Luke Evnin

Dr. Luke Evnin is co-founder and Managing Director of MPM. He co-founded MPM in 1997 with Ansbert Gadicke, M.D., and opened the San Francisco office in 1999.

Over the past 20+ years, the companies that MPM played a key role in building have delivered over 50 FDA approved drugs to the market, evidence of MPM’s success and commitment to funding breakthrough innovation to address unmet medical need.

In recent years, as a component of his MPM activities, Luke has been a co-founder and served as chairman of the board for seven MPM portfolio companies including Amphivena Therapeutics, Blade Therapeutics, Harpoon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HARP), Maverick Therapeutics, Potenza Therapeutics, Tizona Therapeutics and Werewolf Therapeutics. He has contributed as a co-inventor in several of these companies as well as MPM portfolio company Oncorus (NASDAQ: ONCR). From October 2017 to June 2019, Dr. Evnin served as the interim Chief Executive Officer of Werewolf Therapeutics, Inc., one of MPM’s privately held biotechnology companies, where he continues to serves as chairman of its board of directors. In addition, he currently serves, on behalf of MPM Capital, as a director for eight other private companies.

Luke has also served on the board of directors of many other public and private companies over his 28-year venture capital career, including past service as a director of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., EnteroMedics Inc. (now known as ReShape Lifesciences Inc.), Epix Medical, Inc., Intercell AG, Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. (acquired by Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corp., Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Restore Medical, Inc. (acquired by Medtronic, Inc.), Sonic Innovations, Inc. and Signal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (acquired by Celgene Corporation).

Luke also serves as chairman of the board of directors of the Scleroderma Research Foundation, a not-for-profit entity where he has contributed for over 20 years. He has devoted time to the External Advisory Board at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Quantitative Genomics External Advisory Board at Princeton and at QB3 at the University of California- San Francisco. Also, in recognition of MPM’s novel work to finance and build companies which may have a significant impact on cancer care and cures globally, Luke and Ansbert are recipients of the 2017 Global Oncology Visionary Award.

Prior to co-founding MPM, he honed his skills as a venture capitalist at Accel Partners where he was involved in biopharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare service investing as an analyst and then General Partner at Accel Partners (1990-1997). Dr. Evnin holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry (1990) from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and an A.B. magna cum laude in Molecular Biology (1985) from Princeton University. He is an enthusiastic athlete (squash, tennis) and a wine collector.