Our Team

Investment Team

Ross Barrett

Managing Partner

Investment

Jonathan Fassberg

Managing Partner

Scouting

Jennifer Pou

Associate

MD Anderson

Ferran Prat, Ph.D., J.D.

Senior Vice President

Research Administration and Industry Relations

Scientific Committee

Patrick Hwu, M.D.

Head

Division of Cancer Medicine

Anil Sood, M.D.

Vice Chairman

Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine

Andrew Futreal, Ph.D.

Chair

Genomic Medicine

Advisory Board

Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD

Pfizer – EVP

Worldwide Research & Development

Axel Hoos, MD, PhD

GlaxoSmithKline – SVP

TA Head of Oncology R&D and Head of Immuno-Oncology

Wendy Holman

Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Ridgeback Diagnostics

CEO and Co-Founder

Jeffrey Rowbottom

Partner

Iron Park Capital

Harpreet Singh

Immatics

CEO

Richard van den Broek

HSMR Advisors

Managing Partner

Wayne Holman, MD

Ridgeback Capital

Founder

Ross Barrett

Managing Partner – Investment

Ross is the Managing General Partner of BVM Capital, which is the management company for Louisiana Ventures LP, Themelios Ventures LP, Themelios Ventures II LP and TransBio Ventures LP. He is the co-founder of the software and data analytics company VC Experts, Inc., and is active in the strategic direction of the company. Ross worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston and specialized in appropriations, risk assessment and regulatory reform.

Ross has been an adviser to or investor in over 20 early-stage privately held companies. He served as an appointed Commissioner of the statewide Louisiana Airport Authority from 2005 to 2008. In 2007, he was named to Governor Jindal’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship transition team. He is a Trustee of Centenary College of Louisiana and a visiting professor for innovation and entrepreneurship at Louisiana Tech University. He currently sits on the Advisory Board of Hope for New York, an umbrella organization of 30 Christian charities associated with Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and heads the organization’s due diligence committee. He received his law degree from Louisiana State University School of Law, his LLM in Taxation from New York University School of Law and his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Southern Methodist University.

Jonathan Fassberg

Managing Partner – Scouting

Jonathan is the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Solebury Trout. Jonathan recognized early in his career that small-cap biotechnology companies were underserved in the investor relations capacity. To fill this void, Jonathan founded The Trout Group in 1996, and he grew it to become the leading investor relations firm in the life sciences industry. Trout has served over 750 public and private companies, both domestically and internationally. In 2017, Trout was acquired by Solebury Communications, and the combined firm became known as Solebury Trout.

Highlights of Jonathan’s career include guiding Pharmasset, Pharmacyclics and GW Pharma from inception to IPOs to product launches and ultimate acquisitions. Prior to Trout’s founding, Jonathan was a sell-side analyst at a healthcare-focused investment bank. Before his career on Wall Street, Jonathan spent four years at DuPont Pharma in various sales and marketing positions.

Jonathan holds a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He also holds Series 7, 24, 79 and 63 securities licenses.

Jonathan has been an active member of Young Presidents Organization since joining the Manhattan Chapter in 2007, and he is currently serving as Chapter Chair. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies at UNC. Jonathan played water polo at UNC and for the NYAC after college.

Jennifer Pou

Associate

Jennifer is an Associate at BVM Capital. Her responsibilities include performing financial modeling and analysis, managing communication with investors, and overseeing back-office operations for the fund. Prior to joining the team, Jennifer was an Associate at Newstone Capital Partners, a Dallas-based mezzanine fund with approximately $2 billion in assets under management. Before joining Newstone, Jennifer was an Analyst in J.P. Morgan’s investment bank, where she focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity offerings.

Jennifer has a BBA in finance and accounting from The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. She is an active member of her church in Shreveport, and she is heavily involved in the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier.

Ferran Prat, Ph.D., J.D.

