Sofinnova is the name shared by two venture capital firms, Sofinnova Ventures and Sofinnova Partners.

Investment Management

Sofinnova Ventures

Andre joined Sofinnova BioEquities as a Senior Analyst in 2023. He focuses on public investments primarily in Medtech and Life Sciences.

Prior to Sofinnova, Andre was an Analyst at Perceptive, where he was focused on the same verticals. Before Perceptive, Andre was at Citadel, where he managed a market-neutral Medtech/Life Sciences portfolio.

Andre received his Bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School, where he graduated in two years, Summa cum Laude. Additionally, he completed two Master’s degrees – simultaneously – at MIT (MBA – Finance), and Harvard (MPH – Infectious Diseases).

Andre Xiao

Jakob Dupont brings more than two decades of experience in the field of oncology and other therapeutic areas, in developing therapies and programs dedicated to addressing high unmet medical needs.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Jakob was previously Global Head of Research & Development (R&D) and Executive Vice President at Atara Biotherapeutics, where he helped lead efforts to secure regulatory approval of the first-in-kind product, Ebvallo, and advancing a multiple sclerosis candidate (ATA188) to a key Phase 2 read out. Prior to Atara, he served as the Chief Medical Officer at Gossamer Bio, overseeing global development, regulatory, and quality activities for the company, and advancing therapeutics in the disease areas of immunology, inflammation, and oncology. Before Gossamer Bio, Jakob served as Vice President and Global Head of Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Development for Genentech/Roche, where he was responsible for the global development of Herceptin, Perjeta, Kadcyla, Tecentriq, among others, and where he previously led the development of Avastin for GYN and Breast Cancers when starting his industry career. Jakob was also Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he oversaw the successful submissions of eight investigational new drug applications (INDs) and 26 clinical trial initiations. Throughout his industry career, he has received numerous grants and awards, contributed to 12 regulatory approvals, 13 successful IND filings, co-authored 47 peer-reviewed publications, and has 18 patents.

Jakob received his M.D. from Joan & Sanford 1. Weill Medical College of Cornell University and his M.A. in philosophy from New York University. He also served as Assistant Chief Resident and completed his Medical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), his Internal Medicine Residency at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell Campus, and his Internal Medicine Internship at The University of Michigan Medical Center.

Jakob Dupont

Ray joined Sofinnova as Portfolio Manager of the Synergy Fund in 2022. He focuses on Biotechnology and Therapeutics and has 13 years of investing experience and 19 years of sector-specific analytical experience.

Before joining Sofinnova, Ray worked as a medical director of a primary care clinic and in biologic product strategy at the J&J owned biotech company, Centocor.  He then worked on the sell side at Citigroup, and for the next six years was a Partner and Analyst covering all of healthcare at Lee Munder Capital Group, a SMID cap investment firm in Boston. For the subsequent eight years, he ran a biotech portfolio at TIAA CREF and for the last three years he was Principal at Adenium Research, providing consulting services to biotech companies and buyside firms.

Ray received a Bachelor of Medical Science and an M.D. from the University of Alberta, with Honors in Research. He also graduated with an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he was a founder of an incubation phase bioinformatics startup, Genoma.

Raymond Bower

Steve joined Sofinnova in 2019 and leads the Investor Relations & Marketing initiatives for the Public Equity team. 

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Steve co-founded Precision Digital Health, a software company that utilized cloud and big data technologies for clinical research data management.  Prior to this he spent 13 years at the healthcare investment bank Leerink Partners, cultivating relationships with bio pharma companies, hedge funds and mutual funds across the country.  He is also an Advisor of Kairos Society, an organization that helps guide young entrepreneurs develop their business.

Steve received his MBA from University of Queensland and BA from Bishop’s University.

Steve Bilawey

Aneal joined Sofinnova BioEquities as a Senior Analyst in 2019 and was promoted to Associate Portfolio Manager in 2020. He focuses on public investments primarily in commercial-stage, global healthcare companies. Aneal has nine years of healthcare experience with seven years in public investing roles.

