One of Beth’s most vivid childhood memories is standing on a stool as a child watching her father conducting heart surgery. Today, she applies her medical expertise to the venture capital world, helping entrepreneurs translate their scientific breakthroughs into new medicines to help patients. Along the way, she has built 15 successful biotech companies.
As a founding managing director of Westlake Village BioPartners, Beth believes this is the golden age of Biotech. “The pace and quality of innovation has hit an inflection point,” she explains. “With Westlake Village BioPartners we have the freedom and expertise to turn the next big technologies into products and companies that benefit human health.”
For Beth it’s not just about bringing new medicines to patients. That is her core mission, but these new companies also provide jobs and shareholder value that benefit society more broadly.
A longtime life sciences investor, and a general partner at Kleiner Perkins, Beth has incubated and invested in 15 biotech ventures since January 2006, including ARMO, Arresto, Atara, Cell Design Labs, iPierian, Epizyme, Flexus, TESARO, and True North.
Beth has a demonstrated ability to identify and accelerate meaningful molecules through development. Her expertise is grounded in her significant senior-level industry experience with leadership roles at Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck Research Laboratories. Most recently, at Amgen, Beth was chief medical officer and head of global development.
Prior to life science investing, Beth’s career focused on developing new treatments for AIDS, arthritis, asthma, cancer and psoriasis, cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological and renal disorders for over 20 years. During that time, she introduced 10 innovative products to market.