Senior Vice President, Research Administration and Industry Relations

Ferran is responsible for linking MD Anderson and industry partners. His efforts generate collaborations that bring new drugs, diagnostics, imaging agents and IT solutions to market faster, benefiting patients suffering from cancer. Ferran has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California – Los Angeles and a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law. He came to MD Anderson from Alere Inc., an international firm dedicated to developing health management services and solutions, including diagnostic tools and tests. At Alere, Ferran led a business turnaround and integrated three businesses in São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He also served as the head of the Oncology and Women’s Health Divisions in San Diego, where he was responsible for all precommercialization activities and post-launch product management.

Prior to Alere, Ferran held a number of industry and academic positions, including vice president for licensing at Biosite Inc., management consultant at McKinsey & Co., engineer at Chromogenia-Units and researcher at the University of California – Los Angeles. In these roles, he in-licensed and out-licensed new technologies, led and executed strategic plans, coordinated intellectual property agreements among private and public sector entities, and conducted basic science research that led to multiple peer-reviewed articles.

Patrick Hwu, M.D.

Head – Division of Cancer Medicine

Dr. Patrick Hwu is a tumor immunologist focused on the areas of vaccines, adoptive T-cell therapies and immune resistance. His research and clinical efforts have led to insights and advances in the understanding of the interactions between tumors and the immune system, and the development of cellular therapies. Several novel, ongoing clinical trials have resulted based on his group’s work.

Anil Sood, M.D.

Vice Chairman – Gynecologic Oncology & Reproductive Medicine

Dr. Anil Sood’s research is focused in development of new strategies for systemic in vivo siRNA delivery using biocompatible nanoparticles, effect of neuroendocrine stress hormones on ovarian cancer growth and progression, and development of novel anti-vascular therapeutic approaches. Dr. Sood serves on the editorial board for several journals.

Andrew Futreal, Ph.D.

Chair – Genomic Medicine

Dr. Andrew Futreal aims to accelerate the translation of genomic technologies into therapeutic applications. His chief scientific accomplishments include the identification of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Dr. Futreal integrates datasets from patient populations and analyzes them to identify genomic determinants of response, resistance, toxicity and survival in order to improve patient outcomes.

Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD

Pfizer – President, Worldwide Research & Development

Dr. Dolsten is President of Worldwide Research and Development (WRD) and Executive Vice President of Pfizer. He is focused on advancing the company’s pipeline and scientific leadership in small molecule medicines, biotherapeutics and vaccines. He is a member of the Pfizer Executive Leadership Team and co-chairs the company’s Portfolio Strategy and Investment Committee, which governs major pipeline investments and strategic end-to-end R&D priorities.

Dr. Dolsten leads the WRD group at Pfizer, which is responsible for all research at Pfizer, including development of all compounds through proof of concept, and provides safety, regulatory and clinical operation support to the entire R&D pipeline. Dr. Dolsten also has worldwide responsibility for Pfizer’s groups in safety, regulatory and development operations, and external R&D innovation in addition to science-based teams in pharmaceutical sciences, drug safety R&D, and large and small molecule discovery and development.

Prior to joining Pfizer in 2009, Dr. Dolsten was President of Wyeth Research. Before joining Wyeth, he served as Executive Vice President at Boehringer Ingelheim. His earlier career as a pharmaceutical research leader included positions with AstraZeneca, Pharmacia and Upjohn. Dr. Dolsten earned his PhD in tumor immunology and MD from Lund University in Sweden. He studied virology and cell biology at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and he has been appointed as Adjunct Professor in Immunology at the Medical Faculty in Lund.

Dr. Dolsten is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a governor of the New York Academy of Sciences and a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Hall of Science. A member of the Biomedical Advisory Council of The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), Dr. Dolsten also serves on the PhRMA Foundation Board of Directors, and he is a member of the Government University Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR). Dr. Dolsten is a named inventor on several patents. He has also published approximately 150 articles in international journals, with contributions in areas such as molecular cell biology, immunology and oncology.