Prior to Sofinnova, Aneal was a Senior Analyst at Citadel for five years where he helped manage a healthcare-focused portfolio. Before Citadel, Aneal was an Analyst at Point72 covering healthcare investments. Before public investing, Aneal was an Investment Banker at Greenhill where he focused on healthcare M&A.

Aneal received his B.B.A. from University of Texas-Austin where he graduated with high honors.

Aneal Tenjarla

Alex joined Sofinnova BioEquities in 2021 as an Analyst. He focuses on public investments in global biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Prior to Sofinnova, Alex was a Senior Equity Research Associate at Raymond James focused on Biotech Equity Research. Before Raymond James, Alex was a Technology and Product Development Staff Engineer at BECTON, DICKINSON, & COMPANY covering BD Life Sciences. He began his career as a Bioengineering Scientist on the Canon Biomedical team at Canon USA Inc

Alex received his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin along with a B.S. in Applied Sciences from the University of North Carolina.



Alexander Blake

Lesley joined Sofinnova in 2007 as Office Manager and Executive Assistant in the San Diego office.  She provides operational and administrative support to Lars Ekman, David Kabakoff, and Chris Carpenter.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Lesley was Executive Assistant to Lars Ekman, President of R&D at Elan Pharmaceuticals from 2003-2007.  Prior to Elan, Lesley was the personal executive assistant to the principals of a Rancho Santa Fe estate and horse farm, and during that time assisted with two White House events. Before moving from Oyster Bay, NY to Southern California in 2000, Lesley was the Personal Executive Assistant to Abby Rockefeller (Milton) O’Neill, Chairman of Rockefeller Financial Services and Rockefeller & Company.  Prior to that she created the Customer Service department and call center at Acclaim Entertainment, the then leading creator of video games.  She developed the Market Research Evaluation lab and was responsible for Acclaim’s famous Mortal Kombat hotline.

Lesley and her husband, a PGA Golf Professional, spent 21 years at The Mill River Club in Upper Brookville/Oyster Bay, NY where together they managed the golf operation as well as their well-known retail operation in the golf shop.

She graduated from IBM School, NYC, as well as Siemens Rolm, San Jose for CCMS/ACD.

Lesley Weber

Regina Salvat adds a business development perspective to the team which is central to their discussions with pharma companies in understanding potential assets ready to be spun out and building relationships with their current company exits. She focuses on therapeutics investments and has been essential to the investment team. Regina is currently  a member of the board of directors for Pionyr and a board observer for  Atsena.

Prior to joining Sofinnova in 2020, Regina was an Associate Director of Strategy and Corporate Development at Rubius Therapeutics. Before joining Rubius, Regina supported a range of bio-pharmaceutical companies as a Strategy Consultant at Huron Consulting Group (formerly, The Frankel Group).  While in graduate school at Dartmouth, Regina studied Protein Engineering. Her work as a graduate student was later commercialized in a company, Stealth Biologics. Prior to graduate school, Regina worked as a Senior Associate Scientist of Cell Line Development within Bioprocess R&D at Pfizer.

Regina received her PhD from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, where she was a Clare Boothe Luce Fellow and Innovation Fellow. Regina also holds a B.S. in Biological Engineering and M.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering, from Cornell University.

Regina Salvat

Peng joined Sofinnova in 2019 as Analyst for the Public Equity team. He focuses on public investments biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Before joining Sofinnova, Peng worked as a sell-side associate for three years at Bank of America and Stifel, where he focused on biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Prior to this, Peng was a graduate student at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) in the laboratory of Dr. Kim Orth to identify novel mechanisms of bacterial infection.

Peng received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from UTSW. Peng also earned his B.S. with Honors in Biology from Jinan University in China and was awarded the National Scholarship.

