. He is a licensed physician with specialized training in psychiatry and clinical neuropharmacology.
Prior to joining Scale Venture Partners as a Kauffman Fellow in 2006, Jeff was Chief Business Officer & Chief Financial Officer for Vela Pharmaceuticals. Earlier, Jeff served as a healthcare research analyst at Hambrecht & Quist. As a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, he advised several of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.
Jeff graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Biology from Harvard College and earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School where he was a Rotary Scholar. He completed psychiatry residency, a chief residency, and a clinical neuropharmacology research fellowship at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute & Hospital. He speaks six languages.
Dr. Shelley Chu joined Frazier Healthcare in 2005 as a Vice President and became a Principal in 2007. Dr. Chu is a member of Frazier Healthcare’s biopharma investment team and has played significant roles in the firm’s investments in Intradigm Corporation, Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Cerexa, and Arete Therapeutics among others. Dr. Chu has over 15 years of scientific, clinical and business experience. Prior to Frazier Healthcare, Dr. Chu worked at Flagship Ventures, where she focused on early stage venture investing and company building in biotherapeutics, discovery platforms and tools companies. Prior to Flagship Ventures, Dr. Chu was with McKinsey & Co.'s West Coast biotechnology consulting practice, working with a variety of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies on corporate and R&D strategy.
Dr. Chu received her M.D. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Biophysics from the University of California, San Francisco, as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program. At UCSF she co-founded the UCSF Mini Medical School and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. She has authored multiple scientific and clinical publications. Dr. Chu also holds a BA summa cum laude in Molecular Biology from Princeton University.
Dr. Collinson is a partner at Forward Ventures. Previously he was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Aurora Biosciences Corporation (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $600 million). Before Aurora, Dr. Collinson was Chief Executive Officer of privately held Andaris Limited (acquired by Quadrant plc, now part of Elan Corporation PLC). He held senior management positions at GlaxoWellcome PLC (now GlaxoSmithKline PLC) and Baxter International Inc., and was a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.
Dr. Collinson is a director of Affinium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Asteres Inc., Essentialis Inc., Sequel Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tioga Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. He was previously a director of Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (acquired by Pharmion, now part of Celgene Corporation), Conforma Therapeutics Corporation (acquired by BiogenIdec), GeneOhm Sciences (acquired by Becton Dickinson) and NovaCardia Inc. (acquired by Merck & Co.), Proprius Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Cypress Bioscience).
Dr. Collinson was awarded an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Oxford.
Dr. Eckstein joined TVM Capital in 2004, and is a General Partner in the firm’s life sciences practice where he focuses on earlier-stage investments. He is a member of the Board of Directors of CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Magen Biosciences and Ascent Therapeutics, served as an Advisor to Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, and is also actively involved in the firm’s investment of SelectX Pharmaceuticals.
As Director, Lead Discovery and Research IT at Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., he directed the company's lead discovery and knowledge management programs for novel therapeutics in hepatitis, asthma, psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders. Prior to joining Enanta, he managed research groups in biochemistry, structural biology, and computational chemistry at Mitotix, Inc. (now GPC-Biotech). At Mitotix he led the $48 million research collaboration with the BASF Bioresearch Corporation (BBC) on Cdc25 anticancer therapeutics.
Dr. Eckstein is an Alumni of the Kauffman Fellows Program (www.kauffmanfellows.com).
Dr. Eckstein earned his doctorate, summa cum laude, in biological chemistry at the University of Konstanz and Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF). The author of more than 20 scientific publications, Dr. Eckstein also holds several issued and pending patents. He is managing editor of Frontiers in Bioscience “Current Topics in Lead Discovery” and serves as an editorial board advisor for IDrugs. Dr. Eckstein is also an Advisor to the Alzheimer Research Forum (ARF) and a founding member of the Cure Dystonia Initiative Advisory Council (CDIAC).xxx
As a member of the Life Sciences team, Ehrlich focuses on investing in and building new businesses around entrepreneurs with novel therapeutic approaches. He currently serves on the boards of BioMimetic Pharmaceuticals (NASD: BMTI), Carbylan BioSurgery, Follica, Inc., KAI Pharmaceuticals, QuatRx Pharmaceuticals, Satori Pharmaceuticals, Solace Pharmaceuticals, Transcept Pharmaceuticals (NASD: TSPT), and Xenon Pharmaceuticals. Ehrlich is an observer on the board of Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC) and was involved with founding AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals, a pain therapeutics company that merged with Corgentech to form Anesiva (NASD: ANSV).
