Board of Directors
Jim Healy, M.D., Ph.D.
General Partner, Soffinova Ventures
Jim Healy, M.D., Ph.D., General Partner, joined Sofinnova in the spring of 2000. In the words of one entrepreneur, Jim has an “unparalleled work ethic.”
Prior to joining Sofinnova, he had experience with both pharmaceutical products and research platforms. In the pharmaceutical industry he held a manufacturing position at Bayer Pharmaceuticals (Miles) and helped guide the discovery group at ISTA Pharmaceuticals prior to its initial public offering. He also has experience with research tools and platforms through his involvement at the Human Genome Center at Lawrence Berkeley Labs.
Dr. Healy has authored or co-authored numerous research articles and reviews, including three papers published in Nature. He began his private equity career at Sanderling.
Dr. Healy earned B.A.s in Molecular Biology and Scandinavian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with Distinction in General Scholarship, Honors, and received the Departmental Citation. He received his M.D. from Stanford School of Medicine through the Medical Scientist Training Program, and earned his Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University, where he was a Beckman Scholar and received a bursary award from the Novartis Foundation.
Mike Raab
Partner, NEA
Mr. Raab joined NEA in 2002 as a Partner. He specializes in healthcare investments focusing on biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Current board memberships include Amicus Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FOLD), Intarcia, CellGate, Novacea (NASDAQ: NOVC), Hyperion, Novalar and Macroflux. Mr. Raab is a member of the Life Sciences Advisory Board for Silicon Valley Bank and is actively involved with 23andMe, Trine Pharmaceuticals, Liquidia and Vitae Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to joining NEA, Mr. Raab was most recently Senior Vice President, Therapeutics and General Manager, of the Renal Division at Genzyme Corporation. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Business Development for the Therapeutics Division, responsible for the identification and in-licensing of new therapeutic product opportunities. He gained extensive international experience while building a commercial operation in Latin America for the Therapeutics and Surgical Products groups for the company. Mr. Raab was also Product Manager for Ceredase and was instrumental in the worldwide launch of Cerezyme, Genzyme’s $1 Billion therapies for Gaucher Disease. Mr. Raab spent two years with Genzyme’s Diagnostic products and services division. Previous to Genzyme, he held sales and marketing positions at Repligen and Bristol-Myers.
Mr. Raab received his BA from DePauw University.
Bijan Salehizadeh, M.D.
Partner, Highland Capital
Based in Highland’s Menlo Park office, Dr. Salehizadeh partners with entrepreneurs and management of medical devices and biotechnology healthcare companies. He represents Highland on the board of Hyperion Therapeutics and OpGen, and is or has been actively involved in Highland’s investments in BAROnova, Conor Medsystems (IPO; acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Magen BioSciences and Predictive Biosciences. Dr. Salehizadeh also previously served as a member of the Kauffman Fellows program.
Prior to joining Highland, Dr. Salehizadeh spent several years in marketing and strategic planning at Medtronic Vascular, a world leader in medical technology. Before Medtronic, he was the Director of Business Development for HealthCentral, a venture-backed start-up that went public in 1999.
During his medical training, Dr. Salehizadeh conducted research in minimally invasive heart valves and left ventricular assist devices, and his work was published in several peer-reviewed scientific journals. He also served as a researcher at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute where he investigated coronary artery disease. Dr. Salehizadeh received his A.B. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, M.S. in Health Policy and M.D. in Medicine both from Columbia University, and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Don Santel
Donald J. Santel most recently served as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of CoTherix, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTRX), a cardiovascular pharmaceutical company, where he led the sale of the company to Actelion (SWX: ATLN) for $420 M in cash in January 2007. Mr. Santel co-founded CoTherix in February 2000. Mr. Santel also serves on the board of Anthera Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to joining CoTherix, Mr. Santel was employed by or consultant to several medical device companies from January 1998 through February 2000, including Reflow, Inc., a medical device company he sold to Foxhollow Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: FOXH) in September 1999. From 1992 to 1997, Mr. Santel held various positions at Cardiac Pathways Corporation (Nasdaq: CPWY), a medical device company later acquired by Boston Scientific, including Vice President of Marketing and International Sales and Vice President of Clinical Engineering. He began his career at Medtronic, Inc., serving in various development and marketing roles from June 1982 through 1991. Mr. Santel holds a B.S.E. in biomedical engineering from Purdue University and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.
Lota Zoth
Ms. Zoth was most recently Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MedImmune, Inc. where she had oversight of finance, information technology, and public affairs. Prior to MedImmune, she was Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller for PSINet Inc and Vice President, Corporate Controller, and Chief Accounting Officer of Sodexho Marriott Services, Inc. Earlier in her career, Ms. Zoth served in various finance executive roles at Marriott International and PepsiCo, Inc. after spending almost a decade at Ernst & Young as an audit executive. Ms Zoth is a CPA and holds a bachelor of business administration degree, summa cum laude, in accounting from Texas Tech University .