Our Team

Investment Team

Ross Barrett

Managing Partner

 

Jaime Aguirre

Partner

 

Jonathan Fassberg

Partner

 

Jennifer Pou

Associate

Hector Alila, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Venture Partner for Industry Diligence

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 

Ross is the Managing General Partner of the Cancer Focus Fund, LP, a venture capital partnership financing Phase I/II oncology clinical trials with MD Anderson Cancer Center, Ochsner Health System New Orleans and the LSU Feist Weiller Cancer Center.  Prior to this, he managed multiple health-care related venture capital funds, including  Louisiana Ventures LP, Themelios Ventures LP and TransBio Ventures LP. He is the co-founder and Executive Chairman for the software and data analytics company Lagniappe Labs, LLC and active in the development of the Prime Unicorn Index, a market-cap weighted index tracking the performance of US-based, venture backed companies. Previously, 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. 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.  Ross and his wife Allison proudly reside in Shreveport, LA with their four daughters.

Jaime Aguirre

Partner 

Jaime was the former Investment Director of Private Equity and Venture Capital for Rice Management Company.  Prior to his work at Rice, Jaime was a Principal at Austin Ventures.  He is also a former Vice President in the TMT investment banking group at Goldman Sachs and also worked in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch’s energy group in Houston and the Latin America group in Mexico City.  Jaime holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA and MPA for The University of Texas at Austin.

Jonathan Fassberg

Partner

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 for the Cancer Focus Fund. Her responsibilities include performing financial modeling and analysis, assisting the Investment Committee with their due diligence process and managing communication with investors. 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 currently serves on the Due Diligence Committee for the New Louisiana Angel Fund and is an active member of the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier. She has a BBA in finance and accounting from The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business.

Hector Alila, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Venture Partner for Industry Diligence

Dr. Alila has more than 30 years of senior management experience in drug development in large pharmaceutical and biotech companies and academic research. Prior to his role as President and CEO of Esperance Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr. Alila served as Senior Vice President of Drug Development at Protalex, Inc. in New Hope, PA, Vice President of Product Development at Cell Pathways, Inc. in Horsham, PA, (later acquired by OSI Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Astellas Pharma Inc.), Director of Biology/Pharmacology at GeneMedicine, Inc. in The Woodlands, TX, (which merged with Megabios to become Valentis, Inc.) and several research, development and management positions at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Pennsylvania. He obtained his veterinary degree from the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and continued his training at University of Pennsylvania to become a licensed veterinarian to practice in Pennsylvania and New York.

Dr. Alila obtained his Ph.D. in physiology and immunology from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), where he also held a faculty position as Senior Research Associate in Physiology at the Veterinary College. Dr. Alila has published over 40 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters and holds 12 issued patents. He serves on the boards of several companies, state and philanthropic organizations. He is a recipient of several awards for his pioneering work in reproduction, anti-infective agents, autoimmune diseases and cancer.

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.