Prior to joining InterWest in 2000, Ehrlich was Director, Licensing & Business Development at Purdue Pharma, a private pharmaceutical firm based in Stamford, CT. In this position, he was responsible for developing a biologic oncology franchise, including in-licensing key intellectual properties, establishing and managing collaborations with biotechnology companies and participating in the commercial operations of Purdue BioPharma, a biotechnology company located in Princeton, NJ. Prior to joining Purdue, Ehrlich worked in business development at Genentech, Inc., in venture capital at The U.S. Russia Investment Fund, and in biotechnology strategy development at LEK Consulting.
Ehrlich earned his B.A. from Dartmouth College, cum laude, and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management where he served as an instructor and advisor to the Biotech program.
Dr. Ferguson is a co-founder of Panorama Capital, a venture capital firm which spun off from JPMorgan Partners (JPMP) in July 2006, where he focuses primarily on life sciences investments. He joined JPMP as a Managing Director in their life sciences venture practice in 2001. From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Ferguson was a partner at InterWest Partners, a venture capital firm, where he focused on life sciences investments. Prior to InterWest, he held a variety of management positions over an 11-year career at Genentech, Inc., most recently as Senior Director of Business and Corporate Development responsible for worldwide licensing transactions for both technology and pharmaceutical products. Prior to joining Genentech, Inc. in 1988, Dr. Ferguson was an associate with the law firm McCutchen, Doyle, Brown, & Enersen (currently known as Bingham McCutchen llp).
Dr. Ferguson received a B.S. with honors in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and a J.D. cum laude from Northwestern University. Dr. Ferguson serves on the technology advisory board of The Economist and a variety of advisory boards in the life sciences industry. In addition, he is Chairman of the Board of Anesiva, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANSV) and serves on the board of directors of several private life science companies.
John has been involved in founding, financing, managing and advising healthcare companies since 1982. He began his career at Morgan Stanley in New York, where he co-founded the Healthcare Group in the Corporate Finance Department and was later the original healthcare partner at Morgan Stanley Ventures. He then was an operating executive for six years as Executive Vice President of Acuson Corporation (an NYSE-traded company that is now part of Siemens), where he ran Marketing and led the cross-functional management of the company's product introductions. In 1995, he licensed the technology that served as the core of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG), co-founded Intuitive and raised its initial venture capital. He then spent two years as the West Coast partner at the Private Equity group of Chancellor Capital Management (now INVESCO), before founding Skyline in 1997.
John received a B.A. from Harvard College, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar and won the Loeb Fellowship in Finance. He was the co-author of The Official MBA Handbook, which spent 16 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in 1982. He loves golf and tennis, and is an ardent New York Yankee fan, always a problem at Skyline when the Bombers play the Red Sox.
Skyline Ventures, formed in 1997, is a nationally-known venture capital firm that specializes in investing in outstanding product-focused healthcare companies. Its areas of expertise include small molecule and protein therapeutics; medical devices; diagnostics; and technologies that facilitate drug discovery and life science research. All of its investment professionals have MD or PhD degrees, and hands-on operating experience in various start-up healthcare companies that later went public. As a result, it is known for the value it offers its companies as board members and shareholders. It is also known for being a fundamental, extremely patient investor. It has approximately $800 million under management.
