Julien L. Pham , MD, MPH

Founder & Managing Partner

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Julien L. Pham, MD, MPH has over fifteen (15) years of leadership experience in clinical settings and in emerging medical technology companies. During this time, he has held various research and teaching positions, and has received multiple awards including excellence in teaching awards from AOA and Harvard Medical School. He is a board-certified Internal Medicine doctor, and a Nephrologist who has received NIH research funding for translational research while at Harvard, and has published in basic and translational science, and health policy fields.
Most recently, Dr. Pham was recruited to scale up and spin out a clinical-stage gene therapy biotechnology company in the Oncology and Diabetes space from MD Anderson Cancer Center. He led strategy and fundraising through an IPO (NASDAQ: GNPX) in 2018, then served as President and COO until Q4 2020, with P&L and management responsibilities for manufacturing, clinical strategy and operations, regulatory, and business development. Most recently, Genprex obtained FDA’s Fast Track Designation in late 2019 and raised $22.5 million via a shelf registered Form S-3 offering in Q1 2020.

Prior to that, in 2013, Dr. Pham co-founded and served as Chief Medical Officer of RubiconMD, a digital health company that connects primary care providers to specialists for additional guidance and opinions on medical cases (eConsults). RubiconMD has recently raised a Series C with the likes of Deerfield Management and Optum Ventures.
Prior to RubiconMD, he served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and was clinical Nephrology staff at Mass General Brigham, where in 2012, he launched RHINNO, one of the first skunkworks innovation lab inside a hospital and was on the founding committee of Harvard Medical School’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital Innovation Hub (iHub).

As an investor, Dr. Pham is often sought out for his unique expertise in evaluating both biotech and digital health companies. Since 2015, he has been exposed to emerging global companies in pre-seed stage, some of which have now become rapid growth stage companies, including a 2020 CB Insights “50 future unicorns” list. Personally, he has invested in 7 early-stage companies, including RubiconMD, Circulation (acquired 2018), AceUp, Hilltop Bio, Nurse-1-1, Health Vector, and Quantivly.

Dr. Pham volunteers his time as a clinician/advisor for ASSORV, a French non-profit organization founded in 1992 by his family and which operates 3 orphanages in Vietnam. He is also an experienced non-profit board member and has been the most recent Chair of the Board of Essential Partners, a Cambridge-based non-profit organization which for the past 30 years, has fostered dialogue where conflicts are driven by differences in identity, beliefs, and values.

Dr. Pham received his MD from the University of Washington School of Medicine. He was a combined Medicine/Pediatrics resident and chief resident at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and completed his fellowship in Nephrology at the Harvard joint program. He obtained his MPH in Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

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Christine Hsieh , PhD

Operating Partner

Deep Technology, Data & Strategic Vision, Neuro-cognitive Science

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As an MIT-trained scientist turned founder/CEO and startup executive, Christine has a unique blend of expertise in deep technology, data, and strategic vision when it comes to building new ventures.

Her early interest in developing new health technologies led her to work at the intersection of psychology, new ventures, and science commercialization. Over the years Christine has won many awards recognizing her work and commitment to cutting edge R&D and health innovation.

Most recently she was the Chief Strategy and Research Officer at DayToDay Health, a digital care management company. She was recruited to develop and execute a cross-functional strategy to capture new markets and enabled launch of the first digital product within four months of starting development. Under her leadership the company was able to bridge siloes across commercial, product, clinical, and R&D teams, enabling scaling of operations for three countries within three year’s time. After serving 7000+ acute care patients around the world even through the Covid pandemic, DayToDay was acquired by Babylon Health, a publicly traded virtual care company.

Prior to DayToDay Health Christine launched her entrepreneurial career as Founder and CEO of Salubris Analytics. In this role she built a grant-launched, highly capital efficient venture focused on behavior change for chronic care management. She led the development of a digital product with personalization features and algorithms, science-based content, and analytics. Christine then partnered with leading US healthcare systems to validate the solution and closed a revenue-generating contract with a prominent three million member insurer.

In her doctoral work at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Christine won independent research funding to design novel personalized treatments for depression, anxiety, and pain. The new treatment significantly reduced depressive symptoms and was published in national conferences and journals. Prior to her thesis work she also developed bioimaging and neuroimaging technologies in prominent labs at Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and tangible interfaces at the MIT Media Lab.

Christine is currently most passionate about redefining impact on health by shifting the ways we work, live, and play to be more health-enhancing. She is an Entrepreneur in Residence at MIT and also serves on the Board of Directors of HealthTech Build, a Boston-based nonprofit creating catalytic community events accelerating healthcare and life sciences technology adoption.

Christine completed her Bachelor of Science at Rutgers University, graduating in the top five students majoring in Physics in her class as well as majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience.

In her spare time, she writes about happy high performance, and loves hiking and skiing around the world with her husband and daughter.

Education :

• Rutgers University - Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), Double Major: Cell Biology & Neuroscience; Physics
• Harvard University - PhD, Health Sciences and Technology
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology - PhD, Health Sciences and Technology (HST)
• Harvard Law School Executive Education - Program on Negotiation

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Denise Marks , CPA, MBA

Advisor

VC Operations, Finance, Compliance

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Denise has over 25 years’ experience in the VC/PE industry, and is currently the CFO of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a large foundation which is a purpose-driven enterprise and a leader in oral health with a mission to improve the oral health of all. From 2003 to 2019, she held multiple roles including Chief Administrative Partner, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer at SV Health Investors (SVHI), an international multi-sector, multi-stage healthcare focused venture capital and growth equity firm with over $3B in historical commitments.

