Tom Callaway

Prior to starting Life Science Partner, Tom led the Emerging Health Technologies practice at Korn/Ferry International, where he was Managing Director. Tom primarily recruited top-level executives for and at Russell Reynolds where he earned a reputation for quickly grasping new technologies and successfully recruiting top scientists and business leaders.

Tom is also a partner with HealthQuest Capital, a venture capital firm targeting growth-stage medical device, diagnostics, healthcare IT, and consumer healthcare companies. HQC is especially interested in innovations that provide benefits that can be quantified in terms of both improvements in patient care and outcomes, as well as healthcare economics.

Prior to his career in executive placement, Tom served as Director of Commercial Development for SyStemix, where he established technology developmental partnerships with major cancer centers including M.D. Anderson, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Mayo Clinic. SyStemix developed proprietary stem cell purifying technologies important for treatment of cancer and genetic illnesses. He was the liaison with Sandoz’s oncology group, whose parent company completed its acquisition of the company in 1996.

Tom began his biotechnology career at Roche Biomedical and Roche Molecular Systems, developing and executing a global marketing plan for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostics technology. In partnership with Duke University Medical Center, Tom conceived and organized the first international conference on the clinical applications of PCR for HIV detection.

Tom earned his Doctorate of Medicine at Vanderbilt University and both his undergraduate degree and MBA at Duke University. Active in the Southeast community, he sits on the boards of Southeast BIO (past chairman) and of the Park H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech, and helped found the Southeast Medical Device Association. Tom’s personal interests include kiteboarding, tennis, international travel, Duke basketball, discussing big ideas in healthcare & technology, and spending time with his family.