Dr. Lutz Giebel, a Managing Partner at SV Lifesciences, joined the firm in 2001. He is based in Foster City, CA. Prior to SV he was a Managing Partner of Didyma, LLC, a biotechnology management consulting firm. Lutz was Co-founder, President and CEO of CyThera Inc., Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of ExSAR and was C-founder and Vice President of Research of MetaXen, LLC, now part of Exelixis. He joined Arris Pharmaceutical, now part of Celera, as the first biologist and subsequently held various management positions, including Senior Director of Molecular Biology.
Lutz serves on the boards of Allocure, Avera, Sapphire, Alba, Lux, Neurotech, Logical Therapeutics and the University of Colorado Human Medical Genetics Program. Lutz received his PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany and did his Post Doctoral studies in Human Genetics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Robert Lee Kilpatrick is a Co-Founder and Partner of Technology Vision
Group LLC (TVG), which is based on Monterey Bay near the San Francisco
Bay Area in Northern California. TVG has clients in 45 countries.
TVG
is an international lifescience and healthcare business development
boutique, whose clients have included many of the world's leading
companies in this field. Dr. Kilpatrick focuses on developing
innovative methods to help lifescience and other technology companies
to attract investors and partners, to acquire new products and
technologies, and to achieve a variety of other strategic goals. He is
a trusted access provider to corporate investors on an international
scale, and he is able to facilitate private meetings on behalf of a
select number of clients, with appropriate decision-makers.
Dr.
Kilpatrick and his team have spent many years developing the
infrastructure to facilitate the core of TVG’s business, including
leading investment and partnering conferences: BioPartnering
Europe in London, UK, BioPartnering North
America in Vancouver, B.C., and C21
BioVentures in Napa, California. Working with the
venture capital community, he is using C21 to showcase private
companies in the areas of biotechnology, informatics, medical devices
and healthcare services. Previous conferences have also been held in
Japan, Taiwan, Hawaii and Germany. Dr. Kilpatrick and his team have
developed a information and e-commerce product termed biopartnering.com, which uses multimedia to support the global bioscience business community.
Recently
Dr. Kilpatrick has created new partnerships for TVG, including Southern
USA-based BioSouth, BayBio (Northern California’s life science
association), BioSquare, and Ausbiotech.
Dr.
Kilpatrick has helped to create the Global Bioscience Partnership
(GBP), a virtual business development group for biotechnology
associations around the world. The goal of the GBP is to offer biotech
regions and bioclusters worldwide products, services and contacts to
enable them to grow and develop. The GBP has over 50 corporate members:
www.globalbioscience.org
Dr.
Kilpatrick was educated at the University of California, Berkeley and
Cambridge University, where he received a Doctorate in the History and
Philosophy of Science and Medicine. Professional memberships include:
the BayBio Economic Advisory Board; BIOTECanada; and the Biotechnology
Industry Organization (BIO). He is also supportive of various
organizations that promote greater human understanding and cooperation:
International House, UC-Berkeley; Camphill Communities, California;
Esalen Institute, Big Sur, and the Sierra Club. His hobbies include fly
fishing, music, reading, and sustainable organic gardening.
Bill Kridel is a Managing Director and the Founder of FPG in 1992. Bill is responsible for new business development and for executing all types of transactions across all of the industry segments covered by the firm as well as participating in the evaluation of science, technology and clinical development aspects of clients, counterparties and competitor companies. He is responsible for liaison with FPG’s overseas affiliates in Australia, India and Israel.
In 1991-1992, Bill was a Managing Director of Barclays de Zoete Wedd Limited (BZW) with responsibility for corporate finance and M&A advisory services in a number of countries and a number of sectors including pharmaceuticals, chemicals and oil & gas. Following the sale of his investment banking company, The Kridel Group, to Peers & Company in 1988, Bill ran its European operations from the Paris office of this investment banking affiliate of the Long Term Credit Bank of Japan until early 1991. From 1977-1988 his firm, The Kridel Group, with offices in the US and Europe, specialized in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and equity private placements. From 1971-1977, Bill was a Vice President in the International Corporate Finance Department at Baring Bros. & Co in London and Paris. From 1970-1971, Bill worked in the International Finance and Acquisition group at Banque Paribas in Paris.
Following his honors graduations from Choate School, Yale University (BA) and Columbia Law School (JD), and attendance at other institutions for business and chemical engineering degrees, Bill qualified as an attorney in the United States, successfully gaining the license to practice before many bars, including New York State, Patent Court and the US Supreme Court, and practiced (M&A/financings) for a while on Wall Street at Shearman & Sterling. Bill is a regular attendee, Chairman and well-respected presenter at many leading industry-specific conferences(biotech, pharma and chemicals), usually covering M&A and Corporate Partnering topics. Bill is a Member of the ISSCR Council, the global leading research-based industry group focused on stem cells.
Vijay Lathi is a Managing Director. Vijay joined Sprout in 1998 after working as an analyst in the Healthcare Venture Capital Group at Robertson Stephens & Co. and Cornerstone Research, a consulting firm focused on financial and economic analysis for business litigation.
Vijay graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University where he received his BS and MS in chemical engineering, with an emphasis on the application of engineering to life science technology. Vijay is also a member of AiCHE.
Jonathan S. Leff is a Managing Director at Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm managing approximately $10 billion in private equity assets. He joined the firm in 1996.
Jonathan is responsible for the firm's North American investment activities in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and related industries. He received an A.B. in Government from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, Jonathan was a consultant at Oliver, Wyman & Co. He is a director of Allos Therapeutics, Altus Pharmaceuticals, InterMune, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Sunesis Pharmaceuticals and ZymoGenetics.
Nola Masterson is a recognized leader in the Biotechnology industry with combined strength in science, business and venture capital investment experience for over 32 years. Ms. Masterson is the founder and Managing Director of Science Futures Capital, a bioscience investment and advisory company, since 1982. Science Futures LLC 1 and ll venture funds were raised and successfully managed in 1998 and 2000. The third venture fund is focusing on Neurotechnology and was launched in mid 2005.
Nola was a Venture Partner and Senior Advisor with TVM Capital where she invested in the field of Nanotechnology. She was the founding President and Member of the Board of Directors of Sequenom Inc., the premier leader in industrial genomics, using biochips and mass spectrometry instruments to analyze SNP gene fragments. Other positions Ms. Masterson has held include Application Specialist at Millipore Corporation, where she was promoted to Regional Manager Western Region and finally served as Vice President of the Biotechnology Division. Nola also held a position at Ames Company (Division of Bayer).
Nola has a Masters Degree in Biological Sciences from George Washington University and a B.S. and Medical Technologist certification from Marymount College. She did PhD course work in Molecular Biology at the University of Florida while on the faculty of the Enviromental Engineering department. She earned the 2003- Irish America's Annual Business 100 Award. Ms. Masterson is on the board of directors for BayBio.
Anand Mehra, MD joined Sofinnova with a focus in biopharma. Anand’s diverse background equips him to work with entrepreneurs on scientific, clinical, and strategic levels. Prior to Sofinnova, Anand worked in JP Morgan’s private equity and venture capital group. At JP Morgan, he was heavily involved in their investments in Phenomix, Kemia, and CardioKinetix, management of their public portfolio, and the firm’s spinout from the bank. At Sofinnova, Anand is a director of Marinus Pharmaceuticals; active in Anthera and Prestwick Pharmaceuticals; and played an instrumental role in Sofinnova’s investments in Hyperion Therapeutics and PreGlem.
Before joining the venture community, Anand was a consultant in McKinsey & Co’s pharmaceutical practice advising pharma and biotech on key strategic issues, and an NIH funded fellow that has authored several peer-reviewed publications on stroke. Anand received his MD from Columbia Medical School and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia where he spent his spare time running calls as a firefighter.