Peng Li

Josie joined Sofinnova in 2016 as an Executive Assistant, in 2019 she was promoted to Office Manager. She is responsible for managing all administration needs to Eric Delbridge and Sofinnova’s public equity team and as Office Manager to oversee the administration team.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Josie worked at Rocket Fuel providing administrative support to the Chief Financial Officer, the SVP, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Rocket Fuel board members. Additionally, Josie held a long-time position at Electronic Arts serving in a few positions such as the Executive Assistant to the Executive Vice President of EA Mobile, President of EA Studios and Chief Technology Officer. She maintained calendar management, logistics planning, coordinating agendas, travel, and all essential tasks.

Josie attended Cañada Community College.

Josie Kastelic

Alex joined Sofinnova’s IT Department as a Systems Administrator in 2003 and was promoted to IT Manager in 2008. Alex brings over 25 years of experience and is responsible for handling all of Sofinnova’s IT operations. Prior to joining Sofinnova, Alex was a Regional Network Manager for an environmental engineering firm, Harding Lawson Associates. He also held the position of Network Administrator for Kenetech Windpower, a wind energy company based in Livermore, CA.

Alex received his B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science from Kiev University. He is also a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.

Alex Dulnev

Rachel joined Sofinnova in 2017 as an Office Assistant.  In 2019, she was promoted to Administrative Assistant before transitioning to Finance and HR Coordinator. She is responsible for providing assistance to Nathalie Auber, Debbie Murray, Alfred Yue, as well as Finance and HR initiatives.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Rachel worked at the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office as a Legal Office Assistant, where she was responsible for inputting and maintaining confidentiality for sensitive criminal cases into their criminal database.

She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Practical Theology with an emphasis in Social Services from Azusa Pacific University.

Rachel Preston

Jenn joined Sofinnova in 2015 as an Executive Assistant. She is responsible for handling all administrative duties for Perry Nisen, Jonathan Leff, and Jim Brody.

Jenn started her admin career in NYC fashion as an Administrative Assistant to Jacob “The Jeweler” Arabo, before transitioning to the exciting world of food & wine. She acted as the Executive Assistant to Executive Chef & Managing Partner Nick Anderer of Maialino for several years before joining Berenson & Company to support the CEO.

Jenn graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in English from San Diego State University.

Jenn Symmons

Dina joined Sofinnova in 2018 as an Executive Assistant and is responsible for providing administrative support to Maha Katabi and Sarah Bhagat.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Dina worked at InterWest Partners, a venture capital firm, providing support to multiple partners during her 12 years there. Before InterWest, she worked as an equity research assistant at Piper Jaffray, an investment bank and asset management firm.

Dina graduated Kuzbass State Pedagogical Academy in Novokuznetsk, Russia with a specialist degree in French and English.

Dina Hauser

Amanda joined Sofinnova in 2019 as an Executive Assistant and is responsible for providing administrative support to Jim Healy, Regina Salvat, and Hooman Shahlavi.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Amanda worked at Floodgate Ventures as the Office Manager as well as providing executive support to both Managing Partners. Prior to Floodgate Amanda supported two Directors at McKinsey & Company and she also worked as a 911 Emergency Dispatcher for the San Jose Fire Department. Looking further back Amanda was a Director at Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes and early in her career she taught Montessori preschool.

Amanda graduated Cal State University Hayward with a degree in Human Development.

Amanda Phillips

Vikrant joined Sofinnova in 2019 as Controller for the Public Equity team. He is responsible for fund accounting and taxation.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Vikrant was a Senior Fund Accountant for Partner Fund Management, L.P. (PFM), a ~$4.5B San Francisco based hedge fund manager. Before joining Partner Fund Management,  he was a Senior Fund Accountant  at Conifer Securities.

Vikrant graduated with a B.A. in Business Economics with an Emphasis in Accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Vikrant Sangar

Alex joined Sofinnova’s Finance Department in 2013 as Senior Accountant and was promoted to Controller in 2021. Alex is responsible for the day to day accounting of Sofinnova and its funds.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Alex worked for an international public accounting firm, primarily focusing on providing assurance and advisory services for companies in the public and private sectors of IT and biotech industries.

Alex holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a Certified Public Accountant in California.

