Stella Sarraf

Dr. Sarraf founded Amydis in 2013 after seeing a clinical need for a novel technology to enable the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases. She brings a blend of large pharmaceutical operational expertise, venture investment background, and entrepreneurship to Amydis. Dr. Sarraf is viewed as a visionary with a deep understanding of “cradle to grave” and the necessary components to achieve success from product concept through to commercialization. Previously, she spent 10 years in Venture Capital at Foresite Capital Management and Prospect Venture Partners, both growth capital healthcare funds with over $1B dollars in assets under management. Some successful investments and exits by Foresite with Dr. Sarraf’s involvement included Wavetec Vision (sold to Alcon in 2014), Ambit Biosciences (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo in 2014 for $410M), and Auspex Pharmaceuticals (sold to Teva for $3.5B in 2015). At Prospect, she performed scientific, regulatory, and commercial diligence on more than 400 investment opportunities from companies in therapeutic and diagnostic areas including the neurological and cognitive disorder space. Earlier in her career, Dr. Sarraf worked at Merck Research Laboratories in Rahway, New Jersey as a senior research chemist responsible for creating the chemical synthesis of a novel drug for translation from the bench to production scale.

In 2016, Dr. Sarraf founded Spinogenix, Inc. focused on developing novel neurorestorative therapeutics. Dr. Sarraf holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Columbia University and earned a BA in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley.