Principal, MedImmune Ventures
Joseph Amprey, M.D., Ph.D., joined MedImmune Ventures, Inc. in 2006 as a principal focused on deal sourcing and portfolio management. Prior to joining MedImmune Ventures, Dr. Amprey was responsible for deal sourcing and held operational roles within the Carrot Capital (CCHV) portfolio companies. Previously, he completed an internship in internal medicine at both New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering. During medical school, he was an independent consultant to Arch Venture Partners. Dr. Amprey currently serves as a director of Synovex Corporation, Inc. and is an observer on the boards of Elusys Therapeutics, Inc. and VLST Corporation.
Dr. Amprey earned both his doctorate in immunology and his medical degree from Cornell University Weill Medical College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. He also received postgraduate training at the Brigham and Womens’ Hospital and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Brian Atwood
Managing Partner, Versant Ventures
Brian Atwood specializes in biotechnology investing at Versant. Mr. Atwood co-founded Versant Ventures after spending four years at Brentwood Venture Capital where as a general partner he led investments in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and bioinformatics. He also has more than 15 years of operating experience in the biotechnology industry, with emphasis on therapeutic products, devices, diagnostics, and research instrumentation.
Prior to launching his career in venture capital, Mr. Atwood was founder, president, and CEO of Glycomed, a publicly traded biotechnology company. At Glycomed, Mr. Atwood concentrated on business development and strategic alliances, closing deals with Eli Lilly & Company, Millipore, Genentech, and Sankyo, before leading the sale of Glycomed to Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, he co-founded and served as director of Perkin Elmer/Cetus Instruments, a joint venture for robotics automation and genomics research instruments and products later acquired by Perkin Elmer. Under Mr. Atwood's management, the venture developed and launched the GeneAmp® Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) system, the fundamental DNA amplification innovation responsible for fueling the explosive growth of genomics research. He served on the Board of Directors at Coulter Pharmaceutical (sold to Corixa in 2000). Mr. Atwood currently serves as a Board member at the private companies ForteBio Inc., FivePrime Therapeutics, Helicos BioSciences, Calderome Inc., and Synosis Therapeutics, as well as Pharmion Corporation which became a public company in November 2003 and Cadence Pharmaceuticals which became a public company in October 2006.
Mr. Atwood received a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine; a Master's degree from the University of California, Davis, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Geoffrey Duyk, MD, Ph.D.
Managing Director, TPG Growth
Prior to joining Texas Pacific Group Ventures as Managing Director in 2004, Dr. Geoff Duyk served on the Board of Directors and was President of Research & Development at Exelixis where he led a 550+ person group focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics. Prior to Exelixis, he was one of the founding scientific staff at Millennium Pharmaceuticals. As Vice President of Genomics at Millennium, Dr. Duyk was responsible for building and leading the informatics, automation, DNA sequencing and genotyping groups as well as the mouse and human genetics group. Prior to his tenure at Millennium, Dr. Duyk was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) in the Department of Genetics and Assistant Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). While at HMS, Dr. Duyk was a Co-Principal Investigator in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Cooperative Human Linkage Center. Dr. Duyk has been and continues to be a member of numerous NIH panels and oversight committees focused on the planning and execution of the human genome project.
Dr. Duyk serves on the Board of Directors of Macrogenics, Open Biosystems, Aerie, FoldRx, Amyris, Galleon and Replidyne. He is a counsel member of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institute of Health. He also serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the NHGRI DNA Sequencing Advisory Panel, Chair of the KOMP (Global Mouse TKO project), ESC (Expressed Sequenced Consortium), Co-Chair Advisory Panel Cancer Genome Project, Program in Genomics Applications (NHBLI); the Bioethics Advisory Group at Case Western Reserve University; the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation; Molecular Sciences Institute (UCB); WIL Laboratories; VLST and FoldRx.
Dr. Duyk holds a Ph.D. and M.D. from Case Western Reserve University and completed his medical and fellowship training at University of California, San Francisco. While at UCSF, Dr. Duyk was a fellow of the Lucille P. Markey Foundation and was also awarded a post-doctoral fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
William L. Greene, M.D.
General Partner, MPM Capital
William Greene, M.D. is a General Partner at MPM Capital, based in the San Francisco office. He joined MPM in 2002 and focuses on biopharmaceutical and medical device investments. Current and prior investments include Alsius, Inc, Archus Orthopedics, Barrier Therapeutics(BTRX) , Cotherix (sold to Actellion), Endogastric Solutions, Idun (sold to Pfizer), Intercell AG (Vienna stock exchange, ICLL), Neovista, Inc, Quatrx Pharmaceuticals, and Synergia Pharma. Dr. Greene’s experience prior to MPM includes biotechnology drug development, academic research and the practice of medicine. From 1998-2002 he served as a Senior Clinical Scientist and Epidemiologist at Genentech where his responsibilities in clinical strategy, trial design and management, regulatory interactions and safety monitoring spanned projects and products in several therapeutic areas.
From 1991-1998, Dr. Greene was at Yale Medical School where he trained in Internal Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology, taught medicine and did clinical research. Dr. Greene has been a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale (clinical epidemiology), a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar at the NIH (neurobiology), and has done research at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Padua, Italy. He has published widely, taught and practiced medicine, and has managed a private medical practice. He has been awarded the Henry Christian Award for outstanding research from the American Federation of Clinical Research and is a member of the American College of Physicians and the Society for Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research. He received a BA degree from Wesleyan University and an MD degree from UCSF, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine.