Timothy Mills has over twenty-five years of experience in biomedical research, corporate management and venture investing. Dr. Mills joined Sanderling as an Operating Partner in July 1998, and was promoted to Managing Director in 2000. At Sanderling, Dr. Mills has focused on early stage investments in Medical Devices, Biotherapeutics, and i-Health. He has served Sanderling’s portfolio companies as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Director, and or management team member. Portfolio companies served include Stereotaxis (NASDAQ: STXS) and Stentor, acquired by Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI), CardioNet (NASDAQ: BEAT). Currently, his services include Chairman and or CEO of Torax Medical, Taligen Therapeutics, Pulsar Vascular, Theregen and Director for Naviscan, Novostent, InfraReDx, TriageWireless and others.
Prior to joining Sanderling, Dr. Mills served as the Corporate Vice President of New Business Development and Chief Scientific Officer of Target Therapeutics, a medical device company that was acquired by Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) in 1997. From July 1994 to July 1997, he was a director for Prograft Medical, a Target affiliate that was acquired by W.L Gore & Associates.
Prior to joining Target in 1994, Dr. Mills served as Director of Business Development and Advanced Research & Development in the Interventional Cardiology Division of Baxter Healthcare, now Edwards Life Science (NYSE: EW). Dr. Mills' previous academic appointments included service as the Director of the Artificial Heart Program at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center and membership in the University of California, San Francisco Radiology Department.
Dr. Mills received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley & San Francisco School of Medicine, his M.S. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Art has over 30 years of operating experience as a pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry executive and venture capital investor in life science companies. He has assembled a team of investment, biotechnology and medical experts who manage over $350 million and oversee investments in more than 40 portfolio companies. Prior to founding Pappas Ventures in 1994, Art held senior level leadership positions at several multinational pharmaceutical companies. He was an executive member of the board of directors of Glaxo Holdings plc, for which he was the chief executive responsible for international operations including research, development and manufacturing. Art previously was Vice President of Commercial Operations for Abbott International Ltd., and he held various executive and general management positions with Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals and the Dow Chemical Company, in the United States and internationally. Among the companies for which he currently serves as a director are: CeNeRx BioPharma, Genstruct, LEAD Therapeutics and TyRx Pharma. He was the founding CEO and is currently the chairman of CoLucid Pharmaceuticals.
Some of the firm’s representative investments include Cerexa Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Forest Laboratories); Syntonix Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Biogen Idec); Peninsula Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson); Panacos Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: PANC); NuVasive (Nasdaq: NUVA); Gene Logic (Nasdaq: GLGC); Nuvelo (Nasdaq: NUVO; previously Variagenics); and Arena Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARNA).
Art is chairman of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Board of Directors and is a member of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Medical Industry Group Advisory Board. He previously served on the boards of AtheroGenics (Nasdaq: AGIX), Embrex (Nasdaq: EMBX), Quintiles Transnational (Nasdaq: QTRN) and Valentis (Nasdaq: VLTS). Art is a decorated Vietnam veteran, having served as an officer in the US Army 101st Airborne Division and the Special Forces.
Education:
Ohio State University (BS in Biology)
Xavier University (MBA in Finance)
Dr. Preston is a Managing Director in TPG’s Biotechnology Venture Capital Fund. Prior to joining TPG Biotech in May 2005, Dr. Preston was a medical device and biotechnology venture capital investor with JP Morgan Partners and New Enterprise Associates. Prior to her venture capital career, Dr Preston spent five years at McKinsey & Co. in New York, where she was a leader of their pharmaceutical and medical products consulting practice. She advised large pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies on critical strategic issues such as R&D portfolio prioritization, M&A opportunities, new technology acquisitions and product growth strategies.
Dr. Preston has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of London and a medical degree from the University of Oxford. After leaving Oxford, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University. She trained in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at U.C.S.F. During her academic career, she was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a Fulbright Cancer Research Scholarship, a Harlech Scholarship and a Science and Engineering Research Council Post-doctoral Fellowship Award.
Dr. Preston is the co-founder and CEO of Virobay Inc., a biotechnology company which is seeking to develop new therapies for the treatment of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Dr. Preston serves on the boards of Albireo Inc., Alder Biotherapeutics, Axcan Pharmaceuticals, Virobay Inc. and VLST Inc. She is an observer on the boards of Aerie Pharmaceuticals and Macrogenics.