Prior to joining SVHI, Denise was the VP Finance & Administration and a Managing Director at CMGI @Ventures, the venture capital affiliate of CMGI, where she was responsible for all financial and operational aspects of the firm’s venture arm. Prior to joining CMGI @Ventures, Denise was a manager in the Technology Group of PwC LLP. She spent her last two years in the firm’s Entrepreneurial Services Center in Cambridge, MA, working with early stage and rapidly growing technology-based companies advising them on such areas as structuring M&A transactions, revenue recognition and equity related issues. Prior to PwC, Denise worked in commercial banking at Fleet Bank, NA (now Bank of America).

Denise serves on a variety of boards of directors and is active in philanthropy. She currently serves on the boards of the National Venture Capital Association, Shore Country Day School, Dress for Success Boston and Women in Alternative Assets. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Finance from Penn State University and a joint MS/MBA in Accounting from Northeastern University Graduate School of Professional Accounting

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Ravi Thadhani , MD, MPH

Advisor

Medicine, Academic Leadership, Translational and Clinical Research

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As the Chief Academic Officer of Mass General Brigham (MGB, formerly Partners Healthcare), Dr. Thadhani oversees a $1.8 billion research enterprise. He has 25 years of experience in Executive Academic Medical Administration, Clinical and Translational Investigation, and Medical Education including his current role as CAO and Dean for Faculty Affairs for MGB and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and previously as Vice Dean of Research and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, both at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Chief of the Division of Nephrology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, Massachusetts.

He currently serves as HMS Faculty Dean for Academic Programs, chairing the MGB Committee on Senior Appointments and serving on the Council of Academic Deans. As a member of MGB’s executive leadership team, Dr. Thadhani works together with senior leadership across the system on a number of system strategic initiatives. He is a standing consultant to the FDA’s Cardio-Renal Division (2020-2024). He has extensive experience in developing regulatory and marketing strategies with small Biotech, diagnostic and device makers, as well as large Pharma. He has co-founded startup biotech companies and licensed patents to Industry. He holds several patents, including for a novel diagnostic for pre-eclampsia (marketed in the EU).

Dr. Thadhani received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania and his MPH from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. He trained at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and was Chief of Nephrology from 2013-2017

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• https://www.massgeneral.org/medicine/nephrology/research/thadhani-lab

Guy Fish , MD, MBA

Special Advisor

Medicine, Strategy & Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital, Governance

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Dr. Fish has over 30 years of experience in healthcare, life sciences, and technology. He has particular interest in bioprocessing & biomanufacturing, digital health, personalized medicine, and cost reducing strategies ranging from value-based reimbursement to biosimilars.

Dr. Fish was recently acting CEO of Next Phase Therapeutics, an international drug discovery company developing a novel exosome-based platform for treating dermatological pathologies with topical delivery. Prior to that, he was CEO and board member of Cellanyx, a company developing a first-in-class live tumor cell diagnostic platform.

Prior to that, he was a consultant and VC at Fletcher Spaght for 18 years, and retired as Sr. Vice President and Strategic Advisor. There, he helped launch the corporate ventures arm, raising and winding down 2 funds, of $30M and $100M respectively. Dr. Fish has also worked as a securities analyst in the medical devices sector for Sanford Bernstein, as a healthcare consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and as a solo practice physician.

Dr. Fish is a Trustee Advisor of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he previously chaired the Patient Care Committee, and holds membership on the Patient Care Assessment and Quality Committee, and Medical Education Committee. He has served as Chairman of the Licensing Board for Dubai Health Care, as well as the Licensing Committee for the Board of Registration in Medicine for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr. Fish is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Altarum Institute, Phase Biosciences, and is a Board observer of Proteus Digital Health.

Dr. Fish holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, an MD from the Yale School of Medicine, and an AB in biochemistry from Harvard College. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine.

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Maria V Lopez-Bresnahan , MD, MBA, FAAN

Advisor

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Dr. Maria Lopez-Bresnahan is a senior biopharmaceutical executive with more than 25 years of industry experience developing new treatments for neurologic diseases, including rare genetic neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders, from early phases through post-approval lifecycle management. Most recently she served as SVP for Translational Medicine and Clinical Development at Voyager Therapeutics. Previously she was VP of Clinical Research, Neuroscience at Alkermes, Inc. and VP of Neurology Clinical Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals where she led clinical teams developing drugs across CNS indications from Phase 1 through registration. At Pfizer Inc. she was Head of Neuromuscular Clinical Research in the Rare Disease Research Unit, and Therapeutic Area Head for Neuroscience in the Medicines Development Group leading a team responsible for strategy and planning of drug development in neurology and psychiatry. Dr. Lopez-Bresnahan held leadership positions at Merck Serono, where she was responsible for development of CNS drugs for immunologic and neurodegenerative disorders through registration and commercialization. She also served as SVP and Global Head for Medical and Scientific Affairs at inVentiv Health Clinical, where she led subspecialty medical teams executing drug development programs for pharmaceutical clients.

Dr. Lopez-Bresnahan serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of SYTE.bio a biotechnology company developing DNA and RNA therapeutics. She is a Founding Venture Partner with AccelHUB Venture Partners, providing biotechnology expertise to partner accelerator programs for international startups.

Dr. Lopez-Bresnahan received a BA from Yale University, an MD from New York University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Northeastern University. A Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, she completed her neurology residency and a fellowship in neuroimmunology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, where she served as Assistant Clinical Professor of Neurology.

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