Elona Baum

Elona Baum, Esq., is currently a Managing Director of DEFTA Partners and heads the investment function for its healthcare technologies fund. Ms. Baum’s career spans more than 20 years, initially at Genentech and then at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Ms. Baum has held leadership roles in business development, legal and regulatory. At Genentech, she received numerous awards for her leadership and contributions in mergers and acquisitions and in guiding the operations of Genentech’s Spanish subsidiary from its initial purchase, through FDA approval and, ultimately, its sale. Her duties also included negotiating collaboration and licensing agreements and oversight of the legal functions for Raptiva, including patient recruitment for clinical trials, adverse event reporting and agreements with clinical trial sites. At CIRM, Ms. Baum oversaw $1 billion of investment in regenerative medicine research and clinical programs, the creation of a $40 million induced pluripotent stem cell bank and the re-vamping of intellectual property regulations governing CIRM grants.

Ms. Baum currently serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of Endogena Therapeutics, Inc., Abilitech Medical, Inc. and Orig3n, Inc., where she also serves as Chairman of the Board. Early in her career, Ms. Baum practiced law in the litigation and real estate groups of two law firms. She has successfully defended clients and resolved large-scale litigation while in private practice and at Genentech. Ms. Baum served as an extern for Justice Arguelles of the California Supreme Court, graduated Magnum Cum Laude from the University of San Francisco School of Law and graduated Cum Laude from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Economics. Ms. Baum has also received a Regulatory Affairs Certification from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society.