Cam Garner
Chairman
Mr. Garner is a pharmaceutical executive with over 35 years of diverse experience in the healthcare industry ranging from diagnostics and devices to pharmaceuticals. He was part of the senior management team that built Hybritech. Mr. Garner served as CEO of Dura Pharmaceuticals from 1989 to 1995 and Chairman and CEO from 1995 to 2000. During his tenure, Dura’s annual revenues grew from $2 million to over $300 million. Dura was sold in November 2000 for $1.8 billion to Elan Corporation. In addition to Elevation Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Garner has co-founded several specialty pharmaceutical companies including Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Meritage Pharmaceuticals, Somaxon Pharmaceuticals, Verus Pharmaceuticals, Zogenix, Evoke Pharma, DJ Pharma and Xcel Pharmaceuticals. He currently serves as Chairman of Cadence, Zogenix, Evoke, Meritage, and Elevation, and he served as Chairman of DJ Pharma and Xcel Pharmaceuticals until they were sold. Mr. Garner also serves on the board of directors of Aegis Therapeutics.
Brent Ahrens
Since joining Canaan in 1999, Mr. Ahrens has led successful investments in novel companies such as Cerexa (FRX), one of the largest private biotech M&As in history; DexCom (DXCM), a pioneer in sensor technologies that wirelessly transmit glucose readings to patients and their doctors; Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, developer of antibiotic medications to treat life-threatening infections, acquired by a Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) subsidiary; Revivant, a cutting-edge medical device company acquired by ZOLL, and Calixa, which develops hospital-based antibiotics to treat infections resulting from resistant strains of bacteria, acquired by Cubist (CBST). Prior to joining Canaan, Mr. Ahrens worked for General Surgical Innovations, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and IAP Research, in a variety of sales, marketing, business development and technical roles. Mr. Ahrens currently sits on the boards of CoAxia, Data Sciences International, Durata Therapeutics, EndoGastric Solutions, Kalidex Pharmaceuticals, and Relievant Medsystems. He earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton. Mr. Ahrens is also an alumnus of the Kauffman Fellows Program.
Bill Gerhart
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Gerhart is an experienced Founder/CEO with more than 20 years experience starting and building companies based on promising technologies. He founded Elevation Pharmaceuticals in 2008 to develop new aerosol therapies for underserved patient populations with respiratory diseases. Prior to Elevation, Mr. Gerhart was the President and CEO of Mpex Pharmaceuticals from 2002 to 2007, a company he founded to discover and develop new antibacterials for the treatment of serious infections, which was acquired by Aptalis in 2011. The lead candidate acquired by Aptalis is an inhaled antibiotic in Phase 3 trials that has the potential to be the most potent antibacterial for treating serious bacterial respiratory infections. Prior to Mpex, he was the CEO of Medlyte Therapeutics from 2000 to 2002 (now publicly-held Lpath Therapeutics), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery of novel cancer and ophthalmology therapies. Mr. Gerhart is also a Co-Founder of Vaxiion Therapeutics, a company focused on developing targeted drug and RNAi delivery products. Mr. Gerhart has a BBA in Finance from Baylor University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jan Leschly
Mr. Leschly is the Founder and Chairman of Care Capital LLC, an investment firm established in 2000, which focuses on late-stage pharmaceutical development companies. Prior to establishing Care Capital, Mr. Leschly was CEO of SmithKline Beecham PLC from 1994 to 2000. He joined SmithKline Beecham as Chairman of the Worldwide Pharmaceutical operation in 1990 and was elected to the Board of Directors in 1990. Prior to joining SmithKline Beecham, Mr. Leschly served as President and COO of Squibb Corporation. He joined Squibb in 1979 as Vice President, Commercial Development, and in 1984, he was elected Group Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors with responsibility for the Worldwide Pharmaceuticals Products Group. Prior to Squibb, Mr. Leschly worked for seven years with Novo Nordisk, where he served as Executive Vice President and President of the Pharmaceutical Division. Mr. Leschly is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Express Company and the Maersk Group. Before his business career, Mr. Leschly made his name in professional tennis, ranking 10th in the world in 1967. Born in Denmark, Mr. Leschly received a Master of Science in Pharmacy from the Copenhagen College of Pharmacy and a B.S. in Business Administration from the Copenhagen School of Economics and Business Administration.
Heath Lukatch, PhD
Dr. Lukatch is a Partner in Novo Ventures, Novo A/S, which he joined in 2006. He is Chairman of the board of directors of Inogen, Inc. and NeuroTherapeutics Pharma, Inc., and a director of Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc., AnaptysBio, Inc. and Cianna Medical, Inc. and was a director of FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., InSound Medical, Inc. and Synosia Therapeutics. Prior to joining Novo A/S, Dr. Lukatch was a Managing Director for Piper Jaffray Ventures and SightLine Partners, and a bench scientist at Cetus, Chiron and Roche Bioscience. While at Piper Jaffray and Sightline he was responsible for biotech venture investments and served on the boards of several biotech and medical device companies. Previously, he was at McKinsey & Co. where his primary focus was on strategy consulting for biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Lukatch also brings entrepreneurial experience from his role as founder and CEO of AutoMate Scientific, Inc. a biotechnology instrumentation company.
Dr. Lukatch holds a PhD in neuroscience from Stanford University and a BA in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkley.
Heather Preston, MD
Dr. Preston is Managing Director of TPG Biotech. Prior to joining TPG Biotech in May 2005, Dr. Preston spent two years at JP Morgan Partners where she focused on medical device and biotechnology venture capital investing. Prior to JP Morgan Partners, she was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with New Enterprise Associates. Dr. Preston has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of London and a medical degree from the University of Oxford. After leaving Oxford, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University. She completed her training in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital and then she sub-specialized in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at UCSF. During her academic career, she was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a Fulbright Cancer Research Scholarship, a Harlech Scholarship and a Science and Engineering Research Council Post-doctoral Fellowship Award. After leaving academic medicine, she spent five years at McKinsey & Co. in New York, where she was a leader of their pharmaceutical and medical products consulting practice. Dr. Preston co-founded, and is the CEO of Virobay, a biotechnology company which is seeking to develop new therapies for the treatment of Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Dr. Preston also serves on the boards of Albireo, Alder Biotherapeutics, Axcan Pharma and Virobay.