BioVenture VoiCes with Chris Garabedian

While describing his early life in Washington and formative years at the University of Chicago that led to the founding of ARCH, he shares his thoughts on leadership, risk taking, changes he thinks are need to keep the United States competitive in life sciences, and his belief in AI's promise to transform our industry.

She describes her career beginnings as a lawyer, which led to general counsel and business unit head roles at Pfizer, and then joining the VC world at Polaris Partners (at Bob Langer's urging). She discusses the firm's investment philosophy, the nuances behind how companies choose lead assets, and the cycles biotech has been through over the last ten years. Plus, other roles she currently serves, including being the chair of Alnylam.

He describes his early life and education, 18 years of company building at Flagship Pioneering, founding Averin (previously called Bedford Bridge) with his brother, and investing at the intersection of healthcare and technology.

Clay Thorp, co-founder of Hatteras Venture Partners with over 25 years in life-science investing, shares his journey from co-founding a genomics startup with his brother to shaping North Carolina's biotech scene. He emphasizes the importance of hands-on operating experience for aspiring VCs. Clay also discusses the successful seed investment in the cancer drug Palbociclib and the significance of partnerships with academic founders. He highlights Hatteras's focus on oncology and women's health, revealing ambitious goals for future funds amid a challenging fundraising landscape.

Jay Lichter describes his roots growing up in Chicago, Yale, and an early career role at DuPont Merck before getting a call from Kevin Kinsella to try the world of venture at Avalon. Since that pivotal move, he describes numerous companies he either operated or funded, leading to his work today at Avalon Bioventures.

Corey Goodman shares learnings for his career in biotech, including working in academia, biotech, pharma, and as a venture capital investor. He describes the unique learnings from all of them and why he is thankful that he has experienced these different components of life sciences.

Bruce Booth discusses his education and early career, the structure of Atlas and the types of investments it makes, investing in assets vs platforms, and more.

The Founder & Managing Partner of Samsara Biocapital, Dr. Akkaraju describes his early move from Standford to industry and various investment firms he worked for before founding Samsara in 2016. He discusses how the firm invests in all stages of life sciences companies and why he believes patience is a key virtue.

Still a practicing physician today, Vineeta Agarwala describes her educational background and early career, including experiences at the Broad Institute, Flatiron Health, and GV (Google Ventures). She talks about a16z's investment philosophy of "providing more than just a check," and a recent $500M fund partnered with Lilly.

Glenn Rockman describes the introduction to impact investing he gained from working for J.P. Morgan and along with the Gates Foundation on the Global Health Investment Fund, and how the idea of investing for public good ultimately sparked Adjuvant Capital in 2019. Armed with a $300M+ fund that was raised from numerous foundations and for-profit funds in 2021, Adjuvant has been investing in public health technologies, post proof of concept, to help accelerate their development and ultimately make them more accessible to those around the world who need them.