Alex Chan

Aaditya joined Sofinnova BioEquities in 2020 as an Analyst. He focuses on public investments in global biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

Prior to Sofinnova, Aaditya was a Senior Associate at Foresite Capital focused on public and private investments in commercial-stage companies across healthcare. Before Foresite, Aaditya was a Senior Associate at Citadel Global Equities covering therapeutics. He began his career as an Analyst on the Healthcare Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Advisory team at Centerview Partners.

Aaditya received his M.S.E. and B.S.E. in Bioengineering along with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Aaditya Sekar

Eric joined Sofinnova as a Portfolio Manager in 2016. In 2019, he was promoted to Partner. He focuses on public investments in global therapeutics companies and has ten years of hedge fund investing experience. Eric is responsible for developing Sofinnova’s public equities strategy.

Before joining Sofinnova, Eric managed market neutral therapeutics and healthcare portfolios at Balyasny Asset Management, a global multi-strategy hedge fund. Prior to this, he was a Partner at Spring Point Capital (formerly Botti Brown Asset Management), a long/short equity hedge fund where he focused on healthcare investments. Before joining the hedge fund industry, he was a Healthcare Investment Banker at Lazard and Credit Suisse where he focused on biotech M&A.

Eric received his M.D. from Northwestern University and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He was a Palmer Scholar and received the Robert D. Eilers Memorial Award for achievement in community service. Eric graduated with a B.A. in Classics cum laude from Yale University.

Eric Delbridge

Gina joined Sofinnova as a Compliance/Operations manager and focuses on operations for Sofinnova BioEquities (Public Equity) and helps oversee compliance for the firm.

Prior to joining Sofinnova in 2022, she was the Senior Finance Manager of the public equities division of Vista Equity Partners, a market-leading enterprise software investment firm with $96 billion in AUM. Over the past 14 years, Gina has held various roles in compliance, finance, and operations functions across some of the bay area’s top investment firms, including SPO Partners and Apex Capital.

Gina holds a B.S. in Business Administration with emphases in Accounting and Corporate Management from California State University, Hayward.

Gina Baker

Mike joined Sofinnova as an Analyst to focus on biopharmaceutical companies and investments.

Prior to joining Sofinnova in 2022, Mike completed his PhD in Biology at Stanford University working in the laboratory of Lacramiora Bintu, where he merged high-throughput screening assays and synthetic biology techniques to develop new CRISPR-based epigenome editing tools. While at Stanford, Mike was a venture fellow at Sofinnova and has consulted for numerous roles across the biotech industry, including business development with Maze Therapeutics, assay development with Octant, and product development with Wearlinq, a heart monitoring startup. Mike was also a managing partner of the Mythos Biotechnology Fund, a student-led public biotech investment club.

Mike received his PhD in Biology from Stanford University. Mike also holds a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Davis.

Mike Van

Tiffany joined Sofinnova in 2003 as an Executive Assistant prior to becoming the Marketing and Operations Manager. In 2019, she was promoted to Director of IR and Marketing for the Private Equity team. She is responsible for the development and coordination of investor relations, communications, fundraising and marketing materials.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Tiffany worked with the Senior Marketing Executives at Sega of America, one of the world’s premier video games developers and publishers, her responsibilities included managing marketing and trade show events. Before joining Sega of America, Tiffany held the position of Event Planner at doubleTwist (formally known as Pangea Systems) managing all aspects of events in addition to providing administrative support to the VP of Marketing.

Tiffany Davis

Surin joined Sofinnova in 2021 as a Financial Analyst. He is responsible for fund accounting and tax related matters.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Surin was a Tax Senior at BDO USA, LLP. He has expertise in accounting and tax issues related to alternative investment. He focused on federal and state income taxes, analysis on partnership agreements, partnership capital account maintenance, 704(b) capital account allocation, international tax compliance. Before joining BDO USA, LLP, he served as a private banker at Mirae Asset Securities (Daewoo Securities) in South Korea.

Surin holds a Master of Science in Taxation from Golden Gate University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Inha University.



Surin Kim

Jim joined Sofinnova in 2016 as a Chief Compliance Officer for Sofinnova and a Chief Operating Officer for Sofinnova BioEquities (Public Equity).

