Board of Directors

Pratik is a partner at Thomas, McNerney & Partners and he is currently a board member of Altair Therapeutics, Auspex Pharmaceuticals, CNS Therapeutics and Ocera. Before joining Thomas McNerney & Partners, he was the Chief Business Officer and co-founder of Kalypsys, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and clinical development of new medicines for cancer, inflammation and metabolic disease using its proprietary automation technologies. At Kalypsys, he was responsible for the overall strategy, business development and operations of the company and oversaw raising more than $130 million in equity financings and corporate deals. Prior to co-founding Kalypsys, Pratik was at McKinsey & Company where he focused on biotechnology and venture capital projects. He was formerly co-founder and VP of Operations at NephRx Corporation, a start-up company focused on the discovery of therapeutic proteins for renal disease. Pratik holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of California at Irvine and both a Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Joel is a cofounder of Avant BioVentures. He was a partner at Forward Ventures from 2001 through 2008. Joel invests in both biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. His investments include the following: Altair Therapeutics, Cellective Threapeutics (acquired by Medimmune), Hypnion Inc. (acquired by Eli Lilly & Co.), Predix Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Epix Pharmaceuticals), and Novostent Inc. Prior to Forward, Joel was the co-founder and CEO of Quantum Dot Corporation (acquired by Invitrogen), a pioneer in nanotechnology applications in the life sciences. He was previously founder and CEO of Argonaut Technologies, a leading provider of automation technology for medicinal chemistry. While founding these companies, Dr. Martin worked at Avalon Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners, where he also contributed to the formation and development of Pharmacopeia (NASDAQ: PCOP), and Idun Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer). Dr. Martin was a member of the early scientific team at ISIS Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on antisense drug development. Before that, he was on the faculty of the Department of Radiology at the UCSD Medical School, where he invented a device for MRI imaging of the prostate and developed novel image reconstruction techniques.

Joel also works to advance scientific education and entrepreneurship. He is a member of the advisory board of the multidisciplinary Life Science Institute at the University of Michigan. He is also a frequent lecturer and member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at UCSD's Rady School of Business.

Joel earned a B.S. Chem. Degree with Honors and an M.B.A. with High Distinction from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from University of California, San Diego.

Jason is an associate at Thomas, McNerney & Partners. Prior to Thomas, McNerney & Partners, he spent four years as a member of the investment team at Forward Ventures, where he played an active role in Forward-led rounds of investment totaling over $50 million. Prior to joining Forward, Jason conducted research in antimicrobial drug discovery and bacterial genomics as a postdoctoral fellow in Infectious Diseases at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development. Jason earned a Ph.D. in Biology at the University of California, San Diego, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow, and a B.S. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Purdue University.

Kim joined Domain Associates in 2005 and became a Principal in 2006. Her present board memberships include Nuon Therapeutics, Obalon Therapeutics, ROX Medical, Sonexa Therapeutics, Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Tragara Pharmaceuticals, as well as observer status at Achaogen, BiPar Sciences, Corthera, GenVault, Lipothera and SkinMedica. Kim serves as an advisory board member to Eric Topol’s NIH supported Clinical and Translational Science Award for Scripps Medicine. Additionally, she serves as an Advisory Board Member for Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund, a private equity fund providing growth capital to Indian pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. From 2003-2004, Kim was a Kauffman Fellow with MPM Capital. Prior to joining MPM, Kim was a Research Director at Novartis. She built and led a research team that focused on the biology, genetics and genomics of model organisms to uncover small molecules that modulated signaling pathway networks. She is a founder of Aryzun Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company utilizing protein-protein interaction mapping for small molecule discovery with an initial focus on anti-infectives and oncology. Kim is the author of ten papers as well as the inventor on seven patents. She received her B.A. from Northwestern University in 1988 and her Ph.D. from Emory University in 1995.

Ivor is a Founding Managing Partner of Forward Ventures. He has been involved in the biotechnology industry in San Diego from its inception in 1978 with the founding of Hybritech, Inc. (later acquired by Eli Lilly) and with the founding of Idec Pharmaceuticals in 1986 (which later merged with Biogen). Ivor has been instrumental in the formation, financing, and development of numerous successful public biotechnology companies, including: Applied Molecular Evolution (acquired by Eli Lilly); Combichem (acquired by DuPont); Corixa (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline); Favrille; Genesys Therapeutics (merged with Somatix and acquired by Cell Genesys); and Triangle Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead). Currently, Ivor is the founding Chairman of Targegen in San Diego, and was elected Chairman of Morphotek in Exton, PA. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Avalon Pharmaceuticals, and Favrille, where he was the founding Chairman. Ivor was previously the Founding President and CEO of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (1990-2000) and on the faculty of the medical school and cancer center of the University of California, San Diego (1977-1990). He received his B.A. (1967) and M.D. (1970) degrees from the Johns Hopkins University and completed post-doctoral training in internal medicine and medical oncology at Stanford University. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Ivor to a six-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board.

David is currently the Chief Medical Officer at Intercept Pharmaceuticals. David has over 20 years of clinical development experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and was Executive Vice President, Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer of Idun Pharmaceuticals until it was acquired by Pfizer. Prior to this he was President of the Scripps Medical Research Center. He also served as Vice President, Clinical Research at Gensia and as Director & Group Leader, Hypertension Clinical Research at Merck, Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories. David has authored or co-authored more than 15 peer-reviewed publications and is a member of a number of organizations including the Royal College of Physicians of London and the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease. He received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees from Dundee University & Medical School and his MRCP Diploma from the Royal College of Physicians (UK).