Mr. Purcell has served as the Senior Managing Director of Fund I since February 2000. He is responsible for the management of the Partnership. Prior to joining Fund I, Mr. Purcell served as Managing Director of the Life Sciences Investment Banking Group at Chase H&Q (formerly Hambrecht & Quist, "H&Q") for over five years, and served on the Executive Committee of Hambrecht & Quist. While at Hambrecht & Quist, he was directly involved with over two hundred completed transactions and supervised over $10 billion of financing and advisory assignments in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical products industries. During his tenure, BioWorld and other industry publications cited H&Q as the leading underwriter of life sciences securities from 1995 through 1998. Mr. Purcell has also often been cited as one of the sector's leaders. He was honored in the "Biotech Hall of Fame" by Genetic Engineering News in June 1998 and named to the Biotechnology All-Stars list by Forbes ASAP in May 1999. Prior to joining H&Q, Mr. Purcell was a Managing Director in the Healthcare Group at PaineWebber, Inc.
Mr. Purcell currently serves as a director of Auxilium Pharma- ceuticals, Inc., Bridge Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Valentis, Inc. and Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) - Emerging Companies Section and the New York Biotechnology Association. He is a member of the Advisory Council at Harvard Medical School.
Mr. Purcell received a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Accounting from the University of Delaware and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
J. Leighton Read, M.D. joined Alloy Ventures as a General Partner in October, 2001, after 14 years as a biotechnology entrepreneur and investor. He co-founded Affymax NV, under the direction of Dr. Alejandro Zaffaroni. He founded Aviron, a biopharmaceutical company focused on vaccines for infectious disease, where he served as Chairman and CEO until 1999 and Director until its acquisition by MedImmune (NASDAQ: MEDI) in 2002.
Leighton was also a partner in Interhealth Limited, an investment partnership. He received a BS from Rice University in Psychology and Biology (1973), an MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (1976) and completed internal medicine training at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston where he held appointments at the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health. He is a director of Alexza Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALXA), Avidia, Inc., Cambrios, Corp., OPAL Therapeutics, Inc. and Seriosity, Inc. and has served as director for a number of other biotechnology companies, on the executive committee of the Biotechnology Industry Association and has won several awards as co-inventor of technology underlying the Affymetrix GeneChipT™.
Camille Samuels specializes in early-stage biotechnology investing at Versant. Cami brings 14 years of venture capital and operating experience to her portfolio companies. She enjoys helping talented entrepreneurs build exceptional companies.
Cami joined Versant in early 2000, shortly after its formation. Prior to Versant, she was responsible for business development at Tularik, Inc. (subsequently acquired by Amgen) where she in-licensed two of the company's clinical-stage products and led Tularik’s Technology Acquisition Group. Before Tularik, Cami worked in corporate development at Genzyme and Millennium Predictive Medicine, and was a management consultant to healthcare and biotech companies at LEK Consulting.
Cami currently serves as a board member of the following companies: Achaogen, Anza Therapeutics, APT Pharmaceuticals, Muse Therapeutics, Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, and Novacea, a public company. Cami was previously a board member at NovaCardia (acquired by Merck) and ParAllele (acquired by Affymetrix). In addition, she served as a board observer at several companies, including Alexza (public), Fluidigm, Genomic Health (public) and Syrrx (acquired by Takeda).
Cami earned her Bachelor's degree in Biology from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where she graduated as a Baker Scholar. In 2002, The Aspen Institute named Camille a Henry Crown Fellow.
Nandini Tandon, Ph.D., is Managing Director at Lumira Capital and opened its office in the Bay area, California in 2004. She has more than 15 years of experience operating, building, or investing in high technology companies. Prior to joining Lumira she was a Partner with RBC Capital Partners and established their US presence for Life Sciences in 2002, in San Francisco. Nandini has a diverse background in venture capital, business operations, strategic planning, deal negotiations and marketing & sales. She has successfully bridged scientific technologies with business applications across biotechnology, pharmaceutical and semiconductors, at companies including Zyomyx Inc., as their Chief Business officer, at Hyseq Inc., as their V.P. of Business Development and prior to that at Chiron Corporation, Glaxo Wellcome, and Microelectronics Center of North Carolina.