Before Sofinnova, Jim was the Chief Compliance Officer and Managing Director of Operations at Apex Capital, LLC, a US long/short equity fund that managed ~$1.6B at peak. Prior to this, he was a Relationship Manager at Pershing (a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon), a Director of Operations at Nollenberger Capital Partners, Wells Fargo Securities, and a Manager at Robertson Stephens.

Jim received his M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco and he graduated with a B.S. from the University of Oregon.

James Brody

Alfred joined Sofinnova as Director of Finance in 2007 and was promoted to Vice President of Finance in 2015. He is responsible for all financial aspects of Sofinnova Venture funds.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, he was the Director of Finance for Telespree Communications and worked in the finance departments of The Coca-Cola Company and Gateway Computer. He also worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong.

Alfred received his M.B.A. from the Darden Business School at University of Virginia and his B.A. in Accounting from Hong Kong Baptist College. He is a Certified Public Accountant in California and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the United Kingdom.

Alfred Yue

Debbie joined Sofinnova as Chief People Officer in 2020. She focuses on leading strategic and operational initiatives to define, develop and deliver business performance goals and objectives.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Debbie was Chief People Officer at BlueJeans Network, a leader in cloud video conferencing, live video calls, webinars, conference calls, and online meetings. Before BlueJeans Networks, Debbie was Vice President at DataStax, Inc. where she was responsible for all areas of human resources and business administration. As an early employee Debbie helped to scale and create infrastructure as the company grew.

Debbie received a B.A. in Speech Communication from the University of San Diego.



Debbie Murray

Hooman joined Sofinnova in 2007 as Director of Legal Affairs, was promoted to General Counsel in 2011, and to partner in 2017. Hooman manages all legal aspects of the firm’s initial investment, follow-on investments, restructuring, major corporate transactions as well as exits and wind-downs, including the structuring, negotiation, and execution of such transactions. He also manages and liaises with Sofinnova’s outside counsels and portfolio company counsels on a wide variety of matters, and monitors and addresses risk and director liability, compliance and registration, labor, litigation, fund formation, and other general legal matters that arise through our ordinary course of business.

For the ten years prior to joining Sofinnova, he was an attorney at two major international law firms. From 2003 to 2007, he was a member of O’Melveny & Myers’ Corporate Transactional Group. Prior to that, he practiced in Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison’s Business and Technology Practice Group. At these firms, he worked on over 500 venture capital, M&A, and public offering transactions, and represented over 70 companies (both private and public) as general outside counsel, and over 50 venture capital funds and investment banks in investment transactions, including a number of transactions in which he represented Sofinnova as its outside counsel.

Hooman earned his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. He received his B.S. from San Jose State University, magna cum laude, with a degree in Business Administration (Marketing).

Hooman Shahlavi

Nathalie joined Sofinnova in 1996 as Chief Financial Officer. She became a Partner in 2007. Nathalie supervises the Finance & Accounting team and is responsible for all administrative aspects. She has 21 years of Venture Capital experience.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, she was the Director of Internal Audit for five years at Catellus Development, a publicly traded company. Before Catellus, Nathalie spent seven years as an auditor with Deloitte and Touche, both in Paris and San Francisco.

Nathalie holds a Finance degree from the NEOMA Business School (L’Ecole Supérieure de Commerce) in Rouen, France. She is a Certified Public Accountant in California and an “Expert Comptable” (CPA equivalent) in France. Nathalie is also a member of the Board of Directors of the French-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco and its foundation; and a member of the Board of Directors of the VCBC, an organization dedicated to providing education and community to finance professionals in Venture Capital.

Nathalie Auber

Chris Carpenter has more than two decades of clinical and laboratory experience in oncology. He focuses on clinical-stage product companies, particularly in oncology, rare diseases, and other specialty therapeutic areas.