Axel Hoos, MD, PhD

GlaxoSmithKline – SVP, TA Head of Oncology R&D and Head of Immuno-Oncology

Dr. Axel Hoos is Senior Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head for Oncology R&D and Head of Immuno-Oncology at GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Hoos also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI), Director on the board of Imugene, Co-Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC) and Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI). Previously, Dr. Hoos was the Global Medical Lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), where he developed Yervoy (Ipilimumab), the first life-extending therapy in Immuno-Oncology. Before BMS, Dr. Hoos was Senior Director of Clinical Development at Agenus Bio. Dr. Hoos holds an MD from Ruprecht-Karls-University and a PhD in molecular oncology from the German Cancer Research Center, both in Heidelberg, Germany. He trained in surgery at the Technical University in Munich, Germany, and further in surgery, molecular pathology and tumor immunology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is an alumnus of the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.

Wendy Holman

Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Ridgeback Diagnostics – CEO and Co-Founder

Wendy is the CEO and co-founder of Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Ridgeback Diagnostics: two healthcare companies focused on pediatric and orphan infectious diseases. Prior to joining Ridgeback, Ms. Holman worked at U.S.-based ZBI Equities, a multi-billion dollar public-equity investment fund and its parent company, Ziff Brothers Investments. Between 1999 and 2014, she held various positions, including healthcare sector head and director of research at ZBI Equities and Principal at Ziff Brothers Investments. Wendy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and serves on the Board of Overseers for the Penn Libraries. She is the campaign chair for the University of Pennsylvania’s new Biotech Commons.

Jeffrey Rowbottom

Partner – Iron Park Capital

Mr. Rowbottom is a partner at Iron Park Capital. He had previous senior roles at PSP, Pontifax, KKR and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Rowbottom’s focus on early-stage healthcare companies stems from his personal experience as a melanoma patient who was treated in early clinical trials of checkpoint inhibitors. He is also influenced by a family member’s diagnosis with Ullrich congenital muscular dystrophy. He serves on the boards of the Melanoma Research Alliance and Cure CMD. Through these roles, Mr. Rowbottom collaborates closely with leading oncology researchers. He is a patient advocate and focuses on solutions to fund innovative basic research and clinical trials.

Mr. Rowbottom is also a founding investor and business adviser for Rgenix, pre-IPO investor in Kite Pharma and UroGen Pharma and a Trustee of the Elisabeth Morrow School. He holds a B.S. in finance from SUNY at Albany and an MBA from Columbia University.

Harpreet Singh

Immatics – CEO

Harprett co-founded Immatics in 2000 to translate pioneering scientific discoveries in immunology into highly innovative immunotherapies to impact the lives of cancer patients. Since the foundation, he has served as Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer, helping to grow the company from a start-up to a leading biotech player in the field of immuno-oncology. He has played a leadership role in raising more than US$200mm of venture capital funding over several financing rounds and closing several partnerships with leading players in oncology such as Amgen, Roche and Genmab. In 2015, Harpreet became President & CEO of Immatics US, overseeing all operations of Immatics in Houston, Texas, to develop next-generation Adoptive Cell Therapies (ACT) in a broad strategic alliance with MD Anderson, also achieving a $20mm CPRIT grant by the State of Texas. In 2019, he became CEO of the Immatics Group.

Richard van den Broek

HSMR Advisors – Managing Partner

"Mr. van den Broek is the Managing Partner of a biotechnology investment fund. He has extensive industry experience, including current director roles on the boards of PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals and CogState Ltd.  Previously, he served on the board of Pharmacyclics, prior to the company's acquisition by AbbVie for $21bn.

Wayne Holman, MD

Ridgeback Capital – Founder

Dr. Wayne Holman started and oversees Ridgeback Capital. Dr. Holman began his healthcare-focused investment career in 2000. Prior to that, Dr. Holman worked for the Merrill Lynch large pharmaceuticals equity research analyst. Dr. Holman earned his MD from New York University and his B.A. in Economics from Yale University.

Ridgeback Capital was founded in 2006, and it is focused on healthcare investments. Ridgeback invests in private and public companies dedicated to the development of life-saving and life-changing therapies. Healthcare advances take many years to materialize, and Dr. Holman believes that patient capital is vital for new technologies and companies to thrive.