Jay Hagan
Managing Director, Amgen Ventures
Jay Hagan joined Amgen in 1998 and is currently the Managing Director for Amgen Ventures, the Company’s corporate venture capital fund. He oversees and directs the fund’s investment in early-stage biotechnology companies focused on discovering and developing human therapeutics.
Mr. Hagan was previously director of Corporate Development at Amgen where he had responsibility for M&A, as well as support of significant corporate driven alliance initiatives. Mr. Hagen has led a number of notable transactions including the acquisitions of Tularik and Immunex as well as the sale of the Novantrone business.
Before joining Amgen, Mr. Hagan worked for Genzyme where he was a biochemical engineer. Mr. Hagan received a Master’s in Business Administration from Northeastern University and a B.S. in Physiology and Neuroscience from UC San Diego.
Thong Q. Le
Managing Director, WRF Capital
As Managing Director at WRF Capital, Thong Le focuses on investment opportunities in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, enterprise software and advanced materials. Since joining WRF Capital, he has worked closely with the management teams and boards of Corus Pharma, Lumera (NasdaqNM:LMRA), Performant (acquired by Mercury Interactive), and Point of CareWare. He is currently a Board Observer at Alder Biopharmaceuticals, HaloSource, Hyperion Therapeutics, Teranode, Uptake Medical, and VLST Corp.
Prior to joining WRF Capital, Mr. Le was the founder, president and chief executive officer of MiniMeals, Inc. and a consultant for Capital Management Consulting, Inc., where his clients included Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurial teams, and top-tier venture capital firms. Earlier, he was at Raymond James & Associates, Singer & Xenos Investment Management Company and Capital Management Group LLC, a private investment firm specializing in biomedical ventures.
Mr. Le completed post-graduate studies at the Templeton College of Oxford University and earned a bachelor of arts cum laude in economics and government from Harvard University. He serves as the Pacific Northwest Regional Director for the Harvard Alumni Association, as a member of the Advisory Council for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and as a Board Member for the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA). He was also named one of the regions “40 Under 40” by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Joel S. Marcus, J.D., C.P.A
CEO, Founder, Director, Alexandria R.E. Equities
Joel S. Marcus, J.D., C.P.A. is Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., a $4.6 billion total market capital NYSE company focused principally on the ownership, operation, management, acquisition, expansion and redevelopment and selective development of properties containing office/laboratory space, the Labspace® niche which we pioneered. Such properties are designed and improved for lease primarily to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life science research, product, service, defense, educational and translational research entities, as well as related government agencies. Mr. Marcus has extensive expertise, experience and contacts in the life sciences and real estate industries. He is highly experienced in real estate, finance and capital market matters, venture capital and mergers/acquisitions.
Mr. Marcus has been involved with the formation, financing and operations of companies ranging in size from multi-billion dollar conglomerates to start-ups.
Mr. Marcus won the 1999 Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award: Los Angeles – Real Estate. Mr. Marcus is nationally recognized for his experience and expertise in strategic partnering and was one of the original architects of the Kirin-Amgen joint venture. This joint venture owns the rights and financed the development of erythropoietin and granulocyte colony stimulating factor, the two leading genetically engineered pharmaceutical producers. Mr. Marcus was one of the original architects and founders of The AcceleratorSM Seattle, Washington, and The New York City Orthopedics Technologies Venture, New York, New York. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Robert T. Nelsen
Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners
Robert Nelsen joined ARCH at its founding and has played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing and development of more than thirty companies, including, Ikaria, Adolor (ADLR), Aviron (acquired by Medimmune), Caliper Life Sciences(CALP), Illumina (ILMN), Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN), Array Biopharma(ARRY), NetBot, deCode Genetics(DCGN), Nanosys, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals(ALNY), Xenoport(XNPT), GenVec(GNVC), R2 Technology, IDUN Pharmaceuticals, Genomica, Surface Logix, NeurogesX, Classmates.com, Optobionics, Elixir Pharmaceuticals, and Everyday Learning Corporation, among others.
Mr. Nelsen is a director of Adolor, Elixir, Ensemble Discovery, NeurogesX, and Ikaria, among others. He also serves on the board of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute. Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Economics and Biology from the University of Puget Sound.
Carl Weissman
Venture Partner, OVP Venture Partners
Carl Weissman is a Venture Partner at OVP focusing particularly upon OVP's investments in the area of "digital biology." In addition, he is currently serving as the President and CEO of Accelerator, a joint investment vehicle backed by six top-tier venture capital investors - including OVP - investing in and then managing emerging biotechnology companies. Mr. Weissman led the formation of Accelerator in 2003. Accelerator has facilitated Series A investments in, and is managing the operations of, three OVP portfolio companies - Homestead Clinical, Allozyne, and Seredigm. In addition, Accelerator facilitated the initial investment in and management of VLST, another OVP company which garnered a $55M Series B investment in 2006 (co-led by OVP). Prior to joining OVP, Mr. Weissman was a Venture Partner at MPM Capital. While a Venture Partner at MPM, Mr. Weissman was the President and CEO of Centagenetix, a Cambridge, MA, human genetics company. Mr. Weissman led the 2003 merger of Centagenetix with Elixir Pharmaceuticals, which catalyzed a greater than $40M Series B financing in the combined company, where he remained on the Board until early 2005. Prior to joining MPM, he spent six years at Prolinx, Inc., where he held a number of positions, culminating as the head of both Finance and Business Development.