Before joining Sofinnova in 2022, Chris was Chief Medical Officer at CatamaranBio. Previously, he was the Chief Medical Officer at Rubius Therapeutics, a company developing red blood cells as therapeutics. Prior to Rubius, Chris was Senior Vice President and Head of the Cancer Epigenetics group at GlaxoSmithKline, where he was responsible for the overall strategy, as well as the identification and validation of new epigenetic targets and advancing novel therapies through clinical proof of concept. While at GlaxoSmithKline, Chris also led the development of Votrient (pazopanib). Before GlaxoSmithKline, he was at Merck and led the development of MK-4827, which became Tesaro’s Zejula. Prior to Merck, Chris led a laboratory at Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for 14 years. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology.

Chris earned his B.S. from Stanford University, and received his M.D. and Ph.D.  (pharmacology) degrees from the University of Southern California. He completed a residency in internal medicine at UT Southwestern, his hematology/oncology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a post-doctoral fellowship in Lewis Cantley’s laboratory.

Chris Carpenter

Jonathan joined Sofinnova as an Executive Partner in 2020. With over 25 years of clinical development experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry he focuses on providing his strategic drug development expertise to aid companies from target identification to the market.

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Jonathan most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Ascendis Pharma, a biotechnology company developing medicines for rare endocrine disorders. Previously Dr. Leff served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at InterMune (acquired by Roche/Genentech in 2014) where he oversaw the development and US approval of Esbriet® (oral pirfenidone) for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Before InterMune, he was Chief Medical Officer at KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, and Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Halozyme Therapeutics. Additionally, Dr. Leff held various positions at Roche, Amgen, and Merck.

Jonathan earned a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, and received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his medical training in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado, Denver.

Jonathan Leff

Perry joined Sofinnova as Executive Partner in 2018. He is a physician scientist with extensive experience in drug discovery and development, focusing on later stage pre-clinical and clinical companies with particular interest in oncology, neuroscience and immunology/inflammation.

Until recently, Perry was CEO of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP). As CEO, Perry was responsible for all aspects of the organization including strategy, operations and performance. Prior to SBP, he held multiple senior leadership positions during his tenure at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) including SVP of Science and Innovation, interim Chief Medical Officer, and Oncology Therapy Area Head. When he was the Oncology Therapy Area Head, he was accountable for the Oncology portfolio from target to market and this division was subsequently acquired by Novartis for over $16B. Responsibilities at GSK included all aspects of drug discovery, clinical development, risk/benefit and operations. Before GSK, Perry was the Divisional Vice President, Cancer Research at Abbott Laboratories. Prior to industry, Perry was the Lowe Foundation Professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Perry holds a BS from Stanford University, and MD/PhD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Perry represents Sofinnova as Chairman of Quanta. He is also an independent Director of TEVA Pharmaceuticals, and chair of their science and technology committee.

Perry Nisen

Lars joined Sofinnova as Executive Partner in  2008.   With 30+ years of experience in senior executive, scientific, and clinical functions, he focuses on lending his extensive Life Science experience to the investment team in driving new companies toward success . Dr. Ekman represents Sofinnova as the Chairman of Amarin (AMRN), Sophiris Bio (SPHS), Prothena (PRTA) and Afyx Therapeutics. He also serves as a director of Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) and on the board of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (RARE).

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Lars held the position of President of Research and Development at Elan. He joined Elan in January 2001, and he is credited with advancing Elan’s drug discovery pipeline and under his leadership, Elan received approval for four U.S. New Drug Applications, three European Marketing Approval Applications, and five Investigational New Drug Applications. These efforts resulted in advancing Elan’s immunotherapeutic approach into Phase III and bringing to market three innovative neuroscience based products, including Tysabri for MS. Prior to joining Elan, he was Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Schwarz Pharma AG beginning in 1997. From 1984 to 1997, Dr. Ekman was employed in a variety of senior scientific and clinical functions at Pharmacia, now Pfizer.

Lars obtained his PhD and MD from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is a board-certified surgeon with a PhD in Experimental Biology and has held several clinical and academic positions in both the United States and Europe.