Nandini serves on the boards of both private companies and non-profit organizations. She is a past or present Director or Board Observer for Ambit Biosciences, Ception Therapeutics, Cell Biosciences, Conforma Therapeutics, Corus Pharma, KAI Pharmaceuticals, Guava Technologies, Saegis Pharmaceuticals, Spinal Kinetics and U-Systems.
Nandini is a Strategic Advisory Board Member, Stanford University – School of Medicine Career Center. She is on the Advisory Board of BayBio Institute, Bio Investor Forum, C21 BioVentures, Science Futures and is Chair for TiE Global Life Sciences. A White House Intern and a Phi Beta Kappa, Dr. Tandon received her doctorate in biochemistry from Duke University, North Carolina and her bachelors cum laude from Hollins College, Virginia.
Simon Turton is a Managing Director of Healthcare for Warburg Pincus. Previously, he was a Principal at Index Ventures, Geneva. Prior to joining Index, Simon worked for the French pharmaceutical company, Servier, where he managed northern Asia operations in Tokyo and Paris. He also worked for the pharmaceutical strategic alliances consultancy Connect Pharma (now PharmaVentures) in the U.K., where he was in charge of business development.
He has an M.B.A. from INSEAD, which he attended as a Sainsbury Management Fellow in the Life Sciences and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of London. Simon is a director of Archimedes Pharma, ProStrakan and Tornier.
Eric has assisted Emerging growth companies in many roles, including Chief Executive Officer, VP of Corporate Development, Venture Capital Investor, Board Member and Investment Banker and Auditor.
Most recently, Eric was the Chief Executive Officer of Suni Medical Imaging, a medium-sized medical technology company that grew 40% under his direction. During his tenure at Suni, Eric recruited four executive staff members and led the company through two sales transaction processes.
Prior to Suni, Eric spent five years in the Venture Capital Industry with Nucleus Partners and The Angels Forum/Halo Fund, where he led direct investments and served as an interim executive in certain portfolio companies. During his tenure in venture capital, Eric had the opportunity to participate on the board of directors for fifteen private companies as a member, observer and advisor.
Eric also spent six years with Anderson in both Corporate Finance and Audit. While in Corporate Finance, Eric created the Western Region internet/e commerce practice and acted as the lead financial advisor on Private Placement transactions and Mergers and Acquisitions.
Dr Samuel Wu joined SVLS in 2002 and is focused on biotech and
medical device investments. He is on the board of Halscion and
iTherapeutix, and an active board observer at Alba Therapeutics
and Logical Therapeutics.
Prior to joining SVLS, Samuel was an Engagement Manager with McKinsey
and Company's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Products practice, where
he led teams of consultants serving clients on M&A, portfolio analysis
and other strategic issues.
Samuel earned an MD and a PhD in Biochemistry from Stanford University
and completed his internship in Internal Medicine at the University
of California, Los Angeles. He holds an AB in Biochemistry from
Harvard College.
Ilan is a Partner of Prospect Venture Partners. Prior to joining Prospect Venture Partners III, Ilan was a Principal at MPM Capital, and had been promoted to General Partner for MPM's next fund. At MPM, Ilan was involved with investments in biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies including Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SOMX), Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, Pharmasset, KaloBios, Rinat Neuroscience and ARYx Therapeutics.
Ilan also worked with MPM Capital's BioEquities hedge fund, which invests in small- to mid-cap public biotechnology companies. Prior to joining MPM Capital in 2000, Ilan was the Science Editor of BioCentury Publications Inc., a biotechnology news and analysis publication. Ilan received a Ph.D. in cell biology and biochemistry from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), and a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology from U.C. Berkeley.
Ilan serves or has served on the Board of Directors of Alvine Pharmaceuticals and Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SOMX).
