Clare Ozawa

Clare is a managing director at Versant Ventures with a focus on investments in San Diego and the Bay Area. Previously, Clare was COO of Inception Sciences, where she was responsible for strategic business development, operations and finance for the Inception Sciences research sites in San Diego, Vancouver and Montreal. During her tenure at Inception, she assumed leadership roles in the creation and management of six new companies launched in partnership with academic researchers and major biopharmaceutical companies.

Before joining Inception, she was an investment professional at Versant, where she was involved in several successful investments including Flexion (NASDAQ:FLXN), Biotie (purchased by Acorda), and Quanticel (purchased by Celgene). She joined Versant from Novartis Pharma, where she worked in the Office of the CEO leading strategic initiatives for the Novartis Pharma Executive Committee.

Previously, Clare was at McKinsey & Company where she advised clients across the biopharmaceutical sector. Clare earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences with honors and distinction from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in neurosciences from Stanford University Medical School.