Lars Ekman

David joined Sofinnova as Executive Partner in 2007. He represents Sofinnova as the Chairman of NextCure, and as Director of Antiva Biosciences, Dauntless Pharmaceuticals, Rainier Therapeutics and Neurana. He also serves as Chairman of Lineagen and as a Director of bioTheranostics and Castle Biosciences. Previously he served as the Chairman of both Trius Therapeutics and Amplimmune, and as a Director of InterMune and Principia.

Prior to Sofinnova, David spent almost 30 years in industry leading technology and product development programs in the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and drug delivery fields. David co-founded Salmedix, a developer of cancer drug treatments, and served as the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until its acquisition of Salmedix by Cephalon. David also held the positions of Executive Vice President of Dura, a specialty pharmaceutical and pulmonary drug delivery company, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Spiros Development. Earlier, David was Chief Executive Officer of Corvas International and held senior executive positions with Hybritech.

David received his PhD from Yale University and his BA from Case Western Reserve University.

David Kabakoff

Maha joined Sofinnova as a Partner in 2019. In 2020, she was promoted to General Partner. She is an experienced investor in biopharma companies, with over two decades in venture capital investing and public equities portfolio management. She focuses on development stage investments in therapeutics. Maha represents Sofinnova as a member of the board of directors for Amplyx Pharmaceuticals, Northsea Therapeutics and [Aerovate Therapeutics](/org/aerovate-therapeutics).

Prior to joining Sofinnova, Maha was a Managing Partner of Oxalis Capital.  Prior to founding Oxalis in 2018, Maha was a Partner at [Sectoral Asset Management](/org/sectoral-asset-management) since 2008, where she formed and led a dedicated investment team and advisory board to drive investments in private companies. Two of these companies were Ascendis and Apellis, both also Sofinnova portfolio companies. Additionally, she was a Portfolio Manager for a family of funds, that invested in publicly listed and private healthcare companies. Prior to Sectoral, Maha was Vice-President at Ventures West Management since 2004, a venture capital firm focusing on technology and life sciences in Canada and the United States.  She started her venture capital career in 1999 at T2C2 Capital Bio, a seed fund focused on Canadian start-ups.

Maha received her PhD in Pharmacology and BSc in Biology from [McGill University](/org/mcgill-university), and is a CFA charterholder. She is currently Chair of the board of Exactis Innovation, a Canadian oncology precision medicine network.

Maha Katabi

Jim joined Sofinnova in 2000 as a General Partner.  Dr. Healy finances companies that are developing potentially important therapies that could be transformative for patients. He has funded companies where eleven products were approved by the FDA or EMA. Eighteen of his investments have gone public and ten have been acquired as private or public companies.  He is currently a member of the board of directors of Ascendis (ASND), [CinCor Pharma](/org/cincor-pharma), Coherus (CHRS), Karuna (KRTX), [Natera](/org/natera) (NTRA), Nucana (NCNA), Obseva (OBSV), and Y-Mabs (YMAB).

Jim received a B.A. in Molecular Biology and B.A. Scandinavian Studies from [UC Berkeley](/org/uc-berkeley) where he graduated with Honors and received the Departmental Citation. He subsequently completed the NIH sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program and received his MD and PhD in Immunology from Stanford University where he received the Novartis Foundation Bursary Award and was a Beckman Scholar.  He authored or co-authored thirteen scientific articles and reviews, including three papers published in Nature.

Prior to Sofinnova Jim worked at [Bayer](/org/bayer) and Sanderling.  In 2011 Dr. Healy received the IBF Innovator Award for his investment in [Amarin](/org/amarin) (AMRN).  In 2012 Xconomy named him one the leading “Young and Proven Biotech VC’s”. In 2013, Fortune selected him as one of the top life science investors and in 2015 he received a Healthcare and Lifesciences 50 award from Irish America.  He has lectured on entrepreneurship at Stanford University and served on the boards of the Executive Committee at [UC Berkeley](/org/uc-berkeley), the [National Venture Capital Association](/org/national-venture-capital-association) (NVCA) and the [Biotechnology Innovation Organization](/org/biotechnology-innovation-organization) (BIO).

Teams at Sofinnova Ventures

Discover similar companies